The Spiritual Supermarket
Religious Pluralism and Globalization in the 21st Century: the Expanding
European Union and Beyond
at
The London School of Economics
19 April - 22 April 2001
Organised by
INFORM, UK
in co-operation with
CESNUR, Italy
&
RENNER, Denmark; REMID, Germany; FINYAR, Sweden, ISAR, USA; MMMMM,
Norway; ISORECEA, Eastern Europe,
and the Department of Sociology, LSE
There are still societies in which a particular kind of religion is taken
for granted as the truth, but more frequently today, with radical changes in
life-styles, economic and political structures and post-modern culture,
together with the growth of social and geographical mobility and, perhaps
most significantly, the expansion of the mass media, more and more people
are becoming aware of the existence of alternative beliefs and practices.
During the second half of the twentieth century there has emerged a host of
spiritual supermarkets in which the individual can shop around, selecting
the religion, world-view and rituals of his or her choice. The resulting
pluralism has given rise to all manner of unfamiliar behaviours, conflicts
and accommodations for the social scientist to study.
This international conference provides a forum for scholars from around the
world to share their observations on the growing diversity of religious and
spiritual beliefs, practices, and organizations within and across the
countries of the world. It will examine such topics as societal responses to
religious pluralism; the diverse relationships between new and old
religions, and the effects of globalization on such processes as religiously
motivated nationalism, the rise of fundamentalism and changes in identity
formation. The conference also aims to offer participants the opportunity to
develop international networks that will stimulate further comparative
research in the future.
The participants come from a broad range of disciplines such as sociology,
anthropology, social psychology, the history of religion, law, religious
studies and theology. Nearly all the speakers have an academic training,
most being associated with a university or other scholarly institution, but
a few have been invited to talk about their personal experiences as members
or former members of a particular religion. There are also representatives
of some of the various 'cult-watching groups' who will talk about their
experiences in 'the cult scene'.
The formal proceedings commence in the late afternoon of Thursday 19th April
with an introductory talk by Dr George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
This is followed by a reception where the participants can meet old friends
and make new acquaintances with common interests. On Saturday evening there
is a banquet at which the guest speaker, Dr. Bryan Wilson of All Souls
College, Oxford, will address the topic Absolutes and Relatives: New
Religions in Plural Society.
Plenary sessions include a panel on religion on the Internet, one on
minority faiths and the law, and another in which members and former members
of the Church of England, the Unification Church and The Family talk about
their experiences in (and out of) their respective religions.
The parallel sessions offer a rich variety of papers by scholars from over
thirty different countries. A large contingency from the United States and
Canada is joined by representatives from around Europe, with a particularly
impressive number from post-communist societies, as well as from Western
Europe, Australia, Asia, South America and Africa. Subjects to be discussed
range from theoretical issues surrounding the globalization of religion to
reports of empirical studies of religions transported to foreign lands. The
religions to be discussed range from traditional faiths such as Catholicism,
Hinduism and Islam to Paganism, Esotericism and the Occult, and from the
Messianic Community of the Twelve Tribes and Sai Baba and Dragon Rouge to
the Church of Scientology. Issues such as conflict, apocalyptic visions, the
changing concept of angels and religion in cyberspace are covered. Some
sessions concentrate on the religious situation in particular regions such
as Japan; the Baltic States; the Philippines and Afro-America. Other
sessions include such subjects as cult-watching groups and quasi religions.
Throughout the conference, participants will have the opportunity to visit
some of the religious and spiritual organizations to be found in the London
area. Participants will also have the opportunity to visit INFORM, a charity
founded in 1988 in order to offer enquirers information about alternative
religions that is as informed, balanced and up-to-date as possible. INFORM,
which is supported by the British Home Office and mainstream Churches, is
housed at the London School of Economics and contains a large collection of
resources related to new and minority religions and spiritual communities
both in Britain and around the world.
Registration for the conference, which is open to the public, starts at noon
on April 19th in the main building of the London School of Economics,
Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE (nearest underground: Holborn). Programme
details, including abstracts of papers to be presented, can be found on
www.cesnur.org <http://www.cesnur.org> .
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