Journal of the Council for Research on Religion

Interim Report of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief

Ahmed Shaheed — 2022-09-13

In the present report, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ahmed Shaheed, initiates a critical conversation within the United Nations system and beyond on obstacles and opportunities facing indigenous peoples’ freedom of religion or belief – a largely overlooked subject. Understanding indigenous peoples and their diverse religions or beliefs is impossible without acknowledging historical and ongoing experiences of discrimination, violence and hostility, which threaten their spiritual, cultural and physical survival. The Special Rapporteur explores “indigenous spirituality” as a typically nature-based “way of life”, documents experiences of affected rights holders – from forced displacement to environmental destruction – and provides recommendations to protect and promote the freedom of religion or belief of indigenous peoples, consistent with international law.

Indigenous Values Initiative Together with the American Indian Law Alliance Submits this Report

Indigenous Values Initiative — 2024-11-01

The present report is the input provided by the Indigenous Values Initiative (IVI) and American Indian Law Alliance (AILA) in response to the new report drafted in 2022 by Ahmed Shaheed, the Special Rapporteur on Religious Freedom or Belief.

Comments Delivered to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief

Michael McNally — 2024-11-01

Comments delivered as part of the “Virtual Consultation on Legal Framework: Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief,” held June 22, 2022. For details on the Special Rapporteur’s report, see Ahmed Shaheed, “Interim Report of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief” (New York: United Nations, October 10, 2022), https://www.ohchr.org/en/ documents/thematic-reports/a77514-interim-report-special-rapporteur-freedom-religion-or-belief.

Remarks on the Freedom of Religion or Belief Report

Betty Hill (Lyons) — 2024-11-01

Remarks delivered at the forum “Freedom of Religion or Belief for Indigenous Peoples: The 2022 UN Report,” at the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary on October 26, 2022. This forum discussed human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The Bankruptcy of the Category of Religion

Cecilia Titizano — 2024-11-01

This article takes as its point of departure the 2022 Interim Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, entitled “Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief.” The report recommends “collaborat[ing] with indigenous spiritual leaders and influencers to support conservation efforts and the sustainable development of traditional lands through a human rights-based approach.” We ask what a human-rights-based approach to the conservation and sustainable development of traditional Indigenous lands looks like. More specifically, would such an approach be in line with the worldviews of the Indigenous peoples potentially affected by such conservation or development? We consider these questions both legally and theologically. We acknowledge that the protection of human rights is better than their violation, but we also take seriously critiques of this standard human rights discourse. We argue that case studies such as Oak Flat, Lake Titicaca, and the Klamath River call us away from abstract affirmations of the human right to religious freedom and toward a rights-of-nature framework – even as we consider critiques of this framework as well. Ultimately, both Western legal discourse and Western religious studies discourse reduce Indigenous cosmologies (which are metaphysical systems) into cultural debates, thus erasing the sovereignty of Indigenous lands and peoples. A decolonizing approach therefore requires a rethinking of the sacred.

On the Limits of the Concept of Religious Freedom in Indigenous Communities

Adam DJ Brett — 2024-11-01

In this essay, we will argue that firstly, the international and national legal framings of religion or belief are limited in scope, and one must ask not only religious freedom for whom but also from whom. Secondly, we will underscore the continued limitations of international human rights-based discourse. Why are Indigenous nations consistently excluded from rights-based discourses? We have the UN Declaration on Human Rights (UNDHR), the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNPFII), the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), this new report, and so many other reports. We will ask at what stage we move from declarations and reports to protecting and supporting Indigenous nations and peoples. Thirdly, building on the limitations of rights-based reporting, we will highlight what this report gets right and invite activists, lawyers, scholars, and all folks to take up and read the report and follow up on the elements we believe to be most salient. Finally, we will conclude by offering an alternative to declarations that support Indigenous nations and peoples’ inherent right to sovereignty. Our conclusion emphasizes Faithkeeper Lyons' urgent message, “The Ice is Melting in the North,” and provides a framework for how people could respond by explaining the Two Row Wampum treaty and the Two Row Wampum Method.

Intellectual Acknowledgement in Favour of Religious Freedom and Justice

Lars Kirkhusmo Pharo — 2025-03-05

This succinct essay addresses the issue of freedom of religion for Indigenous cultures. Freedom of belief cannot subsist without justice, i.e. equal recognition. By ignoring the intellectual achievements of Indigenous and other non-Western philosophies and non-Christian religions, scholarship (in the humanities and social sciences, as well as in interrelated education in schools, colleges, and universities) constitutes an important reason for the depreciation of freedom of religious beliefs and, thereby, injustice. I argue that the scientific and pedagogical methodology of the comparative history of religions (developed by theorists of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries and continued and elaborated by non-Indigenous and Indigenous scholars and educators) should be included in education at schools, colleges, and universities to combat this structural inequity. A historical consciousness of intellectual culture worldwide would not only have an impact on contemporary Indigenous cultures, but also on cultures with an Indigenous heritage (as, for instance, Latino and Chicano cultures of the United States), and would contest antisemitism and prejudice against Islam. To exemplify the history of intellectual and religious multiplicity and complexity, I mention traditions of (ritual) time, writing and semiotic systems, moral ideas, political principles, and the (constitutional) governance of a few selected Indigenous cultures of the American continent to be further researched by Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, and to be taught in schools and academia. Finally, I offer concrete recommendations for what is to be done for this new historiography.

Learning From Reflection and Looking to the Future

Ahmed Shaheed — 2025-04-13

The following article discusses the UN Special Interim Report and its significance to the rights of Indigenous Peoples. The article reviews how the UN Special Interim Report of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief has been used as a critical tool for promoting and protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples globally by emphasizing the need for meaningful engagement with Indigenous individuals and communities in decision-making processes, notably on issues that affect their traditional lands, waters and resources and their spiritual practices. The article also discusses how the UN Special Interim Report was developed through extensive consultations with Indigenous Peoples, community groups, and various stakeholders with the scope of revealing the challenges faced by Indigenous Peoples. Finally, the article will reflect upon the positive responses generated by the Report and the ongoing discourse to encourage further engagement with the findings.

Editorial Address & Advisory Board

Gerbern Oegema — 2024-11-01

The second issue of volume five of the Journal of the Council for Research on Religion (JCREOR) is a special issue, From Indigenous ‘Religions’ to Indigenous Values. Planned and realized in collaboration with Philip P. Arnold (Syracuse University), the Indigenous Values Initiative (IVI), and the American Indian Law Alliance (AILA), this volume offers a collection of responses and articles that speak to the themes and tensions noted in the Report on Indigenous Religious Freedom or Belief, presented by the United Nation’s Office of the External Special Rapporteur on Religious Freedom or Belief, which we have gained special permission to republish here in full. This issue provides input on the report but also examines the restrictions and limitations imposed by the categories of religion and/or belief when working with Indigenous nations and communities.

The responses to Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed’s report discuss not only the usefulness of the categories of religion and belief but also their limitations, which hinder much-needed discussions about Indigenous values and sovereignty. The articles address the historical injustices faced by Indigenous nations and communities in the name of religious freedom, the need for decolonial approaches to the study of religion, and the colonial tensions created by the categories of religious freedom and belief and their relationship to the Doctrine of Christian Discovery. The issue concludes with a reflection by the Special Rapporteur.

Preface and Introduction: From Indigenous Religions to Indigenous Values Vol. 5 No. 2

Philip P. Arnold — 2024-11-01

The Office of the External Special Rapporteur on Religious Freedom or Belief contacted Philip P. Arnold, the Indigenous Values Initiative (IVI), and the American Indian Law Alliance (AILA), and asked us to join a call to give input on a new report on Indigenous Religious Freedom or Belief. Numerous Indigenous NGOs, Indigenous nations, and leaders were on the call. The Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed and his staff were most receptive to the feedback given and received. In this special issue, you will find a copy of the report and a copy of the input provided by the IVI and AILA, as well as from our friends and colleagues Michael McNally, Lars Pharo, Dana Lloyd and Cecilia Titizano. This is a representative sample of the inputs collected for the report.