This article was downloaded by:

On: 6 August 2010

Access details: Access Details: Free Access
Publisher Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-
41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

The Review of Faith & International Affairs

Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t917062401

IN DEFENSE OF ORGANIZED RELIGION

Dennis R. Hoover

Online publication date: 15 June 2010

To cite this Article Hoover, Dennis R.(2010) 'IN DEFENSE OF ORGANIZED RELIGION', The Review of Faith &
International Affairs, 8: 2, 1 — 2
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/15570274.2010.487985
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2010.487985

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or
systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or
distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.

The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents
will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses
should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss,
actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly
or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
 F R O M T H E E D I T O R

IN DEFENSE OF ORGANIZED
RELIGION
By Dennis R. Hoover

I
nfluenced strongly by Protestantism and interpret violations of religious freedom,
The
10.1080/15570274.2010.487985
RFIA_A_487985.sgm
1557-0274
Original
Taylor
8202010
dhoover@globalengage.org
DennisHoover
00000Summer
Review
and
& Article
Francis
(print)/1931-7743
Francis
of Faith
2010& International
(online)Affairs

Enlightenment liberalism, American everything from relatively minor forms of

culture and law have generally conceived discrimination to severe religious persecution.
of religious identity and religious freedom The challenge of promoting religious freedom
in individualistic terms. Above all it is the is not only to mobilize against the shocking
individual’s freedom of conscience that is injustices that individual believers sometimes
Downloaded At: 20:03 6 August 2010

celebrated in the United States. The First suffer for their faith—beatings, imprisonment,
Amendment of the Constitution bars even martyrdom—but also to invest in the
government from prohibiting the “free exercise creation of mature legal systems that protect
of religion”; Americans tend to think first of the individual and organizational dimensions
individuals exercising this freedom, and only of religious expression.
secondarily of organizations. In this issue of The Review of Faith &
But the communal expression of religion— International Affairs, we are pleased to present a
particularly in non-Western contexts—is at diverse international collection of papers on this
least as important as individual expression. This theme drawn largely from a conference series
is recognized in the United Nations’ 1948 on religion and rule of law that the Institute for
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article Global Engagement has helped catalyze and
18 of the Declaration reads: “Everyone has the organize. (To date, cosponsors have included:
right to freedom of thought, conscience, and Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or
religion; this right includes freedom to change Belief, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Pu
his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone Shi Institute for Social Sciences, International
or in community with others and in public or Center for Law and Religion Studies at
private, to manifest his religion or belief in Brigham Young University Law School,
teaching, practice, worship, and observance.” Center for the Study of Law and Religion at
While there are, thankfully, strong individual Emory University Law School, Institute for
protections articulated in this seminal Religious Studies at the Vietnamese Academy
document, the Declaration also explicitly of Social Sciences, and the J.M. Dawson
defends the right to publicly manifest religion in Institute of Church–State Studies at Baylor
community with others—not just privately and University.)
individually but outwardly and in association The forms of injustice faced by religious
with others. organizations may sometimes seem more
There is, in short, an organizational bureaucratic than dramatic, but they are
dimension to religious freedom.
Understanding the complexities of this Dennis R. Hoover (D.Phil. Politics, Oxford) is Director of the Center on Faith
dimension in turn shapes how we define and & International Affairs at the Institute for Global Engagement.
Dennis R. Hoover (D.Phil. Politics, Oxford) is Director of the Center on Faith & International Affairs at the Institute for Global Engagement.

the review of faith & international affairs | 1

 in defense of organized religion

important nonetheless. As Ronald Boyd-
MacMillan wrote in the spring 2005 issue of this
journal: “Religious persecution is rarely just a
matter of beatings in jail or martyrs in the streets.
Downloaded At: 20:03 6 August 2010
Rather, it is most often a matter of laws in the
local council, manipulation of by-laws, or the
stone-walling of requests. The persecuted are
more often squeezed than smashed.” ❖

2 | summer 2010