Guiding Frameworks
Religious Liberalism and Black Women's Political Thought, 1865-1915
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Christopher Cameron
The late 19th century witnessed the ascendancy of multiple African American leaders and intellectuals who were profoundly shaped by their liberal faith, including both Unitarianism and Transcendentalism. Some are well-known, including Francis Ellen Watkins Harper and Fannie Barrier Williams, while others are less so, including Maria Baldwin, principal of the Agassiz School in Cambridge, and Edmonia Goodelle Highgate, a Transcendentalist who spoke before the National Negro Convention in Syracuse, NY and published multiple essays in the AME Church's Christian Recorder. Despite the clear influence of religious liberalism on their intellectual production and activist commitments, scholars of Unitarianism have largely ignored these Black religious liberals and scholars of African American religion have either ignored or downplayed their Unitarian faith. This paper thus has two aims. First, through an analysis of published essays and letters, poems, novels, speeches, and archival sources, it demonstrates the centrality of Unitarian theology and social thought in these Black women's religious lives and activist commitments, especially Unitarian notions of self-culture and emphasis on the power of the written word. Second, the paper demonstrates the critical importance that Black women played in Unitarian politics during the second half of the 19th century, especially in debates about the denomination's Christian identity. Black women's engagement with religious liberalism between the Civil War and World War I presaged a more robust Black presence within the Unitarian and Universalist denominations in the early 20th century and highlights a key, yet understudied, aspect of Black religion and politics in postbellum America.
Religious Extremism and Legal Gaps: Navigating Vulnerability in the Intersection of Faith, Law, and Human Rights
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Russell Hoban
In July 2017, a pastor's inflammatory comments on same-sex marriage ignited a challenge at the intersection of religious expression and legal protection in Aotearoa-New Zealand. The pastor declared that while he was not opposed to same-sex marriage per se, he endorsed violent consequences for such unions, invoking a grim interpretation of biblical texts. His public sermon, suggesting "homo death" and advocating shooting such men in the head as a response to same-sex relationships, highlighted a significant gap in existing legislation. Aotearoa-New Zealand’s current laws, aimed at curbing excessive speech inciting violence, do not encompass sexual orientation as a protected category, leaving the police and Human Rights Commission powerless to act. As a doctoral student in theology, I embarked on a landmark case challenging this legislative shortfall, with support from the Human Rights Commission and pro bono human rights lawyers. This paper traces the journey of this ‘religiously justified hate speech’ case through the Human Rights Commission, High Court, and Court of Appeal, and its forthcoming steps to the Supreme Court and potentially the United Nations Human Rights Council. It intersects with transdisciplinary practical research, drawing from law, religious studies, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and public policy. The discussion examines the reversal of religious and spiritual institutions from protectors to exacerbators of vulnerabilities. It critically engages with the tension between secular human rights frameworks and religious perspectives, exploring how religiously inspired violence intersects with issues of gender, sexuality, and legal protection in contemporary society.
Translating Modernity into the Islamic Paradigm: Toward an Ethical Project of Liberation
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Salah Basalamah
Modern social theory has discussed the existence of multiple modernities as alternatives to the dominant Western model (Eisenstadt 2000). Decolonial thinkers like Quijano (1991) and Mignolo (2000) have called for "de-linking" from Western modernity to create decolonized “transmodern” perspectives (Dussel 1995). Western modernity, once seen as universal, is now considered just one expression, its global reach attributed to colonial empires (Grosfoguel 2006). While critiques of Western modernity abound, few philosophies have addressed the coexistence and ethical differentiation of modernities. Moroccan philosopher Taha Abderrahman offers a framework for an endogenous Muslim modernity as an alternative to the Western model. His works, The Question of Ethics (2000) and The Spirit of Modernity (2005), move from critiquing Western modernity to proposing a Muslim version, where ethics is a defining feature. I argue that translation is key to connecting ethics and modernity. For Abderrahman, translation is not just the adoption of modern principles but an ethical process of transforming from dependence on the West to an autonomous, self-directed modernity. His system seeks to "translate" modernity’s spirit—free from Western dominance—into a Muslim version grounded in Islamic ethics, offering a more effective response to global challenges. This theoretical approach uses translation as the ethical basis for creating a Muslim modernity that integrates core Islamic values and provides an alternative to Western modernity.
