Race essay Notes: ` This analysis [Durkheim 1961, elementary forms of the religious life] of the social significance

of religion is akin to any conventional understanding of the function of ethnic groups. Social cohesion, social solidarity and the drawing of a boundary between the group of believers and non-believers are characteristics that, which with the substitution of co-ethnics for believers and others for non-believers, could easily be assigned to ethnic groups. p. 198 Another perspective focuses on the role that religion plays in supporting ethnicity. Here, religion is not merely a marker of ethnicity identity, but a powerful constructor of ethnic difference. -199 However, it is equally clear that many Australians, friendly and hostile alike , practice a popular form of Orientalism; that is, they regard Muslims as a homogenous group and Islam as a singular practice. This is as much a misunderstanding as the assumption that all those of Middle Eastern appearance are Muslim, and only whites are real Australians p212 race and ethnic relations fozdar, wilding and Hawkins

Hamf 1994 religion and rites are far more resistant to social change than other markers of identity (not a quote)

In Nepal, religion, a system of ritualized beliefs in powers that are obeyed and worshipped, is inherently related to the ethnic cultural structure of caste, the hierarchical social system based on Hindu religion principles. p.145 visa-versa First, the dynamics of believing refers to both the structure and agency of religion. Individual religious agency emphasizes individuals beliefs, attitudes, opinions, and values as they relate to the larger cultural elements of the overarching structure. From an individuals perspective, religion can be viewed as the attempt to accommodate and contend with ones desires, as well as fears, by subordinating them to a conception of absolute good. p.150 the collective experience of the believer is the way in which religion is practiced by a group of individuals. This may be experienced in the formal setting of a religious instution or the informal setting of the home. - 152

in Daughters of the Tharu, an interview with two small boys: We do puja for the houshold god. It is our ancestors custom. Thats why we have to do this. We must respect duota [spirit]. If we dont respect duota, then we can get sad. From the beginning, our ancestors they used the duota, now they offer a Prasad plate of food. [This family used to use clay sculptures to represent the duota. Presently they offer food for puja]. I prepare the food If we dont give him puja, they give us sadness in our house. p153
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Maslak, M, 2003, Daughters of the Tharu : Gender, Ethnicity, Religion, and the Education of Nepali Girls, RoutledgeFalmer

Min presents two young Americans, the first is a 1.5-Second generation male Korean migrant who turned Christian once immigrating who regularly attends Church and is part of the praise team. The second is an Indian woman, who migrated to Detroit at the age of three, and only marginally maintains traditional Hindu ritual. She attends temple three times a year, and keeps no religious symbols or traditional shrine. Min suggests that migrant Korean Christians is more religious than migrant American Indian Hind, due to the active participation. The author claims that while traditional literature on similar ethnic migrants religious practices would conclude that the more religiously involved group would have a stronger ethnic identity, it is actually the opposite. Min proposes that the strength of the religious identity, outweighs the ethnic identity, suggesting that the migrant Koreans who have converted to Christianity will have less ethnic identity than their migrant Indian Hindu counterparts. -pg 2
Min, Pyong Gap, 2010, Preserving Ethnicity through Religion in America : Korean Protestants and Indian Hindus across Generations, NYU Press

more than 36 per cent of Australian Muslims are born and bred in this country and that their experience of Islam is within the Australian context many are converts to Islam from European and other backgrounds, while others are second, third and even fourth generation Muslim Australians for whom there is no other home. p vi The vast majority of Muslims live in Sydney and Melbourne. In Sydney the most popular suburds are Auburn, Greenacre, Bankstown, Lakemba and Punchbowl. In Meelbourne, Muslims tend to live in Meadow Heights, Reservoir, Dallas, Noble Park and Coburg. Relatively small numbers live in other state and territory capitals, as well as outside the capital cities, for example in Shapparton in northern Victoria. Saeed, A, 2003, Islam in Australia, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, New South Wales

religion has often emerged as the principal site of ethnic and cultural contentation, and states have become involved in the management of religions, thereby inevitably departing from the traditional separation of state and religion in the liberal framework. -103 Parsons refers to these historical factors in terms of the neutralisation of religion (such as the separation of church and state), the decentralisation of politics (such as the separation of powers and federalism) and finally the neutralisation of ethnicity since the founders were from a relatively homogenous cultural background. 259 Turner, B. S, 2011, Religion and Modern Society: Citizenship, Secularisation and the State, Cambridge University Press Racial exclusiveness was one way of asserting the superiority of the white race and its presumed supporting religious base, namely Christianity, and was repeated by many leaders in Australia over several decades. p11 In 1911 there was no more than 1000 Hindus in Australia the census registered only 414. There were probably equivalent numbers of Indian Muslims and Sikhs. However, late in the twentieth centiury, the picture is very different. In 1991 there were 43580 declared Hindus. This figure includes people of European decent who have converted to one or other sect or guru-based group, such as Vedanta or Hare Krishna.-p50 Interestingly, 300 Aboriginal people identified Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism or Judaism as their religion (from 1991 census data) p51 Bilimoria, P, 1996, The Hindus and Sikhs in Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra

Lupp, J, 2009, Encyclopaedia of Religion in Australia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Notes that: There are a large number of devout Hindus, including Anglo-Australian followers, who form small community groups and meet regularly to chant kirtans or bhajans (devotional songs) to their guru, such as Sai Baba, Ramakrishna or other Godmen or Amma (Mother), whose large colourful poster-images adorn the petalled mandap or makeshift altar and walls of their homes.

-333

the catholic church was transformed by the immigration of large numbers of Italianswho brought forms of Marian devotion and veneration of saints not as prevalent in the Irish-dominated chuch that received, if not welcomed, them (Lewins 1978). This example is critical because it demonstrates that ethnicity is associated with forms of religion and spirituality. The global movement of people carries with it the global movement of spiritualities as well as religions and cultures. p7

Through a process of religious settlement, religions not previously found in Australia or not found in significant numbers have come either through migration or conversion (Bouma, 1994, 1995, Cahill et al. 2004). With the increase in their numbers cam the establishment of well-organized communities of Buddhist, Muslims, Hindus and other religious groups. These are not just ethnic communities but religious communities focused on religious centres, such as temples, mosques and shrines, and shopping centres catering for not only ethnic foods but also religious supplies and such food as required by religious requirements and schools. p56 As a result of migration and conversion Australia has become demographically a religiously plural society. Note that plural in this sense simply means diverse and is to be distinguished from pluralism, which is a set of ideas or ideologies about plourality adopting positions on whether it is desirable, problematic, a threat or a promise (Beckford 2003: 73-102). It now takes more groups to include half the population than it did in 1947. The list of religious groups Australians call their own is much longer, and the degree of difference is greater than it was in 1947. We live in a religiously diverse society with substantial religious communities of quite different faith groups. There are also Australians who participate in and identify with more than one religious group p64 Migration brought people who were more religious than they would been had they stayed where they were raised. Their religions were new to Australia or promoted rapid growth in religions that had previously attracted few adherents. However, retaining the children and grandchildren of these immigrants has proven to be a major challenge. The adults may have found social solidarity with other immigrants and assistance in settling into Australia as well as a context that used their mother tongue. One Reformed pastor claimed that the coffee and speculaas was as important as, if not more than, the sermon for these immigrants. The next

generation speaks English and is less interested in maintaining old ways. Catholics appear to have been more successful in retention, probably due to the wider array of organisational support provided to their people: schools, welfare agencies, religious orders, clubs and societies, mid-week opportunities for Mass, prayer and study in addition to weekly worship. Moreover, the old middle class is being taken over by a new and different middle class a middle class that is more ethnically and religiously diverse (Megalogenis 2003: 7-49) p73 Following seven decades of enforced White Australia immigration policy, the ethnic mix of Australia has been changed beyond recognition bringing significant communities of Asian, Middle Eastern and African immigrants to our cities and towns. With them came religious communities not previously strong in Australia but which now eclipse some of Australias former standard-brad Christian groups as Buddhists outnumber Baptists and Muslims outnumber Lutherans. Bouma, G, 2006, Australian Soul: Religion and Spirituality in the Twenty-first Century, Cambridge University Press

Sociologists define religions as a cultural system of commonly shared beliefs and rituals that proviedes a sense of ultimate meaning and purpose by creating an ideal of reality that is sacred, all encompassing and supernatural (Durkheim, 1912) in Giddens, A, 2009, Sociology, 6th ed., Polity Press, Cambridge

Ethnicity refers to the cultural practices and outlooks of a given community of people which sets them apart from others. Members of ethnic groups see themselves as culturally distinct from other groups and are seen by them, in return, as different.Ethnic differences are wholly learned, a point that seems self-evident until we remember how often some groups are regarded as born to rule or naturally lazy, unintelligent and so on. In fact there nothing innate about ethnicity; it is a purely social phenomenon that is produced and reproduced over time. Through socialization, young people assimilate the lifestyles, norms, and beliefs of ethnic communities. However, what marks out ethnic groups is often the use of exclusionary devices such as the prohibiting of intermarriage, which serve to sharpen and maintain culturally established boundaries -633 race : groupings of people believed to share common descent, based on perceived innate physical similaries Morning, 2005

Religion and religions: It is conceptually useful to distinguish between religion, a generic phenomenon with reference to the sacred, and religions, the specific and heterogeneous institutions in societies that are concerned with the sacred. E. Durkheim (1912) defined religion in terms of its social functions: religion is a system of beliefs and rituals with reference to the sacred which binds people together in social groups. In contrast, M. Weber in his sociology of religion examined the ways in which religion regulates and shapes behaviour as an aspect of rationalization. Abercrombie, N, Hill, S, Turner, B.S, 2006, Dictionary of Sociology, 5th ed., Penguin Group, London