Conference
The Governance of Religious Diversity
More or Less Secularism?
Scientific Organiser: Anna Triandafyllidou | Global Governance Programme, RSCAS, EUI
Sala Europa, Villa Schifanoia
via Boccaccio, 121 – Firenze
10-12 June 2015
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Rationale
Religion and religious diversity appear to be one of the toughest diversity challenges that European societies face in
their search for identity, equality and cohesion in an increasingly globalised world. Old paradigms of republicanism
or multiculturalism seem to be in crisis but a new “third road” between laïcité and state religion is not yet visible. This
conference discusses four main research questions:
➢ Is the best way to deal with religious diversity to accept more religion in public life for both majorities and
minorities or to move towards radical secularism?
➢ Is there a principled, normative answer to this question or is it a matter of context and issues at hand? Thus, under
some conditions more religion is desirable and in others more secularism must apply and our decisions shall
be framed differently depending on whether we discuss gender relations or blasphemy/freedom of expression
laws?
➢ What can we learn from policies and practices in the Middle East and Asia where religious plurality has for long
periods been the norm rather than the exception?
➢ Since religion can neither be wholly privatised nor allowed to dominate political life, what are the best ways of
accommodating it in a democratic society? What are the “battlefields” of religious diversity in the years to come?
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Programme
Wednesday, 10 June
16:00
Welcome coffee
16:15
Brigid Laffan Anna Triandafyllidou
16:30-19:00 Opening roundtable
The Governance of Religious Diversity: Freedom of Religion or Freedom from Religion
Chair Bhikhu Parekh
Multiculturalism and Moderate Secularism
Tariq Modood
Secularism: Open Space and Visible Diversity
Tariq Ramadan
Secularism, Tolerance and Accommodation: Considering the Ethic of Responsibility
Gurpreet Mahajan
Reconciling Personal and Collective Secular Practices with Personal and Collective
Religious Identities
Joseph H.H. Weiler
Thursday, 11 June
09:00-13:00 The Governance of Religious Diversity in the Public Space: Perspectives from Asia
Chair
Olivier Roy
09:00-11:00
The Governance of Religious Diversity in the Public Space: Indonesia in Comparative Perspective
Alfred Stepan
The Governance of Religious Diversity in Malaysia: Evolving and Emerging Contestations
in a ‘Plural Society’
Che Wan Ahmad Zawawi bin Ibrahim
11:00-11:15
Coffee break
11:15-13:00
The Governance of Religious Diversity in India: Some Reflections
Rochana Bajpai
Governing Religious Diversity through Principled Pragmatism. The Case of Australia
Geoffrey Brahm Levey
13:00-14:15
Lunch break
14:15-16:15
The Politics of Religious Diversity: Areas of Tension and Examples of Accommodation
Freedom of Religion in Europe: Finding the Golden Mean Between Too Little and
Too Much Protection
Marie Claire Foblets
Islamism Vs Freedom of Religion in Turkey. The JDP’s Regulation of Religious Diversity
Haldun Gülalp
16:15-16:30
Coffee break
16:30-18:30 Governing Religious Diversity and Gender Relations
Chair Laura Downs
Governing Religious Diversity in Malaysia: The Gender Dimension
Helen Ting Mu Hung
The Monopoly of Jewish Orthodoxy in Israel and Its Effects on the Status of Women
Raphael Cohen-Almagor
Friday, 12 June
09:00-11:00
The Governance of Religious Plurality in the Middle East
Chair
Nida Alahmad
Passive Secularism, Islamic Ethics, and Democracy: Why Did the “Turkish Model” Fail?
Ahmet Kuru
Citizen Sect: Religion as a Reified Order for Managing Lebanon’s Diversity
Maha Yahya
11.00-11:30
Coffee break
11:30-13:30 Roundtable: Identifying Battlefields for the Next Decade
Chair
Anna Triandafyllidou
Olivier Roy Bhikhu Parekh
Effie Fokas
13.30- 14.30
Lunch ■
Participants
Nida Alahmad EUI, Italy
Rochana Bajpai SOAS, UK
Raphael Cohen-Almagor University of Hull, UK
Laura Downs EUI, Italy
Marie Claire Foblets Max Planck Institute, Germany
Effie Fokas ELIAMEP, Greece
Haldun Gülalp Yildiz Technical University, Turkey
Ahmet Kuru San Diego State University, USA
Brigid Laffan EUI, Italy
Geoffrey Brahm Levey University of New South Wales, Australia
Gurpreet Mahajan Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
Tariq Modood University of Bristol, UK
Bhikhu Parekh House of Lords, UK
Tariq Ramadan Oxford University, UK
Olivier Roy EUI, Italy
Alfred Stepan Columbia University, USA
Helen Ting Mu Hung Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
Anna Triandafyllidou EUI, Italy
Joseph H. H. Weiler EUI, Italy
Maha Yahya Carnegie Middle East Center, Lebanon
Che Wan Ahmad Zawawi bin Ibrahim University Brunei Darussalam, Brunei/ University of Malaysia, Malaysia