03.11.2020
Pope Francis’ remarks about homosexuality in the recently released documentary "Francesco" have been interpreted as groundbreaking by some commentators. Church historian Klaus Fitschen is much less euphorical, he emphasises the continuity of the latest statements with the Catholic Church’s general position on matters of family and sexual identity.
more 26.07.2020
Based on an error of jurisdiction, the Turkish Higher Administrative Court on 10 July 2020 annulled a decision by the Turkish Ministerial Council from 1934, which had secularised the Hagia Sophia mosque, as a consequence of which it was reopened as a museum in 1935. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan followed up swiftly, tweeting that the mosque would immediately be handed over to the Presidium for Religious Affairs, in Turkey responsible for mosques and religious services. Markus Dreßler analyses this development as instrument of an inwardly directed nationalism, whose unifying force Erdoğan needs to maintain power, and as a demonstration of Turkey's strength as major force in the region.
more 25.05.2020
For some years now, even die-hard proponents of the secularisation theory should have realised that religion is still (or even more than ever) a multifaceted powerful factor in global modernity. The global dynamics that are set in motion by the less domesticated forms of religion in particular can no longer be ignored. Especially the worldwide spread of Salafist or evangelical ideas is sometimes metaphorically described as an epidemic. A few weeks ago we learned that religions can also be epidemically effective in a non-metaphorical way. Religious communities are now generally acknowledged “superspreaders” of the corona epidemic.
more 06.04.2020
We are happy to announce that the Philipp Schwartz Initiative for threatened foreign researchers (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, supported by the Federal Foreign Office) has agreed to extend the fellowship for our Associate Ahmet Kerim Gültekin for another year beginning this fall. This was made possible by the support of Leipzig University, Research Academy Leipzig and the KFG "Multiple Secularities", funding 50% of the extension year together.
more 19.03.2020
The Institute of South and Central Asian Studies at the Faculty of History, Arts and Oriental Studies of Leipzig University seeks to fill the W3-professorship in Indology from 1 April 2021. The successful candidate should - among other requirements - demonstrate a proven ability for interdisciplinary cooperation and thematic connections with our research on multiple secularities.
more 09.03.2020
At the 40th congress of the German Society for Sociology (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie), 14-18 September 2020 in Berlin, there will be two panels of the section for Sociology of Religion, both of them organised by associates and (prospective) fellows of the KFG.
more 02.02.2020
Our Senior Researcher Housamedden Darwish participated in three different events in Vienna and Munich last month. Presenting and discussing topics like the constitutional question in Syria, Cosmopolitan Responsibility or Philosophies of Race, Class, and Gender.
more 03.12.2019
Our Senior Research Fellow Hans-Georg Ebert has recieved the price of the Scientific Association for Islamic Theology (Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Islamsiche Theologie, WGIT) on 27 November 2019 in Osnabrück.
more 24.11.2019
Our former Senior Research Fellow Dagmar Schwerk gave a detailed interview to Ngoc Le from the Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies News Blog. A major part of the interview is dedicated to Dagmar's experiences in our group and the influence it had on her work.
more 20.11.2019
Our current Research Fellow Mark R. Mullins has been honoured with the “Order of the Rising Sun” by the Japanese government. He receives the award for his contributions to academic exchange and mutual understanding between Japan and New Zealand.
more 19.11.2019
Our director Monika Wohlrab-Sahr will join the 2019 annual meeting of the Social Science History Association (SSHA) in Chicago (21-24 November 2019). She will present a talk in Saturday's morning session on "Commemorating David Martin: The Past and Future of Secularization Theory (2)" together with José Casanova and Efe Peker, the session will be chaired by Emily Laxer.
more 28.08.2019
On 25 June 2019, the Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe “Multiple Secularities – Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities” conducted the workshop “Religion, Civil Society and Personal (Family) Law Reform in Post-Colonial Nation-States: Interrogating Secularity in India and Beyond”. The workshop traced the changing frames of secularity in the context of governance of personal law in post-colonial nation-states and focused on unpacking some of the recent as well as historical dynamics of judicial reform of personal law in India and other post-colonial countries to think through how the principle of secularity has been intertwined with the questions of authority, authenticity and governance. A report by Mujeebu Rahman K.C.
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