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Social Inclusion Open Access Journal | ISSN: 2183-2803 Volume 4, Issue 2 (2016) Thematic Issue Religious Diversity and Social Inclusion Editor Gary Bouma Social Inclusion, 2016, Volume 4, Issue 2 Thematic Issue: Religious Diversity and Social Inclusion Published by Cogitatio Press Rua Fialho de Almeida 14, 2º Esq., 1070-129 Lisbon Portugal Academic Editor Gary Bouma, Monash University, Australia Managing Editor Amandine Gatelier, Cogitatio Press, Portugal Available online at: www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion This issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY). Articles may be reproduced provided that credit is given to the original and Social Inclusion is acknowledged as the original venue of publication. Table of Contents Editorial Religious Diversity and the Challenge of Social Inclusion Gary Bouma 1-2 Article Living Together v. Living Well Together: A Normative Examination of the SAS Case Lori G. Beaman 3-13 Article Inclusive Study of Religions and World Views in Schools: Signposts from the Council of Europe Robert Jackson 14-25 Article The Fog of Extremism: Governance, Identity, and Minstrels of Exclusion Amyn B. Sajoo 26-39 Article “Too Smart to be Religious?” Discreet Seeking Amidst Religious Stigma at an Elite College Kateri Boucher and Jaime Kucinskas 40-51 Article Secular New Zealand and Religious Diversity: From Cultural Evolution to Societal Affirmation Douglas Pratt 52-64 Article Secularities, Diversities and Pluralities: Understanding the Challenges of Religious Diversity in Latin America Edgar Zavala-Pelayo and Manuel Góngora-Mera 65-76 Article Jews, Muslims and the Ritual Male Circumcision Debate: Religious Diversity and Social Inclusion in Germany Gökçe Yurdakul 77-86 Article In the Shadow of Bell Towers: The Use of Religious Capital among Christian- Catholic Second Generations in Italy Roberta Ricucci 87-94 Article Participation and Sharing, or Peaceful Co-Existence? Visions of Integration among Muslims in Switzerland Michael Nollert and Amir Sheikhzadegan 95-106 Article Negotiating Social Inclusion: The Catholic Church in Australia and the Public Sphere Andrew P. Lynch 107-116 Article Religious Education in Russia: Inter-Faith Harmony or Neo-Imperial Toleration? Elena Lisovskaya 117-132 Article How a Collective Trauma Influences Ethno-Religious Relations of Adolescents in Present-Day Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina Merima Šehagić 133-143 Social Inclusion (ISSN: 2183-2803) 2016, Volume 4, Issue 2, Pages 1-2 Doi: 10.17645/si.v4i2.631 Editorial Religious Diversity and the Challenge of Social Inclusion Gary Bouma School of Social Science, Monash University, Caulfield East, VIC 3145, Australia; E-Mail: [email protected] Submitted: 20 March 2016 | Published: 19 April 2016 Abstract As societies have become religiously diverse in ways and extents not familiar in the recent histories of most, the issues of how to include this diversity and how to manage it, that is, questions about how to be a religiously diverse society have come to the fore. As a result religion has become part of the social policy conversation in new ways. It has also occasioned new thinking about religions, their forms and the complexity of ways they are negotiated by adherents and the ways they are related to society, the state and each other. This issue of Social Inclusion explores these issues of social inclusion in both particular settings and in cross-national comparative studies by presenting research and critical thought on this critical issue facing every society today. Keywords interreligious relations; multiculturalism; religion; religions and violence; religious diversity; social cohesion; social control; social inclusion; social policy Issue This editorial is part of the issue “Religious Diversity and Social Inclusion”, edited by Gary Bouma (Monash University, Australia). © 2016 by the author; licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribu- tion 4.0 International License (CC BY). Religion is back on the agenda in ways that were not thinking about religions, their forms and the complexi- predicted by Western social science. The news is full of ty of ways they are negotiated by adherents and the reports of the role of religion in social conflict, politics, ways they are related to society, the state and each and social policy issues. In the West the resurgence of other. This issue of Social Inclusion explores these is- religion can be traced to the return to politics of con- sues of social inclusion in both particular settings and servative Protestant groups and to the increase in reli- in cross-national comparative studies by presenting re- gious diversity occasioned by migration. Globalisation, search and critical thought on this critical issue facing particularly in the form of migration which has brought every society today. religious diversity to the lived experience of almost Social inclusion refers to the processes, structures every society in the world. Finally, the end of the cold and policies instituted by a society to promote the de- war brought an end to strict anti-religious secularism in gree of social cohesion required to be sufficiently pro- communist countries resulting in a resurgence of reli- ductive to achieve sustainability. Each society does this gion. The theme uniting these resurgences is religious but often in quite different ways. Some see control and diversity. the enforcement of a dominant ideology as critical, As societies have become religiously diverse in ways others see the release of creative energies enabled by and extents not familiar in the recent histories of most, greater freedom to be the best way. There are other the issues of how to include this diversity and how to mixed modes and may be ways yet to be described. manage it, that is, questions about how to be a reli- Religious diversity has been seen to challenge social giously diverse society have come to the fore. As a re- cohesion both in classical sociology emerging in a Eu- sult religion has become part of the social policy con- rope redolent with memories of violent conflict among versation in new ways. It has also occasioned new religious groups and the violent imposition of religious Social Inclusion, 2016, Volume 4, Issue 2, Pages 1-2 1 order. Maintaining religious homogeneity is not an op- ties. Pratt provides a social history of the emergence of tion for most societies today. There is no single answer policies of mutual respect among diverse religious to the social inclusion of many religions. Moreover, as groups in New Zealand giving not only a valuable case religion continues to be or re-enters the field of social history, but also evidence that many of the issues faced policy it does so in four basic ways – as an object of today have been with us for some time. The complexi- policy, as a source of policy, as an implementer of poli- ties of religious diversity in Latin America are helpfully cy and as a critic of policy. There is also a complexity of discussed by Zavala-Pelayo and Góngora-Mera in an at- ways religions relate to each other, to the state and to tempt to correct the misconceptions of many existing adherents. The articles in this issue provide insight into approaches to studying religious life in Latin America. this diversity and some integrating approaches that can Nollert and Sheikhzadegan explore different forms of be tested as more research is done in this area. inclusion and participation among religious groups in Articles providing a theoretical perspective on reli- Switzerland. The Australian case is described by Lynch gious diversity and social inclusion include Beaman through the lens of an exploration of the role of Catho- who uses specific examples of judicial review of reli- lics in social policy debates. Ricucci raises the im- gious rights using insights of Derridas to identify ‘na- portance of examining changes in diversity within reli- tional values’ which when deployed through law, policy gious communities by demonstrating ways Catholic and public discourse, have exclusionary effects rather migrant youth to Italy negotiate their settlement and than working to social inclusion. Sajoo explores the is- religious identity. Lisovskaya describes the situation in sue of extremisms and inclusion in both Muslim majori- post-Soviet Russia opening a fascinating case of a state ty countries and in the West. He notes the failure of moving from enforced irreligion to enforced education secularist political ideologies to motivate inclusion. Ra- about religions. Šehagić examines the case of the con- ther, he argues that ‘pluralisms that draw on theolo- sequences of religious conflict in Bosnia and the role of gies of inclusion, beyond mere accommodation or tol- identities in attempts to re-establish social inclusion. erance, offer the prospect of bridging modernist These case studies provide no foundation for easy gen- divides toward a richer civic identity’. In arguing that eralisation and stand resolutely in the face of attempts ‘the aspiration here is to mobilize religious affiliation as to transport a ‘success’ from one society to another. a contributor to civic ethics’ Sajoo opens the way to The global is transformed in the local. consider the role of religions in producing social cohe- The temptation to draw themes and conclusions sion, rather than being passive units managed by out- from these essays is as seductive as it is impossible. side forces. The reader will be informed of a wealth of diversity in Several articles examine particular processes of in- the forms, shapes and management of religious diver- clusion or exclusion. Boucher and Kucinskas report on sity. Different challenges from specific rituals or beliefs the ways religious students face forms of exclusion in are further complicated by very different roles played secular collegiate environments raising a less often ex- by the state. The experience of diversity differs be- amined form of interreligious relations, those between tween highly local relationships to changes in the ways religious and non-religious groups.

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