Hefner in CSM on Indonesia’s Religious Freedom
Robert Hefner, Professor of Anthropology and International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs, was recently interviewed on accusations against Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama that he insulted Islam.
Hefner was interviewed for a December 13, 2016 article in the Christian Science Monitor entitled “Jakarta Christian Governor Trial Tests Indonesia’s Religious Freedom.”
From the text of the article:
“The hardliners’ take on what religious freedom [is] … it’s one that rejects the rights of anybody who says something that may deviate from a conservative understanding from Islamic orthodoxy,” Robert Hefner, a professor at Boston University who studies Muslim societies, told The Christian Science Monitor in November.
You can read the entire article here.
Robert Hefner has directed 19 research projects and organized 18 international conferences, and authored or edited nineteen books. He is former president of the Association for Asian Studies. At CURA, he has directed the program on Islam and civil society since 1991; coordinated interdisciplinary research and public policy programs on religion, pluralism, and world affairs; and is currently involved in two research projects: “The New Western Plurality and Civic Coexistence: Muslims, Catholics, and Secularists in North America and Western Europe”; and “Sharia Transitions: Islamic Law and Ethical Plurality in the Contemporary World.” You can read more about him here.