BQ 903 – 8/2026
Two researchers related to the International Institute for Religious Freedom receive awards

10. February 2026

New research awards for research on religious freedom and persecution of Christians

(Bonn, 10.02.2026) Two IIRF related authors and graduates who studied or researched under the tutelage of IIRF co-founder and current Senior Consultant Professor Dr. Christof Sauer have received awards issued by the Chair of Religious Freedom and Political Ethics at Gies­sen School of Theology (FTH) in Germany.

Dr. James Bultema received the “Science / Journalism / Projects Funding Award” endowed with €1,000 for his doctoral dissertation “Free Enough to Grow: The Turkish Protestant Movement, 1961–2016”, produced at Evangelical Theological Faculty Leuven in Belgium from 2020 to 2024 in the Department of Religious Studies and Missiology and in conjunction with the Institute for the Study of Freedom of Religion or Belief there.

Dr. Meiken Buchholz, lecturer in missiology at FTH, lauded Bultema’s work for showing how Turkish Christian converts from Islam boldly navigated the spaces of religious freedom available to them for claiming a new identity.

Bultema announced that his dissertation would be published open access by Springer in June 2026. He would use his prize money to fund research for a sequel volume on the years until today in which religious freedom declined but the church nevertheless grew further.

According to the advertisement, this award is given “For outstanding academic work (especially in Christian theology), journalistic articles or projects … on the subject of religious freedom/ persecution of Christians.”

Bultema has published from his research in the International Journal for Religious Freedom an article “An unwanted child: Secularism, religious freedom, and the Turkish Protestant Church” (IJRF 13/2020) and a few more in other publications.

Volker Kauder, Sina Hartert, Dr. Carsten Polanz © FTH Giessen/Timo Lotter

Sina Hartert received the “Young Talent Award” endowed with €500 for her BA thesis in Journalism on “Reporting on persecution of Christians” accepted at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany in 2023. FTH lecturer in Islamic Studies Dr. Carsten Polanz lauded her for a differentiated evaluation of how the topic of the persecution of Christians in the 21st century is dealt with in print and online newsrooms in Germany by examining four newspapers. She uncovered reasons for the lack of awareness and limitations of reporting, taking extensive expert interviews with Sauer as a benchmark, and fine tuning her research results according to his feedback. Her work was published in IIRF Reports in both English and German. At the award ceremony Hartert called for an ecumenical approach in responding to martyrdom of Christians, and challenged her listeners to pray that journalists would get a personal understanding of religion. Hartert currently works as a journalist for the German Catholic weekly, Die Tagespost, which reported in detail about the merits of her research.

A third award recipient was the director of Open Doors Germany, Markus Rode, who was honored for his life work in being a spokesperson for persecuted Christians. This is the first time that these awards by the Chair of Religious Freedom and Political Ethics at Giessen School of Theology in Germany were issued. The current incumbent as honorary professor, Volker Kauder, a retired leading conservative politician who had relentlessly raised the topic in German parliament, opined at the ceremony that the problem concerning persecution of Christians is not one of knowing about it, but of action.

The three award recipients Bultema, Hartert and Markus Rode © FTH Giessen/Timo Lotter

IIRF Global Director Prof. Dr. Dennis Petri congratulated Sauer on the achievements of his protegés and the fruits of his decades of supervision and coaching. Sauer was the first Professor on Religious Freedom and Research on Persecution of Christians at Giessen School of Theology from 2017 to 2022 and the works honored were largely produced concurrently to his tenure there. Sauer is also guest professor at ETF Leuven since 2014 and Professor Extraordinary at Stellenbosch University, South Africa since 2011. He lives in early retirement in Augsburg, Germany, and focuses on multiplying scholarly researchers on religious freedom and on publishing. IIRF had advertised the awards internationally.

IIRF Director Dr. Petri cooperates with Kauder and Polanz in editing an anthology forthcoming in March 2026 on “Religious Freedom in a Changing World: Normative Foundations, Global Realities, and Emerging Challenge”, emanating from a symposium at Giessen School of Theology held earlier this year, including contributions from several IIRF staff and affiliates.

The International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF) was founded in 2005 with the mission to promote religious freedom for all faiths from an academic perspective. The IIRF has a global presence with academic and advocacy partners on all continents. The IIRF is also a “meeting place” for all scholars that take an interest in religious freedom.

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