Public religions and the state : a comparative perspective

Jack Barbalet, Adam Possamai, Bryan S. Turner

    Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperChapter

    2 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The preceding chapters highlight a number of aspects of religion which depart from, fundamentally modify and recontextualize the received wisdom about religion, especially as it has been understood through the prism of classical sociology. Each of the distinct sources of the classical perspective outlines an understanding of religion that – while contrasting with other understandings – has been taken with the others to represent the various facets of religion in the modern world. And yet none of these facets of religion is today found in forms projected by the sociological luminaries. […] The result is a sociological paradox or set of paradoxes. Religion has erupted into the public domain, being associated with a number of radical or revolutionary movements from Iran to Brazil and from Poland to Columbia, but at the same time religion is subject to subtle changes that have brought about secularization through commodification. More precisely, as a number of the chapters above have demonstrated, the secularization of religion has occurred through a double movement: democratization and commercialization. The sense of mystery and awe surrounding the ineffable character of the sacred has been eroded by the ethos of liberal democracies in which egalitarian, immediate and intimate relations are valued over hierarchical, distant and formal relationships. Religion is further corroded by the loss of any significant contrast between the sacred and the world.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationReligion and the State: A Comparative Sociology
    EditorsJack Barbalet, Adam Possamai, Bryan S. Turner
    Place of PublicationU.K.
    PublisherAnthem Press
    Pages277-282
    Number of pages6
    ISBN (Electronic)9780857288073
    ISBN (Print)9780857287984
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2011

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