Paper short abstract:

The paper will focus on the (im)possibilities of activist modes in the study of religions, including anthropology and other social sciences. It will reflect on the limits of engagements of a scholar dealing with religion and it will propose a radical non-confessional religious studies curriculum.

Paper long abstract:

Scholars of religion are constantly confronted with the limits of their engagement either during ethnography or while reflecting on particular cases when the religion, law, public sphere and consensual democracy intersect. Growing out from Polish cases I would like to open the field for discussing activism modes in studying religion and rethinking the stigma of (dis)engagement while studying religion.

I will base my argument on juridical proceedings common in Poland in the recent years, where scholars dealing with religion are employed as experts. The cases consider accusations of the “offence of religious feelings” a criminal law existing in Polish juridical system since the twenties of 20th century. This law is used in Poland to locate religion in the public sphere and delimitate its scope, rights and claims. At the same time this juridical proceedings depend on involvement of the scholar working with religion. This means that the shape of the public sphere is relational to attitude, worldview, conviction, level of expertise and ego of the expert scholar.

In contrast to public anthropology the research and study of religion is still considered this particular field where activist modes and engaged modes of research and knowledge production are universally unaccepted either by other scholars or by common public. Therefore there is urgent need to debate both the relationality of secular public and religious space, and the figure of researcher in undoing the particular position of religion in the contemporary public space and legal structures. Importantly, debated activist mode is non-confessional and secular.