The act of converting people to certain beliefs or values is highly controversial in today’s postcolonial, multicultural world. Proselytization has been viewed by some as an aggressive act of political domination. Those controversies call for comparative, cross-cultural and multidisciplinary research. Upon the initiative of Rosalind Hackett, a symposium was organized at the 19th World Congress […]
New book: how to study religions that proselytize?
This new book, Missionary Impositions, which we have not yet read, approaches missionary efforts from an unusual angle. It will obviously be relevant for any scholar interested in issues of fieldwork. In this collection of essays, anthropologists of religion examine the special challenges they face when studying populations that proselytize. Conducting fieldwork among these groups […]
Document: “Christian Witness in a Multireligious World – Recommendations for Conduct”
Aware of the tensions between people and communities of different religious convictions and the varied interpretations of Christian witness, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID), the World Council of Churches (WCC) and, at the invitation of the WCC, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), met during a period of 5 years to reflect and produce […]
Afghans stone German base over proselytising allegations
Kunduz (Afghanistan), June 10 (DPA) — At least four people were injured in northern Afghanistan Thursday when protesters threw stones at a German military camp over claims that two aid organisations had preached Christianity in the country. The Afghan government last week suspended a US-based Church World Service and Norwegian Church Aid after an Afghan […]
Vatican and World Council of Churches study warns of conversion ‘obsession’
17 May 2006 — “Freedom of religion is a fundamental, inviolable and non-negotiable right of every human being in every country in the world,” states the report of the 12-16 May meeting in Lariano/Velletri, near Rome, that launched the cooperative study. “Freedom of religion connotes the freedom, without any obstruction, to practise one’s own faith, […]