Universal or Particular … or Both? The Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief in Cross-Cultural Perspective

The right to Freedom of Religion of Belief (FoRB) is a focus of increasing concern in academia and policy. A key disagreement is whether a universally recognized right to FoRB actually exists. This article explores this disagreement by considering global, universalist narratives and local, context-specific application of FoRB in India and Indonesia. We argue that the language of FoRB is not universal, but across different cultures, concepts and practices existsuch as honoring the traditions of others and living together in harmonythat are consistent with FoRB. Rather than insist on the language of FoRB, international actors should focus on these already existing practices.