Faithful to Secularism

The Religious Politics of Democracy in Ireland, Senegal, and the Philippines
Erscheinungsjahr 2017
ISBN: 978-0-231-18006-1
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 288 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 237 mm, Gewicht: 511 g

Reihe: Religion, Culture, and Public Life

?Religion and democracy can make tense bedfellows. Secular elites may view religious movements as conflict-prone and incapable of compromise, while religious actors may fear that anticlericalism will drive religion from public life. Yet such tensions are not inevitable: from Asia to Latin America, religious actors coexist with, and even help to preserve, democracy.

In Faithful to Secularism, David T. Buckley argues that political institutions encouraging an active role for public religion can play a key part in explaining this variation, by building coalition ties across religious and secular boundaries. He develops the concept of "benevolent secularism" to describe institutions that combine a basic division of religion and state with extensive room for participation of religious actors in public life, and he traces the impact of benevolent secularism on religious and secular elites, both at critical junctures in state formation and as politics evolves over time. Buckley shows how religious and secular actors build credibility and shared norms over time, and that such coalitions can endure challenges from both religious revivals and periods of anticlericalism. Faithful to Secularism tests this institutional theory in Ireland, Senegal, and the Philippines, using a blend of archival, interview, and public opinion data. These case studies illustrate how even countries with an active religious majority can become and remain faithful to secularism.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Buckley, David

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Demokratie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Politik & Religion, Religionsfreiheit
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religion & Politik, Religionsfreiheit

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Tables and FiguresAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Benevolent Secularism: A Theory of the Religious Politics of Democracy2. Secular Emergence in Ireland: Home Rule and Rome Rule?3. Secular Evolution in Ireland: Religion and Post-Catholic Politics4. Secular Emergence in Senegal: Laïcité in Translation5. Secular Evolution in Senegal: Sopi and Institutional Change6. Secular Emergence in the Philippines: Beyond the Malolos Stalemate7. Secular Evolution in the Philippines: People Power and PluralizationConclusion: The Future of Religion and Secular DemocracyNotesBibliographyIndex

Über Autor(innen)

?David Buckley is assistant professor and the Paul Weber Endowed Chair in Religion, Science, and Politics in the Department of Political Science at the University of Louisville.