Teemu Taira

Making space for discursive study in religious studies

This article demonstrates the potential relevance of a discursive study of religion for Religious Studies. It outlines the main assumptions, questions, materials and methodical guidelines of a discursive study of religion and argues that the implementation of a discursive approach – its ways of constructing the approach, the research object and area of expertise – is a relevant step forward in the study of religion. However, the organisation of Religious Studies departments and the job market according to the so-called World Religions paradigm has been a major challenge in making space for discursive studies despite the intellectual criticism that has been directed towards paradigms based on religious traditions or World Religions.

Media portrayals of religion and the secular sacred : representation and change

Is it true that Christianity is being marginalised by the secular media, at the expense of Islam? Are the mass media Islamophobic? Is atheism on the rise in media coverage? Media Portrayals of Religion and the Secular Sacred explores such questions and argues that television and newspapers remain key sources of popular information about religion. They are particularly significant at a time when religious participation in Europe is declining yet the public visibility and influence of religions seems to be increasing. Based on extensive research conducted on British mainstream media coverage of religion, the book is set in the context of wider debates about the sociology of religion and media representation. This book opens by laying out the key issues in global perspective. Using research conducted in the 1980s and 2008-10, the authors examine British media coverage and representation of religion and contemporary secular beliefs and values, and consider what has changed in the last 25 years. Exploring the portrayal of Christianity and public life, Islam and religious diversity, atheism and secularism, and popular beliefs and practices, several media events are also examined in detail: the Papal visit to the UK in 2010 and the ban of the controversial Dutch MP, Geert Wilders, in 2009. Questions arise about the media image of Christianity, how atheist and secularist demands on freedom of speech and equality are treated, and whether the media is anti-Islamic. Religion is shown to be deeply embedded in the language and images of the media, and present in all types of media coverage from news and documentaries to entertainment, sports reporting and advertising. A final chapter engages British findings with wider global debates about religion and media.

The category of ‘invented religion’: A new opportunity for studying discourses on ‘religion’

The category of ‘invented religion’ – along with related categories, such as ‘fiction-based religion’ – has gained scholarly attention in recent years. At the same time, we have witnessed changes in the public discourse on religion: as ‘religion’ has become a resource for claiming rights, privileges and legitimacy, more attention is paid to negotiations of what counts as religion and what is meant by religion. This article examines the category of ‘invented religion’ and provides a framework for analysing its typical examples from the point of view of the discursive study of ‘religion’. The first section evaluates the analytical category of ‘invented religion’. It concludes that the use of the category has been related to an interest in typologies and that studies have focused on the question of whether the examples count as ‘real’ religions. The second section introduces an alternative framework for studying the so-called ‘invented religions’. This shifts the focus from arguing about the analytical use of the category to studying the practical interests and potential consequences of all instances where groups and activities are classified as ‘religious’. The third section illustrates this framework by analysing one controversial case concerning Jediism in Britain. From a discursive point of view, the question on whether ‘invented religions’ count as ‘real’ religions is irrelevant. They can be simply understood as additional cases for studying discourses on ‘religion’.

The Category of “Religion” in Public Classification: Charity Registration of The Druid Network in England and Wales

This is the post-refereed, pre-print version of a chapter published in T. Fitzgerald, T. Stack, & N. Goldenberg (Eds.), Religion as a category of governance and sovereignty. Leiden: Brill, 2015.