ABSTRACT
Religion is undoubtedly an important facet of contemporary superdiversity, infl uenced by migration, transnational circulations and diasporic interconnections (Knott and McLoughlin 2010; Levitt 2009; McLoughlin 2010, 2013; Tweed 2006; Vásquez and Marquardt 2003; Vertovec 2004, 2007). However, religious diversity is not solely a function of late-modern migrations and recently articulated diasporic consciousness, but has been witnessed in many times and places as a result of the predilection of religious bodies to multiply, diversify and distinguish themselves from others, and of those regulatory regimes that have sought to divide and rule them. In the second half of the twentieth century these processes were masked by the failure of Western secular social scientists and public commentators to consider and discuss the presence of religion, its importance for identity and its potential role in public life and policy making. How this changed post-2001 and the ways in which religious communities and organizations have themselves responded to new expressions of diversity will be discussed in this chapter.
