PSS members are encouraged to take part in an essay contest on “Religious Freedom in Southeast Asia and the West.” Please see the correspondence below from Matius Ho, the Executive Director of Institut Leimena and Dennis Hoover, the Editor of The Review of Faith & International Affairs.

—

We are pleased to let you and your colleagues and associates know about an opportunity to participate in an international essay contest on “Religious Freedom in Southeast Asia and the West,” jointly organized by the Institute for Global Engagement (USA) and the Institut Leimena (Indonesia), and sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation.

Essays must compare the formation of religious freedom in one or more Southeast Asian countries (or Southeast Asia as a whole) with that in one or more countries in the West (or the West as a whole). Essays can discuss key socio-political factors, legal contexts, individual leaders, and/or major current and emerging issues and threats related to religious freedom in Southeast Asia and the West. Essays should identify examples of positive progress and also examples of erosion of religious and other freedoms both in Southeast Asia and the West, and the practical lessons that might be learned. The contest is open to any scholar who is a citizen of a Southeast Asian country (entrants need not be currently resident in their home country). Deadline for all submissions is 11:59 PM in Jakarta (GMT+7) on May 1, 2016.

Winners will be selected in two categories: Professionals and Students. The first place winners will receive US$2,500 (Professionals) and US$1,000 (Students); the runner-up will receive US$1,500 (Professionals) and US$500 (Students). The winning essays will be published in The Review of Faith & International Affairs (a scholarly journal distributed by Routledge – www.tandfonline.com/rfia). First place winners will receive airfare and accommodation to and from Singapore to present their papers at an international conference on religion and law in Southeast Asia in December 2016. Please refer to the attached “Essay Contest Guidelines” for full details, or visithttps://globalengage.org/news-media/press-release/essay-contest-religious-freedom-in-southeast-asia-and-the-west.

We need your assistance to make this essay contest a success. Please disseminate this information, along with the Essay Contest Guidelines and e-poster attached, to your colleagues and associates as soon as possible. If you have any questions, please contact us by email at: belicias@leimena.org. Thank you for your kind attention and cooperation.

Download the event poster and guidelines for more information.