Description

This work is a collection of essays that describe and analyze religion and regime relations in various nations in the contemporary world. The contributors examine patterns of interaction between religious actors and national governments that include separation, support, and opposition. In general, the contributors find that most countries have a majority or plurality religious tradition, which will seek a privileged position in public life. The nature of the relationship between such traditions and national policy is largely determined by the nature of opposition. A pattern of quasi-establishment is most common in settings in which opposition to a dominant religious tradition is explicitly religious. However, in some instances, the dominant tradition is associated with a discredited prior regime, in which a pattern of legal separation is most common. Conversely, in some nations, a dominant religion is, for historical reasons, strong associated with national identity. Such regimes are often characterized by a “lazy monopoly,” in which the public influence of religion is reduced.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Comparative Religious Politics
Mehran Tamadonfar and Ted G. Jelen
Chapter 1: A Tangled Web: Religion and the Regime in the United States
Rachel Blum and Clyde Wilcox
Chapter 2: Religion and Regimes in Brazil and Chile
Christine A. Gustafson
Chapter 3: From Atheism to Establishment? The Evolution of Church-State Relations in Russia
Christopher Marsh
Chapter 4: Israel as a Jewish and Democratic State
Elizabeth A. Oldmixon and Rebekah Samaniego
Chapter 5: International Context and State-Religion Regimes in France and Turkey
Ramazan Kilinç
Chapter 6: Religion and State In India: Ambiguity, Chauvinism, and Tolerance
Scott Hibbard
Chapter 7: The Roman Catholic Church and Political Regime in Portugal and Spain: Support, Opposition and Separation
Paul Christopher Manuel
Chapter 8: Democratization, Human Rights, and Religion-State Relations in Taiwan and Hong Kong
J. Christopher Soper and Joel S. Fetzer
Chapter 9: The Orphaned Irish: Church and State in Neo-Liberal Ireland
Michele Dillon
Chapter 10: Religion and Regime Change in Iran and Poland
Mehran Tamadonfar and Ted G. Jelen
Conclusion
Ted G. Jelen and Mehran Tamadonfar

Product details

Published 14 Feb 2017
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Extent 288
ISBN 9781498550567
Imprint Lexington Books
Illustrations 7 Tables
Dimensions 229 x 150 mm
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

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Environment: Staging