Véronique Altglas

Responses to religious diversity in France and Britain: the case-study of Neo-Hinduism (2005-2006).

Post-doctoral fellowship funded by the ESRC, University of Warwick.

Aims

The research project’s aim was to extend a previous analysis of different phases of the globalisation process of two neo-Hindu movements, and to focus more closely on their local adaptation. This research concentrates on the different opportunity structures facing new religious movements in France and Britain. The main research questions will ask the following:

1. How do differences between France and Britain in their respective laws governing religion affect the trajectory of transnational religious movements?

2. How are the trajectories of transational religious movements affected by the different regimes of integration at work in France and Britain?

3. To what extent does the portrayal of transnational religious movements in the French and British media reflect the different legal and political contexts of each country?

The longer-term ambition was to situate this research on Franco-British differences in the response to religious diversity within higher level theoretical frameworks. Participant observation and semi-structured interviews will be carried out in neo-Hindu movements. Empirical studies of the reception of new religious movements in different societies will provide interesting tests of these theoretical models and – more importantly – novel challenges to their adequacy.

Non technical summary

In Britain, the identification of some neo-Hindu movements to Hinduism is better understood in the light of policies valorising the contribution of religious communities in public sphere. The question of religious legitimacy is addressed differently in France. It would be, at first, not being perceived as an “orientalist cults”, of which “dangerous syncretism”, fakes a genuine “Oriental wisdom”. French anticult discourse indeed reveals concern with religious diversification in an increasingly pluralized society.

Systems for legally register religious organisations are at the core of the management of religious diversity. In France as well as in Britain, these systems imply normative definitions of ‘acceptable’ forms of religious organisations, which in turn compel religious movements to adapt – e.g. referring directly to Hinduism for the Charity Commission, or insisting on the religious character of practices such as yoga.

The evolution of the controversy around NRMs in France was also explored. The activism of the “CAP pour la Liberté de Conscience” was indeed important to investigate, as a response to the French policy regarding religious minorities libelled as “cults”. In the name of various NRMs and their members, this organisation has gained the public attention in taking legal action against the main anticult organisation.