Majoritarian Religion, Cultural Justification and Nonreligion
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 symb...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Finnish Society for the Study of Religion
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Temenos |
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| Online Access: | https://journal.fi/temenos/article/view/113798 |
| _version_ | 1797979113532686336 |
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| author | Teemu Taira Lori Beaman |
| author_facet | Teemu Taira Lori Beaman |
| author_sort | Teemu Taira |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
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’.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:33:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9085d5adce6347d58687f8f983938798 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2342-7256 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:33:53Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Finnish Society for the Study of Religion |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Temenos |
| spelling | doaj.art-9085d5adce6347d58687f8f9839387982022-12-22T16:11:07ZengFinnish Society for the Study of ReligionTemenos2342-72562022-12-0158210.33356/temenos.113798Majoritarian Religion, Cultural Justification and NonreligionTeemu Taira0Lori Beaman1University of HelsinkiUniversity of Ottawa 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’. https://journal.fi/temenos/article/view/113798CulturalizationFinlandLawNonreligionReligious Freedom |
| spellingShingle | Teemu Taira Lori Beaman Majoritarian Religion, Cultural Justification and Nonreligion Temenos Culturalization Finland Law Nonreligion Religious Freedom |
| title | Majoritarian Religion, Cultural Justification and Nonreligion |
| title_full | Majoritarian Religion, Cultural Justification and Nonreligion |
| title_fullStr | Majoritarian Religion, Cultural Justification and Nonreligion |
| title_full_unstemmed | Majoritarian Religion, Cultural Justification and Nonreligion |
| title_short | Majoritarian Religion, Cultural Justification and Nonreligion |
| title_sort | majoritarian religion cultural justification and nonreligion |
| topic | Culturalization Finland Law Nonreligion Religious Freedom |
| url | https://journal.fi/temenos/article/view/113798 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT teemutaira majoritarianreligionculturaljustificationandnonreligion AT loribeaman majoritarianreligionculturaljustificationandnonreligion |