Minority religions, litigation, and the prevention of harm
Religious anti-discrimination legislation institutionalises non-violent ways of living with radical difference associated with religious diversity. The need to govern the growing number of conflicts generated by increasingly pluralistic societies is a major reason governments have introduced a range...
Published in: | Journal of contemporary religion |
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Main Author: | |
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Carfax Publ.
[2018]
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In: |
Journal of contemporary religion
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Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
/ Die Familie (Corporations)
/ Ordo Templi Orientis
/ Antidiscrimination law
/ Religious minority
/ Crime
/ Struggle against
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IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AX Inter-religious relations AZ New religious movements KBQ North America |
Further subjects: | B
minority religions
B Harm minimisation B Religious anti-discrimination legislation |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
Summary: | Religious anti-discrimination legislation institutionalises non-violent ways of living with radical difference associated with religious diversity. The need to govern the growing number of conflicts generated by increasingly pluralistic societies is a major reason governments have introduced a range of new laws relating to religion. These laws are important not only because they protect human rights, which they do, but also because they shape social processes that generate extreme harms such as mass murder and the sexual abuse of minors. A detailed examination of three case studies of minority religions illustrates this argument. The histories of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints and The Family demonstrate that the socio-cultural processes that result in sexual abuse in minority religions are similar to the processes that result in extreme violence and that litigation plays a key role in preventing the escalation of these processes, although it is of a post hoc nature. The case of the Ordo Templi Orientis demonstrates that religious anti-discrimination legislation proactively disrupts the socio-cultural processes that lead to the escalation of tension that results in serious forms of harm. |
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ISSN: | 1469-9419 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2018.1469272 |