The State and Religious Leadership: Empowerment, Disempowerment, and its Consequences

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel

Abstract

When and which religious leaders are more likely to engage with or contest the state? This panel explores the ways in which the state structures loci of religious leadership and means through which religious leaders compete vertically (with the state) and horizontally (with other religious or social actors) to assert their social and/or political relevance. The papers consist of comparative analyses of religious leadership across nations (China, South Korea, Myanmar, and Indonesia) and religious traditions (Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity). In particular, the panel sheds light on how state institutions and the political economy of religious authority intersect. Jung argues that Christianity has become the vanguard of right-wing movements in South Korea by accumulating wealth and forging a strong network between church elites and politicians; Chang shows that the contestations over the usage of religious sites in China are structured by the state’s framework of economic development and religious governance; examining Buddhist movements in Burma, Reny discusses three different approaches that the regime used to prevent and control dissent among Buddhist monks; and, investigating the origins of Islamic cooperation and competition in Indonesia, Pelletier discusses colonial legacies that developed two different ways of Muslim elite integration. These papers converge on the idea that institutional approaches are key to understand religious leadership: the state recognizes some leaders, control certain activities, and limits or regulate economic accumulation. Taken together, these papers advance our understanding of religious leadership and politics in Asia.

Area of Study

• Interarea-Border Crossing

Session Organizer

• Alexandre Pelletier, University of Toronto

Chair

• André Laliberté, University of Ottawa

Individual Presentations

• Christianity and Rightist Movements in South Korea - Eunsook Jung, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

• Between Spiritual Economy and Religious Commodification: Negotiating Temple Autonomy in China - Kuei-Min Chang, Columbia University

• Authoritarian Control of Buddhism Under Burma’s Than Shwe in Comparative Perspective - Marie-Ève Reny, Université de Montréal

• The Political Economy of Islamic Solidarity in Late-Colonial Indonesia - Alexandre Pelletier, University of Toronto

Discussant

• Rita Smith Kipp, Georgian Court University