Immigration and Religion in Polarized Times

Dear Colleagues,

Political polarization has increased around the world. From the United States of America to Brazil, Turkey to India, Poland to the Philippines, polarization is widespread and not circumscribed to a region or continent. Politicians have tapped into the public’s resentments and blamed immigrants, refugees, or religious minorities as scapegoats for failed neoliberal policies. In this context, religious organizations are uniquely positioned to help increase or lessen social divisions. On one side of the ideological spectrum, congregations and religious majorities have been coopted by conspiracy theories, nationalistic and xenophobic sentiments, advancing nativist and racist ideas that further an aggressive message toward immigrants, refugees, or religious minorities. On the opposite side, religious congregations have continued to serve as sanctuaries for undocumented migrants or embraced refugees, providing a space for individuals and families to find comfort in a hostile environment. Amid these, immigrant-led congregations serve and minister to immigrants and their mixed-status families, in their native languages, following a diverse theological orientation ranging from right to left.

This Special Issue focuses on immigration and religion in polarized times. The literature on immigration and religion is vast and has addressed the role of religious congregations in various ways (Connor 2010; Serrao and Cavendish 2018; Foner and Alba 2008; Menjívar 2003; Portes and Rumbaut 2006; among many others). However, our current polarized times require a fresh look into this topic. 

The purpose of this Special Issue is to highlight new scholarly work invested in understanding the nuances of religions and congregations as co-agents of social division and/or unity. 

I invite scholars of diverse academic disciplines to submit their theoretical, historical, or empirical papers addressing how congregations and religions of different theological and ideological camps deal with the current social divisions as it relates to immigrants, refugees, and religious minorities. Papers focusing on polarization as exacerbated by issues of race, class, xenophobia, or political and economic ideologies need to make their connection to immigration and religion clear. Scholars from the Global South, investigating cases at the intersection of political polarization and religious minorities, are particularly encouraged to submit. 

References:

Connor, Phillip. 2010. “Contexts of Immigrant Receptivity and Immigrant Religious Outcomes: The Case of Muslims in Western Europe.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 33(3):376–403.

Foner, Nancy, and Richard Alba. 2008. “Immigrant Religion in the U.S. and Western Europe: Bridge or Barrier to Inclusion?” International Migration Review 42(2):360–92.

Menjívar, Cecilia. 2003. “Religion and Immigration in Comparative Perspective: Catholic and Evangelical Salvadorans in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Phoenix.” Sociology of Religion 64(1):21–45.

Portes, Alejandro, and Ruben G. Rumbaut. 2006. “Religion: The Enduring Presence.” Pp. 299–342 in Immigrant America: A Portrait. Berkley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press.

Serrao, Rodrigo, and James Cavendish. 2018. “The Social Functions and Dysfunctions of Brazilian Immigrant Congregations in ‘Terra Incognita.’” Review of Religious Research 60(3):367–88.

Dr. Rodrigo Serrao
Guest Editor

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• immigration
• refugee
• religion
• religious Minorities
• congregations
• polarization
• social divisions
• conspiracy theories
• QAnon
• sanctuary places
• undocumented immigrants
• anti-immigrant sentiments
• anti-muslim sentiments