Wellbeing and inclusion: a place for religion

Abstract

This chapter highlights the importance of social inclusion for wellbeing, with a focus on religion and the role of place. We develop a theoretical approach to study the role of religion for wellbeing by zooming in on practices of inclusion that grant legitimacy to the material and visible enactment of religion. We illustrate our argument by drawing on empirical evidence from a qualitative project on experiences of diverse groups of young Muslims, conducted in Groningen, The Netherlands. The empirical data highlights that the interaction of materiality, visibility and legitimacy is key to understanding the spatial embeddedness of religious practices and their importance for inclusion and wellbeing. The chapter concludes by discussing that in so-called ‘western’ and ‘secular’ societies, it is essential to consider the place for religion, for instance through planning, in thinking about wellbeing today and in the future religion.