Circumscribing the Body Politic: Circumcision, Religious Freedom and Identity in Europe

Méadhbh McIvor, Editor  In February 2018, Icelandic Member of Parliament Silja Dögg Gunnarsdóttir made international news by proposing a bill that would criminalise the circumcision of male children for non-medical reasons. The bill, which is supported by the ruling Progressive Party and Left-Green coalition, has sparked heated debates within Iceland (and beyond): while its supporters argue …

The ‘refugee crisis’, religion, and encounters with the divine through the human at Christmas

Whether you see it as truth, myth or folklore, the Christmas story is a powerful narrative in contemporary politics in multiple contexts. In the midst of fraught politics around refugees and immigration, refugee advocates often highlight that 'Jesus was a refugee', his family being forced to flee to Egypt shortly after his birth to escape King …

Reflections on a ‘horror campaign’ to draw attention to the global impact of HIV and AIDS in the Netherlands. Maybe the campaign by the Aidsfonds wasn’t all that bad?

On International Human Solidarity Day 2016 a blog post by Brenda Bartelink. Recently, the Dutch Aidsfonds stopped a confrontational campaign on the rise of HIV-infections and deaths worldwide after a complaint by a prominent Dutch lawyer that this campaign unduly stigmatized people living with HIV and AIDS. In today's post Brenda Bartelink argues that there …

Peace in Colombia: An ambitious project finally starts

Two weeks ago, Colombia’s congress ratified the peace agreement that has been painstakingly negotiated, voted on and renegotatied in the last months. In today’s post, dr. Sandra Rios analyses some of the key factors, including the role of religious actors, at stake in the journey to peace in Colombia.   Sandra works for the Utrecht University of Law …

CRCPD’s public lecture by Prof. John Paul Lederach – ‘Mobilizing the moral imagination’

Tomorrow, 1st of December, Professor John Paul Lederach will, in a lecture organised by The Centre of Religion and Conflict in the Public Domain, talk about ‘Mobilizing the moral imagination: Religion in the landscape of fragmentation’. Join us for the lecture and the discussion with great panel of expert respondents: dr. Michelle Parlevliet, specialist in …

Remembering the peacemaker priest in Northern Ireland: Father Gerry Reynolds

  By Joram Tarusarira   The only way forward is the conversation, the meeting, the dialogue…’ - Fr. Gerry Reynolds     30 November 2016 marks one year after the death of Gerry Reynolds, a Redemptorist Catholic priest based at Clonard Monastery in Belfast in Northern Ireland, who passed away at the age of 82. Fr …

Varieties of Religious Engagement with Climate Change

Next week, the Centre for Religion, Conflict and the Public Domain, together with Studium Generale Groningen, will host Professor Mike Hulme from King's College London, speaking on Religion's Role in Climate Change. In today's post, Professor Hulme provides a taste of some of the issues and themes he will address in greater detail as part of his talk on Wednesday …

The scandal of women’s bodies in secular Europe

On Tuesday this week, images of a woman on a beach in Nice being forced by armed police to remove portions of her swimwear began circulating on the internet. The so-called 'burkini ban' has sparked outrage and controversy, not least because it is yet another variation of an age-old problem - the control over women's …

The secular dead body: feeling awkward about organ donorship

Organ donorship is a sensitive and at times controversial topic in numerous political contexts. In today's post, Ton Groeneweg picks up recent failed efforts to introduce Active Donor Registration in The Netherlands to explore the relationship between these debates and evolving dynamics around religion and secularism. Recently another attempt to introduce the legal principle of ‘Active …

Religious identity and the Refugee Crisis

  Today, 20 June, is World Refugee Day. The UNHCR released its annual Global Trends Report. For the first time in the organisation's history, global displacement has crossed the 60 million threshold, with a total of 65.3 million people displaced in 2015. That's 24 people every minute, or 1 in every 113 people.[1]   Last Thursday, 16 …