The BASR would like to draw attention to the European Association for the Study of Religion’s recent statement on the suffering of Palestinian scholars, teachers, and students as well as the destruction of education in Gaza.
The BASR joins with the EASR in condemning the violence perpetrated by the state of Israel in Gaza and other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory that undermines, among others, the right to freely teach and learn.
The BASR would like to draw attention to the American Academy of Religion’s recent statement on resisting complacency and supporting scholarship under attack. The AAR has also provided useful advocacy actions.
The BASR stands with all colleagues facing challenges in increasingly troubling times.
The BASR Committee notes the on-going situations in Ukraine and Gaza, and the role of religion in peace initiatives and fuelling violence, in both places. The Committee would like to point members, friends and colleagues to the following statements issued by the British Academy and the International Sociological Association regarding Ukraine and Gaza, respectively. As scholars of religion it is our duty to nurture safe spaces so that critical, evidence-based and respectful dialogue can take place.
In response to the University of Wolverhampton’s plans to suspend courses in the Humanities (including Philosophy and Religion), the BASR and SST (Society for the Study of Theology) has published the following letter:
We stand in support of our colleagues across the Humanities.
The BASR is an academic association founded on a commitment to inclusion of ‘all scholars normally resident in the United Kingdom … who are interested in furthering the work of the Association’ (Constitution 2 and 3. i. emphasis added). Our continuing development of this commitment centres upon a recognition of, and respect for, diversity in all its forms. The BASR is actively foregrounding issues of diversity in our keynote invitations and extending bursary opportunities focused on diversity of inclusion, both with immediate effect. Direct consultation with all BASR members will be undertaken in the Spring of 2022 to formalise a public-facing policy and swiftly implemented action plan to extend inclusion activities and support mechanisms for all members and potential members. The BASR will take into consideration, at all times, the guidance of the 2010 UK Equality Act.
In response to the threat of job losses faced by colleagues in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Chester, the committee members of the British Association for the Study of Religions have produced the attached letter.
We hereby express our solidarity and highlight the relevance of TRS Chester to the wider field of Religious Studies, in the hope that there will be a way to support the continued work of our valued colleagues.
The publication of the British Academy’s Report, Theology and Religious Studies Provision in UK Higher Education, in May 2019 was widely reported in the press, where the study of religion was presented as a relic in terminal decline. Yet many Religious Studies colleagues immediately raised concerns, both about the conflation of RS and confessional approaches, and the actual data being presented. The BASR immediately committed to producing a robust, data-driven response to the BA Report. The result is published today.
We hope that the report will challenge some of the damaging misrepresentations of the vitality of Religious Studies in the UK. We suspect it will be of use to colleagues in departments which face cuts or reorganisation. We know it will be a useful snapshot of the state of the field today—far healthier, diverse and vital than the BA report suggested.
The following is the BASR’s response, with Arts and Humanities Alliance, regarding Brexit:
Religious Studies: Religion is not confined to national boundaries or borders, and nor is scholarship on religion. The British Association or the Study of Religions is Europe’s oldest national association for Religious Studies, and was a founder member of the European Association for the Study of Religions. The discipline relies heavily on valued students and colleagues, not to mention research environments and funding streams, from across Europe, and the fact that our current President is a German citizen is a very ‘human’ reminder of this.
Hello all, our President Steven Sutcliffe has signed the linked letter to Alistair Jarvis, Chief Executive of UUK. Please circulate as you see fit, thought it is an important read in the middle of what has now been 13 days of striking.
https://tinyurl.com/y9jrb8pk
The BASR Committee have just sent a letter/email to the Principal of Stirling University in support of our colleagues there, and the discipline as a whole.
It can be downloaded as a PDF here, and is pasted below.
Dear Professor Gerry McCormac
As the executive committee of the British Association for the Study of Religions, we write to urge you to reconsider the closure of an independent department that is greatly valued nationally and internationally. We recognise the pressures on the university in the current economic climate but consider this to be precisely the wrong time to diminish scholarly debate about religion and religions. The academic study of religion has a key role within higher education institutions in its critical examination of the essential historical role of religions in culture and society. Moreover; the study of contemporary religions in a global perspective is a vital aspect of scholarly studies informing current geo-political debates, issues of religious identity, social justice and what it is to be human.
Colleagues and students from Stirling have been at the forefront of critical study and debate about religion, offering distinctive curricula and research programmes at each stage of the department’s evolution over nearly 40 years. Strong concern was expressed at the recent congress of the International Association for the History of Religions in Germany when delegates heard news of the proposed closure. The intersection of the growing importance of understanding religion and the quality of Stirling’s religion department – unique in the Scottish context, vital in the UK and of international significance – encourage us to hope that you will find ways to support the continued work of our esteemed colleagues.
Yours sincerely,
Prof Graham Harvey, Open University, President of the British Association for Study of Religions
Dr Steven Sutcliffe, Edinburgh University, President Elect of the British Association for Study of Religions
Prof Bettina Schmidt, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Honorary Secretary of the British Association for Study of Religions
Dr Stephen Gregg, Wolverhampton University, Honorary Treasurer of the British Association for Study of Religions
Copies to
Professor Malcolm MacLeod, Deputy Principal for Operational Strategy and External Affairs
Professor Richard Oram, Head of the School of Arts and Humanities
British Association for the Study of Religions 