Elizabeth Prodromou, an assistant professor in the Department of International Relations at Boston University, spoke to about 25 students on religion, human rights, and unexpected sources of conflict yesterday.
The lecture was part of the Religion and Conflict lecture series sponsored by the University Chaplain's Office, the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, the International Relations program, and the departments of comparative religion, peace and justice studies and political science.
Prodromou addressed what she views as the current historical moment in human rights, possible responses of religious actors in trying to remedy religious-based conflict, and the phenomenon of global proselytizing.
She began by explaining the currently contradictory nature of human rights, which she then tied in with globalization and religion.
"We are living in a paradoxical moment," she said. "We are seeing the best of times and the worst of times. We see some of the best human rights prescribed in books, and we see some of the worst human rights problems on the ground."
Prodromou believes that recent democratization and globalization have strongly influenced the current religious atmosphere, which in turn has had an effect on human rights.
"Globalization and democratization have lead not only to the plurality of religion, but to religion as a transnational factor. Religion has been de-territorialized," she said.
She said that the global access to various religions has led to governmental controls to maintain state sovereignty.
"More often than not, states have turned [with] increasing frequency to compelling state interest in order to justify the limitations on religious freedom and, more generally, human rights," Prodromou explained.
This trend follows old religious tactics of maintaining power. "Historically, churches have tended to control religious pluralism by using the state to gain a religious monopoly, and if we look around the world today we see that tendency continuing," she said.
The most important concern for religious freedom and its implications for human rights is proselytism.
"The right to proselytize has become equivalent to religious freedom and, therefore, in terms of human rights laws and institutions, we've seen a commitment to protecting the rights of religious communities to proselytize," she said.
Although proselytizing seems like a positive trend, it has created global religious competition.
"The phenomenon of proselytism, although associated with human rights law in practice ... has created enormous tensions across religious lines," she said. "In many ways, it has generated a war for souls, conceptually and in some cases literally."
This problem stems from the ambiguity of international law regarding proselytizing and its relation to human rights.
"International law is vague about proselytism, so what we see is a global breakdown of consensus regarding religious freedom and how to best protect religious freedom," she said.
In conclusion, Prodromou explained that religious freedom exists as the most pressing issue of human rights.
"The phenomenon of religious rights protections is the single most lightning rod issue of how we protect human freedoms in the future," she said.
Joseph Walser, the Chair of the Tufts Department of Comparative Religion, helped organize the lecture because he felt it would address controversies important to the current society.
"There a lot of things happening now that make this subject very topical so we decided to have series of lectures on religion and conflict," he said.
Walser said he was pleased with the poignancy of the lecture. "I thought it was a great lecture," he said. "It was very much in consonance with what I have been teaching all term."
Students enjoyed the speaker and felt enriched by the unanticipated focus of the lecture.
"I thought it was interesting. She talked a lot about globalization and democratization. I didn't really expect that, and I learned a lot," sophomore Erin Kim said.
