ABSTRACT
Three major religions were important to civil society in the countries in the study: Islam, Christianity and Buddhism. Each of them played a dual role in civil society’s struggles over human rights. On the one hand, religion can support broadly humanistic values – a sense of the intrinsic worth of the human person, of loving-kindness (mettā in Buddhist teaching) and solidarity – and invest them with transcendent significance. In addition, a religious affiliation may be helpful for pragmatic reasons, as religious organisations may encounter greater tolerance from repressive regimes than overtly political ones. On the other hand, each of these religions can support a project of purifying society, of creating a monolithic, ordered community of the pious. The most extreme manifestation of this tendency at time of writing was the growth of a deeply intolerant form of Buddhist nationalism in Myanmar.
For some activists who do not profess a religious faith, human rights themselves, or the cause of resistance to oppression itself, took on spiritual significance. Such activists drew sustenance from a sense of attachment to absolute values that transcended the self. Not all activists, however, saw the need for such transcendence. Simple commitment to a chosen project, to ‘doing one’s job’, may be enough to sustain motivation in the face of oppression.
