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Bondura and today I'm going to talk about the new atheist movement at the beginning of the 20 first century and critics reactions to it.

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So some of you will be familiar with this but I'll go into detail as I go through. So from day one, sociology has been involved with the decline of religion in modern societies.

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So the secularisation thesis says the more in a society becomes the less religious it will be.

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And yet in the post 9, over, 11 period in the West, there was a strong rise of religious discussion.

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Especially around the new atheists, claims that religion should be expunged from Western societies after the World Trade Tower events.

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And it's also, this actually was a cultural phenomenon. So religion became had a place in the public square once again which was not expected especially the 20 first century.

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So today I want to look at 2 figures. Firstly, you might have heard of Richard Dawkins, the influential popularizer of science, but also a prominent atheist.

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And the other person is Karen Armstrong who's written 25 religious histories and she was a former Catholic nun who then went on to be a historian.

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So these 2 figures I want to ask a question. I want to try and answer a question and the question is this.

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What world views and spirituality drive Dawkins and Armstrong to publicly agitate for radical change in the way modern societies view religion.

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So what is it, their worldview and spirituality that drives them to agitate for a radical rethinking of religion?

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So let's move into the sociology of religion and the sociology of spirituality, which is like a burgeoning field here.

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And there's been this, some people say a phony holy war between moving religion into the public sector and religion into the spirituality into the private sector.

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So this came about in the 19 sixties counterculture decided that we can all have our own spirituality that's almost free of cultural and social relations.

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And there's been a lot of discussion around this. The problem with the sociology of religion is, sorry, the sociology of spirituality is defining spirituality.

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The term is being deemed to be too nebulous. It means everything and nothing. So largely because it's been moved into the subjective sphere.

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So religions connected to traditions, institutions and so on. And as I said, there's this almost belief that the spirituality transcends that, that's problematic.

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So because of this in this study I wanted to reconsider Max Weber's term spirit as being something more definitive.

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The spirit if people remember from reading this text or if you haven't I'll just read this quote we shall nevertheless provisionally use the expression spirit of capitalism for that attitude which in the pursuit of a calling strives systematically for profit for its own sake in the manner exemplified by Benjamin Franklin.

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So this, according to Weber, he could detect in Franklin's autobiography Benjamin Franklin and this is one of the most influential autobiographies in America.

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This spirit, this ethic, this calling and it eventuated in particular types of behavior. So it wasn't something nebulous and from the subjective self that's very hard to understand was something that generated particular behavior.

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So I want to use very's term spirit to look at Dawkins and Armstrong's to try to look at Dawkins and Armstrong's to try and detect something specific rather than some spiritual state.

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So there is Richard Dawkins, the public professor of science again in the Royal London Society actually voted his book The Selfish Gene as being the most influential science book of all time.

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That might be a bit of an overstep but it shows you how prominent his influence is as a scientist.

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And it's not just as a scientist. This is from his website, the Richard Dawkins Foundation website where he conjoins secularism with science.

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So we whereas a lot of ideas about secularism say that it's where multiple different beliefs can coexist together.

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Dawkins says that science needs to be the most prominent value and in this way it would allow flourishing of personal freedoms and human dignity.

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And the thing that stops human dignity and personal freedoms is religion. So he sets up this dichotomy.

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Science is the most prevalent value in a secular society. Religion needs to be taken out of society.

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And this is a particular view of secularism. He also agitates to become one of us.

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So he's trying to propagate and get more people to view secularism in this way. People also talk about Dawkins science, the signs that he popularizes so successfully as having a nineteenth century understanding.

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And if you think of one of the person who coined the term sociology or Gust, he had this this view which I'll read from his positive philosophy.

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All good intellects have repeated since his positive philosophy. All good intellects have repeated since Bacon's time.

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That's that there can be no real knowledge but that which is based on observed facts. So it's an empirical understanding.

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What we can see and touch and taste and feel. Very nineteenth century understanding. Dawkins in the magic of reality from 2,012 writes we come to know what is real we can detect it directly using our 5 senses sometimes added by telescopes and microscopes but ultimately it comes back to our

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senses one way or another. So critics have said that Dawkins avoids all the philosophy of science from the twentieth century.

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Where people really Thomas Kuhn, Feyeraband talked about the subjectivity of science, the faith-based elements of science.

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That cannot be cleansed in the way that Francis Bacon thought they could have using the idols of the mind that science is subjective in many ways as well as having objective elements.

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Dawkins cleansing of science is also recognisable in the way he views religion. So some of you probably would have heard of the book The God Delusion from 2,006.

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Dawkins was reacting to 9, over, 11, but this is where he really has a go at Einstein because he was not happy with the fact that Einstein said that He could see the Spirit of God in nature.

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Which is now in as pandeism. So Dawkins writes, I wish that physicists would refrain from using the word God in their special metaphorical sense.

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The metaphorical pantheistic god of the physicists is light years away from the interventionist, miracle-reeking, thought reading, sin punishing, prayer answering God of the Bible.

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Deliberately to confuse the 2 is in my opinion an act of intellectual high treason. So it's very harsh.

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Terms here for Einstein but what he's trying to do is clarify religion to be one thing and not many things so he can fire the gun at the target that he wants to.

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So and also to go back to his position that he held as a popularizer of science, he's trying to reach the widest possible audience.

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So the clarity is really important. But any metaphorical or pantheistic understanding of God or religion is something that he's deemed to not be religion.

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Some critics have said this gives him this Puritan aspect and if Dawkins autobiography in the way that Weber looked at Benjamin Franklin's autobiography.

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Dawkins has written 2 autobiographies that I've looked at and he was brought up as an Anglican and his greatest co-conspirator Christopher Hitchens who some of you might know of actually called himself a Protestant atheist.

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So the new atheists do have a Protestant heritage. And he writes the critic he writes intellectually the new atheist Puritanism takes the form of an uncompromising scientist, meaning science is the only world view that's legitimate or authentic that sanitizes our minds by scrubbing off

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all the griminess of faith. So a Puritan prescription. There's also the fact that in his autobiography he talks about growing up and he says I meant growing up in 3 senses.

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First, the evolutionary sense of growing up on our planet. Second, the historical sense of humanity is growing up out of superstition and towards a naturalistic scientific apprehension of reality.

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And Dawkins says third, the growing up of each individual's understanding from childhood to adult. So he's not just cleansing science of anything that goes outside of the empirical view and religion of metaphorical understandings.

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But he is also trying to cleanse humanity or humans of their own instincts. And he says that children are naturally inclined to be religious, but that we all grow up out of this religion.

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And then become adult scientific atheists and secularists. And this is a trajectory that everyone follows and this has a very nineteenth century view.

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Compete, for instance, the sociologist had 3 different stages. The theological, the metaphorical and then the positivistic scientific stages, the ultimate final stage.

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So this trajectory is very common in the nineteenth century but not so common now but it's very much a part of Dawkins view.

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So Karen Armstrong, very different. She is talking against Dawkins and she spent 7 years in a Catholic convent during the 19 sixties.

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So she was having her own counterculture against the counterculture of her time. Instead of wanting to have personal freedoms and liberties and understanding of spiritualities being personal.

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She went into a convent and was told by the nuns what you should believe in many ways.

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So very different flavor in the 19 sixtys. And she said, 9 11 was a definitive moment for her agitation to to come into the god debate.

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She was ploisted as a nun to begin with. Then she became a religious historian and spent many years in a study which he found was the most congenial thing in the world to spending time writing her books.

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And then, 9 11 changed. He had to come out into the public. And start propagating. She wrote, September, eleventh changed my life.

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Suddenly my subject had acquired a terrible new relevance. I wish with all my heart that it had not happened this way.

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I see this as a form of ministry. So almost a calling. The study of other people's religious beliefs is now longer not merely desirable but necessary for our survival.

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I think this is a different understanding of secularism, the older understanding of secularism that Casanova talks about where a nun or a monk would move out of a monastery or a convent and into the world not losing their religion but bringing it out into the world.

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Very different from Dawkins who see secularism as being free of religion.

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She's also set up this Charter of Compassion in a great deal to try and combat the new atheist belief.

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A great deal to try and combat the new atheist belief. And she says she's drawing in all religions that she can get to that says that lies at the heart of all religion, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us to always treat others as we wish to treat ourselves.

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What's known as a golden rule. And we acknowledge that religion in the past has been brought about a lot of human misery.

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So she's sort of acknowledging the new atheist criticism that religion has brought about pain and misery and suffering, but saying that at the heart of all religions is this principle of compassion.

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She also splits up her all her religious histories into the Greek distinction between mythos and logos.

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So mythos is just a quick overview is to do with intuition, imagination, subjective experience, emotional involvement.

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And the Charter of Compassion, Armstrong argues is much more to do with emotion rather than new atheists ideas of religion being adhering to certain prescripts or commandments.

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And then there's logos, logic precision, reasoning, objective truth, external reality, commonly connected to science.

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So she says in the West today we are 2 logo centric. Which is not saying we need to get rid of Logos or go back to a mythic state or mythos, but she's saying we need a balance and the new atheists are really trying to move us even further into the logo centric

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view. To to finish up with Armstrong the importance of autobiography in this study I want to stress again Armstrong's written about her time in the church and she wrote that this is what the nun said to her when she was the teenage nun.

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You're so full of yourself, aren't you? When you're going to learn to lay aside this wretched critical faculty of yours.

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You're full of pride, sister, full of intellectual pride. 10 years later, she wrote a biography of Muhammad.

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See if you can detect the same sort of flavor in this historical work. Roding Muhammad's life was in its own way an act of Islam.

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A surrender of my secular skeptical self which brought me if only at second hand and at one remove into the ambit of what we call the divine.

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So here we can see how her background, her Catholic cultural background has seeped into her historical religious histories.

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This sense of being, being skeptical of skepticism itself, which Dawkins holds up as being the highest value.

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So just to finish up with, what can we conclude from this? So. By utilising Max Faber's term spirit rather than the more subjective spirituality.

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Using the God debate as autobiographies and public pronouncements We have been able to conclude 2 things.

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So firstly, that Dawkins projects a Protestant Puritan spirit that advocates for a particular type of secularism where religion is cleansed from modern societies and metaphorical understandings of reality are deemed to be inauthentic.

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Secondly, that Armstrong projects a Catholic mythos spirit that advocates for an emotionally driven principle of compassion, her charter of compassion and for a softening of the dominating logo-centric world view in the modern West.

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So I would like to suggest that in the decline of the new atheist movement in the last decade that the West needs to be, and Dawkins belief that the West needs to be rid of religious instincts, I would say that society modern societies would do better to follow Armstrong's call for a more

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harmonious balance between religion, rationalism and secularism. Thank you. That's the book that I've made some of this on that's available if anyone wants to look at it.

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Thank you for that. Thank you, for this presentation about the relations. Between religion, spirituality and science, we will remain in the fail of science with the next communication.

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From Matt Buehed from La Trobe University. About Christian nationalism and the movement to build an alternative internet.

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Great. I was not adequately adequately prepared so I'll have to awkwardly hold my laptop while I talk.

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Thanks Ron, this this talk actually isn't in the realm of science I guess but I guess more in kind of cultural politics I guess.

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Thank you all for being here, especially those who are with us online as well.

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I should note that I'm not really a scholar of religion. Some of my early research was on the Hillsong church which some of you might know as a big Pentecostal mega church based here in Sydney and around the world.

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But for the most part, my research focus in recent years has been on charity for philanthropy, crowdfunding and recent years has been on charity, philanthropy, crowdfunding and all this has been on charity, philanthropy, crowdfunding and all the ethical and political

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tensions that result from the transfer of money in support of particular causes. And so with colleagues, I wrote a paper on the significant role that crowdfunding played during the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa last year and around other places in Canada too and how that That incident exposed gaps in the governance of

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crowdfunding and we're just finishing revisions on our paper which hopefully will be out soon.

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But in researching that paper, I was struck by the stance of Gibson Go, which is a crowdfunding platform that could be loosely described as adopting a kind of Christian libertarian philosophy.

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Informed by strong streak of patriotism. And Gibson go up part of a growing suite of digital platforms and infrastructure companies.

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Seeking to establish what they call a parallel Christian economy. And I'll focus mainly on Gibbs and Go today, but briefly mentions in other companies too.

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So this is definitely work in progress and I'll be grateful for any thoughts or suggestions you might have on it.

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I'm sorry.

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So you remember in January last year, many thousands of people, hundreds of vehicles, especially trucks, converged on Canada's capital city of Ottawa, thousands of people, hundreds of vehicles, especially trucks converged on Canada's capital city of Ottawa and began an almost month-long occupation of the streets around Parliament

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Hill. They called themselves a freedom convoy and their initially stated purpose was to protest vaccine mandates. That were imposed on truckers crossing the US Canada border.

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But soon the protest evolved into a wider movement against all Covid-nineteen mandates and the Canadian government more broadly.

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It really was a kind of antidemocratic movement really and at its peak there were grave concerns that increasing tensions would result in something similar to the January 6 capital riot in Washington DC that happened just a year earlier.

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So within the movement there were clear links with the far right interests. Troubling imagery and rhetoric, vandalism, intimidation, death threats against city leaders.

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And even one conspiracy to murder police officers. All these worrying signs basically that something disastrous could happen.

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And the convoy intended to stay in definitely even if threatened with forcible removal. And the fear was that Ottawa was under siege basically by an anti-democratic movement that might even pursue insurrectionist goals.

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And the freedom of convoy was supported by via crowdfunding with campaigns on Go Fund Me and subsequently Give Send-go, raising enormous sums and attracting donors worldwide.

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Cons about their potential complicity in widespread harms go fund we eventually removed their campaign that provoked outcry among the convoy supporters which Gofundme's competitor gives send go, exploited by hosting their own freedom convoy campaign, proclaiming themselves to be the only platform that defends personal liberty

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and free speech. So go find me and give send go adopt radically different stances when it comes to managing their complicity and legitimacy.

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That is how they ensure that their fundraising tools and not used for intolerant violent or hate based causes.

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While at the same time also avoiding overly restrictive policies that undermine the legitimacy as an open space for all.

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So that's the balance of complicity and legitimacy that basically all social media platforms have to deal with.

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So go find me. They want to be popular across the world so they're desperate to avoid any controversy.

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And so to reduce their potential complicity and harm their relatively restrictive on what causes they are willing to host.

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But Gibson go on the other hand stake their entire legitimacy their entire brand on their refusal to deny access to controversial groups and causes with some big obvious exceptions that you can probably guess.

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They say it is not for us to decide what causes are worthy or not and through appeals to Christian accommodation, free speech and patriotic ideals, they argue that as good Christian Americans they have a responsibility to protect freedom of expression.

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And in some respects, that was Gofundme's neutral approach to up until around 2,015.

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Where they insisted they were a neutral platform and that was a common strategy among many many social media platforms at the time to insist that they were a neutral.

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Mediator. But what to make a very long story short what happened was that Go Family was repeatedly being used as a tool not only for defending but actively financing.

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Too regularly, Gofundme found itself being weaponized. To harm already marginalised persons and legitimise intolerance.

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And so there was a raft of policy changes that go find me where they gave themselves much wider scope to remove any campaign that may promote or support violence hatred intolerance and so forth.

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But critics argued this was an attack on the free expression of Christian beliefs and this is basically where Gibson go step in to exploit that kind of market gap.

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Left by gofunding. So, Gibson go was founded by siblings Jacob Wells and Heather Wilson and they proclaimed themselves as the leader in Christian fundraising.

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In interviews, Jacob Wells frequently binds together freedom with Christian virtue and connects his own military service to Gibson Goose in student protection.

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Of free speech. And they cloak.

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They clerked their kind of rationale under the auspices of humility. Seen that other platforms are beholden to cancel culture while they are not.

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That gives and go as a place for all people to raise money whether we agree with their campaign or not.

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It is a space in their eyes to to welcome all.

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And you might be thinking, well, how far are Gibson go willing to go in taking this stance?

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And so when asked whether their platform would host a campaign established by the Ku Klux Klan, Jacob Wells responded if what they're doing is within the law I would consider it an honor to have them use the platform.

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And share the hope of Jesus with them. Wells qualified that he does not support the KKK, but I love people who believe they have value and God can rescue them just like he rescued me. But I love people who believe they have value and God can rescue them just like he rescued me.

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Jesus said turned the other cheek And again, this could be viewed as a kind of Christian libertarianism in a way which assumes that cells may be saved through a refusal to judge others as unwelcome and a kind of unfailing faith in the marketplace of ideas where the answer to bad speech is simply more speech.

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Of course this logic is flawed and dangerous and self-serving for many reasons that we can't get into now but as a strategy it's worked for Givesengo as a brand.

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They argue that big tech companies have too readily adopted an omniscient type of mentality to decide what is right and wrong and to be arbiters of truth.

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But in rigidly adopting this position that allows an opportunity for extremist causes to thrive. Many extremist causes that were once banned from these kinds of platforms and had difficulties fundraising.

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So after the 2,020 US election you will recall that there were efforts among Trump supporters to overturn the results.

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Claiming widespread electoral fraud. And such claims were, Let's get back to.

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Such claims were supported by campaigns on Gibson go. There were other campaigns raising funds for various stop for steel events.

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And which altogether stoked the idea that the election was rigged and that good patriotic citizens needed to step up and take back their country.

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We know what this culminated in on January 6. 2021 there was an insurrection.

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Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building. 5 people died as a direct result of the attack and hundreds were injured.

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And many far right figures charge for their involvement in the capital attack had success in fundraising their legal defences on Gibson go among the most prominent were members of the Proud Boys and all male neo-fascist organisation.

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And both go find me and give sang go stimulate in the terms of service. That fundraisers may not promote hate, violence and intolerance.

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But there's a crucial distinction here in that Give us and go draw a distinction between The beneficiary and the cause itself.

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So that is if the purpose of the fundraiser itself is not directly promoting violence or intolerance, then it is permissible regardless of whether the organizers themselves ultimately pursue intolerant ends.

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So that is why the proud boys, a fascist group, wholly oriented to oppress others, can fundraise on GIFs and go but would not be permitted on go funding.

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And indeed, the vast majority of Gibsongo's most successful campaigns lean heavily towards the far right.

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But Gibson go claim they are simply getting the kickback of the campaigns that won't be allowed and go find me, we're just allowing the freedom.

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And these appeals to freedom have a lot of support among conservatives and libertarians who accuse Gofundme of big tech political bias.

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Unfairly denied access to causes and groups that they don't like.

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And I'll skip over some of this because we're already talking about the freedom convoy already.

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But the fact is that this friend convoy was a kind of sovereign citizen antidemocratic movement with a truck as kind of used as a more palatable means of gaining widespread support and to make a very long story short, Go Fund Me canceled that campaign that had raised around 10 million dollars at the time and

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refunded all donations. And in response Craig's accused to go find me of Ideological bias and hypocrisy.

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Describing the decision as an outrageously political move that revealed Gofundme as an authoritarian enemy of open discourse.

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Donald Trump wading of course So did Elon Musk so to Jordan Petersen or the usual characters.

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And Tim Mcadigan, the CEO of Gerfimer, was basically hounded off of Twitter.

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And he closed his account.

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A lot of mostly Republican legislators in the US. Also wading. Threatening to hold go find me to account.

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They declare that Gofundme's work value should ring alarm bells for any American wanting to protect their constitutional rights.

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Ted Cruz requested that the the Federal Trade Commission investigate while describing the convoy participants as patriots marching for freedom unjustly thwarted by thieves and silicon valley so that same kind of big tech kind of agitation.

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So give fun me found itself wedged. In trying to avoid complicity in harms the company instead attracted all this kind of criticism and people, you know.

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Opponents sought to make an example of of of of Gofundme and of course Give Sengo saw an opportunity

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So on that same day that the Gofundme campaign was closed, Gibbs and Go began hosting their own alternative campaign and donations on that new campaign reverberated with anger at Gofundme pledging to never use their platform again.

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And give a second go proudly plucking that God is using our platform to be the vehicle for bringing freedom back to the text base.

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And so these constant appeals to to faith, freedom, patriotism led to regular endorsements of Gib Sengeo on platforms like Folks News.

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In what proved to be an act of hubris gives Sango Mock the idea that the Canadian government could intervene to prevent the dispersal of funds raised.

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Nonetheless, as the occupation continued, the Canadian government explored further options and ultimately invoked the Emergencies Act, which effectively designated the Frem Convoy a terrorist organization.

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As a result, Gibbsangkoka no longer accept donations and any already dispersed funds were now frozen.

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And so in response the messaging from Gibson go shifted to a graver tone, emphasising their defence of freedom in the face of fear, oppression and government control.

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Eventually however, Gibbs and go announced they were refunding donations as otherwise they would be facing any criminal charges.

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And this forced ending of the Freedom Convoy fundraiser was followed by Righteous Anger from Givesengo who characterized it as a betrayal of democracy.

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In subsequent parliamentary inquiries on their potential complicity in aiding extremist activities gives sangoo were defined in affirming their stance.

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That we believe completely to the core of our being that the danger of the suppression of speech is much more dangerous than speech itself.

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In doubling down on free speech as a Christian virtue. Gibbs and Girl are aligning themselves with a parallel Christian economy movement in the United States.

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Among Givsengo's most prominent supporters is Andrew Torba. Who is the co founder and CEO of GABA, a platform similar to Twitter or Facebook, which sells itself as defender of free speech and has attracted a substantial far right user base.

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Gab aspires to build technology that powers a parallel Christian economy. The ultimate aim is a silent Christian secession by building not simply alternative social media platforms but rather an entire alternative internet.

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So am I just out of time? How am I? Okay, get him right. Get your right towards it.

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Unsurprisingly, Toba was a strong supporter of the Freedom Convoy and both Andrew Torba and Jacob Wells frequently use military metaphors to talk about at their aims.

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October wants to build a digital Noah's Ark by building an entire suite of technologies. Where they can basically escape the reach of the state, escape the reach of big tech.

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There are other companies doing similar things such as Epic. I want to talk about Epic now because we're out of time.

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And other companies like Rite Forge as well. Again, we're just building the infrastructure so that they can be beyond the reach of the state, the state where we have to stop them from doing anything.

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And this is what, again, this is the military metaphors that are used. That gives Sengo sees itself as the tip of the spear in taking down big tech.

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And here's my conclusion. I don't have answers really about where to go next with this.

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I wonder whether a parallel Christian economy is genuinely possible. Part of me thinks It is within certain contexts.

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And this is part of wider trend. Where of of movements seeking total exit and escape. From the state.

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And there's a great video that, so great people there by Smith and Burroughs that talks about the use of software as a means of sovereignty.

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And exit from from society itself basically. So that's it. Thank you very much, Vita.

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Yes, thank you Mathwaite for this communication about relation between religion and social movement and internet and of course the importance of internet in the field of the study of social movement.

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For 20 years. We gone out to the online. Party of this panel. And we first.

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Listen to Tika Wahman. From a statistic university in Indonesia about public sphere and Islamization.

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We are in a good way.

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Okay.

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Maybe you can

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Yes. Is that fine?

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Is I am.

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Sure.

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Yeah, yeah, it's better Maybe. Well you can Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we are listening to you for this communication for 15 min.

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Thank you.

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Okay, thank you. So, it is about, 3 mass mobilizations.

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In our recent past And they were. They were mainly supported by 3 religions.

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And, All religions have a different kind of equations. To the nature of mass mobilization.

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That is the emphasis of my My penetration

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I mean, the first point I want to highlight that these mass mobilizations by different religious groups.

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Should be situated in a substantive context. I mean as you know that India is a very large society.

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Now it has over and over taken Chinese society. In more than 1 40 billion people live. In India.

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So this is this one situation. The second, second is that, that diversity is, many fold.

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But here I want to focus on mainly on religious demographics of India. And as you know that, mainly India resided by Hindus.

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And, to the tune of 1.1 billion people. It is estimation. Oh, on the basis of 2,011 census.

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2,021 census is still to be taken in India it has not been taken.

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And Muslims are also 22, 200 million to 201 million people. Muslims in India.

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Which may be 8 times of Australian population. And 30 million Christians live in India. 23,000,006 live in India.

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I mean, is it the diversity is not only into and there are so many other religions. But this, also live in India to the tune of 10 million

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But there are many indigenous religions also. The point is that We live in a highly diverse society.

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Diversity is in every respect. So many languages are spoken. Hindus in India are divided into many sex.

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Many linguistic groups, many cultural groups. And, also many calls. And more than 4,000 cast they are divided into more than more than 4,000 cast.

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And more than 700 languages are spoken in India. So the point is that this should be situated in one context that is we live in a very diverse, a multi religious society in the real sense of the term.

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The second point I want to harm heart is that we also live I'm in various kind of social discontents.

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And Andres all the time going on in India. If I remind nowadays Yeah, remind you nowadays.

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Nowadays, our news reports are full of a, taking place. In the northeast of Himalayas.

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Also, some one are going on in the north. Central Himalayas. And as you know, in the northwest part of Himalayas We live with Kashmir.

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Probably. So discontentment is not only in Malaysia. Even.

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Just yesterday. One person was killed by cow Vuilante's group. In Maharashtra.

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15 days earlier, also a person was killed in So in the western part also many kind of upheavals going on all the time, discontents, unrest and social problems.

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We live. With them. And as per records of who ministry. 900 Incidents per year.

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Are there. For last. One decade in India. So this is the situation, this is up of social discontentment.

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And unrest. Political situation is also Very. If I don't use that kind of. Good, but very, very different kind.

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As you know that, a Hindu nationalist right is party. Authoritarian regime is growing in India.

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Not only this, this authority regime, this authority in regime. Has weakened the separation. Of legislature.

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Executive introduction. And there's so many curves on civil liberties nowadays. And press freedom or freedom of expression is out of question nowadays.

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So, you, that, is. A state use. Uses is against minorities, Tribals, Duli, so light activist.

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Journalists and dissenters. And not only

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This but state mobilizes Party militia against minorities particularly against Muslims and other minorities as well for attacking them to extent of lynching.

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In one of the not northern eastern provinces. You must have heard that nowadays A conflict is going on between tribal Christians.

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And, another Hindu community living in Manipur. So, there is.

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A different kind of I mean state apparatuses are being used. Against minorities, tribes and other people.

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And, therefore, I mean, not only this, the state is behind. The politics of hatred?

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Divisions. And hostilities. So this is the situation, but at the same time. You should take note of.

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That resistance against This authority in regime is also going on. And this is going on. For last so many years.

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I have, I have chosen these 3 movements particularly to compare that situation. You must have heard that the peasant movement or we call it nowadays farmers movement was going on for some time.

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So this is the, this is the situation, the context in which. This, my presentation should be.

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Is located is situated. No. No, I have taken 3 mass mobilization.

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One mass mobilization is. Hindu mass mobilization. Which is at the federal level.

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What we call at the national level. At the federal level in different provinces that mass mobilization of Hindus is going on.

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And this is their for last one century.

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But during British rules also. There was that kind of Hindu mobilization was there.

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Which in fact this mass mobilization was in a, in a, phase. Up to the independent our independence that is up to 1947.

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And then after it, it, in fact, it was not a political party, but when we became independent, We, had our constitution and constitutional democracy.

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Then this mass mobilization of Hindus. Transformed into political party. And it becomes party political.

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Party politics kind of phase it entered but it remained underdeveloped. After 1989.

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A situation occurred nationally. In that situation, it it attained an expanding phase. It expended a lot.

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From 1989 to 2,014. And when 2,014. The BJP. The party represented by these Okay, these, Hindus.

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Mainly when it came in power with full majority It transfer it change into a despotic a tyrannical kind of phase.

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Which is nowadays occurring in India. So this is this was its development. 4 phases of Hindu.

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Hindu to a is a politics a political ideology of Hindus, which is very modern.

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Which is very recent. So this is another infections I want to give. This is recent one.

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Not traditionally in the There is there is a no turn like Hindu cler. In either in Sanskrit or in any language of India, it is a recent term.

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And is used by this kind of Hindu mobilization. So this is another point. As soon as the ideology of this is concern, the ideology of this this Hindu mobilization has been a kind of of an ideal past.

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Of the olden kingly authoritarian state. Orthodox society. One party rule, one culture.

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One language, one religion. One nation that is their principle. This transforms, this evolves into totalitarianism.

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So we are entering into the phase of totalitarianism. Some people may call it, some, like, some people parallel to Nazi zoom.

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Or fascism, but definitely there is some kind of totalitarianism emerging in India nowadays.

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And, their political action is, is, mainly curbing. Praise, freedom of expression, descent.

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Weaken the separation of power between legislature, executive and judiciary. And also using every kind of a to dominate to against minorities, Tribals, Dalits, civil rights activists and all other kind of people.

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And in this kind of this education was mainly led by students. And Muslim youth and women. And this was centered in very many cities.

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Of India of different provinces. And at the same time, it was also, in some, towns and some, sometimes some villages also used to reach there.

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The main, and this movement was, a, in the month, it started in the month of December, 2,019 and went up The main issue, was that, these ex discriminate against Muslims.

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And they were, they were scared. That some kind of de-enfranchisement of Muslims and weaker section of society can take place.

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So that movement is started for these. Issues because of these issues. And, mind it, the mass section was peaceful protest.

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The rallies. Civil doping, Mass, sittings on roads. And sometimes, blocking of roads.

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And sometimes called for general distract. So mainly the peaceful and non-violent means were employed.

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Not against any community. Unlike the first movement. But mainly demanding by this they demands from the state that some this these laws should be scraped not be passed or should be withdrawn.

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The participation in this, movement. This education. Mainly of middle class students. Women and particularly women from of Muslim communities they led this movement.

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This movement supported by all kinds of front organization of opposition parties, students organization of opposition parties. And also acquisition parties.

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Provided support. This religion in fact, In this, in this movement we find that religion, the religion that was mainly storm here.

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Contributed to the mass mobilization and also resource mobilization. And and and also solidarity.

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That is important part that in sociology it is said. That, religion provides solidarity or religion is strengthens solidarity.

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This movement was in fact support this argument. Dissipating. There was another movement which was also recent movement.

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You just started in the month of August. 2020 during lockdown period. In went up to December 2021.

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Yeah, Professor Rashid Mitra, could you please include because yeah.

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So, Oh, I'm finishing. Yes, I am coming to conclusions. So this partner's movement mainly supported by another religious community.

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That releases community with sick community. The main point is that in this also peaceful Means were employed peaceful mass actions means were employed.

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And, there was one important situation that they encircled the capital of India, Delhi.

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By camping on roadside. And in this movement also religion contributed through is some principles of service, community service, and community kitchen.

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And provided sustillance for such a long time. Now the last point I come to my life conclusions.

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Yeah.

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And I And my conclusions are in certain hypotheses. These 5 hypotheses One is that different religious provide different rationalization.

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And collective spread instrumentalities. For movement and ideological predictor elections to mass mobilization. The second is.

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This is also. Determined by. Demographics. Social and political context.

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And third point is that religion contributes to mass mobilization. On secondary issues. Yeah, and demands.

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At least in multi-level societies. And religious nationalism is antithetical to democracy.

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And perfect recipe for total tyrannyism. And last point, last conclusion. Is that religion may provide resources?

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And moral strength to or resistance. Against mounting authoritarianism. So religion should not be taken. Only as support for nationalism.

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But it also can support also. It can also be against authoritarianism. Thank you very much.

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Thank you.

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Next.

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I'm back to Bronco.

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So the next presentation is from Victor Albert Bronco from the University of Albert Bronco, from the University of Toulouse to and from Ezu Rabi from Spain.

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And is talking about loving and controlling diversity, neighbors association and religious pluralism. In European cities. So can you hear us?

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Because to the Just go back to the start.

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So.

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The government

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Sorry. I was just trying to get it back to the start of the video.

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Getting back.

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Okay. And thank you. And I'm sorry from a big question. I'm sorry from a big question.

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I'm sorry from a available question now, but they hope that these product is additional value for people to do to your discussions.

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Because of my

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So, the world has.

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Inspiration for my students. So.

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From this. First's related to tradition. These are basically prostate control.

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Support differently. States. So we build those recommendations. CISCO was resilience.

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The start of the line, space in improvising this the

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Okay. Advancing in order to say we're in solutions. Process from NICKIZE.

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So for this presentation.

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Serium will be nice with that. It's Mrs. Forbes of the Eastman. It was about 2,016.

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FRANCY, FRANK,Y, FRANKEY, TRACE, Your My work for Ms. Dinner was to do it and they should portray many reports.

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No more crime. Working on Stanford. So. She's some examples of social

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This is a So, The

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Can you hear me? My Yeah.

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For the last presentation. Okay, so we will do like that

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We want to have the first question.

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Yeah, please come here

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This is, should I introduce myself or just ask a question? I'm just for Yeah.

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Just one thing I noticed and maybe I'm putting too much importance into it. But I noticed one of the reasons why I came was that you called the new atheist agitators and you used a lot of language.

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He also said co-conspirator. To, yeah, but you didn't use this language for.

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When you talked about the other person. And I was just, yeah, I was just wondering. Why?

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There is a real reason for that. So you can impact, yeah, as you want. Hello? Yeah, the question was why was I using language like Coke andpirator in the question was why was I using language like co-conspirator in the terms of the new atheists and that's part of the study that

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I did that there's a very I didn't go into today but a masculine,ative nature to the god debate in the 4 new atheists are all men they're all 2 of them Hitchens and Dawkins are Oxford.

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You know scholars and That's the arena that it's operated in. So Christopher Hitchens is famous for his one-liners and so Christopher Hitchens is famous for his one-liners.

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If you go on YouTube, there's hundreds of videos of Christopher Hitchens. Slapping religious people, hitch slap they call it.

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And Armstrong does create, she's one of the few female figures in the God debate in this particular period and she's tried to engage with Dawkins and they've used sarcasm, Sam Harris and Dawkins have used sarcasm with Armstrong and they've been very kind

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of derogatory and there's a particular way they treat her I felt that she's said that it's 2 different types of Socrates that they align themselves with.

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Hitchens aligns himself with the stinging fly of Socrates. If you have read the apology of Socrates, which is someone who galvanizes the members of the Athenian society into waking up.

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So trying to prick the conscience to wake them up and that's the Socrates Hitchens is following this really combative kind of ton of weight society up whereas Armstrong talks about the Socratic discourse which is one of questioning and trying to reach a synthesis.

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So they both cite Socrates but different elements of Socrates and it's a good question because I'm Armstrong the charter of compassion she's really trying to bring people together rather than the polarized knocking people out, which is what the Dawkins and Hitchens and Sam Harris Lesser so with Sam

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Harris, but it's much more the place of theatre where it's a debate, it's a god debate so they're trying to win the debate rather than Armstrong is peculiar in that she's trying to bring a synthesis, trying to bring, she's been an atheist for a

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long period of her life. So she's gone, she left the convent, rejected God and then came back.

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So she's got this. Sense of both sides that rather than Dawkins and Hitchens.

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Thank you. Thank you. Another question. Yeah, but.

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Okay, so we we can air Tika Raban and we will see if we have some time for another I know the question at the end of his communication.

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So. Thank you everyone. Thank you to be here.

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Good. Do you hear me? Do you hear my voice?

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Thank you.

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Yeah, we can hear you if do you have some documents to share or not?

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Yep. Yeah.

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Okay, just a moment.

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So can I. Start now.

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So you can you can oh it's coming yeah Yeah, okay, we can hear you for 15 min please.

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Okay, thank you. So I want to know about the face of Muslim youth after. Islamation or post new order era projecting the future of public sphere in Indonesia because I think the is the future of the society.

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So I want to know about their knowledge system. So the interwine relationship between Islamic politics and popular culture become a huge social phenomenon in in Indonesia.

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So, my study examines the knowledge system that control your social life and their projection of the future social and political spears should be.

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So I think Islamization still works. The reproduction of knowledge in Indonesia's society. So it determines whether social and political spears will be produced.

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So, Islamization is the most feasible thing at the new order in. Indonesia especially the dramatic rise of Islam in public.

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Life. So the revival of Islam in the contestation of moral PT based on religion.

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For our religion committee. So, coefficient of Islamic symbols become frequently appears in media accordingly appears in media according to Haryento are humans.

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So last 5 years there are a lot of academic discussion about the contemporary social issue held by Islamic organization and institutions.

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So the dialogue political religion provides the recognition of locality based on ethnicity. So it is important to know what discourse they want to construct.

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Islamic politics has been controlling the use knowledge system and political view through religious organization and figures. This is based on my research.

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So the papers describe the expect driving, the social life of youth, political fuse in an educational space such as university and also whether screen culture still has the power to ship youth identity after more than a decade of Islamic communication in both new order era.

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So the data was collected from university students. And Islamic quality has been controlling still until now. Of the use, knowledge system and political future of religious organization and few years.

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And my finding. Is there is a difference between Now let's system between the public university student and state Islamic university students.

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So the, now the system. That construct So in. Now that system. A student in public university from I, I name it properly just in, but the Noah system constructive in state Islamic university student from traditional llama and thinker.

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That's it. Thank you.

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Thank you for your presentation. So we have sometimes to open the discussion. So we have sometimes to open the discussion.

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And for all of course on all the presentations. Who want to Ask a question.

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Listen, yeah, well, chemists.

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Yeah, maybe There's a question for the chat. Yeah. We'll find it.

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Yeah. So, who became? That, it's a long one. Yeah, you can You can read it Oh.

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Yeah. We can hear you? Yeah.

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Oh. The question is in the text to be

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We cannot hear you for the moment.

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My question is, so we will read it. It's not a problem. Okay, so it's for Adrian.

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Yeah. Yeah, you can go go down Yeah. Strong. Yeah.

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What is interesting to me is that Yeah, continue. This is nearly

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All of the house leaders have gotten involved in right wing culture wars. Dawkins, I'm calling PBC take conservative stances on trans issues and for teaching indigenous knowledge in New Zealand some areas came to bad for Chasmur and in controversial IDs on racism.

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Intelligence, Petopagotian fights for finance for a living. And here he got in part with DECKY BERNESSA and joined several of these people in Laurenceing the Conservative University of Austin.

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Do you have any thoughts on why so many in this group became involved with the conservative side of culture what is used?

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Where there any warning signs during that junior as a new atheist? How anyone? Yeah, that's a really interesting question.

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I think, Dawkins has been cancelled from actually doing a radio show. Talking about science which he took great offence at.

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Okay, because he has He'd made a comment or no he posted a cartoon about Islam. Which was not his own cartoon but was right on the cusp of he was being offensive so he said that his defense was I go after all religions, why should Islam get a free past?

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That was his and also I'm talking about science so I shouldn't be cancelled for that and he took Umbrage at it and he's actually connected with Jordan Peterson and Peterson on this saying that He doesn't agree that they see very differently with religion and science obviously very differently.

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They've had discussions together but Dawkins applauded Peterson's stand against the the Canadian.

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Code that the actual laws about using pronouns and so on and so forth. So there's why have the new atheists ended up in the conservative realm?

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It's interesting Christopher Hitchens supported the war on Iraq that he started off being a hard left Marxist.

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Famously. So in my book that I've written, I looked at the journey of Christopher Hitchens.

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It's fascinating the way he ended up in the riots starting in the far left. With still some left sympathies but Dawkins Sam Harris is another one I guess they all feel that their agitators.

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I mentioned Socrates before. They're trying to upset the general norm and for them they feel they're rebelling against what they would seem to be a kind of overbearing culture that's trying to counsel their free thinking.

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So Dawkins Harris, I definitely in that realm and it's an I guess Dawkins has always been part of the establishment.

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So it's not, he's always, he's against postmodernism, for instance.

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He doesn't believe in a lot of what would be talked about in this conference. He's a scientist and he believes that A lot of this is intellectual posturing and we need to get down to the nitty gritty which is scientific understanding of reality.

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So he's he's against postmodernism, post structuralism or these every ism from the twentieth century and if you want to read a good critique of Dawkins conservative beliefs Terry Eagleton the literary theorist has written some great And analysis of Dawkins particular British, English.

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commonsensical. Well view. So it's very culturally. Specific to a Oxford scholar in a particular part of England.

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So it can be culturally confined. It's a really interesting question as to why Sam Harris, who's another one, is also gone, think you mentioned he is talking about race, some of those controversial ideas.

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I think Sam Harris is less on the conservative side but yeah that's interesting whether they've always been part of the establishment and in that conservative Traditional thing, I think there's something to be said for that.

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But yeah, interests me now is who are the new figures in this god debate? Who are the new people?

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And you mentioned some of those people and figures and I think what they're saying at the moment I think the age of the new atheist decade has passed so where it will go now I'm not sure but II hope it's not just going to be in the conservative run.

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Thank you. We have still time for one question.

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Yeah. Yeah, please. Yeah.

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This is a question for Matt. Thank you for the presentation. I found fascinating this politics of online petitions and findings and so on.

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And I was just curious out of curiosity. Does this has an impact here in Australia because we are talking about US and the US politics?

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So to what extent the transnational links of these new Christians areons and in the building of this.

404
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It's a really great question. It's about whether this kind of this use of fundraising, it's about whether this use of fundraising online petitions in relation to kind of Christian causes has has entered into the Australian space a lot.

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Not to a great deal. Australia has customarily had a kind of shy expression of faith. Culturally speaking.

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But 1 One incident that did happen a few years ago was a very prominent rugby player named Israel Falal who was sacked by the Australian Rugby Union organization for expressing homophobic beliefs on Instagram.

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And he wanted to take it to Cord. He wanted to to challenge that. He started a campaign on Gofundme to raise funds for his legal fees.

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Go find me remove that campaign in accordance with their policies. And the Australian Christian Lobby, the one of the peak bodies for representing Christian interests in Australia, actually came to his support and established a crowdfunding set up through their own website through their own services which raised somewhere around like 3 million dollars in like 3 days.

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It's one of the fastest crackfunny campaigns. In the history of Australia. And that suggested there was this kind of simmering undercurrent of of that that mode of Christian expression that that could be.

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That was pent up in a way and could be released and I was almost surprised that the Australian Christian Lobby didn't try to spin that success into a business.

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But yes, that's one. It doesn't have nothing but that's one striking example of it entering the Australian context.

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Thank you. One more. Yeah, please.

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Yeah, just, it's a similar question to the one posed before for Matt as well.

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I think that maybe in Australia we have seen quite similar movements, perhaps not as religious, but they do have that sort of similar movements, perhaps not as religious, but they do have quite similar movements, perhaps not as religious, but they do have that sort of same sentiment around libertarianism such as there was a Canberra convoy where a lot of

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people, not like huge numbers but still a sizable amount who did travel to Canberra from different states to a sizeable amount who did travel to Canberra from different states to protest vaccine mandates, to protest vaccine mandates and lockdown laws and such, to protest vaccine mandates and lock down laws and such and lock down laws

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and such and also lock down laws and such and also a rise in the sovereign citizens movement. I'm sure you are aware of citizens who believe that They are not under the law and jurisdiction of Australian governance and and they frequently use this to try and get out of parking fines or speeding fines.

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Do you believe that any of these movements have, sort of religious undercurrents behind them or do you think this is a more like a secular version of what we see in the US or Canada?

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Yeah, it's such a good question that I don't actually feel qualified to answer in a way.

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I mean, I was in Canberra at the time. I mean, I was in Canberra at the time.

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For the freedom of convoy movement and there was literally around 5,000 people at its peak. Protesting in Canberra.

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It was I was taken by surprise by it. We know there is a sovereign citizen movement in Australia. It is, it is quite.

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Striking, it's hard to know how much faith in forms. That movement because it's such a motley group of interests.

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That includes not just kind of neo Nazis. But also some some elements of indigenous. Sovereignty movements that bring with it a different kind of spirituality and so the Australian Convoy to Canberra is something that I've actually had trouble understanding all the elements of it.

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So I don't actually have a good answer for you, but it's a really good question.

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Thank you. Well.

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If there were no more question the time is going to thank you for this panel which was a bit complicated but we have heard a lot of interesting things but the most important.

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We have 10 min and after we go to the next station. Thank you.