Expert Seminar: The Impact of Religious Freedom Research (Part 1/2)

Описание: Monday 18 May 2020: 14:00-17:00 (Amsterdam time)
Online (open to the public)
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam / International Journal for Religious Freedom

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in academia in the documentation and measurement of religious freedom, leading to the development of an increasingly rich corpus of religious freedom monitoring instruments, ranging from qualitative monographs and narrative reports to surveys and quantitative tools. As a parallel development, more and more national governments, as well as supranational bodies, have taken interest in the issue of religious freedom, developing their own documentation tools and, in some cases, appointing specialized officers to promote religious freedom in foreign or domestic policy. Notwithstanding these developments, there is little consensus about the conceptualization and operationalization of religious freedom, as well as about the proper methodology to measure it. Moreover, it is unclear what the effectiveness of religious freedom research has been to combat religious freedom violations. During this expert seminar, scholars and practitioners will discuss the impact of religious freedom research on academia, on policy and on vulnerable religious groups.