The spiritual is political: Reflecting on gender, religion and secularism in international development

Interest in the role of religion in development has exponentially increased in recent years. Yet, this interest is highly “secularised”. The focus is on the material and instrumental influence and relevance of religious actors, with little consideration of the impact of spirituality, belief, religious experience, and practice on social and political transformation. Neglecting religion’s transformational possibilities can contribute to entrenching existing problematic assumptions. Perhaps nowhere is this outcome more apparent than the issue of gender. This chapter explores these dynamics surrounding the intersection of religion and gender in development. We argue that hierarchical binary models of religion (secular = good/religion = bad) and gender (male (perpetrator)/female (victim)) hinder social and political transformation. Hence, we suggest, faith-based organisations could realise greater transformation in gender relationships, but also in religious and secular interactions, through the adoption of more intersectional approaches to religion and development. Utilising the World Vision International Channels of Hope (CoH) programme as a case study, the chapter highlights that, although CoH challenges established hierarchical binaries of religion and gender, it also in some ways reinforces them. Using a model combining a transformative approach to gender with a multiple ontologies approach, we offer suggestions for how faith-based development organisations could enhance their transformative and emancipatory potential.