Thomas F. Farr
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195179958
- eISBN:
- 9780199869749
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179958.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter describes the “avoidance syndrome” that has characterized U.S. diplomacy's failure to engage religion in the international order. It surveys the evidence for what scholars call the ...
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This chapter describes the “avoidance syndrome” that has characterized U.S. diplomacy's failure to engage religion in the international order. It surveys the evidence for what scholars call the desecularization of the world. It then identifies the two major issues—religious persecution and transnational Islamist terrorism—that ought to have forced U.S. policy makers to address the underlying religious nature of problems in the international order. Diplomats have fallen short in both areas. The chapter ends by describing two key elements of the explanation for diplomacy's ineptness: the culture wars and “secularization theory”—in particular the latter's Rawlsian assumption that religion is inherently emotive and irrational.Less
This chapter describes the “avoidance syndrome” that has characterized U.S. diplomacy's failure to engage religion in the international order. It surveys the evidence for what scholars call the desecularization of the world. It then identifies the two major issues—religious persecution and transnational Islamist terrorism—that ought to have forced U.S. policy makers to address the underlying religious nature of problems in the international order. Diplomats have fallen short in both areas. The chapter ends by describing two key elements of the explanation for diplomacy's ineptness: the culture wars and “secularization theory”—in particular the latter's Rawlsian assumption that religion is inherently emotive and irrational.
Manlio Graziano
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231174626
- eISBN:
- 9780231543910
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231174626.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Religions are reemerging in the social, political, and economic spheres previously occupied and dominated by secular institutions and ideologies. In the wake of crises exposing the limits of secular ...
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Religions are reemerging in the social, political, and economic spheres previously occupied and dominated by secular institutions and ideologies. In the wake of crises exposing the limits of secular modernity, religions have again become significant players in domestic and international politics. At the same time, the Catholic Church has sought a "holy alliance" among the world's faiths to recentralize devout influence, an important, albeit little-noticed, evolution in international relations. Holy Wars and Holy Alliance explores the nation-state's current crisis in order to better understand the religious resurgence's implications for geopolitics. Manlio Graziano looks at how the Catholic Church promotes dialogue and action linking world religions, and examines how it has used its material, financial, and institutional strength to gain power and increase its profile in present-day international politics. Challenging the idea that modernity is tied to progress and secularization, Graziano documents the "return" or the "revenge" of God in all facets of life. He shows that tolerance, pluralism, democracy, and science have not triumphed as once predicted. To fully grasp the destabilizing dynamics at work today, he argues, we must appreciate the nature of religious struggles and political holy wars now unfolding across the international stage.Less
Religions are reemerging in the social, political, and economic spheres previously occupied and dominated by secular institutions and ideologies. In the wake of crises exposing the limits of secular modernity, religions have again become significant players in domestic and international politics. At the same time, the Catholic Church has sought a "holy alliance" among the world's faiths to recentralize devout influence, an important, albeit little-noticed, evolution in international relations. Holy Wars and Holy Alliance explores the nation-state's current crisis in order to better understand the religious resurgence's implications for geopolitics. Manlio Graziano looks at how the Catholic Church promotes dialogue and action linking world religions, and examines how it has used its material, financial, and institutional strength to gain power and increase its profile in present-day international politics. Challenging the idea that modernity is tied to progress and secularization, Graziano documents the "return" or the "revenge" of God in all facets of life. He shows that tolerance, pluralism, democracy, and science have not triumphed as once predicted. To fully grasp the destabilizing dynamics at work today, he argues, we must appreciate the nature of religious struggles and political holy wars now unfolding across the international stage.
Gregorio Bettiza
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- July 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190949464
- eISBN:
- 9780190949495
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190949464.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Since the end of the Cold War, religion has been systematically brought to the fore of American foreign policy. US foreign policymakers have been increasingly tasked with promoting religious freedom ...
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Since the end of the Cold War, religion has been systematically brought to the fore of American foreign policy. US foreign policymakers have been increasingly tasked with promoting religious freedom globally, delivering humanitarian and development aid abroad through faith-based channels, pacifying Muslim politics and reforming Islamic theologies in the context of fighting terrorism, and engaging religious actors to solve multiple conflicts and crises around the world. Across a range of different domains, religion has progressively become an explicit and organized subject and object of US foreign policy in ways that were unimaginable just a few decades ago. If God was supposed to be vanquished by the forces of modernity and secularization, why has the United States increasingly sought to understand and manage religion abroad? In what ways have the boundaries between faith and state been redefined as religion has become operationalized in American foreign policy? What kind of world order is emerging in the twenty-first century as the most powerful state in the international system has come to intervene in sustained and systematic ways in sacred landscapes around the globe? This book addresses these questions by developing an original theoretical framework and drawing upon extensive empirical research and interviews. It argues that American foreign policy and religious forces have become ever more inextricably entangled in an age witnessing a global resurgence of religion and the emergence of a postsecular world society.Less
Since the end of the Cold War, religion has been systematically brought to the fore of American foreign policy. US foreign policymakers have been increasingly tasked with promoting religious freedom globally, delivering humanitarian and development aid abroad through faith-based channels, pacifying Muslim politics and reforming Islamic theologies in the context of fighting terrorism, and engaging religious actors to solve multiple conflicts and crises around the world. Across a range of different domains, religion has progressively become an explicit and organized subject and object of US foreign policy in ways that were unimaginable just a few decades ago. If God was supposed to be vanquished by the forces of modernity and secularization, why has the United States increasingly sought to understand and manage religion abroad? In what ways have the boundaries between faith and state been redefined as religion has become operationalized in American foreign policy? What kind of world order is emerging in the twenty-first century as the most powerful state in the international system has come to intervene in sustained and systematic ways in sacred landscapes around the globe? This book addresses these questions by developing an original theoretical framework and drawing upon extensive empirical research and interviews. It argues that American foreign policy and religious forces have become ever more inextricably entangled in an age witnessing a global resurgence of religion and the emergence of a postsecular world society.
Jin-Heon Jung
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520281226
- eISBN:
- 9780520961081
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520281226.003.0014
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter examines the politics of desecularization by focusing on the experience of Christian churches and North Korean migrants in Seoul. In particular, it demonstrates how Seoul has undergone ...
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This chapter examines the politics of desecularization by focusing on the experience of Christian churches and North Korean migrants in Seoul. In particular, it demonstrates how Seoul has undergone desecularization in response to a changing geopolitical climate by providing both historical accounts of Korean Christianity and ethnographic vignettes of North Korean migrants' conversion to Christianity. It also considers a particular form of Christianity as it serves to promote, if not delimit, a modality of ideal liberal citizenship. Finally, it explores how religious revival, invention, and intervention have been intertwined in the processes of modernization and urbanization in Seoul, along with the changing implications of the transformative capacity of Christianity (that is, conversion) for self and society. It suggests that the conversion of North Korean migrants to Christianity is a reflection of the so-called “compressed modernity” of South Korea's rapid socioeconomic transformation.Less
This chapter examines the politics of desecularization by focusing on the experience of Christian churches and North Korean migrants in Seoul. In particular, it demonstrates how Seoul has undergone desecularization in response to a changing geopolitical climate by providing both historical accounts of Korean Christianity and ethnographic vignettes of North Korean migrants' conversion to Christianity. It also considers a particular form of Christianity as it serves to promote, if not delimit, a modality of ideal liberal citizenship. Finally, it explores how religious revival, invention, and intervention have been intertwined in the processes of modernization and urbanization in Seoul, along with the changing implications of the transformative capacity of Christianity (that is, conversion) for self and society. It suggests that the conversion of North Korean migrants to Christianity is a reflection of the so-called “compressed modernity” of South Korea's rapid socioeconomic transformation.
Adrian Pabst
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814772805
- eISBN:
- 9780814723562
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814772805.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
This chapter argues that the standard models of “secularization” and “desecularization” are theoretically problematic and empirically questionable. By essentializing religion, both theories adopt a ...
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This chapter argues that the standard models of “secularization” and “desecularization” are theoretically problematic and empirically questionable. By essentializing religion, both theories adopt a secular perspective, which ignores key sociological, anthropological, and philosophical features that can account for the specificities of different religious traditions. Moreover, modernity is not a linear process that progressively replaces the religious past with a secular future. Rather, it is a dialectical process oscillating between a dominant secularism (and a variety of denominational subcultures that are positively linked to modernization) on the one hand, and an increasingly visible revival of traditional faiths that resist and seek to transform the secular outlook of global modernity, on the other hand.Less
This chapter argues that the standard models of “secularization” and “desecularization” are theoretically problematic and empirically questionable. By essentializing religion, both theories adopt a secular perspective, which ignores key sociological, anthropological, and philosophical features that can account for the specificities of different religious traditions. Moreover, modernity is not a linear process that progressively replaces the religious past with a secular future. Rather, it is a dialectical process oscillating between a dominant secularism (and a variety of denominational subcultures that are positively linked to modernization) on the one hand, and an increasingly visible revival of traditional faiths that resist and seek to transform the secular outlook of global modernity, on the other hand.
Justin G. Wilford
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814725351
- eISBN:
- 9780814708309
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814725351.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explores how the Warren and Saddleback Churches effortlessly incorporate supralocal structures, interests, symbols, and narratives without using them in the service of supralocal ...
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This chapter explores how the Warren and Saddleback Churches effortlessly incorporate supralocal structures, interests, symbols, and narratives without using them in the service of supralocal ambitions. Saddleback's politics are not political at all. Events such as the “Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency,” in which Barack Obama and John McCain appeared together in the 2008 presidential campaign, are rather elaborate performances meant to retell secular stories in a religious key, and religious stories in a secular key. The desired result for Saddleback and Warren is not some Falwellian desecularization—a more Christian American government—but rather an increase in saved souls in south Orange County.Less
This chapter explores how the Warren and Saddleback Churches effortlessly incorporate supralocal structures, interests, symbols, and narratives without using them in the service of supralocal ambitions. Saddleback's politics are not political at all. Events such as the “Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency,” in which Barack Obama and John McCain appeared together in the 2008 presidential campaign, are rather elaborate performances meant to retell secular stories in a religious key, and religious stories in a secular key. The desired result for Saddleback and Warren is not some Falwellian desecularization—a more Christian American government—but rather an increase in saved souls in south Orange County.
Gregorio Bettiza
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- July 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190949464
- eISBN:
- 9780190949495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190949464.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Since the end of the Cold War religion has increasingly become an organized subject and object of American foreign policy. This has been notable with the emergence of four religious foreign policy ...
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Since the end of the Cold War religion has increasingly become an organized subject and object of American foreign policy. This has been notable with the emergence of four religious foreign policy regimes—International Religious Freedom, Faith-Based Foreign Aid, Muslim and Islamic Interventions, and Religious Engagement—which together constitute an American foreign policy regime complex on religion. The introduction poses the book’s three guiding questions. First, why and how did these different, yet closely related, religious foreign policy regimes emerge? Second, have the boundaries between religion and state been redefined by these regimes, and if so, how? Third, what are the global effects of the growing entanglement between faith and American foreign policy? The chapter introduces the concepts and arguments that are central to answering these questions. It also highlights the contributions made to the existing literature, discusses some definitional and methodological issues, and presents the plan of the book.Less
Since the end of the Cold War religion has increasingly become an organized subject and object of American foreign policy. This has been notable with the emergence of four religious foreign policy regimes—International Religious Freedom, Faith-Based Foreign Aid, Muslim and Islamic Interventions, and Religious Engagement—which together constitute an American foreign policy regime complex on religion. The introduction poses the book’s three guiding questions. First, why and how did these different, yet closely related, religious foreign policy regimes emerge? Second, have the boundaries between religion and state been redefined by these regimes, and if so, how? Third, what are the global effects of the growing entanglement between faith and American foreign policy? The chapter introduces the concepts and arguments that are central to answering these questions. It also highlights the contributions made to the existing literature, discusses some definitional and methodological issues, and presents the plan of the book.
Gregorio Bettiza
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- July 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190949464
- eISBN:
- 9780190949495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190949464.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The chapter presents the book’s theoretical framework, which is grounded in a sociological approach to international relations (IR) theory. It suggests that to explain the causes and shape of the ...
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The chapter presents the book’s theoretical framework, which is grounded in a sociological approach to international relations (IR) theory. It suggests that to explain the causes and shape of the operationalization of religion in US foreign policy attention needs to be paid to the combined effects of macro-level forces represented by the emergence of a postsecular world society, and the mobilization at the micro-level of a diverse range of desecularizing actors who seek to contest the secularity of American foreign policy through the deployment of multiple desecularizing discourses. The chapter then conceptualizes four different processes of foreign policy desecularization—institutional, epistemic, ideological, and state-normative—which take place as religion increasingly becomes an organized subject and object of US foreign policy. Finally, it advances three hypotheses about the global effects of America’s religious foreign policies: they shape religious landscapes around the world in ways that reflect American values and interests; they contribute to religionizing world politics; and they promote similar policies internationally.Less
The chapter presents the book’s theoretical framework, which is grounded in a sociological approach to international relations (IR) theory. It suggests that to explain the causes and shape of the operationalization of religion in US foreign policy attention needs to be paid to the combined effects of macro-level forces represented by the emergence of a postsecular world society, and the mobilization at the micro-level of a diverse range of desecularizing actors who seek to contest the secularity of American foreign policy through the deployment of multiple desecularizing discourses. The chapter then conceptualizes four different processes of foreign policy desecularization—institutional, epistemic, ideological, and state-normative—which take place as religion increasingly becomes an organized subject and object of US foreign policy. Finally, it advances three hypotheses about the global effects of America’s religious foreign policies: they shape religious landscapes around the world in ways that reflect American values and interests; they contribute to religionizing world politics; and they promote similar policies internationally.
Gregorio Bettiza
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- July 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190949464
- eISBN:
- 9780190949495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190949464.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The chapter identifies the constellation of desecularizing actors embedded in postsecular processes responsible for the institutionalization and evolution of the International Religious Freedom ...
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The chapter identifies the constellation of desecularizing actors embedded in postsecular processes responsible for the institutionalization and evolution of the International Religious Freedom regime since the late 1990s. It then investigates the main institutions and practices of the regime and their evolution over time. The chapter suggests that processes of desecularization that underpin this regime are opening up greater spaces for the organized and sustained inclusion, reification, positive essentialization, and normative accommodation of religion in US foreign policy. In terms of global effects, the IRF regime advances a radically pluralist cum Protestant particularist understanding of what constitutes religion and religious freedom; contributes to the religionization of world politics through mechanisms of elevation and categorization; and promotes the adoption of similar policies around the world. The conclusion summarizes the main findings and reflects on developments taking place under President Trump.Less
The chapter identifies the constellation of desecularizing actors embedded in postsecular processes responsible for the institutionalization and evolution of the International Religious Freedom regime since the late 1990s. It then investigates the main institutions and practices of the regime and their evolution over time. The chapter suggests that processes of desecularization that underpin this regime are opening up greater spaces for the organized and sustained inclusion, reification, positive essentialization, and normative accommodation of religion in US foreign policy. In terms of global effects, the IRF regime advances a radically pluralist cum Protestant particularist understanding of what constitutes religion and religious freedom; contributes to the religionization of world politics through mechanisms of elevation and categorization; and promotes the adoption of similar policies around the world. The conclusion summarizes the main findings and reflects on developments taking place under President Trump.
Gregorio Bettiza
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- July 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190949464
- eISBN:
- 9780190949495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190949464.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The chapter identifies the constellation of desecularizing actors embedded in postsecular processes responsible for the emergence of the Faith-Based Foreign Aid regime under President Bush in the ...
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The chapter identifies the constellation of desecularizing actors embedded in postsecular processes responsible for the emergence of the Faith-Based Foreign Aid regime under President Bush in the early 2000s. It examines the continuation and evolution of the regime over time and shows how this has depended on the type of desecularizing actors that have had access to the Bush and Obama administrations. It argues that the regime generates considerable forms of institutional desecularization, sustained by parallel processes of ideological and state-normative desecularization. In terms of global effects, the regime is potentially shaping global religious landscapes primarily by supporting Christian organizations and communities, and contributing to processes of religionization especially through mechanisms of elevation. The conclusion summarizes the chapter’s findings, compares the regime to the International Religious Freedom regime, and considers developments occurring under President Trump.Less
The chapter identifies the constellation of desecularizing actors embedded in postsecular processes responsible for the emergence of the Faith-Based Foreign Aid regime under President Bush in the early 2000s. It examines the continuation and evolution of the regime over time and shows how this has depended on the type of desecularizing actors that have had access to the Bush and Obama administrations. It argues that the regime generates considerable forms of institutional desecularization, sustained by parallel processes of ideological and state-normative desecularization. In terms of global effects, the regime is potentially shaping global religious landscapes primarily by supporting Christian organizations and communities, and contributing to processes of religionization especially through mechanisms of elevation. The conclusion summarizes the chapter’s findings, compares the regime to the International Religious Freedom regime, and considers developments occurring under President Trump.
Gregorio Bettiza
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- July 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190949464
- eISBN:
- 9780190949495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190949464.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The chapter identifies the constellation of desecularizing actors embedded in postsecular modes of thinking responsible for the emergence and evolution of the Muslim and Islamic Interventions regime ...
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The chapter identifies the constellation of desecularizing actors embedded in postsecular modes of thinking responsible for the emergence and evolution of the Muslim and Islamic Interventions regime in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11). It highlights the multiple desecularizing processes taking place in American foreign policy as this has sought to increasingly target, pacify, and reform Muslim politics and Islamic traditions in the context of the war on terror. In terms of global effects, the chapter argues that the regime is potentially shaping the lives and religiosity of Muslims around the world along American interests and values; that it is contributing to religionizing world politics through processes of categorization and elevation; and that it is central to wider global policy networks seeking to promote moderate Muslims and Islam. The conclusion compares the Muslim and Islamic Interventions regime with the regimes examined in previous chapters, and considers developments taking place under President Trump.Less
The chapter identifies the constellation of desecularizing actors embedded in postsecular modes of thinking responsible for the emergence and evolution of the Muslim and Islamic Interventions regime in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11). It highlights the multiple desecularizing processes taking place in American foreign policy as this has sought to increasingly target, pacify, and reform Muslim politics and Islamic traditions in the context of the war on terror. In terms of global effects, the chapter argues that the regime is potentially shaping the lives and religiosity of Muslims around the world along American interests and values; that it is contributing to religionizing world politics through processes of categorization and elevation; and that it is central to wider global policy networks seeking to promote moderate Muslims and Islam. The conclusion compares the Muslim and Islamic Interventions regime with the regimes examined in previous chapters, and considers developments taking place under President Trump.
Gregorio Bettiza
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- July 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190949464
- eISBN:
- 9780190949495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190949464.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The chapter shows how two epistemic communities embedded in postsecular modes of thinking provided the intellectual impetus since the 1990s that led to the creation of the Religious Engagement regime ...
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The chapter shows how two epistemic communities embedded in postsecular modes of thinking provided the intellectual impetus since the 1990s that led to the creation of the Religious Engagement regime in 2013. It identifies how both epistemic communities shaped the regime during the Obama presidency. The chapter then assesses the multiple processes of foreign policy desecularization that the regime is both a product of and contributes to. In terms of global effects, it argues that the regime has potentially shaped religious landscapes internationally by empowering what it views as “good” religion; that it has tended to religionize world politics through mechanisms of elevation; and that it has contributed to the diffusion and consolidation of similar policies across Western governments and international institutions. The conclusion summarizes the chapter’s findings and compares the Religious Engagement regime to the previous three regimes. It then considers developments taking place under the Trump administration.Less
The chapter shows how two epistemic communities embedded in postsecular modes of thinking provided the intellectual impetus since the 1990s that led to the creation of the Religious Engagement regime in 2013. It identifies how both epistemic communities shaped the regime during the Obama presidency. The chapter then assesses the multiple processes of foreign policy desecularization that the regime is both a product of and contributes to. In terms of global effects, it argues that the regime has potentially shaped religious landscapes internationally by empowering what it views as “good” religion; that it has tended to religionize world politics through mechanisms of elevation; and that it has contributed to the diffusion and consolidation of similar policies across Western governments and international institutions. The conclusion summarizes the chapter’s findings and compares the Religious Engagement regime to the previous three regimes. It then considers developments taking place under the Trump administration.
Gregorio Bettiza
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- July 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190949464
- eISBN:
- 9780190949495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190949464.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The conclusion has two main objectives. The first is to show how the International Religious Freedom, Faith-Based Foreign Aid, Muslim and Islamic Interventions, and Religious Engagement regimes form ...
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The conclusion has two main objectives. The first is to show how the International Religious Freedom, Faith-Based Foreign Aid, Muslim and Islamic Interventions, and Religious Engagement regimes form a broader American foreign policy regime complex on religion. The second objective is to reflect on the book’s wider implications for the study of religion in international relations and highlight areas for further research. This includes assessing the strength of the book’s theoretical framework in light of ongoing developments under the Trump administration; understanding better the changes occurring to the religious traditions and actors that America draws from and intervenes in around the world; investigating further how the American experience with the operationalization of religion in foreign policy relates and compares to similar policy changes taking place elsewhere; and reflecting more broadly on the implications for international order of the growing systematic attempt by the United States to manage and mobilize religion in twenty-first-century world politics.Less
The conclusion has two main objectives. The first is to show how the International Religious Freedom, Faith-Based Foreign Aid, Muslim and Islamic Interventions, and Religious Engagement regimes form a broader American foreign policy regime complex on religion. The second objective is to reflect on the book’s wider implications for the study of religion in international relations and highlight areas for further research. This includes assessing the strength of the book’s theoretical framework in light of ongoing developments under the Trump administration; understanding better the changes occurring to the religious traditions and actors that America draws from and intervenes in around the world; investigating further how the American experience with the operationalization of religion in foreign policy relates and compares to similar policy changes taking place elsewhere; and reflecting more broadly on the implications for international order of the growing systematic attempt by the United States to manage and mobilize religion in twenty-first-century world politics.
Lois Lee
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198736844
- eISBN:
- 9780191800436
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198736844.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies, Religion and Society
In recent years, the extent to which contemporary societies are secular has come under scrutiny. At the same time, many countries have increasingly large non-affiliate, ‘subjectively secular’ ...
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In recent years, the extent to which contemporary societies are secular has come under scrutiny. At the same time, many countries have increasingly large non-affiliate, ‘subjectively secular’ populations, and actively non-religious cultural movements such as the New Atheism and the Sunday Assembly have come to prominence. Making sense of secularity and irreligion, and the relationship between them, has therefore emerged as a crucial task for those seeking to understand contemporary societies and the nature of ‘modern’ life. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in southeast England, this book develops a new vocabulary, theory, and methodology for thinking about the secular. It distinguishes between separate and incommensurable aspects of so-called secularity as insubstantial and substantial. Recognizing the cultural forms that present themselves as non-religious—as distinct from secularity as the irrelevance or religious and religious-like cultural forms—opens up new, more egalitarian, and more theoretically coherent ways of thinking about people who are ‘not religious’ alongside those who are traditionally religious or alternatively spiritual. Identifying the non-religious in this way not only gives rise to new research questions and theoretical possibilities about how non-religious people sense and perform their difference from religious others, but allows us to reimagine the secular itself, in new and productive ways.Less
In recent years, the extent to which contemporary societies are secular has come under scrutiny. At the same time, many countries have increasingly large non-affiliate, ‘subjectively secular’ populations, and actively non-religious cultural movements such as the New Atheism and the Sunday Assembly have come to prominence. Making sense of secularity and irreligion, and the relationship between them, has therefore emerged as a crucial task for those seeking to understand contemporary societies and the nature of ‘modern’ life. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in southeast England, this book develops a new vocabulary, theory, and methodology for thinking about the secular. It distinguishes between separate and incommensurable aspects of so-called secularity as insubstantial and substantial. Recognizing the cultural forms that present themselves as non-religious—as distinct from secularity as the irrelevance or religious and religious-like cultural forms—opens up new, more egalitarian, and more theoretically coherent ways of thinking about people who are ‘not religious’ alongside those who are traditionally religious or alternatively spiritual. Identifying the non-religious in this way not only gives rise to new research questions and theoretical possibilities about how non-religious people sense and perform their difference from religious others, but allows us to reimagine the secular itself, in new and productive ways.
