Abstract of YOUTH AND RELIGION: The Second Generation in the Diaspora

1. Abstract ofYOUTH AND RELIGION: The Second Generation in the Diaspora How are Muslim youth in Europe and Hindu youth in the U.S. integrating religious identity with the various other sources of identity (e.g., status as college student, ethnic identity as non-white; native homeland identity as Indian or Pakistani) to eke out social space in predominantly Christian immigrant host nations. The thesis is that their first generation parents have been "racialized" on the basis of ethnicity and religion in both European and U.S. society -- a factor making it socially advantageous for these youth to distance themselves from the religio-cultural aspects of being Muslim or Hindu to the extent possible. Although the underlying field research upon which this presentation is based was carried out in Sweden and in the U.S., I also include some data from Canada.

2. YOUTH AND RELIGION: The Second Generation in the Diaspora Gwendolyn Yvonne Alexis, Ph.D., J.D. Monmouth University West Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S.A. galexis@monmouth.edu XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology, 11 – 17 July 2010, Gothenburg, Sweden Research Committee on Sociology of Religion RC22

3. Paper Makes Four Interrelated Arguments • The so-called Western Secularism is actually “secularized Christianity” - This has been made evident by the influx of a critical mass of non-Christian immigrants in the last quartile of the 20th Century. Today, the West is experiencing Deep Diversity (not just diverse Christian sects) for the first time • Western laws, policies and institutions are embedded with a Christian “norm”/Christian presumptions that are legacies of a Christian heritage • The most insidious Christian norm is that religion can and ought to be privatized; i.e., kept separate and apart from everyday life (e.g., handled on the weekend). • The “secular mandate” in Western society is problematic for eastern religions such as Hinduism and Islam which do not think of religion as separate from everyday life

4. Four Interrelated Arguments of Paper - Continued • As pedigreed liberal democracies, the immigrant host nations of the West have a lot at stake and are therefore making sincere attempts to confront head-on the challenge of incorporating non-Christian minorities into their predominantly Christian societies . • Their statutory law (state constitutions, bills of rights, and institutionalized regulations) mandate equal and non-discriminatory treatment of those residing within their respective borders. • This paper focuses on the divergent approaches to immigrant incorporation in the U.S., Sweden, and Canada. • The effectiveness of the various laws, programs and policies that have been put in place by these states must be assessed on the basis of their accomplishment of two related objectives; namely, (i) assuring religious liberty and (ii) nurturing religious pluralism. • To measure the second objective (religious pluralism), one must look at the extent to which non-Christian immigrants are able to transmit their religious heritage intact to the second generation.

5. The Christian Undertow(secularization of the Christian Calendar) Sunday Closing Laws U.S. • Official National Holidays • Thanksgiving Day • Christmas Day • “Civil Religion” – secular use of Christian symbolisms • National Day of Prayer Sweden • Official National Holidays • Christmas (Jul) • Ephiphany (Trettondedag jul) • Ascension Day (Kristi himmelsfärs dag) • Pentecost (Pingstdagen) • All Saints (Alla Helgonsdag) Canada • Official National Holidays • Christmas Day • Good Friday “In God we Trust”

6. The Secular “Norm” in the West A Bifurcated Existence: The Sacred and the Profane (Legacy of a Protestant heritage - Luther’s 2 kingdoms of the sacred and secular) • However, the visible religiosity of adherents to Eastern religionsis not simply a matter of freedom of expression (like wearing a religious ornament such as a cross). • Here, something more substantive is involved; namely, freedom to practice one’s religion. Beards, uncut hair for Sikh males, wearing a hijab or a yarmulke are religious observances that are theologically dictated.

7. Sacred No, Not with Islam Bifurcated Existence? Profane “For most Muslims, Islam is a comprehensive system of life. It does not divide the world artificially and arbitrarily into sacred and profane or religious and secular. In Islam, all aspects of life are one organic unity that coheres into an undifferentiated social and political unity.” ….. Islamic Scholar

8. Impact of the Secular “Norm” • The workplace and the educational system are critical in terms of integrating newly arrived immigrants into mainstream society; and to the extent that a Secular Norm is the operating standard in these societal institutions, the deck is stacked against non-Christian immigrants becoming upwardly mobile and moving from the margins of society Webb vs. City of Philadelphia (April 2009) MUSLIM COP'S BID TO WEAR RELIGIOUS SCARF REJECTED! The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that forcing the department to accommodate her would compromise the city's interest in maintaining "religious neutrality" in its police force. Panel unanimously agreed that prohibiting all religious symbols and attire "helps to prevent any divisiveness on the basis of religion both within the force itself and when it encounters the diverse population of Philadelphia.”

9. Evidence of Sincere Efforts to Live up to Democratic PedigreeReligion-Friendly Legislation (RFL) U.S. Legislation and Case Law 1) No Taxation of Property Used for Religious Purposes. First Amendment, U.S. Const.; Walz v. Tax Commission 2) Tax Deductibility of Gifts to Religious Groups on Donor Income- and Estate-Tax Returns. IRC. 501(c)(3); IRC 170(c) Swedish Legislation 1) Subsidization of Religious Groups (SFS 1999:932) 2) Government Collection of Church Dues (SFS 1998:1593, Sec. 16) 3) Subsidization of Theological Education (SFS 1999:974, Sec. 4) 4) Subsidization of Acquisition and Maintenance of Sites for Religious Activities (SFS 1999:974, Sec. 12) Canadian Initiatives Correctional Services hire Imam’s in Chaplaincy program. Also provide halal, kosher meals, prayer mats, and other religious requirements. Military also hires Muslim chaplains and allowsd hijab-wearing Canadian women serving.

10. Impact of the Christian Legacy: Response to Swedish Government offer to collect Church Dues (kyrkoavgift) for remittance to diverse religious congregations in Sweden: “Membership fees are completely alien to the concept of Islam; one is not a member of a mosque. All Muslims are one large denomination expanding the globe … the initiative to help in collection of church dues shows that it is the perspective of the Church of Sweden that guides the laws.” . . . HüseyinAyata, IKUS (Islamic Culture Center in Sweden) “These ideological blinders that see the world only through the eyes of Christianity must be removed if Canada is to successfully become an inclusive society in the twenty-first century …. It is time to take a serious look at Christian privilege, to ascertain where the ‘secular’ state intereacts with citizens in uneven ways.” … John Biles and Humra Ibrahim (“In the Shadow of Christian Privilege”, Diversité)

11. Beyond Religious Liberty: The Challenge of Nurturing Religious Pluralism Is a coerced isomorphism of immigrant religions taking place and if so, what does this mean in terms of the transmission of a non-conforming religious heritage to the second generation? Given that religious liberty a fundamental right in Sweden, the U.S., and Canada, it is guaranteed by statutory law – either by the state constitution or by a bill of rights that secures specified freedoms for the citizenry. However, nurturing religious pluralism requires these states to prevent the homogenization of religious practices within their borders by sheer dint of laws ground in a Christian notion of what religion looks like and how religion is practiced!

12. RFL Can Lead to Coerced Religious Conformity • Neither Islam nor Hinduism is an organized religion; but in order to qualify for the property tax benefits of 501(c)(3) and, more recently, the government funds available under faith-based initiatives, these religions must incorporate! • “The more pertinent question, therefore, is not diversity as such but Whether the kinds of professional and procedural norms necessitated by Government support are inimical to genuinely diverse religious and Cultural Expressions.”Robert Wuthnow in Saving America By-Laws Annual Elections Board of Ddirectors Annual Meetings

13. The Homogenization of Religious Practices • There is a tendency towards homogenization of religious practices in “secular” societies with a Christian heritage.Invariably, what is allowed coincides closely with the religious practices of the dominant religion in society. • For example, in all Western Christian societies, polygamy is illegal Sweden: Embedded Christian norms has resulted in a refusal to grant requests for exemptions for religious minorities to engage in religio-cultural practices that are inconsistent with the Christian norm: • Swedish law declares circumcision to be a medical procedure (not a religious rite) • Slaughter of animals in accordance with the theological dictates of Islam and Judaism constitutes “cruelty to animals” and therefore a violation of Sweden’s animal protection laws

14. Religion and Social Capital • Thick religious communities can provide the social capital that racial and ethnic minorities are otherwise denied in a racialized society. • For example, in the U.S., the religious sector is one of the most vibrant elements of civil society • Like American Jews and Blacks, visible religious minorities (non-Caucasians) Muslims will need to rely on their religious institutions as mediating structures to help them mainstream into U.S. society • Where religious discrimination causes religious minorities to be excluded from partaking of the American dream, it is their religious organizations that can be counted on to speak truth to power -- to raise a prophetic voice. • Webb vs. City of Philadelphia (Muslim policewoman wearing a hijab) was filed by the ACLU; but 8 Muslim affinity groups filed an amici curiae brief.