Religicide

Confronting the Roots of Anti-Religious Violence

Georgette F. Bennett, Jerry White

• Publisher: Post Hill Press
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9781637581025
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religious Intolerance, Persecution & Conflict

A brave and timely proposal to name, investigate, and ultimately stop a new crime–the mass murder of millions of people for their faith. Religion-related violence is the fastest spreading type of violence worldwide. Attacks on religious minorities follow a clear pattern and are preceded with early warning signs. Until now, such violence had no name, let alone a set of policies designed to identify and prevent it. A unique attempt to create a new moral and legal category alongside other forms of persecution and mass murder, Religicide explores the roots of atrocities such as the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, the Bosnian war, and other human rights catastrophes. The authors tap into their decades of activism, interreligious engagement, and people-to-people diplomacy to delve into a gripping examination of contemporary religicides: the Yazidis in Iraq, the Rohingya in Myanmar, Uyghur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists in China, and the centuries-long efforts to wipe out Indigenous Americans. Yet, even in the face of these horrific atrocities, the authors resist despair. They amplify the voices of survivors and offer a blueprint for action, calling on government, business, civil society, and religious leaders to join in a global campaign to protect religious minorities.

Table of contents

• Religicide
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Foreword by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein
• Chapter One: A Problem with No Name
• Chapter Two: Atrocities and Human Rights Law
• Chapter Three: The Roots of Religicide
• Chapter Four: Defusing Toxic Scriptures
• Chapter Five: Religion Killing Religion: ISIS against the Yazidis
• Chapter Six: State Killing Religion: China against the Uyghurs
• Chapter Seven: Tech-Assisted Religicide: China’s Surveillance in Tibet
• Chapter Eight: Religion and State Killing Religion: Myanmar against the Rohingya
• Chapter Nine: Religicide and Indigenous Americans
• Chapter Ten: Gaps in the Protection of Religion and Belief
• Chapter Eleven: A Multi-tiered Approach to Prevent Religicide
• Chapter Twelve: A Global Covenant: The Missing Piece
• Bibliography
• Endnotes
• Acknowledgments