Using Participatory Methods To Explore Freedom Of Religion And Belief

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Examining countries where religious pluralism is in decline, including Iraq, India, Pakistan and Nigeria, this book brings together reflections, knowledge and learning about the daily experiences of religiously marginalized groups, generated using participatory research methods. It also showcases the participatory methodologies implemented by its international team of contributors and highlights the importance of using non-extractive methods for engaging with participants. Including a careful consideration of the ethics and limitations of participatory research with marginalized groups, the book reflects on the implications for people’s agency when research creates space for them to reflect on their realities in a group setting and uses methods which put their own experience and analysis at the centre of the process.

This book brings together reflections, knowledge and learning about the experiences of religious minorities.

As the world enters the 21st Century, the challenges in implementing freedom of religion or belief grow more complex and more acute. How can the internationally recognized norms regarding freedom of religion or belief be meaningful for all - women and men, majorities and minorities, established religions and new religious movements, parents and children? How can tolerance, mutual respect and understanding be globally expanded? How does freedom of religion or belief relate to other human rights? Launched by the Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief, this deskbook anthology is designed as a single-volume resource for all who are concerned with facilitating improved global compliance with international standards in this vital area. The varied and diverse topics addressed by over fifty global experts in the field provide a rich weave of many threads. The book addresses historical and philosophical background on religious human rights, applicable international norms and the international procedural mechanisms for safeguarding these norms. It surveys central areas of controversy, including registration of religious and belief organizations, emerging debates on religion and gender, parental and children's rights, new religious movements, proselytism, and conscientious objection. Other chapters describe practical approaches to promoting tolerance and understanding through education, inter-religious dialogue, joint religious efforts addressing shared social problems, and conflict resolution initiatives. The volume also provides practical information regarding networking and other background issues that can help translate understanding of the applicable norms and procedures into action. Appendices provide texts of major international instruments on freedom of religion or belief.

This book examines the nature of participatory research in the social sciences and its role in increasing participation among vulnerable or marginalised populations. Drawing on engaging in-depth case studies, it examines the ways in which inclusion and collaboration in research can be enhanced among vulnerable participants, such as those with profound learning difficulties, victims of abuse and trauma and multiply vulnerable children and young people, and shows how useful it can be with these groups. The book will be an invaluable resource for students, researchers and academics in many countries who want to put participatory research methods into practice.

What is participatory research, and how can participatory methods be implemented in practice? This valuable textbook provides an accessible, pragmatic how-to guide for using participatory methods in research. Drawing on their variety of experience in the field, the authors: • outline the principles of participatory research; • explore the practice of utilising participatory methods; • lay out the realities of using such approaches within a range of settings. Providing practical advice, real-world examples, and packed with reflective questions, top tips and suggested further reading, this book will be an essential resource for students and researchers alike.

This research aims to identify the collection of tactics employed by governments of all kinds in using the recognition of religions as a way to restrict religious activity. The study intends to explore how legal and commercial restrictions imposed on religious organisations negatively impact the religious freedom situation. A discussion will ensue as to whether a free-market economy is the most efficient counterforce to the governmental abuse and misuse of the apparatus of religious recognition. This research will analyse the knowledge of existing literature and will produce knowledge from participant interviews to test whether this approach to religious freedom advocacy could contribute to the improvement of freedom of religion conditions in countries around the world. This will include recommendations for how recognition systems could be established and used for the betterment of religious freedom rather than to its detriment. This research presents the hypothesis that the systems established by some governments to recognise belief systems, as well as the absence of recognition systems at all, are abused as a means of controlling citizens’ identities and to maintain a hegemony on belief. Fundamentally, that it is recognition or lack thereof that stands as the central, persisting obstacle to the protection of freedom of religion or belief and that with a greater understanding of how recognition systems can be abused, experts active in the field at national and international levels will be more equipped to identify when recognition, non-recognition, or misrecognition are the cause of other issues impacting religious freedom conditions like terrorism, the disenfranchisement of minorities etc. By exploring the extent of the issue of recognition system abuse, this research hopes to enable advocates, commissioners, and scholars to understand the centrality of recognition to broader human rights concerns regarding religion and belief.

As the world enters the 21st Century, the challenges in implementing freedom of religion or belief grow more complex and more acute. How can the internationally recognized norms regarding freedom of religion or belief be meaningful for all – women and men, majorities and minorities, established religions and new religious movements, parents and children? How can tolerance, mutual respect and understanding be globally expanded? How does freedom of religion or belief relate to other human rights? Launched by the Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief, this deskbook anthology is designed as a single-volume resource for all who are concerned with facilitating improved global compliance with international standards in this vital area. The varied and diverse topics addressed by over fifty global experts in the field provide a rich weave of many threads. The book addresses historical and philosophical background on religious human rights, applicable international norms and the international procedural mechanisms for safeguarding these norms. It surveys central areas of controversy, including registration of religious and belief organizations, emerging debates on religion and gender, parental and children’s rights, new religious movements, proselytism, and conscientious objection. Other chapters describe practical approaches to promoting tolerance and understanding through education, inter-religious dialogue, joint religious efforts addressing shared social problems, and conflict resolution initiatives. The volume also provides practical information regarding networking and other background issues that can help translate understanding of the applicable norms and procedures into action. Appendices provide texts of major international instruments on freedom of religion or belief.

In many respects children and youths receiving religious instruction in our culture resemble extraterrestrial beings doing an orientation course. Religion and religiosity are unknown quantities which they have hardly encountered at home. Religion seems something else, something greater. This book is a study of the foundations of religious education, centered around six concepts: religion in a globalizing society, religious tradition, religion, the religious self, learning through participation and interreligious learning.