The question central to this article is whether ‘Islam’ and human rights are compatible and, if not, whether there might be room to come to a minimum standard of human rights that can be shared globally. This article will demonstrate that, from the perspective of Islamic orthodoxy, principles that are fundamental to human rights, like equality and freedom of religion, pose unsurmountable problems, and the adjustment of these principles is theologically nearly impossible. However, a growing number of Muslim intellectuals holds the opposite view, using new theological methods to argue that these Islamic principles and human rights are compatible. Although they are warmly welcomed by human rights lawyers and activists, their methods are not uncontroversial, and they are still very small in number.

In Europe, female circumcision has been considered a grave violation of human rights. However, many European countries fail to combat this illegal practice. This article answers the question why criminal law enforcement with regard to female circumcision seems to fail in various European states, with the exception of France. To answer this question, this article analyses various models of citizenship.

The Protestant Church accepted in November 2015 a report about her future. This reflection was necessary because of the shrinking amount of members and of income. The report combines a principal view on the essence of being church with practical proposals to get a more simple organisation of the church and savings in expenditures. The responsibility of the church for society is explicitly stated. Much shall depend on the concrete follow up. Needed is more attention to the question how this responsibility can get shape.

This contribution discusses two forms in which spiritual care in the Netherlands can be organized: in terms of a (church) office which reflects the current form, or as liberal profession which is a form to be conceivably pursued as an alternative proper to the sociocultural and institutional developments that this text indicates. The historical Dutch context of pillarization is tributary to a form of spiritual care that seems less apt to deal with the challenges ahead. The conditions and requirements of a liberal model are presented, but also put into perspective of the limited opportunities of the professional association of spiritual care to manoeuvre in politics and policies.

The Roman Catholic Church experiences a transition from the highly centralized Church formation of Ultramontane Mass Catholicism into a more decentralized and pluralistic Choice Catholicism. With respect to governance, this transition concerns the increasing importance of the diocesan intermediate level in the Church on the one hand, and a transition from a union-oriented organization model into a network-oriented model on the other. The network model is catalyzed by the digitalization of daily life and its polycentrism. This contribution discusses these developments in a systematic way with the help of sociological and theological insights. By way of conclusion it summarizes some challenges from a policy and governmental point of view. They concern the ecclesial leadership style, membership and participation, catholicity, online community building, and self-presentation in the social media.