Is conversion a human right? A comparative look at religious zionism and Hindu nationalism

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

Freedom of religion, as understood in modern democratic societies and also in contemporary human rights discourse, is most often defined in terms of individual conscience. In this way, the freedom to change one's conscience – that is, the freedom to convert – epitomizes contemporary conceptions of religious freedom. But is religious conversion a human right? I do not purport to provide an answer to this question here, but rather to think about why this question is difficult to answer. I consider and compare the deep anxieties about religious conversion shared by religious Zionists and Hindu nationalists, as well as the ways in which the respective states of Israel and India have institutionalized these anxieties in their legal and political systems. A comparison of religious Zionist and Hindu nationalist anxieties about conversion allows us to appreciate how religious Zionists and Hindu nationalists continue to use not religious, but rather modern liberal ideals, such as the primacy of the rule of law and the importance of individual conscience in matters of religion, to institutionalize what can be described as illiberal policies on conversion. This complicates attempts to criticize religious Zionist and Hindu nationalist approaches to conversion on liberal grounds. While liberalism, democracy, and the rule of law are often seen as complementing one another, there can also be significant tensions between them. Religious Zionist and Hindu nationalist policies on conversion illustrate some of these tensions. At the same time, in academic discussions, it has become commonplace to point to the theological underpinnings of the modern nation-state. The comparison between religious Zionist and Hindu nationalist approaches to conversion allows us to see the other side of the coin in recognizing some of the ways in which the structures and commitments of the modern nation-state inform modern religious self-understandings. In the first part, I consider some of the broad affinities between religious Zionism and Hindu nationalism as they pertain to religious conversion. The second part shows how ambivalence about conversion informs not just religious Zionism and Hindu nationalism, but also their secular predecessors and counterparts. The third part focuses on the use religious Zionists and Hindu nationalists have made of modern liberal commitments to the rule of law and the priority of individual conscience in institutionalizing their anxieties about religious conversion.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationInstitutionalizing Rights and Religion
Subtitle of host publicationCompeting Supremacies
PublisherCambridge University Press
Pages241-260
Number of pages20
ISBN (Electronic)9781316599969
ISBN (Print)9781107153714
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2017

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Social Sciences

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