About this item
In recent years, North American and European nations have sought to legally remake religion in other countries through an unprecedented array of international initiatives. Policymakers have rallied around the notion that the fostering of religious freedom, interfaith dialogue, religious tolerance, and protections for religious minorities are the keys to combating persecution and discrimination. Beyond Religious Freedom persuasively argues that these initiatives create the very social tensions and divisions they are meant to overcome. Elizabeth Shakman Hurd looks at three critical channels of state-sponsored intervention: international religious freedom advocacy, development assistance and nation building, and international law. She shows how these initiatives make religious difference a matter of law, resulting in a divide that favors forms of religion authorized by those in power and excludes other ways of being and belonging.
About the Author
Elizabeth Shakman Hurd is Professor of Politics at Northwestern University, where she studies the intersections of religion, law, and politics in the US and abroad. She is the author of The Politics of Secularism in International Relations (Princeton, 2008) , Beyond Religious Freedom: The New Global Politics of Religion (Princeton, 2015) , and co-editor of Politics of Religious Freedom and Comparative Secularisms in a Global Age. She co-directs, with Winnifred Sullivan, a Luce-supported research project "Politics of Religion at Home and Abroad" (2016-2019) and co-organized the "Politics of Religious Freedom" project (2011-2014) . She co-directs the Buffett Faculty Research Group on Global Politics & Religion at Northwestern.Downloadable articles and other information are available through the following link: http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~esh291/Elizabeth_Shakman_Hurd/home.html"Politics of Religion at Home and Abroad" project website:http://buffett.northwestern.edu/programs/religion-home-abroad/"Politics of Religious Freedom" project website: http://politics-of-religious-freedom.berkeley.edu
