Abstract
The relationship between religious and public domains bears critically upon social inclusion and political representation everywhere, even more so in times of hardening identity politics. This introduction frames the chapters to follow and problematises the relationship of religion to public spheres in Asia and the Pacific. Some religious activities, concepts and identities are seen as productively and beneficially public ones, whereas others are met with embarrassment. One consequence of grand narratives of secular modernity is that various practices, symbols and styles of religion are characterised as undignified or anachronistic in public domains, being interpreted as the work of people who have failed to notice the ‘crossing-out of God’ in Latour’s expression. This introduction frames the problem in the literature on religion and public spheres, and outlines the analytical perspective taken by chapter authors: chapters reveal individuals and groups making evaluations of public domains in Asia and the Pacific as efficacious sites for religion. This perspective inverts the more commonly encountered inquiry that asks about the efficacy of religion for public domains.
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Notes
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For an extended meditation on the embarrassment of religious speech, see Latour (2013).
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The accounts of Latour, Asad and Taylor all hedge the finality of their judgements because of this tension about whether the greater historical force was the flow of events or politically powerful characterisations of them. Latour’s hedging is the most explicit. After affirming the irrevocable crossing-out of God by modernity, the temporality he established is confounded by his claim that ‘No one has ever been modern. Modernity has never begun’ (1993: 47).
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Künkler and Shankar (2018) provide a useful account of the sources on this point.
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Slama might seem like an outsider, based as he is at the Vienna Academy of Sciences. In fact, his academic career has included lengthy periods working in Indonesia and Australia.
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Douglas was considered by some to be too heavily invested in the specific notions of efficacy she had encountered amongst London’s Irish Catholics. Her critics interpreted this as a preference for ritual stasis, and a lack of openness to dynamic processes through which rituals retain their relevance and appeal (Fardon, 1999: 122–124).
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The Council’s fatwa may be read at the MUI’s website: http://mui.or.id/wp-content/uploads/files/fatwa/27.-Doa-Bersama.pdf.
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Millie, J. (2023). Introduction: The Religious Efficacy of Public Spheres. In: Millie, J. (eds) The ‘Crossed-Out God’ in the Asia-Pacific. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3354-9_1
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