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Religious Fundamentalism, Political Power and the Colonization of Spirituality

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Abstract

As many of the essays in this collection indicate, spirituality is typically seen as an essential, positive part of who we are, something which unites us with our fellow people, our environment and the divine to promote peace, strength and goodness. And yet, spirituality can also be linked to conflict, exploitation and power struggles when it is mobilized to promote inequalities and private gains. In this chapter, I examine how discourses of spirituality have been employed for private economic and power gains in three contemporary examples, connecting this process metaphorically to theories of domination and colonization.

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© 2011 Sense Publishers

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Antze, E. (2011). Religious Fundamentalism, Political Power and the Colonization of Spirituality. In: Wane, N.N., Manyimo, E.L., Ritskes, E.J. (eds) Spirituality, Education & Society. SensePublishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6091-603-8_15

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