Religious diversity is now a social fact in most countries of the world. While reports of the impact of religious diversity on Europe and North America are reasonably well-known, the ways in which Southeast Asia and Asia Pacific are religiously diverse and the ways this diversity has been managed are not. This book addresses this lack of information about one of the largest and most diverse regions of the world. It describes the religious diversity of 27 nations, as large and complex as Indonesia and as small as Tuvalu, outlining the current issues and the basic policy approaches to religious diversity. Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands are portrayed as a living laboratory of various religious blends, with a wide variance of histories and many different approaches to managing religious diversity. While interesting in their own right, a study of these nations provides a wealth of case studies of diversity management – most of them stories of success and inclusion.
Author(s): Gary D. Bouma, Rodney Ling, Douglas Pratt (auth.)
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 270
Tags: Religious Studies; Sociology; Regional and Cultural Studies; Demography; Cultural Heritage; Social Policy
Front Matter....Pages i-xx
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Australia....Pages 3-18
Japan....Pages 19-29
New Zealand....Pages 31-44
Front Matter....Pages 46-46
Brunei Darussalam....Pages 47-51
Timor Leste....Pages 53-58
Indonesia....Pages 59-69
Malaysia....Pages 71-81
Papua New Guinea....Pages 83-89
Philippines....Pages 91-95
Singapore....Pages 97-105
Sri Lanka....Pages 107-116
Thailand....Pages 117-124
Front Matter....Pages 126-126
Cook Islands....Pages 127-129
Fiji....Pages 131-142
French Polynesia....Pages 143-147
Kiribati....Pages 149-151
Marshall Islands....Pages 153-156
Federated States of Micronesia....Pages 157-161
Nauru....Pages 163-165
New Caledonia....Pages 167-170
Front Matter....Pages 126-126
Northern Marianas....Pages 171-173
Palau....Pages 175-177
Samoa....Pages 179-184
Solomon Islands....Pages 185-190
Tonga....Pages 191-195
Tuvalu....Pages 197-200
Vanuatu....Pages 201-206
Front Matter....Pages 208-208
Minority Religious Groups and the State....Pages 209-230
Religious Competition....Pages 231-245
Women and Religious Diversity....Pages 247-254
Regional Interfaith Dialogue....Pages 255-265
Back Matter....Pages 267-270
