The Varieties of Religious Repression

The Varieties of Religious Repression
Author: Ani Sarkissian
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2015
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0199348081

The Varieties of Religious Repression argues that seemingly benign regulations and restrictions on religion are tools that non-democratic leaders use to repress independent civic activity, effectively maintaining their hold on power. Ani Sarkissian examines the interaction of political competition and the structure of religious divisions in society, presenting a theory of the variances of religious repression across non-democratic regimes.

The Varieties of Religious Repression

The Varieties of Religious Repression
Author: Ani Sarkissian
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2014
Genre: Freedom of religion
ISBN: 9780190216368

Though it is most often practised in dictatorships, levels of religious repression nevertheless vary across a range of non-democratic regimes, including illiberal democracies and competitive authoritarian states. This book argues that seemingly benign and legal forms of regulations, requirements, and restrictions on religion are important tools by which non-democratic leaders repress independent civic activity and thus maintain their hold on power.

The Varieties of Religious Repression

The Varieties of Religious Repression
Author: Ani Sarkissian
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2015-01-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0199348103

Religious repression--the non-violent suppression of civil and political rights--is a growing and global phenomenon. Though most often practiced in authoritarian countries, levels of religious repression nevertheless vary across a range of non-democratic regimes, including illiberal democracies and competitive authoritarian states. In The Varieties of Religious Repression, Ani Sarkissian argues that seemingly benign regulations and restrictions on religion are tools that non-democratic leaders use to repress independent civic activity, effectively maintaining their hold on power. Sarkissian examines the interaction of political competition and the structure of religious divisions in society, presenting a theory of why religious repression varies across non-democratic regimes. She also offers a new way of understanding the commonalties and differences of non-democratic regimes by focusing on the targets of religious repression. Drawing on quantitative data from more than one hundred authoritarian states, as well as case studies of sixteen countries from around the world, Sarkissian explores the varieties of repression that states impose on religious expression, association, and political activities, describing the obstacles these actions present for democratization, pluralism, and the development of an independent civil society.

Weapon of Peace

Weapon of Peace
Author: Nilay Saiya
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2018-08-23
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1108474314

This book shows that attempts to repress religion produce the very violent religious extremism that states seek to avoid.

The Price of Freedom Denied

The Price of Freedom Denied
Author: Brian J. Grim
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2010-12-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1139492411

The Price of Freedom Denied shows that, contrary to popular opinion, ensuring religious freedom for all reduces violent religious persecution and conflict. Others have suggested that restrictions on religion are necessary to maintain order or preserve a peaceful religious homogeneity. Brian J. Grim and Roger Finke show that restricting religious freedoms is associated with higher levels of violent persecution. Relying on a new source of coded data for nearly 200 countries and case studies of six countries, the book offers a global profile of religious freedom and religious persecution. Grim and Finke report that persecution is evident in all regions and is standard fare for many. They also find that religious freedoms are routinely denied and that government and the society at large serve to restrict these freedoms. They conclude that the price of freedom denied is high indeed.

God Is Not Great

God Is Not Great
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2008-11-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1551991764

Christopher Hitchens, described in the London Observer as “one of the most prolific, as well as brilliant, journalists of our time” takes on his biggest subject yet–the increasingly dangerous role of religion in the world. In the tradition of Bertrand Russell’s Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris’s recent bestseller, The End Of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope’s awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix.

The Battle for China's Spirit

The Battle for China's Spirit
Author: Sarah Cook
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2017-05-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1538106116

The Battle for China’s Spirit is the first comprehensive analysis of its kind, focusing on seven major religious groups in China that together account for over 350 million believers: Chinese Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Tibetan Buddhism, and Falun Gong. The study examines the evolution of the Communist Party’s policies of religious control, how they are applied differently to diverse faith communities, and how citizens are responding to these policies. The study—which draws on hundreds of official documents and interviews with religious leaders, lay believers, and scholars—finds that Chinese government controls over religion have intensified since November 2012, seeping into new areas of daily life. Yet millions of religious believers defy official restrictions or engage in some form of direct protest, at times scoring significant victories. The report explores how these dynamics affect China’s overall social, political, and economic environment, while offering recommendations to both the Chinese government and international actors for how to increase the space for peaceful religious practice in a country where spirituality has been deeply embedded in its culture for millennia.

Under Caesar's Sword

Under Caesar's Sword
Author: Daniel Philpott
Publisher: Law and Christianity
Total Pages: 537
Release: 2018-03-15
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1108425305

The first systematic global study of how Christians respond to persecution, presenting new research by leading scholars of global Christianity.

The Global Public Square

The Global Public Square
Author: Os Guinness
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2013-08-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830837671

Recognizing that tyranny takes on secular as well as traditional guises, Os Guinness seeks a return to the first principles of religious and political freedom. Hearkening back to the "soul liberty" of English Puritan Roger Williams, Guinness argues that a society's greatest bulwark against abuse lies in its people's freedom of conscience.