Faith in Civil Society Religious Actors As Drivers of Change
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Faith in Civil Society Religious Actors as Drivers of Change Edited by Heidi Moksnes and Mia Melin Faith in Civil Society Religious Actors as Drivers of Change Uppsala Centre for Sustainable Development Uppsala University Villavägen 16 752 36 Uppsala Sweden www.csduppsala.uu.se Editors Heidi Moksnes and Mia Melin Graphic design Tegl design Printed by Hallvigs Cover photo Dreamstime Uppsala 2013 ISSN 1403-1264 ISBN 978-91-980391-4-6 Contents Preface 1 Introduction 3 Eva Christina Nilsson and Heidi Moksnes Everyday religion and change 9 Petter Jakobsson Faith and development: Challenges for donors 13 Gerard Clarke Mixed Blessing: Religion in contemporary politics 31 Gerrie ter Haar Faith-inspired work for societal change: The Gandhian 45 experience in India Vino Aram Religion, civil society and women: Reflections from the 55 Middle East and North Africa Azza Karam Inter-religious dialogue: The case of Israelis and Palestinians 71 Jeremy Milgrom Inter-religious dialogue in Haiti 81 Clement Joseph Religion as part of energizing the UN 87 Azza Karam Religious doctrines and the female body 93 Gunilla Hallonsten Gendering the Arab spring: Religion, citizenship and democracy Introduction 105 Liv Tönnesen Perspectives on gender and citizenship in Syria before 108 the Arab spring Annika Rabo Women inspired by religious compassion: An experience 113 from the Egyptian revolution Shahinaz El Hennawi Islamisation of democracy or democratisation of political 118 Islam: The future of Morocco after the Arab spring Fatima Roumate Religious agency and concern for spiritual and material change: Liberation theology as a response Introduction 125 Olle Kristenson Unfolding the developmental potential of Islam 129 Solava Ibrahim Capacity infrastructure in Brazil: Legacies of participation 134 in Christian base communities Raúl Acosta Religious organisations within civil society 144 Wieke Malda-Douma Religion and grassroots politics in Africa Introduction 153 Päivi Hasu Satan’s snake and political violence in Kenya 158 Gregory Deacon Muslim community-based organisations in Mozambique: 164 Exclusion or inclusion in development aids projects Maj-Lis Follér and João Vembane Reimagining faith-based and civil society organisations 172 as agents of development in transitional polities in Africa John W Forje Socially engaged Buddhism Introduction 181 Monica Lindberg Falk Being socially engaged in a political world: 185 Soka Gakkai as civil society Anne Mette Fisker-Nielsen The recent emergence of socially engaged Buddhism 190 in South Korea Chae Young Kim The Sarvodaya Shramadama movement and its 198 ’dual awakening’concept Anja Zalta Participants List 201 Preface This volume is based on the conference Faith in Civil Society: Religious Actors as Drivers of Change, held in Uppsala, Sweden, April 24-25, 2012. The conference was the third in a series of four yearly conferences, aiming to explore the formation of civil society internationally and its relation to democratisation and development. It forms part of the project Outlook on Civil Society, which is a cooperation between Uppsala Centre for Sustain- able Development at Uppsala University, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation.1 Over the past decades, civil society has been considered increasingly important to socio-economic development and in political mobilisation, perhaps especially so in developing countries. This is partly an effect of neo-liberal reforms that have decreased state responsibility in certain economic as well as political issues, instead increasing the role of not only private actors but also non-governmental organisations. Furthermore, the democracy reforms of the last decades and the heightened focus on human rights have strengthened the political agency of civil movements and organisations, which often have turned into driving critics of preci- sely the lack of democracy in governance. In an era of globalisation, non-governmental organisations, social movements, and other forms of civil organisations have extended their contacts across national borders, in a process promoting the creation of transnational civil networks. Many are the hopes that this vitalisation of civil society will strengthen societal devel opment in a democratic direction, with increased popular participation. Outlook on Civil Society aims at advancing the Swedish research front on civil society in developing countries, and at strengthening research- based knowledge about civil society among Swedish actors within inter- national development cooperation. Furthermore, the project strives to be a bridge-builder between these two different spheres of expertise, and provide real possibilities for mutual exchange. 1 Preface This third conference in our series focused on civil society actors constituted by religious associations and communities. Religious faith is a force by which people mobilise around shared identities with spiritual as well as political objectives, sometimes creating vast networks that extend beyond nation-state borders. The last decades, states have taken on an increased interest in religious associations, whether as a means to enforce shared values and objectives, to shoulder the task as service providers, or to counter terrorism. This interest is reflected as well in renewed attention within international development cooperation for religious associations. While this has given augmented recognition to the role of religious actors, it has also brought to fore differences in perspectives and values, and raised issues on how to respect – or strive to overcome – these. The two-day conference housed about one hundred and ten parti- cipants from all continents – researchers, development practitioners, policy makers, activists, and students – who in presentations and discus- sions gave rich and comparative perspectives on the complexities of the conference theme. The articles in this volume are edited versions of keynote presentations at the conference, of introductory presentations held in discussion sessions, as well as short versions of the papers presented in the paper-based sessions, each of which is introduced by the session chair. We are very happy to be able to offer to our readers this rich collection of case studies and analyses from across the world of how faith-based orga- nisations and communities manifest themselves as important social actors, and how they deal with sometimes conflicting values and notions of social change, within their own communities and in relation to other actors. Uppsala, March 2013 Mia Melin and Heidi Moksnes, editors and project co-ordinators Note 1. The project is based at Uppsala Centre for Sustainable Development at Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. It is funded by Sida between 2009 and 2013. The formal project name is Civil Society in International Development: Research and Practice 2 Introduction Eva Christina Nilsson and Heidi Moksnes It is time to take religion seriously. Not because it is more important than anything else, but because religion is part of what influences people, their values, their worldview, and their behaviour. It is a factor as strong as economy and politics. Religion is a tool to relate to a wider reality than yourself, and for many it brings meaning, offers hope, and is a source of inspiration to change. In difficult situations people tend to turn to their religious leaders. If we want to make a difference through political work or development cooperation, we have to understand the contexts in which faith and religion are significant for people. Religion is important not only at a personal level; societies and politics are influenced as well. Across the world, religious faith motivates people to mobilise around shared spiritual as well as political objectives, forming groups that sometimes are important social actors, whether within civil society or as political parties, directly engaging with state governance. Thus, by understanding the role of religion we can better understand political processes and societal developments. Somebody said that “there is good religion, bad religion and very bad religion.” Taking religion seriously is not to say that there is only “good” religion. There are innumerable examples of how religion has been used to discriminate women, keep people obedient, promote and fuel conflicts, and to keep HIV/aids out of the agenda. The list goes on. However, this is not a reason to leave religion out of analyses, rather the opposite. Whether religion has consequences regarded as ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ it has to be understood – and the need to understand might be even bigger in situations where religion encourages or is used as a tool for discrimination. Thus, the many positive and good forces of religion are dimensions to build upon when striving for social development, while at the same time isolating negative and oppressive forces. 3 Introduction In Sweden and parts of Europe, religion has been placed in the private sphere, with very little relevance for public life, and in many people’s personal lives, religion has ceased to play an important role. This historic change – this secularisation – has acquired status as social model and norm: as societies develop and become modernised, religion is to become less and less important in public and political life. However, taking a global outlook, the highly secular societies of certain European countries stand out as rather atypical, as does the separation between religion and