ABSTRACT

Taking a critical approach to the concept of ‘religious pluralism’, this book examines the dynamics of religious co-existence in Asia as they are directly addressed by governments, or indirectly managed by groups and individuals. It looks at the quality of relations that emerge in encounters among people of different religious traditions or among people who hold different visions within the same tradition. Chapters focus in particular on the places of everyday religious diversity in Asian societies in order to explore how religious groups have confronted new situations of religious diversity. The book goes on to explore the conditions under which active religious pluralism emerges (or not) from material contexts of diversity.

part I|79 pages

Pluralism and the state

chapter 3|16 pages

Sacred sites and social conflict

Yasukuni shrine and religious pluralism in Japanese society 1

chapter 4|20 pages

Hierarchical plurality

State, religion and pluralism in southwest China

chapter 5|19 pages

Literacy wars

Children's education and weekend madrasahs in Singapore 1

part II|81 pages

Conviviality in the city

chapter 6|20 pages

In the name of God

South Asian Muslims in a Chinese temple fair in Hong Kong

chapter 7|25 pages

Sweetness and light

The bright side of pluralism in a Rajasthan town 1

chapter 8|15 pages

Overcoming ‘hierarchized conviviality' in the Manila metropolis

Religious pluralism and urbanization in the Philippines

part III|85 pages

Pluralism and individual identities

chapter 10|21 pages

Cosmopolitan Islam and inclusive Chineseness

Chinese-style mosques in Indonesia

chapter 11|19 pages

Ramadan in the newsroom

Malaysiakini, Tempo, and the State in Indonesia and Malaysia

chapter 12|19 pages

Pluralist currents and counter-currents in the Indonesian mass media

The case of Anand Krishna

chapter 13|22 pages

A Sufi, Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, TV Guru

Anandmurti Gurumaa