CRPL at the British Association for the Study of Religions

The CRPL at BASR 2023

Today's post is by Dr. Aled Thomas

The University of Leeds and Centre for Religion and Public Life were represented by four PhD candidates and two members of academic staff at this year’s British Association for the Study of Religions conference at Clare College Cambridge. The conference concerned ‘Environmental Endings and Religious Futures’, bringing together cutting-edge scholarship to address the intersections of religion, climate collapse, renewal, and political discourses. In addition to exploring these themes, the conference reinforced the essential need to understand the role religion plays in how climate and political issues are interpreted and navigated across contemporary societies.

Leeds/CRPL delegates presented the following:

● Bethan Oake on ‘Cults of conspiracy & the (ongoing) Satanic Panic’ – discussing how “the notion of cults are conceptualised from the perspective of Satanic Cult Conspiracytheorists, with how they themselves can be considered as reflecting these very same cult characteristics that they seek to weaponize against others”.

● Jodie Salter on ‘Faith-based organisations and climate action at the UN: distinctive, strategic, post-secular?’ – demonstrating “the strategic ways that FBOs engage with the UN on climate action whilst still seeking to carve out a distinctively faith-based voice through moral, though not always confessional, framings of climate change”.

● Marie-Thérèse Talensby on ‘Surviving Extinction: Experiences of eco-anxiety and eco-grief in faith-based climate activism’ – exploring “how UK-based climate activists experience eco-anxiety and eco-grief, and what factors might inform these experiences”.

● Aled Thomas on ‘Public Perceptions of the NRM Researcher: Addressing the ‘cult apologism’ problem’ – proposing “a more public-facing approach to NRM scholarship which aims to strengthen relationships with ex-members and encourage engagement with producers of various forms of popular ‘cult’ media and content creators”.

● Christabelle Thwaites on ‘Researching purity culture in British Christianity: methodological and ethical challenges’ – examining “the impact of purity culture on women in Great Britain … [and advocating] trauma-informed research”.

Professor Melanie Prideaux and Dr Aled Thomas also serve on the BASR Executive Committee as JBASR Coordinating Editor and Web Officer respectively.

Excitingly, next year’s BASR conference will be held here at the University of Leeds! Please keep an eye on the BASR website for upcoming details and call for papers. We hope to see you there!

Header Image: Bethan Oake, Marie-Thérèse Talensby, Jodie Salter, Christabelle Thwaites, Melanie Prideaux, and Aled Thomas.