Suchergebnisse

This was the first in-depth examination of relations between the Church of England and other faiths in the Prison Service Chaplaincy. It shows how the struggle for equal opportunities in a multi-faith society is politicising relations between the Church, the state and religious minorities. Drawing on a wealth of data, it considers the increasingly controversial role of Anglican chaplains in facilitating the religious and pastoral care of prisoners from non-Christian backgrounds, whose numbers among the prison population have been growing. Comparison with the United States underlines the closeness of the tie between the state and Christian churches in English prisons, and this book argues that it is time to reconsider the practice of keeping ethnic and religious minorities dependent on Anglican 'brokering' of their access to prison chaplaincy

The separation between religion and the state is widely regarded as a central feature of modernization processes, but sociological research has tended to neglect the extent to which even 'secular states' continue to manage religion in such institutions as prisons, hospitals and military establishments. This article extends the understanding of the state's management of religion by focusing on responses to the growth of religious diversity among prisoners and chaplains. In particular, it analyses the integration of Muslim chaplains into the prison systems of Canada and England & Wales. It is based on research – conducted between 2010 and 2012 – that investigated the frameworks governing religion in these two prison systems. This research involved analysis of official policies and regulations as well as transcripts of telephone interviews with a small sample of Muslim chaplains in both jurisdictions. The main focus of the findings reported in this article is on the implications that each prison system's arrangements for chaplaincy have for the work of Muslim chaplains and for questions about religious freedom and equality. These questions are timely in the context of controversies currently surrounding the increasing size of the Muslim prison population in England & Wales and Canada and the need for prisons in both jurisdictions to strike a fair balance between the recognition of religious diversity and the imperatives of security and equality.