03/07/2026 09:00 - 18:20

HALL: Pola - A210

Contact: Popa L.

Chair: Biagini E.F.

The recognition of religious minorities by political regimes does not always equate with true equality, even when formal status has been granted. History shows that it often comes with impositions, covert persecution, or the loss of certain privileges. This panel aims to explore such moments of recognition, showcasing contradictory experiences of Protestant religious minorities with state power in their local contexts. What strategies did religious minorities use to attain legal recognition from the state? How did different political ideologies, such as communism and liberalism, affect their experiences of attaining equality? What does State recognition signify for Protestant minorities historically? What did minority Protestants gain or lose from state recognition, and what hidden forms of inequality were masked by this formal acknowledgement? How did their spiritual practices change as a result?


Organised by the research group "Protestantism as a minority religion" (https://minorityprotestants.wordpress.com/), the panel aims to understand how religious minorities interact with the state in moments of recognition and to explore the equalities and inequalities that originate from this dynamic across specific contexts. Contemporary struggles faced by minority Christian groups, such as those in northern Nigeria under radical Islamist attacks, or in North Korea and China under communist regimes, demand a reassessment of those dynamics under states that recognise them formally but not in practice.