Just as for the terms "political repression," "forced migration." and "voluntary migration," I have dedicated a significant amount of time toward defining and providing examples of "religious repression." I also searched for "religious persecution" and "religious oppression," to get a well-rounded view of the definition. After hours of searching, I realized that finding it actually defined in an academic paper is not as obvious as you think it may be. I was surprised that so many papers just delved right into the subject without first defining it.
Definitions:
The following text provide definitions of religious repression:
Article title: "Religious Persecution in Cross-National Context: Clashing Civilizations or Regulated Religious Economies?"
Author: Brian Grim
On page 20 Grim defines religious persecution as “physical abuse or physical displacement
due to one’s religious practices, profession, or affiliation”
and religious regulation as“the legal and social restrictions that
inhibit the practice, profession, or selection of religion.”
Grim uses the United States State Department list of countries that are characterized by religious repression, as well as the International Repression Report (IRR). The IRR's second index measures the following: "the social regulation of religion and is defined as the restrictions
placed on the practice, profession, or selection of religion by other religious
groups, associations, or the culture at large” (page 23)
The following article is from the Encyclopedia of Religion. First Article Title: "Persecution: Jewish Experience"
The first page defines religious persecution, as well as why it is so hard to define religious persecution.
Examples:
The following text provide examples of religious repression:
Article title: "Freedom, law, and prophecy: A brief history of Native American religious resistance"
Author: Lee Irwin
This article refers to religious repression from the United States government towards the Native Americans. When researching, I noticed this example come up a lot. Even though I of course knew this happened, the United States of America is not the first country that comes to mind when I think of governments guilty of religious repression. The paragraph below is an exert from the text:
“These laws not only abrogate First Amendment rights in a conscious and well documented policy of religious oppression, they also reveal a systematic attempt on the part of highly placed government officials to stamp out Native American religious practices. They also represent a determined policy to reconstruct Native religions in conformity with dominant Protestant majority values in a myopic vision of what constitutes "civilized" religious behavior. Such policy is found consistently in the Annual Reports of many commissioners of Indian Affairs from the creation of the office in 1832 through the appointment of John Collier in 1934.”
My next example incorporates modern day policy in the United States. This was by far the most interesting article to me. The article discusses an unusual topic, how “non-believers” are discriminated against in terms of accepting asylum applications. Dolance explains that the US has a history of turning away atheists by claiming that they do not fit the refugee category of religious repression. Article Title: "U.S. Asylum Law as a Path to Religious Persecution" by: Jack C. Dolance II
The following article is from the Encyclopedia of Religion. First Article Title: "Persecution: Jewish Experience"
The first page defines religious persecution, as well as why it is so hard to define religious persecution.
Examples:
The following text provide examples of religious repression:
Article title: "Freedom, law, and prophecy: A brief history of Native American religious resistance"
Author: Lee Irwin
This article refers to religious repression from the United States government towards the Native Americans. When researching, I noticed this example come up a lot. Even though I of course knew this happened, the United States of America is not the first country that comes to mind when I think of governments guilty of religious repression. The paragraph below is an exert from the text:
“These laws not only abrogate First Amendment rights in a conscious and well documented policy of religious oppression, they also reveal a systematic attempt on the part of highly placed government officials to stamp out Native American religious practices. They also represent a determined policy to reconstruct Native religions in conformity with dominant Protestant majority values in a myopic vision of what constitutes "civilized" religious behavior. Such policy is found consistently in the Annual Reports of many commissioners of Indian Affairs from the creation of the office in 1832 through the appointment of John Collier in 1934.”
My next example incorporates modern day policy in the United States. This was by far the most interesting article to me. The article discusses an unusual topic, how “non-believers” are discriminated against in terms of accepting asylum applications. Dolance explains that the US has a history of turning away atheists by claiming that they do not fit the refugee category of religious repression. Article Title: "U.S. Asylum Law as a Path to Religious Persecution" by: Jack C. Dolance II
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