Assertive Religion: Religious Intolerance in a Multicultural World - Hardcover

De Kadt, Emanuel

9781412851756: Assertive Religion: Religious Intolerance in a Multicultural World

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1412851750 ISBN 13: 9781412851756

Publisher: Routledge, 2013

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Questions about religions and religious institutions have changed dramatically since they first arose many years ago. In the beginning of the twenty-first century, the link of religion with extreme ideologies captures our attention. Such questions have been the focus of a steadily growing number of books. What does Assertive Religion add to the debate?

Emanuel de Kadt discusses the relationship of religion to wider social issues such as human rights and multiculturalism. He traces the growth, during the religious revival over the past decades, of assertive, and even coercive, forms of religion, notably—but not exclusively—fundamentalist varieties. He deals with these questions as they relate to the three major Abrahamic religions, thereby addressing a readership wider than that made up of persons interested exclusively in Judaism, Christianity, or Islam.

The author takes on issues such as the effects of the "Jewishness" of Israel on the rights of Palestinians; the consequences of the centralized authority structure of the Roman Catholic Church; and the implications of the failure of reform-oriented Muslims to make their voices heard in an organized Islamic reform movement. He is even-handed, focusing on both positive and negative features of each religious perspective, though he does have a clear viewpoint. Assertive Religion adds to increasingly sharp political discussions on issues arising out of religion. It is a must read for anyone interested in how religion is shaping the world of tomorrow.

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About the Author

Emanuel de Kadt is professor emeritus in the department of cultural anthropology at Utrecht University. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including Catholic Radicals in Brazil; Tourism: Passport to Development?; Promoting Equity: A New Approach from the Health Sector (with Renato Tasca); and The Public-Private Mix in Social Services: Health Care and Education in Chile, Costa Rica and Venezuela (with Elaine Zuckermann).

Review

“This fascinating, innovative work is read in one sitting. It challenges the reader’s ideas: not only by giving a very solid analysis of the essentials of fundamentalism in our major religions and their position towards the state. It also analyses the core dilemmas of multiculturalism. And last but not least: despite de Kadt’s obvious scepticism with regard to the univeralist pretention of human rights, many conclusions, like the plea for civil and political freedoms and the reduction of exclusion belong to the very core of the human rights debate. This debate demands an interdisciplinary approach, to prevent the doctrine of human rights to become fundamentalist in itself. The book leaves the reader with these confusing views, and is challenged to reconsider the easier ones that simplify the multiculturalism discourse. Food for thought, both for academics of different disciplines and for politicians.”

—Jenny E. Goldschmidt, director of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), Utrecht University

“This is a book that should be read by anyone interested in or concerned about the challenges that face religious pluralism in contemporary societies. Emanuel de Kadt warns against a widespread tendency to focus on the extremism of terrorists which he considers to be a distraction from the far more insidious fundamentalisms found within the Abrahamic traditions, which assert their authority to impose pre-Enlightenment social and ethical imperatives on the grounds of unquestionable and unquestioning beliefs that they, and they alone, know God’s will. Professor de Kadt does not mince words, but his is a judiciously nuanced and scholarly argument. Assertive Religion is informative, provocative and eminently readable.”

—Eileen Barker, Professor Emeritus of Sociology of Religion, London School of Economics

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