Human Rights or Religious Rules?

Erscheinungsjahr 2010
ISBN: 978-90-04-18304-9
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 1, 474 Seiten, Format (B × H): 169 mm x 251 mm, Gewicht: 932 g

Reihe: Empirical Research in Religion and Human Rights

The relation between religion and human rights is a contested one, as they appear to compete with one another. Religion is often considered to represent a tradition of heteronomy and subordination in premodern times. Human rights emerged from early modern and modern times and stand for principles like human dignity, autonomy, equality. The first question in this book is how to define religion, its meaning, functions and structures, and how to study it. The second question is how to understand religion from its relation with human rights in such a way that justice is done to both religion and human rights. These questions are dealt with using a historical and systematic approach. The third question is what the impact of religion might be on attitudes towards human rights, i.e. human rights culture. For an answer, empirical research is reported among about 1000 students, Christians, Muslims, and nonreligious, at the end of secondary and the beginning of tertiary education in the Netherlands.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ven, Johannes A van der

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Internationales Recht und Europarecht Internationales Recht Internationale Menschen- und Minderheitenrechte, Kinderrechte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religion & Kultur
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Menschenrechte, Bürgerrechte
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Beziehungen des Rechts zu anderen Disziplinen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements. vii
List of Figures and Tables. xi

Introduction. 1

PART ONE

RELIGION
I. Varieties of Religious Weakness and Strength. 11
II. Religious Identity. 53
III. Refl ective Comparison in Religious Research. 88

PART TWO

RELIGION AND HUMAN RIGHTS
IV. Human Rights: Religious or Nonreligious?. 135
V. Human Rights: Natural or Political?. 187
VI. Religious Rights for Minorities. 226

PART THREE

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN RELIGION AND HUMAN RIGHTS CULTURE
VII. Religious Freedom. 265
VIII. Separation of Church and State. 304
IX. Impact of Religion on Attitudes toward Religious Freedom and the Separation of Church and State. 356

Appendix. 399

Bibliography. 413

Index of Subjects. 449
Index of Names. 466

Über Autor(innen)

Johannes A. van der Ven, PhD Radboud University Nijmegen (NL), Doctor honoris causa University of Lund (sweden), occupies the chair of comparative empirical science of religion, especially in relation to religion and human rights, at Radboud University Nijmegen. He is chair of the International Empirical Research Program ‘Religion and Human Rights’. He wrote 15 books in Dutch, German, and English, among which Entwurf einer empirischen Theologie (1990) [Practical Theology: An Empirical Approach (1993)], Suffering: Why for God's Sake?(together with H. Vossen) (1995), Ecclesiology in Context (1996), Formation of the Moral Self (1998), God Reinvented? (1998). Education for Reflective Ministry (1998), Is There a God of Human Rights (together with J.S. Dreyer and H.J.C. Pieterse) (2004). He edited 18 books, and published about 400 refereed articles in ten languages.