Religion
is powerful, with the power of religion being a type of religious capital. Such
power can be abused. Religious fraud is a significant social problem, with one
estimate of Christian fraud alone amounting to $34bn per year globally. It also
raises profound theoretical questions around the appropriate relationship
between the state, religious organisations and the community; and in particular
the difficult question of the authority of the religiously pluralist state to
determine facts in a religious context. The regulation of religious power that
results in financial gain to a religious leader or organisation needs to thread
a difficult course through under-regulation (with the exposure of those whom
regulation seeks to protect, and damage to the interests which underpin an area
of regulation) and over-regulation (with the risk of excessive restriction of
the religious interests of individuals and religious organizations, and damage
to the interests which religious rights seek to advance).
On
the 14th of February 2019 Oxford Brookes School of Law hosted a
workshop exploring the regulation of financial abuse of religious and spiritual
capital.
Professor
Pauline Ridge (Professor of Law, ANU; Visiting Fellow, Oxford Brookes
University) focused on the application of general rules around undue influence
in the particular context of religious financing. Her wide ranging discussion
of equitable doctrines in Australia and England illuminated the complexities of
civil law regulation of what, on their face, are religious donations. While an
emphasis on the idea of a fiduciary duty may help resolve these issues in
relation to large gifts, problems remain when many small gifts cumulatively
become a non-trivial amount. Pauline will continue to develop her ideas in her
monograph on religious financing law.
Craig
Allen (University research student, Oxford Brookes University) focused on the
application of the Fraud Act 2006 s.2 to the same context. His analysis of the
general provisions of criminal law in this area, in the absence of a robust
body of case law dealing with the religious context, showed problems in
relation to both actus reus and mens rea.
Craig will continue to develop his ideas in his doctoral thesis.
A
wide ranging discussion from the legal and religious studies academics, and
practitioners, present added a more explicit gender dimension to the
discussion; consideration of the changing understandings of religious orders
about financial issues; the possibilities of shifting analysis into a choronologically
extended perspective; and the complexities of assessing harm – and public
benefit – in religious contexts.
