Membership Developments

Belgium – membership lapsed. Efforts to found a new inclusive Belgian association.
Following the changes to the Constitution as well as decisions taken in Toronto, and with reference to the clear statement some years ago from the Societe belgo-luxembourgoise d’histoire des religions that it was defunct, the General Secretary in January 2011 notified the named society that its membership to the IAHR had lapsed.

The immediate response was very positive: The president of the named society expressed his understanding of this step, and, even more important, his support to the team of younger scholars from Ghent that the President and the General Secretary had encouraged to try to establish a new all inclusive Belgian association. Later, however, the efforts by the scholars from Ghent did also meet some resistance, and during a visit by the General Secretary in Ghent late May it became evident that more time was needed. At the time of reporting, another group of scholars seem to have taken an initiative. Hopefully, they will succeed in creating an association that manages to include older as well as younger scholars, French as well as Flemish speaking scholars, etc. 

Russia – a restructuring and renaming of the Russian association 
In e-mails as of June 4 and 6, 2011 from Deputy Treasurer, Prof. Marianna Shakhnovich to the President and General Secretary, Prof. Shakhnovich has informed about the restructuring and renaming of the Russian association. The new name, according to a resolution also sent by Prof. Shakhnovich, is the ‘Association of Russian Centers for Study of Religions’. The association is intended to be more “appropriate to the current state of the study of religions in the large country of Russia with different local, regional, professional and youth associations of scholars in this field.” The coordinating body of the Association is a “Governing Council, comprising representatives of the most influential centers of religious studies of the country.“ The association plans a conference for October 2012 in St. Petersburg at the State Museum of the History of Religion.

Ireland – the Irish Society for the Academic Study of Religions
At a meeting at the University College Cork (UCC) on Saturday 19 February 2011, an Irish association, the Irish Society for the Academic Study of Religions, has been established, and the General Secretary has congratulated the Acting Secretary of the society, IAHR Treasurer Prof. Bocking and his colleagues in Ireland, with their successful initiative.

The association has applied for membership to the IAHR, and at its meeting in Bhutan July 1, 2011, the IAHR Executive Committee unanimously decided to recommend the adoption of the Irish Society for the Academic Study of Religions (ISASR) as a member to the IAHR