Search Results

Beginning in the 1820s, a symbiotic relationship prevailed between the Perushim and the Protestant missionaries active in the Land of Israel such as Joseph Wolf and the London Society for the Promotion of Christianity Amongst the Jews. The missionaries saw the return of the Jews to the Promised Land as essential to the messianic process; the Perushim were happy to accept economic, medical, and other forms of material aid from the missionaries, and saw gentile involvement in the rebuilding of the land as part of the messianic process as they envisioned it. At the same time, there were tensions related to the missionaries’ efforts to convert the Jews. Matters grew more complex in the 1830s when the Perushim saw the enlightened, European (read: Christian)-style reign of Muhammad Ali as displacing to a degree the role of the Christian missionaries, and Jews and Christians throughout the world began to anticipate more intensely the fateful year of 1840. The atmosphere is vividly portrayed in Lehren’s correspondence. Ties between the Perushim’s leadership and the Christian missionaries were strengthened in the wake of the terrifying Damascus blood libel in March 1840, when the missionaries turned out to be the Jews’ only allies. At the same time, the missionaries increased their efforts to proselytize, taking steps as radical as the appointment of a Jewish convert as Anglican bishop in Jerusalem. The passing of 1840 without the Messiah’s appearance produced a crisis of faith, making many Jews more vulnerable to the missionaries’ efforts. Jewish writers (such as Aviezer of Ticktin) sought to play down the crisis, offering reasons for the Messiah’s delay.

Some faith-based social service programs incorporate specifically religious content, intended to expose beneficiaries to religious resources, messages, or activities. Religious program elements include religious references in program self-descriptions, religious objects in the program environment, invitations to religious activities, prayer, use of sacred texts, worship, sharing of personal testimonies, religious teachings, and invitations to a personal faith commitment (proselytizing). Seven variables further describe the style or format of these religious elements, particularly whether they are mandatory, and how they are structured into the program methodology. From this follows five general strategies for incorporating a religious dimension into social services: implicit, invitational, relational, integrated-optional, and mandatory.

The Arya Samaj has long been distinguished among nineteenth century reform organizations as forerunner of Hindu nationalist politics and exemplar of Hindu religious intolerance. Arya Samaj practices that can be classed as proselytizing lie at the heart of this scholarly assessment: practices of religious controversy between contending Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian organizations; and the shuddhi ritual of conversion or purification. This chapter argues that understandings of the so-called proselytizing activities of the Arya Samaj have been circumscribed by the framing narrative of Hindu Tolerance. One consequence is a near exclusive focus on the motives or intentions of Hindu elite ‘proselytizers’ in the Arya Samaj. When shuddhi is viewed from the perspective of those who pursued conversion, its subversive potential becomes visible. The chapter treats the case of the Arya Samaj controversialist and former Muslim, Dharm Pal, who pursued shuddhi as a step towards radical caste reform.

Confronting enduring historiographical assumptions that hold that the East India Company’s policies and attitudes were hostile or ambivalent towards religion, this chapter argues that religion was in fact central to the Company’s constitution and political thought in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. While emphasizing the importance of toleration as a key principle of political economy, essential for cultivating populous and commercially vibrant settlements, Company leaders exhibited a serious commitment to protecting and preserving Protestantism in Asia. Its leaders wrote in the languages of religion, apparently deeply invested in the notion of Providence and the role of God in shaping its establishment abroad. They also understood, like many in the early modern world, that supervision over religion was a critical aspect of sovereignty and a fundamental duty of government. Company policy established and governed standards for religious worship and moral behavior, in another attempt to cultivate virtuous and obedient settlers. It also sought to curb the influence of Catholicism and Islam in its settlements, and promoted the establishment of chaplaincies, churches, and even a form of proselytizing especially amongst those non-Protestant settlers in its colonies.

This chapter examines the legal issues surrounding an employee's proselytization of other employees. Most people tend to keep their religious beliefs to themselves, while others feel obligated to express their deeply held beliefs to those with whom they come in contact. This is especially the case with evangelical Christians, who are often cited as those more likely to engage their coworkers in religious discussion. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires employers to reasonably accommodate their workers' religious observances and practices unless such accommodation imposes an undue hardship upon the conduct of business. This chapter considers the challenges faced by a company in trying to balance the religious commitments of its employees with its normal business needs by discussing the case of the Tulon Company of Richmond in its dispute with Charita Chalmers. It also looks at a number of other court cases that address the question of whether an employee's religious practices amount to unlawful proselytizing and should be barred from the workplace.

This chapter examines the legal issues surrounding an employer's proselytization of its employees. When an employer engages in proselytizing of its employees, it may be violating Title VII because workers who find themselves in those circumstances are more likely to endure repeated violations of their rights rather than risk losing their jobs by reacting negatively to efforts to convert them. Similarly, a job applicant made aware of the religious beliefs and practices of an employer may decide to ignore its proselytization endeavors in hopes of gaining employment. This chapter considers a number of court cases to show that an employer is always skating on thin ice when it proselytizes in the workplace, including those involving the Sports and Health Club, the Townley Manufacturing Company, and Preferred Home Health Care.

This chapter examines how the courts have addressed proselytizing in public sector workplaces. Employer intervention in the attempts by one or more employees to convert coworkers or proselytize customers or clients has become more common as members of fundamentalist, evangelical, and other religious groups have become more emboldened to persuade coworkers and others to accept their religious beliefs and practices. This chapter considers the conflict that may arise between employers and employees when the latter assert their right to proselytize, citing the First Amendment's free exercise and establishment clauses. It also explains who between the employer or the employee prevails in such conflicts by discussing a number of court cases, such as those involving Franklin Baz, Phillip Bishop, John Peloza, Jo Ann Knight, Eugene Lumpkin, and Monte Tucker. Finally, it asks whether there are circumstances that allow employee proselytization in public sector workplaces.

This chapter considers the collective domestic experience of Protestant piety. Family prayers were supposed to have been said collectively at least twice a day, led by the head of the household. The contents and nature of these prayers is examined, in particular the recurrence of both conformist and subversive political messages in them; and the varied evidence for actual practice is also examined. The chapter also includes an analysis of the use of table-graces and of other mealtime pieties, which argues that these owed as much to social positioning as to piety. And, just as family prayers were often not led by a male head of household, defying gender roles, table-graces were often said by children. The chapter also considers the practice of godly conference in the household, and the vexed problem of how to socialise with sinners – with particular attention to the daunting prospect of proselytising them.

This chapter examines Tablighi techniques that are intended to make and keep ideas relevant, believable, and embodied. Tablighi Jamaat is a conservative Islamic piety movement that has made significant inroads into Kyrgyzstan since the 1990s. Movements such as the Tablighi Jamaat recognize the pulsating quality of faith and have devised their own strategies to combat the dissipation of conviction. Their central energizing practice is called dawat, or proselytizing tour. This chapter first provides a background on dawatchis (participants in dawat, or “travelers”) in Kyrgyzstan before discussing the “route there,” which sets in motion a process of detachment and separation from everyday life that allows for the formation of communitas. It also considers the importance of storytelling to the success of dawat.

The relationship between conservative, evangelical Protestants and Latter-day Saints had long been adversarial. For decades evangelicals had regarded Mormonism as something other than a Christian religion. Yet what happened in the 1980s seemed different, in tone and tactics—especially considering the success of the film The God Makers. Why did familiar anti-Mormon charges gain wider traction in the 1980s? In the search for souls Latter-day Saints and evangelicals had long been competitors; an added complication in 1980 was that those most opposed to Latter-day Saint theology were also those most interested in securing positions of national political influence. Just as the Christian Right was on the rise, so too was the number of new Mormons in the South and the Midwest—America’s evangelical heartland. It was, as Newsweek said, a “turf war,” with implications for both proselytizing and political alliances.

This chapter analyses religious freedom as a universal human right. It argues that, in order to be truly universal, the concept of freedom of religion must take the Asian religious experience more comprehensively into account. Furthermore, the right to convert from one’s religion, as an expression of freedom must also be accompanied by an equally clear enunciation of the right to retain one’s religion. A contribution of Hindu thought to the discourse on human rights is to draw attention to the fact that whether religious freedom is ensured or not will depend on the rules of engagement depending on whether the parties involved are: (i) proselytizing religions, that is, Islam and Christianity; (ii) non-proselytizing religions, that is, Hinduism and Judaism; or (iii) proselytizing and non-proselytizing religions, that is, Christianity and Hinduism. The chapter advances three propositions based on Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This chapter emphasizes the importance of two elements that are critical for the success of Yiguandao’s expansionary ambition: the training of talents able to efficiently proselytize and the sophisticated structuration of missionary strategies. Talents are trained in systematic sessions that all adepts have to follow on a weekly basis. The chapter delves into these sessions, showing how they combine solid spiritual training and the gradual development of useful proselytizing skills. This efficient management of human resources is backed by sophisticated strategies of development. The chapter introduces the multilayered environment in which a given place of worship operates and its adepts circulate. It also provides details about how missionary work is carefully and methodically devised and implemented, nevertheless leaving room for adaptation to local conditions.

This chapter highlights how French Salafists try to promote a type of relationship with the rest of the society that is built upon their feeling that they are the elect. This is not so much a cult that Salafists try to identify with as a sort of religious aristocracy in which they consider themselves superior to other Muslims and, of course, non-Muslims. By embracing a certain conception of politics, as well as by appealing to certain economic and cultural customs, habits, and norms, Salafists have been building a countersociety. It may seem that they therefore wish to split from the rest of the society, but they are actually promoting another type of socialization, one built upon the desire to appear as a sort of cast.

Wherever there have been significant numbers of Muslims outside of Arabia, there has been some Ajami literacy. This is because Ajami results from the spread of Islam and its accompanying Arabic script. Just as the Latin script was adapted for some languages when Christianity was adopted by many cultures, Islam also introduced the Arabic script to sub-Saharan Africa and was modified to write numerous African languages. The techniques used in contemporary Ajami writings are ancient. The Arabic script itself is believed to have resulted from analogous techniques applied to the ancient Aramaic script. This chapter shows how dual literacies in Arabic and Ajami have spread in West Africa as the result of the expansion of Islam and its Quranic education system, proselytizing, and the circulation of people and texts.

Chapter 1 introduces the notion or ideal-type of a missionary-adept in order to highlight the importance of proselytizing for Yiguandao adepts. The typical itinerary of the adept is detailed, with its different phases: initiation, participation to Dharma seminars (fahui), systematic training, and activities carried out in places of worship (fotang). These different elements illuminate the gradual process of increasing involvement of new adepts in the group up to the point where they ultimately become missionary-adepts. As an ideal-type, the missionary-adept points to an adept who embraces most of Yiguandao’s ideology, has turned vegetarian and has taken progressive commitments and responsibilities in the organization to the point where the religious perspective has become the prevailing driving force in his or her life. The latter is totally dedicated to the promotion of the Dao.

Using a Weberian theoretical framework, chapter 2 focuses on the ways faith is confirmed. The issue of confirmation (Bewährung) is of the utmost importance since faith is hardly definitely acquired and, for most of the people, constantly needs to be reaffirmed. The chapter demonstrates that modes of inner confirmation of one’s faith (of one’s religious charisma, of one’s certainty to be saved, of one’s religious virtuosity) in the Yiguandao are tightly linked to proselytizing work and therefore directly beneficial to the group’s expansion. Additionally, it explores a number of features (e.g., spirit-writing) that do not come from the missionary-adept himself or herself, but from the outside and that reinforce the certitude of the adept that the faith he or she embraces is the true one.

This chapter focuses on the story of UBF missionaries and examines why Korean evangelicals pursued missions in America and why they were particularly interested in proselytizing white Americans. It argues that South Korea’s neocolonial linkages with the United States and its Christians opened the doors for the Korean missionaries to come to America, the nation known to Koreans as the “great nation” and “the land where dreams come true.” The Korean missionaries also framed the United States, as do other global South missionaries, as a “Christian” nation in trouble that they needed to revive. It is also argued that much of the missionaries’ enthusiasm to revive America, the “modern Rome,” was part of hyper-Korean evangelicals’ drive for personal and national uplift—to transition from “rice Christians” to history makers on the world stage.