Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion

A Hundred Years of Religious Freedom in Finland

Ilkka Huhta — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0200

This article examines how religious freedom has been implemented and interpreted in Finland over the last hundred years. Moving chronologically, I explore the most crucial developmental phases in religious freedom legislation and public discussion. The Act on the Freedom of Religion was only introduced after Finland’s independence in 1917 and entered into force at the beginning of 1923. The article shows themes that provoked much discussion in the 1920s and were interestingly repeated in the debate in the 1960s. The question of the relationship between the church and state was at the core of the Finnish public debate on freedom of religion from the outset. A similar discussion again became visible at the turn of the twenty-first century in connection with the basic rights reform and processing of the new Act on the Freedom of Religion. The strength of the Finnish state church system in society is still illustrated by the fact that the Act on the Freedom of Religion of 2003 did not really change the basic premise regarding the Lutheran and Orthodox churches, which hold a special position. Opinion remains divided on whether such a system is problematic for the realization of religious freedom.

Majoritarian Religion, Cultural Justification and Nonreligion

Teemu Taira, Lori Beaman — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0200

This article considers the turn to culture and heritage as a strategy for the preservation of majoritarian religious practices, including the implications of such a strategy for nonreligious people. This turn has been observed in analyses of court cases in which religious or cultural nature of symbols and practices has been negotiated. Drawing from previous scholarship regarding the turn, this article pays special attention to Finland by examining if and how cultural justification of symbols and practices takes place. We suggest that the shift to culture applies to Finland, although in international comparison Finnish instances are more prominent in public (media) discourses that refer to laws and legal experts than in court cases. We also argue that one of the consequences of this international development is that it becomes increasingly difficult for nonreligious people and also members of religious minorities to feel part of ‘us’ in a situation where justification by referring to ‘our culture and heritage’ is one of the strategies to define who and what belongs to ‘us’.

Islamic Family Law(s) in Finland

Mulki Al-Sharmani, Sanna Mustasaari — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0200

A central premise of the concept of freedom of religion is that the state has the obligation and authority to regulate and protect the religious rights of individuals and religious communities. However, this entails the state’s navigation of the rights of citizens vis-à-vis the norms of their religious communities, which in some cases may be in tension. The state must also maintain the country’s central legal principles. These premises are interconnected in vexing ways. This article studies how the concept of freedom of religion, with these underlying premises, applies to the practice of Islamic law in Finland. This question is reflected through an analysis of Finnish Muslims' marriage practices.
We argue for a nuanced understanding of the relationship between Islamic family law and freedom of religion. Towards this goal we employ the concept of wellbeing (building on Sarah White 2010) to locate the practice of Islamic family law in Finnish Muslims’ daily lives, whereby they pursue material, relational, and ethical needs and aspirations. We analyse how individuals conclude their marriages and the diverse motivations and meanings underlying these practices. Our aim is to capture the familial, economic, racial, political, and ethical processes through which Finnish Muslims continually and dynamically organize marriage (and divorce) and the implications for their freedom of religion on the one hand and for the Finnish state on the other. Our analysis draws on interview data collected in an ethnographic study of Muslim marriage and divorce practices in Finland in the period between 2013 and 2018.

A 'Nordic Religious Freedom Paradox'?

Lene Kühle — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Major research initiatives like the Religion and Politics project (RAS) lead by Jonathan Fox and the Pew Research Institute’s series on Government Restrictions have, in recent years, produced major data sets measuring the state of religious regulation and restrictions globally. These data sets, however, challenge the image of the Nordic countries as frontrunners in regard to freedom of religion or belief. Some scholars have however suggested the existence of the socalled Nordic the Nordic Human Rights Paradox, i.e. that while promoting humans rights globally, the implementation of human rights at home is not very convincing. This paper presents the two data sets and analyses the specific codings for the Nordic countries. The argument presented is that while the data in some cases points to the existence of a Nordic Human Rights Paradox in relation to freedom of religion and belief, there are also discrepancies between the way freedom of religion and belief has been operationalized by the two projects and the realities of religious lives in the Nordic countries.

Editorial

Tuula Sakaranaho, Pamela Slotte — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Matthew J. Kuiper: Da’wa: A Global History of Islamic Missionary Thought and Practice.

Tuomas Martikainen — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Book review of Matthew J. Kuiper: Da’wa: A Global History of Islamic Missionary Thought and Practice. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2021, 319 pp.

Jehu J. Hanciles: Migration and the Making of Global Christianity.

Tuomas Martikainen — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Book review of Jehu J. Hanciles: Migration and the Making of Global Christianity. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2021, 461 pp.

Nancy Tatom Ammerman: Studying Lived Religion: Contexts and Practices

Laura Bjørg Serup Petersen, Anne Agersnap — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Book review of Nancy Tatom Ammerman: Studying Lived Religion: Contexts and Practices. New York University Press, 2021, 257 pp.