Interdisciplinary conference on Feminist Theologies, Religion and Sustainable Democracy in the Nordic Countries and Europe. Europe and the Nordic countries are experiencing a reemergence of polarizing discourses. As this conference will critically discuss, the ideologies that fuel these discourses often reference conservative Christian or Neopagan faith traditions for legitimation, thus linking religion with the growing far-right movements.
Central to the movements is a new acceptance for polarized and racialized gender discourse. Male supremacy and the patriarchal family are reclaimed as foundational to both church and nation, thus putting the rights of women, queer and non-white people under new pressure.
New analytics have evolved where climate change is denied, populist conspiracy theories accepted, civic polarities endorsed, and Anti-Islam and Anti-Semitism are revived. The desire for a new cultural war reaches from the US to Eastern Europe, and the war on Ukraine warns of its dangers. When core understandings and respect of human rights are challenged, so is sustainable democracy. Due to a variety of unforeseen reasons it is impossible for the conference to take place on location in Oslo.
All registrations made so far remain valid. This conference welcomes a variety of theoretical and practical strategies to identify and critique the ideologies and practices that contribute to gender polarity and religious nationalism β both in the Nordic countries and comparatively in Europe and the USA.
It also aims at providing collaborative, creative spaces to help envision new sustainable democratic practices and cultures, including within church and its associated form of ritualized life. The conference is open to the general public. The conference aims to support Nordic, European and international scholars and practitioners and facilitate critical academic exchange, inter-religious networking, and transnational collaboration.
