Comic Strip Syncretism

Some syncretism humor from xkcd.com.

Book Club - God is Back #2 & #3 - Fall 2011

In Part I (Chapters 1-4) of their book, Micklethwait and Wooldrige contrast religion in the United States and Europe. They argue that the commitment by government to maintain a separation from church actually helped enhance religiosity in the United States. This claim is not intuitive for some people because it is thought that religion is in part a public good, and standard economic logic says that governments ought to provide public goods.

In Part II (Chapters 5-7), the authors look more closely at religion in the U.S. The go so far as to claim that

The American religious marketplace is almost a study in perfect competition: there are no real barriers to entry, the domestic market is big enough to support a mind-boggling variety of religious producers, and new religious entrepreneurs are always rising up to challenge incumbents. (P. 174)

Think of this quote in light of my comments about Part I of the book. Remember from class that a public good is defined as a good that is non-rivalrous and non-excludable (a club good is non-rivalrous and excludable). If religion is a public good, why is it provided in such high supply by private suppliers? How can we have such a competitive religious marketplace for a public good? Is religion a public good? If so, how might religion be different from typical public goods that we think ought to be provided by government? If not, why not?

Hajj 2011

The Hajj is the largest pilgrimage in the world. As one of the five pillars of Islam, it is a religious duty for each Muslim to undertake at least once in his or her lifetime given financial means and health. The Hajj will occur in the first or second week of November this year, so it is only weeks away.

Undertaking this pilgrimage involves traveling to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Some people must save their whole lives to pay for the trip, while others are able to do it multiple times. For more information, see this brief entry at CNN and this longer entry in wikipedia.

I think it is good for us to think of the Hajj in terms of our notion of religious capital. Notice how it is described in the CNN entry. One person refers to it is "spiritual boot camp," which suggests it is an enterprise that builds a person's religious capital. Yet, due to the high cost of going, we expect that participants are individuals with already fairly high religious capital. This is a great example of the chicken-and-egg problem mentioned in class. Oftentimes, religious participation results from religious capital and builds it at the same time.

Kazakhstan's President Signs the Restrictive Religion Law

As reported by Forum 18. I have mentioned this before, most recently here. This is most strident law of its kind passed since I have been teaching this course.

Book Club - God is Back #1 - Fall 2011

Micklethwait and Wooldridge open their book by presenting China as a surprising place for religious resurgence. The Marxist agenda in the mid-twentieth century took great measures to stamp religion out, yet "By 2050, China could well be the world's biggest Muslim nation as well as its biggest Christian one" (p. 5).

One of the main questions this book seeks to answer is how and why such a resurgence is happening. Part of the authors' answer is that modernity and religion are not as antithetical as many people have claimed. As you read, look for clues that support their claim.

A New Jewish News App

Designed with the iPad in mind, the Jewish Journal app provides up-to-date news and other content. See the story here. According to Rob Eshman, who is affiliated with the company that produced the app:

The first Jewish news came down from Mount Sinai on stone tablets. ... We believe the digital tablet will be the most important news delivery system of the future, so we committed to developing the best and first Jewish news app for it.

The app is available for free. A question for you: is this app an economic good?

More in Information on Kazakhstan's New Religious Restrictions

As has been mentioned in earlier posts, a law has been proposed in Kazakhstan that would dramatically affect the operations of many religious groups. Among other things, the law would:

• De-register all currently existing religious organizations and require a costly re-registration.
  
• Require religious groups to have their religious writing and documents to be evaluated by the state.
  
• Ban all religious activity for non-registered groups.
  
• Impose censorship of religious literature.
  
• Restrict distribution of religious literature to religious buildings...
  
• But also require religious groups to obtain state approval to build or open religious buildings.
  

The Institute on Religion and Public Policy has recently released their own legislative analysis of the proposed law. The law is still under consideration by the Kazakhstan Parliament, but it was passed by the Parliament's Lower House on September 21.

This unfolding event is a great example for us of how religious markets exist within legal and institutional settings and that the nature of religion in a religious market can change due to changes in that setting. This will be a recurring theme in our course.

13th Annual Report on International Religious Freedom

On September 13, the US State Department issued its 13th Annual Report on International Religious Freedom. This report, which is required by an act of Congress:

documents major developments with respect to religious freedom in 198 countries and territories from July-December 2010. The report reflects a broad understanding of universal religious freedom, one that includes the rights to hold private beliefs, including agnosticism or atheism, as well as the right to communal religious expression and education (quoted from the Executive Summary).

One of the most interesting things to look for whenever the report comes out is its identification of the most egregious violators of religious freedom. They are named in the Executive Summary, which is a good section to read to get a good sense of the entire report.