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Today, religion has great social and political influence. Religion `returned' to politics and international relations following the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s. The case study focuses on a key expression of religion's influence: `religious soft power'. Religious soft power is the ability to wield influence in politics and international relations, despite the fact that religion has few conventional or `hard' attributes of power and influence (such as, financial, diplomatic or military resources). The research sets out strategies to enhance public understanding of religious soft power, including broadcast and internet dissemination, publishing ventures, and research seminars and conferences open to the public.
This impact case study relates to the development of a public theology for peace-making. Public theology concerns Christians engaging in dialogue with those outside church circles on various issues of common interest and involves urging Christians to take the opportunity to participate in the public domain in modern secular democracies. In the course of, and as a result of, his research on the public engagement of theology in the modern and post-modern societies of India, Korea and the UK, Professor Sebastian Kim has developed methodologies which enable theology to make a public contribution to peace-making.
LSE research has contributed to institutional capacity building and to the renewal of the study of religion in the former Soviet Union. More specifically, the LSE anthropologist Mathijs Pelkmans has contributed to the training of a new generation of local scholars in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia; he has helped introduce these scholars to contemporary research and to innovative methodologies, and has mentored them in critical social science. As stated in one of the testimonials: "the ultimate value of Mathijs' engagement has been to intensify dialogue between different research, educational, and broadly scholarly traditions, and thereby to facilitate our own efforts to develop a discipline which is relatively new in Central Asia".
The Religious Symbolism and Discrimination project consists of a body of research in the philosophy of religion that has effected changes in practice and awareness among religious practitioners, legal practitioners, and policy makers both within the North-West of England and nationally. This case study describes changes in users' awareness of the issues involved in religious-discrimination legal cases; changes in their religious literacy; and changes in their practice (particularly with regard to professional equalities training). The project delivered impact on civil life and public discourse through (a) a philosophical analysis of the concepts of symbol and belief in religious-discrimination cases; (b) a participatory research methodology that involved users in the construction of research right from the beginning; and (c) community-engagement activities devised to ensure that the research findings influenced users.
Professor Richard Norman's research has led to an improvement in the public awareness of humanist thought and value, both at national and international level. This impact was generated through articles written for a non-academic audience; public lectures and conference presentations; a report on humanist issues as the centrepiece of parliamentary debate in the House of Lords; and an appearance to discuss humanist perspectives on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze.
Research by Dr Hiroko Kawanami into the religious and social standing of nuns in Myanmar has helped to empower women in that country by guiding the work of what is now Myanmar's most prestigious Buddhist nunnery school, [text removed for publication], which Kawanami co-directs. By raising the standing of nuns in Myanmar, the school has expanded opportunities for the country's women and girls. Since 2008 the school has grown to provide a model of indigenous development, a space for civil society discussions, and a feature in Myanmar's emerging tourist itinerary. The school is informing the community-level capacity-building work of major non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as ActionAid, Oxfam, and UNICEF. Representatives of 20 NGOs convened at the school in 2013; thus, Kawanami's impact is spreading internationally.
This case study contains politically sensitive material given the still-volatile situation in Myanmar. For this reason, Lancaster University prefers that Kawanami's impact not be publicised widely.
Adam Dinham's work on religious literacy in secular contexts plays a substantial role in challenging and enabling policy makers, educators and publics to engage with religion and belief identity and plurality. He established the Religious Literacy Programme (RLP) to address the poor quality of conversation about religion and belief amongst policy-makers and professionals which his work has observed. It began with substantial funding from HEFCE to research and respond to approaches to religion and belief in universities in the context of extremism. This drew attention to religion and belief as significant but poorly understood and addressed identities. The programme then translated findings into practice-focused training which has been extensively delivered. RLP now also works with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Government Equalities Office (GEO) on religious literacy for employers, trades unions, and service providers, following the same intentional cycle of research translated in to training, and is part of a very senior initiative, led by EHRC, to review law and policy at a strategic level. The RLP entered in to partnership with Cambridge University in 2011 and the Coexist Foundation (based in London and Washington) in 2012 with the goal of founding a permanent public home in a purpose built centre in London. This is being taken forward in ways described below.
Sondra Hausner's AHRC-funded project, Vernacular Religion, grew out of her existing work with Nepalis around the world, and especially in the UK. Conducted in close collaboration with the Centre for Nepal Studies-UK, an organization run by Nepali social scientists for the benefit of Nepalis living in Britain, Hausner's research has taken up the multiple religious identities of the Nepali community in the UK. Based on voluntarily collected social data, her team's work led to a much clearer recognition of the specific cultural, social and religious profile of this migrant community. This information, of vital importance as British Nepalis define their identity and their roles in the wider society of Great Britain and transnationally, was fed back into the community through various channels including the non-academic publication Nepalis in the UK: An Overview (Adhikari, ed., CNS-UK 2012), participation in community integration programmes, and feedback sessions where findings of the team's research were discussed with community representatives, religious leaders, and policymakers.
Interdisciplinary research on religious framings and ethical approaches to communications, conflict, the laws of war, media, peacebuilding, reconciliation, sectarianism and violence within Edinburgh's School of Divinity has been disseminated and tested through a grant funded research and knowledge exchange project sponsored by the Centre for Theology and Public Issues (CTPI). Involving multiple partners simultaneously in the generation and exchange of new knowledge and understanding, the project demonstrates civil society, ecclesiastical, governmental, other-HEI, media, and third sector impacts on belief, knowledge, practices and values in relation to peacebuilding and reconciliation in Bosnia- Herzegovina, and in Scotland. It also demonstrates the value of religious framings of mediation in the rebuilding of intergroup trust in communities which have experienced violent conflict linked to ethnic and religious identities, impacting on international donor behaviour.
Professor Eric Kaufmann's research into the interrelations between religion, demography and politics has made a significant contribution to public awareness of and engagement with issues concerning the political demography of religion and has informed American foreign policy. His book Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth: Religion, Demography and Politics in the 21st Century (2010) received considerable public attention, including numerous reviews, media interviews and invitations to speak. Kaufmann has challenged the widely-held view that religion must inevitably decline in Europe. He has arguably contributed toward lowering the temperature of concern over the `Eurabia' question; and has improved governments' understanding of the demographics of religion — especially its role in Israeli politics, where the fast-growing ultra-Orthodox are tilting the balance of power toward hawks and away from those advocating a two-state solution.