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Faith and the public realm
Abstract
The place of faith in the public realm has been one of the contested issues over a long period, involving conflicts that resonate across a spectrum of public feeling and thought. Some of these conflicts are embodied in the public imaginations or events such as the Reformation, the Crusades and the Inquisition which remain alive for many in a distant and generalised form of atrocities in the name of religion. Others have more immediate resonance because of their political and social implications for the lives of those important to an individual including the persons's own life. Such events include Kashmir, Iraq and Israel-Palestine or the so-called ‘war on terror’ (prompted by acts of religiously inspired terrorism) which reconstructs a beginning of a new ‘global history’ through the struggle of Islamic fundamentalism and Western democracy. In addition to these events that showed faith in the public realm is a difficult interplay of religion and politics, debates also arise on the significance of faith within the public spaces. Secularist arguments have emerged contesting and arguing that public faith is irrelevant and an anachronistically anomaly of contemporary times. This introductory chapter discusses the role of faith and faith-based groups in governance and civil society. It looks at how faith-based groups gain access and assure people that governmental policies and welfare services can address their needs. It also discusses the challenges faced by the ‘public faith’. The introductory chapter ends with a short discussion on the contents and subjects of the succeeding chapters.
... It is important to note that the tension between resource and risk, from the perspective of the state, is by no means an isolated national issue. Rather, in a number of different contexts scholars have highlighted that religious actors have increasingly been recognised as a resource that needs to be further included in public life, whilst simultaneously being highlighted as a problem that needs to be prevented, managed and excluded from the public realm (Beckford, 2010;Dinham, 2009;Mar Griera, 2012;Hurd, 2015a). This newly awoken interest in religious actors across the Western world in the past decades can be explained in several ways. ...
... One aspect of the new visibility of religion which has mostly escaped the attention of European sociologists of religion is the critical assessment of the ways in which governments and other public authorities use religion as a device or resource in the policies for combating social problems (Hjelm, 2014, p. 203) Despite this, there are a growing number of studies from different countries that highlight how states are "using or managing religions for their own purposes" (Beckford, 2010 p.123). In Britain, for example, scholars have shown how public policies have had considerable impact on religious actors, particularly as a result of the New Labour Party's emphasis between 1997 and 2007 on the usefulness of such actors and what they could "produce and provide" (Beckford, 2012;Dinham, 2009). During these years, the Labour government invested considerably in partnership programmes with the so-called faith sector, inviting religious actors to help combat many of the problems facing society (Beckford, 2010;Dinham, 2009). ...
... In Britain, for example, scholars have shown how public policies have had considerable impact on religious actors, particularly as a result of the New Labour Party's emphasis between 1997 and 2007 on the usefulness of such actors and what they could "produce and provide" (Beckford, 2012;Dinham, 2009). During these years, the Labour government invested considerably in partnership programmes with the so-called faith sector, inviting religious actors to help combat many of the problems facing society (Beckford, 2010;Dinham, 2009). Religious actors were encouraged to contribute to the provision of welfare services as part of mixed welfare reforms, participate in governance and be potential sources for social capital and community cohesion, not least when interacting in local inter-faith and multi-faith encounters (Dinham, 2009). ...
... According to Justin Beaumont (2010: 6), the postsecular refers to "the limits of the secularization thesis and the evergrowing realization of radically plural societies in terms of religion, faith and belief within and between diverse ur ban societies". Alongside processes of secularisation, we are witnessing the re emergence of religion as a social force in Europe, reflected in the growing significance of faithbased welfare provision, the impact of new places of wor ship on urban spaces, and the growth of Pentecostal and Islamic communities (Baker and Beaumont 2011;Dinham and Lowndes 2009). In London, Pentecos tal resurgence is largely due to the presence of black Africans and Caribbeans who account for a third of the city's churchgoers (Brierley 2014). ...
... Since the mid1990s, successive governments have recognised the potential of faith groups to con tribute to social capital and welfare provision, especially in urban contexts. The significance of faithbased social action has increased since the climate of public sector austerity brought about by the economic downturn (Dinham and Jackson 2012;Dinham and Lowndes 2009;Furbey and Macey 2005). However, from the perspectives of Nigerian Pentecostals themselves, social action is an expression of the church's commitment to the biblical mandate to love one's neighbour by addressing the social needs of the wider society. ...
... According to Justin Beaumont (2010: 6), the postsecular refers to "the limits of the secularization thesis and the evergrowing realization of radically plural societies in terms of religion, faith and belief within and between diverse ur ban societies". Alongside processes of secularisation, we are witnessing the re emergence of religion as a social force in Europe, reflected in the growing significance of faithbased welfare provision, the impact of new places of wor ship on urban spaces, and the growth of Pentecostal and Islamic communities (Baker and Beaumont 2011;Dinham and Lowndes 2009). In London, Pentecos tal resurgence is largely due to the presence of black Africans and Caribbeans who account for a third of the city's churchgoers (Brierley 2014). ...
... Since the mid1990s, successive governments have recognised the potential of faith groups to con tribute to social capital and welfare provision, especially in urban contexts. The significance of faithbased social action has increased since the climate of public sector austerity brought about by the economic downturn (Dinham and Jackson 2012;Dinham and Lowndes 2009;Furbey and Macey 2005). However, from the perspectives of Nigerian Pentecostals themselves, social action is an expression of the church's commitment to the biblical mandate to love one's neighbour by addressing the social needs of the wider society. ...
... According to Justin Beaumont (2010: 6), the postsecular refers to "the limits of the secularization thesis and the evergrowing realization of radically plural societies in terms of religion, faith and belief within and between diverse ur ban societies". Alongside processes of secularisation, we are witnessing the re emergence of religion as a social force in Europe, reflected in the growing significance of faithbased welfare provision, the impact of new places of wor ship on urban spaces, and the growth of Pentecostal and Islamic communities (Baker and Beaumont 2011;Dinham and Lowndes 2009). In London, Pentecos tal resurgence is largely due to the presence of black Africans and Caribbeans who account for a third of the city's churchgoers (Brierley 2014). ...
... Since the mid1990s, successive governments have recognised the potential of faith groups to con tribute to social capital and welfare provision, especially in urban contexts. The significance of faithbased social action has increased since the climate of public sector austerity brought about by the economic downturn (Dinham and Jackson 2012;Dinham and Lowndes 2009;Furbey and Macey 2005). However, from the perspectives of Nigerian Pentecostals themselves, social action is an expression of the church's commitment to the biblical mandate to love one's neighbour by addressing the social needs of the wider society. ...
... According to Justin Beaumont (2010: 6), the postsecular refers to "the limits of the secularization thesis and the evergrowing realization of radically plural societies in terms of religion, faith and belief within and between diverse ur ban societies". Alongside processes of secularisation, we are witnessing the re emergence of religion as a social force in Europe, reflected in the growing significance of faithbased welfare provision, the impact of new places of wor ship on urban spaces, and the growth of Pentecostal and Islamic communities (Baker and Beaumont 2011;Dinham and Lowndes 2009). In London, Pentecos tal resurgence is largely due to the presence of black Africans and Caribbeans who account for a third of the city's churchgoers (Brierley 2014). ...
... Since the mid1990s, successive governments have recognised the potential of faith groups to con tribute to social capital and welfare provision, especially in urban contexts. The significance of faithbased social action has increased since the climate of public sector austerity brought about by the economic downturn (Dinham and Jackson 2012;Dinham and Lowndes 2009;Furbey and Macey 2005). However, from the perspectives of Nigerian Pentecostals themselves, social action is an expression of the church's commitment to the biblical mandate to love one's neighbour by addressing the social needs of the wider society. ...
... According to Justin Beaumont (2010: 6), the postsecular refers to "the limits of the secularization thesis and the evergrowing realization of radically plural societies in terms of religion, faith and belief within and between diverse ur ban societies". Alongside processes of secularisation, we are witnessing the re emergence of religion as a social force in Europe, reflected in the growing significance of faithbased welfare provision, the impact of new places of wor ship on urban spaces, and the growth of Pentecostal and Islamic communities (Baker and Beaumont 2011;Dinham and Lowndes 2009). In London, Pentecos tal resurgence is largely due to the presence of black Africans and Caribbeans who account for a third of the city's churchgoers (Brierley 2014). ...
... Since the mid1990s, successive governments have recognised the potential of faith groups to con tribute to social capital and welfare provision, especially in urban contexts. The significance of faithbased social action has increased since the climate of public sector austerity brought about by the economic downturn (Dinham and Jackson 2012;Dinham and Lowndes 2009;Furbey and Macey 2005). However, from the perspectives of Nigerian Pentecostals themselves, social action is an expression of the church's commitment to the biblical mandate to love one's neighbour by addressing the social needs of the wider society. ...
... According to Justin Beaumont (2010: 6), the postsecular refers to "the limits of the secularization thesis and the evergrowing realization of radically plural societies in terms of religion, faith and belief within and between diverse ur ban societies". Alongside processes of secularisation, we are witnessing the re emergence of religion as a social force in Europe, reflected in the growing significance of faithbased welfare provision, the impact of new places of wor ship on urban spaces, and the growth of Pentecostal and Islamic communities (Baker and Beaumont 2011;Dinham and Lowndes 2009). In London, Pentecos tal resurgence is largely due to the presence of black Africans and Caribbeans who account for a third of the city's churchgoers (Brierley 2014). ...
... Since the mid1990s, successive governments have recognised the potential of faith groups to con tribute to social capital and welfare provision, especially in urban contexts. The significance of faithbased social action has increased since the climate of public sector austerity brought about by the economic downturn (Dinham and Jackson 2012;Dinham and Lowndes 2009;Furbey and Macey 2005). However, from the perspectives of Nigerian Pentecostals themselves, social action is an expression of the church's commitment to the biblical mandate to love one's neighbour by addressing the social needs of the wider society. ...
... According to Justin Beaumont (2010: 6), the postsecular refers to "the limits of the secularization thesis and the evergrowing realization of radically plural societies in terms of religion, faith and belief within and between diverse ur ban societies". Alongside processes of secularisation, we are witnessing the re emergence of religion as a social force in Europe, reflected in the growing significance of faithbased welfare provision, the impact of new places of wor ship on urban spaces, and the growth of Pentecostal and Islamic communities (Baker and Beaumont 2011;Dinham and Lowndes 2009). In London, Pentecos tal resurgence is largely due to the presence of black Africans and Caribbeans who account for a third of the city's churchgoers (Brierley 2014). ...
... Since the mid1990s, successive governments have recognised the potential of faith groups to con tribute to social capital and welfare provision, especially in urban contexts. The significance of faithbased social action has increased since the climate of public sector austerity brought about by the economic downturn (Dinham and Jackson 2012;Dinham and Lowndes 2009;Furbey and Macey 2005). However, from the perspectives of Nigerian Pentecostals themselves, social action is an expression of the church's commitment to the biblical mandate to love one's neighbour by addressing the social needs of the wider society. ...
... According to Justin Beaumont (2010: 6), the postsecular refers to "the limits of the secularization thesis and the evergrowing realization of radically plural societies in terms of religion, faith and belief within and between diverse ur ban societies". Alongside processes of secularisation, we are witnessing the re emergence of religion as a social force in Europe, reflected in the growing significance of faithbased welfare provision, the impact of new places of wor ship on urban spaces, and the growth of Pentecostal and Islamic communities (Baker and Beaumont 2011;Dinham and Lowndes 2009). In London, Pentecos tal resurgence is largely due to the presence of black Africans and Caribbeans who account for a third of the city's churchgoers (Brierley 2014). ...
... Since the mid1990s, successive governments have recognised the potential of faith groups to con tribute to social capital and welfare provision, especially in urban contexts. The significance of faithbased social action has increased since the climate of public sector austerity brought about by the economic downturn (Dinham and Jackson 2012;Dinham and Lowndes 2009;Furbey and Macey 2005). However, from the perspectives of Nigerian Pentecostals themselves, social action is an expression of the church's commitment to the biblical mandate to love one's neighbour by addressing the social needs of the wider society. ...
... According to Justin Beaumont (2010: 6), the postsecular refers to "the limits of the secularization thesis and the evergrowing realization of radically plural societies in terms of religion, faith and belief within and between diverse ur ban societies". Alongside processes of secularisation, we are witnessing the re emergence of religion as a social force in Europe, reflected in the growing significance of faithbased welfare provision, the impact of new places of wor ship on urban spaces, and the growth of Pentecostal and Islamic communities (Baker and Beaumont 2011;Dinham and Lowndes 2009). In London, Pentecos tal resurgence is largely due to the presence of black Africans and Caribbeans who account for a third of the city's churchgoers (Brierley 2014). ...
... Since the mid1990s, successive governments have recognised the potential of faith groups to con tribute to social capital and welfare provision, especially in urban contexts. The significance of faithbased social action has increased since the climate of public sector austerity brought about by the economic downturn (Dinham and Jackson 2012;Dinham and Lowndes 2009;Furbey and Macey 2005). However, from the perspectives of Nigerian Pentecostals themselves, social action is an expression of the church's commitment to the biblical mandate to love one's neighbour by addressing the social needs of the wider society. ...
... According to Justin Beaumont (2010: 6), the postsecular refers to "the limits of the secularization thesis and the evergrowing realization of radically plural societies in terms of religion, faith and belief within and between diverse ur ban societies". Alongside processes of secularisation, we are witnessing the re emergence of religion as a social force in Europe, reflected in the growing significance of faithbased welfare provision, the impact of new places of wor ship on urban spaces, and the growth of Pentecostal and Islamic communities (Baker and Beaumont 2011;Dinham and Lowndes 2009). In London, Pentecos tal resurgence is largely due to the presence of black Africans and Caribbeans who account for a third of the city's churchgoers (Brierley 2014). ...
... Since the mid1990s, successive governments have recognised the potential of faith groups to con tribute to social capital and welfare provision, especially in urban contexts. The significance of faithbased social action has increased since the climate of public sector austerity brought about by the economic downturn (Dinham and Jackson 2012;Dinham and Lowndes 2009;Furbey and Macey 2005). However, from the perspectives of Nigerian Pentecostals themselves, social action is an expression of the church's commitment to the biblical mandate to love one's neighbour by addressing the social needs of the wider society. ...
... According to Justin Beaumont (2010: 6), the postsecular refers to "the limits of the secularization thesis and the evergrowing realization of radically plural societies in terms of religion, faith and belief within and between diverse ur ban societies". Alongside processes of secularisation, we are witnessing the re emergence of religion as a social force in Europe, reflected in the growing significance of faithbased welfare provision, the impact of new places of wor ship on urban spaces, and the growth of Pentecostal and Islamic communities (Baker and Beaumont 2011;Dinham and Lowndes 2009). In London, Pentecos tal resurgence is largely due to the presence of black Africans and Caribbeans who account for a third of the city's churchgoers (Brierley 2014). ...
... Since the mid1990s, successive governments have recognised the potential of faith groups to con tribute to social capital and welfare provision, especially in urban contexts. The significance of faithbased social action has increased since the climate of public sector austerity brought about by the economic downturn (Dinham and Jackson 2012;Dinham and Lowndes 2009;Furbey and Macey 2005). However, from the perspectives of Nigerian Pentecostals themselves, social action is an expression of the church's commitment to the biblical mandate to love one's neighbour by addressing the social needs of the wider society. ...
... According to Justin Beaumont (2010: 6), the postsecular refers to "the limits of the secularization thesis and the evergrowing realization of radically plural societies in terms of religion, faith and belief within and between diverse ur ban societies". Alongside processes of secularisation, we are witnessing the re emergence of religion as a social force in Europe, reflected in the growing significance of faithbased welfare provision, the impact of new places of wor ship on urban spaces, and the growth of Pentecostal and Islamic communities (Baker and Beaumont 2011;Dinham and Lowndes 2009). In London, Pentecos tal resurgence is largely due to the presence of black Africans and Caribbeans who account for a third of the city's churchgoers (Brierley 2014). ...
... Since the mid1990s, successive governments have recognised the potential of faith groups to con tribute to social capital and welfare provision, especially in urban contexts. The significance of faithbased social action has increased since the climate of public sector austerity brought about by the economic downturn (Dinham and Jackson 2012;Dinham and Lowndes 2009;Furbey and Macey 2005). However, from the perspectives of Nigerian Pentecostals themselves, social action is an expression of the church's commitment to the biblical mandate to love one's neighbour by addressing the social needs of the wider society. ...
... According to Justin Beaumont (2010: 6), the postsecular refers to "the limits of the secularization thesis and the evergrowing realization of radically plural societies in terms of religion, faith and belief within and between diverse ur ban societies". Alongside processes of secularisation, we are witnessing the re emergence of religion as a social force in Europe, reflected in the growing significance of faithbased welfare provision, the impact of new places of wor ship on urban spaces, and the growth of Pentecostal and Islamic communities (Baker and Beaumont 2011;Dinham and Lowndes 2009). In London, Pentecos tal resurgence is largely due to the presence of black Africans and Caribbeans who account for a third of the city's churchgoers (Brierley 2014). ...
... Since the mid1990s, successive governments have recognised the potential of faith groups to con tribute to social capital and welfare provision, especially in urban contexts. The significance of faithbased social action has increased since the climate of public sector austerity brought about by the economic downturn (Dinham and Jackson 2012;Dinham and Lowndes 2009;Furbey and Macey 2005). However, from the perspectives of Nigerian Pentecostals themselves, social action is an expression of the church's commitment to the biblical mandate to love one's neighbour by addressing the social needs of the wider society. ...
... Kamusal alan bu şekilde değişmekte ve dönüşmektedir. Aleniyet bakımından da yerine gelen talepler bu şekilde toplum ile paylaşılmakta ve örgütlerin zamanla kendi iç işlerine kadar temayüz etmektedir (Dinham, 2009). ...
... While the religion policy window has been continuously open in the UK since the late-1990s, its profile and priorities have thereby undergone numerous modifications over the course of its almost 30-year life-span. Although not the only factors in play, the transformations experienced by the UK religion policy window have primarily occurred relative to the political parties in power, the problem events encountered and the respective dominance or implementation of one or a combination of the three intersecting agendas of societal order, socio-cultural empowerment and social service provision (Dinham and Lowndes, 2009;Jawad, 2012;D'Costa et al., 2013;Lindsay 2017). In respect of social service provision, for example, the political dominance of the centre-right In partial contrast to social service provision, the socio-cultural empowerment agenda was most influential during the former years of the UK religion policy window when New Labour governments ruled from 1997 to 2010. ...
This article analyses the governance of religious diversity in the United Kingdom by focussing upon a number of faith-based organisations undertaking interreligious and multireligious activities in and around the northern English city of Leeds. The piece opens by delineating the ‘UK religion policy window’ which has existed for a number of decades and comprises a range of changing political priorities and programmatic approaches that inform the governance of religious diversity in the United Kingdom. A subsequent section provides a detailed engagement with selected examples of multifaith activities and interfaith organisations in and around the city of Leeds. This grounded reading of exemplar organisations is then developed by a concluding section that reflects upon the mutually constitutive dynamics of contemporary governance mechanisms as they play out through the partnerships embodied by the interfaith sector and framed by the UK religion policy window.
... Some have grown out of the older Christian ecumenical movements and some are new. While the first interfaith initiative on an international level took place in Chicago in 1893 with The World Parliament of Religions, European national and local interfaith initiatives began to appear in the 1970s and have experienced rapid growth since the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York in 2001 (Eck, 2001, p. 366-370;Dinham et al., 2009;Griera, 2012Griera & Forteza, 2013;Halafoff, 2011Halafoff, , 2013Haynes & Hennig, 2013;Pearce, 2012;Weller, 2009). In addition, numerous multilateral and bilateral initiatives, groups and organizations exist in all the countries, especially at local levels, but they are not discussed here. ...
The main focus of the book is institutional change in the Scandinavian model, with special emphasis on Norway. There are many reasons to pay closer attention to the Norwegian case when it comes to analyses of changes in the public sphere. In the country's political history, the arts and the media played a particular role in the processes towards sovereignty at the beginning of the 20th century. On a par with the other Scandinavian countries, Norway is in the forefront in the world in the distribution and uses of Internet technology. As an extreme case, the most corporatist society within the family of the "Nordic Model", it offers an opportunity both for intriguing case studies and for challenging and refining existing theory on processes of institutional change in media policy and cultural policy. It supplements two recent, important books on political economy in Scandinavia: Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity (Kathleen Thelen, 2014), and The Political Construction of Business Interests (Cathie Jo Martin and Duane Swank, 2013). There are further reasons to pay particular attention to the Scandinavian, and more specifically the Norwegian cases: (i) They are to varying degrees neo-corporatist societies, characterized by ongoing bargaining over social and political reform processes. From a theoretical perspective this invites reflections which, to some extent, are at odds with the dominant conceptions of institutional change. Neither models of path dependency nor models of aggregate, incremental change focus on the continuous social bargaining over institutional change. (ii) Despite recent processes of liberalization, common to the Western world as a whole, corporatism implies a close connection between state, public sphere, cultural life, and religion. This also means that institutions are closely bundled, in an even stronger way than assumed for example in the Varieties of Capitalism literature. Furthermore, we only have scarce insight in the way the different spheres of corporatism are connected and interact. In the proposed edited volume we have collected historical-institutional case studies from a broad set of social fields (a detailed outline of contents and contributors is attached): • Critical assessments of Jürgen Habermas' theory of the public sphere • Can the public sphere be considered an institution? • The central position of the public sphere in social and political change in Norway • Digital transformations and effects of the growing PR industry on the public sphere • Institutionalization of social media in local politics and voluntary organizations • Legitimation work in the public sphere • freedom of expression and warning in the workplace • "Return of religion" to the public sphere, and its effects © 2017 Fredrik Engelstad, Håkon Larsen, Jon Rogstad, Kari Steen-Johnsen.
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... Some have grown out of the older Christian ecumenical movements and some are new. While the first interfaith initiative on an international level took place in Chicago in 1893 with The World Parliament of Religions, European national and local interfaith initiatives began to appear in the 1970s and have experienced rapid growth since the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York in 2001 (Eck, 2001, p. 366-370;Dinham et al., 2009;Griera, 2012Griera & Forteza, 2013;Halafoff, 2011Halafoff, , 2013Haynes & Hennig, 2013;Pearce, 2012;Weller, 2009). In addition, numerous multilateral and bilateral initiatives, groups and organizations exist in all the countries, especially at local levels, but they are not discussed here. ...
... Parekh (2009) also reminds us of the early usages of the term, which relied upon the notion of the contrast between the 'immanency and timeboundedness of the modern world with the atemporality and eternal nature of the heavenly'. This is no clear and accepted definition of what is meant by faith in the 'public realm' and a recent book devoted to the subject, (Dinham et al, 2009) recognises the many different components of the subject. For the most part, the notion of 'faith in the public realm', seems to be more about its surprising 'political revitalisation' (Habermas, 2007), at a time when its decline seemed inevitable as science and rationality appeared to becoming ever more dominant parts of democratic debate. ...
In this chapter, the theoretical position of the book is outlined. By bringing together two different research fields that rarely talks to each other, the sociology of religion and civil society research, a theoretical position is provided on how to further understand the governance of religious diversity in modern societies. It particularly explores how different understandings of the relationship between state and civil society may lead to different models for regulating religious diversity.
In this chapter, the findings from the three different policy fields are summarised and discussed. The significant changes in the governance of religious diversity in Sweden are illustrated through two major policy shifts: in 1974 and 2000. In addition, the commonly held idea that many of the controversies surrounding religion and the regulation of religious diversity are new, is also problematised.
In this final chapter, it is discussed how the Swedish case can be understood in relation to other contexts. It is argued that to fully understand the controversies that exist in the extensive field of religion, state and civil society, there is a need for an interdisciplinary approach, combining different theoretical explanations that together contribute to a more complex and multifaceted understanding of the complex situation. Moreover, the chapter focus on how the governance of religious diversity in a specific context can be understood by considering how the state defines its relationship with civil society and the individual.
This book considers how the non-religious self is performed publicly online, and how digital culture and technology shapes this process. Building on a YouTube case study with women vloggers, it presents unique empirical data on non-organized atheism in the United States. Lundmark suggests that the atheist self as performed online exists in tension between a perception of atheism as sinful and amoral in relation to hegemonical Christianity in the U.S., and the hyperrational, male-centered discourse that has characterized the atheist movement. She argues that women atheist vloggers co-effect third spaces of emotive resonance that enable a precarious counterpublicness of performing atheist visibility. The volume offers a valuable contribution to the discussion of how the public, the private, and areas in-between are understood within digital religion, and opens up new space for engaging with the increased visibility of atheist identity in a mediatized society.
Positionality has long been a preoccupation for qualitative researchers within and beyond geography. Reflexive assessments of positionality typically examine the ways in which a researcher’s sociodemographic identifiers such as gender, age, ethnicity, dis/ability, sexuality and/or the intersections between these affect research encounters, processes and outcomes. Religion rarely features in such interrogations, and then usually only in relation to participants’ ethnic or racial affiliations. Drawing upon experiences conducting a study exploring the role of faith‐based organisations in welfare provision for homeless people in the UK, this paper focuses on the related (but not synonymous) issue of metaphysical stance, that is, belief or non‐belief in the existence of God(s). It argues that metaphysical stance should be regarded as a sui generis aspect of positionality, which fits into none of the identity categories typically considered, but which is deserving of separate analysis with respect to its ethical and practical implications. Further to this, it contends that extreme diplomacy and discretion are required when exploring issues as inherently value‐laden as the moral frameworks underpinning welfare approaches. This is especially true when participants’ views divide in part along theist/atheist lines, such that religious and policy ‘literacy’ are valuable attributes for researchers negotiating these sensitive terrains in the field.
Intergenerational inequalities in economic security, health and political participation are frequently associated with inequalities in access to social capital. Millennials (those born after 1982) are often regarded as the least civically active generation, suggesting that they have less access to social capital, compared to other generations. Numerous studies have linked the decline of religion with falling social capital, as younger generations are deprived of a valuable source of social interaction; others, however, have claimed the link between the two is spurious because Millennials have developed different ways of interacting with social institutions and each other. Despite various studies exploring links between forms of religious and social capital, the role of religious decline in contributing to the intergenerational inequalities of today remains unclear. This study examines how religious capital is related to social capital for Baby Boomers and Millennials in the UK. Our analysis shows that while lower levels of religious capital are contributing to lower levels of social capital among Millennials, religious activity is also a more effective source of social capital for Millennials than their elders. We discuss possible interpretations of our data, including exploring whether greater religious engagement among Millennials may protect against intergenerational inequality and conflict.
This chapter examines the involvement of the local church in environmental advocacy in Scotland. It analyzes the motivations and practices of faith-based activists, and asks how locally-based Christian congregations are linking their religious traditions and practices with environmental sustainability. Drawing on an in-depth, ethnographic case study of churches in Edinburgh, Scotland, the research investigates the principal underlying factors that promote environmental concern and contribute to participation and engagement in environmental advocacy within the local church community. Highlighting the importance of place to faith-based engagement in environmental advocacy, this research offers insights to the role of locally-grounded congregations in contributing to a more environmentally and socially-sustainable society.
The chapter analyzes structural and discursive dimensions of urban inter- and multifaith governance of religious diversity through the lens of current debates on boundary work. Complementary to recent empirical and historical investigations of interfaith dynamics drawn from social movement theory, concepts of boundary work shed light on the relationship between religion and politics in multifaith societies. Based on a city case study, the chapter distinguishes exemplary modalities of cultivating and transgressing the sectoral boundary line between (civic) religious and state actors. The evidence suggests that there are numerous instances of collaboration across the sectoral boundary, some of which are official and institutionalized while others are more informal or even subversive. At the same time, administrative leaders and religious representatives alike may argue for a separation of religion and politics (and hence against inter- or multifaith governance). Last, but not least, the boundary work perspective elucidates how interfaith governance may make religious and confessional boundaries more salient as it provides a new, official stage for interreligious collaboration.
This article gives voice to Catholic teachers working in secular English schools. Their experience is an under-researched area and, despite a wealth of teaching on the vocation of the teacher, the specific vocation of the Catholic teacher in a secular school receives scant attention from the Catholic Church and researchers. Through in-depth interviews, participants articulated their idiographic experiences of inhabiting a liminal space. The main themes arising from the data were a strong sense of vocation, the absence of a metanarrative in the schools and the teachers’ strong awareness of their Catholic identity. The findings challenge school leaders, the Catholic Church and the government to recognise the presence and experience of Catholic teachers in secular schools and to be attentive to their experiences and needs. The teachers themselves are challenged to acknowledge and value their own worldview and develop their understanding of the relationship between their religious commitment and their practice.
By studying the contemporary functioning and historic roots of a variety of religiously-motivated associations (RMAs), this paper explores the blurred boundaries between state institutions, political parties, and religious groups in the realm of welfare, in Turkey. Empirical findings are based on semi-structured interviews conducted with the volunteers and administrators of 27 RMAs, in three cities. These interviews focus on the RMAs’ motivations, administrative and organisational functioning and connections, presenting a comprehensive picture of RMAs as non-public welfare providers. Analysis of both new and old associations provides an understanding of how their histories and proximity to political power differ; it also reveals clues about the politicization of social provisioning. The findings of this study show that these associations have been some of the most important actors in non-public provisioning over the past two decades; they also shed light on the political economy of welfare provisioning.
Partnership is a contested, yet much-lauded, concept in faith-based international development. In partnering to deliver development projects, organisations such as CAFOD and Christian Aid work by funding smaller organisations to deliver long-term development projects in-country. Using ethnographic methods, this article examines the nature of partnership within one particular faith-based international development organisation, Christian Aid. By engaging with the perspective of the ‘giver’ in Christian Aid’s partnerships, this article uncovers an aspiration towards equality, but concludes that partnerships often devolve to the transfer of funds and to the entrenched roles of giver and receiver which result. It is suggested that shared biblical reflection could be a means of breaking down this pattern. As this investigation engages with only one perspective within the partnership paradigm — that of the giver, rather than the receiver — a second study is planned in order to provide a balanced examination of both perspectives.
This paper reconsiders the 'versus' relationship between Christian Theology (CT) and social sciences with reference to Social Policy Studies (SPS) in Britain. I argue that the organised scepticism of SPS towards CT, on the grounds that it is a conservative episteme, is unwarranted. It misrecognises Church Theology as CT writ large and thus demonstrates an oversight towards radical forms of CT with which it might make common cause. I also question radical theologians that reject social sciences on similar grounds, i.e. for lacking a sufficiently revolutionary episteme. Although I am sympathetic to intellectual projects that seek to overcome this 'versus' relationship by focusing on the discursive similarities of CT and SPS, such projects are precarious. I elaborate praxis rather than discursive similarities as a sounder basis for reconciliation. Much mutual learning takes place at the level of praxis that, if acknowledged, could strengthen the movement for radical social change.
The ‘resurgence’ of religion has led scholars and politicians to critique the ‘secularism’ of public policy. Using evidence from interviews with serving policy officials, this article explores the dimensions of ‘secularism’ as they have been applied to the UK policy context and makes two qualifications. First, I suggest that, rather than the ‘structural’ absence of religion in the last decade, often described as ‘marginalisation’ or ‘privatisation’, religion has repeatedly been relocated in relation to policy goals. Second, I challenge the theory of cultural secularisation expressed in terms of the ‘secular orientation’ of the policy making process and argue that cultural resistance to ‘doing religion’ within the permanent civil service cadre is less the result of a secular orientation and more of ‘religion blindness’, an attempt to demonstrate the ‘impartiality’ within which the civil service code requires non-elected officials to operate.
This two-volume work explores the management of religious and faith-based organizations. Each chapter offers a discussion of the earliest Christian organizations based on New Testament evidence; a study of managing faith-based organizations; and an exploration of secular management theory in relation to the management of faith-based organizations.
This original book makes a timely and potentially controversial contribution both to the teaching of social policy and the wider debates surrounding it in Britain today. It offers a critical and theoretically sensitive overview of the role of religious values, actors and institutions in the development of state and non-state social welfare provision in Britain, combining historical discussion of the relationship between religion and social policy in Britain with a comparative theoretical discussion that covers continental Europe and North America. Grounded in new empirical research on religious welfare organisations from the nine major faiths in the UK, the book brings together all of these perspectives to argue for an analytical shift in the definition of wellbeing through a new concept called ‘ways of being’. This reflects the moral, ideational and cultural underpinnings of social welfare. Written in a readable style, the book will appeal to students and tutors of social policy, as well as policy-makers seeking to inform themselves about the key issues surrounding faith-based welfare in modern Britain.
This chapter provides some of the conceptual tools that we need if we are to study religious and other organisations and understand the kinds of relationships that we need to build between them. It defines ‘religion’, ‘institution’, and ‘organisation’, understands both religion and society as institutional realities, and locates religious organisations in a sector of their own, and faith-based organisations as hybrids lying on the boundaries between the religious and other sectors. It defines ‘mediating institutions’ as institutions standing between secular institutions and religious institutions and their role in facilitating relationships between the religious and the secular, and discusses the differences between organisational mediating institutions and non-organisational mediating institutions. The chapter understands the relationship-building context as one of multiple secularisations and desecularisations in an urban world, and introduces the Thames Gateway as the location of many of the case studies contained in the book’s other chapters.
Academic literature dealing with the governance of religious diversity in Europe has gained saliency in recent years. However, most existing research is based on state-level policies, while the role of regional government is receiving far less attention. To address this lacuna, this article focuses attention on the role of the regional government in the regulation of religious diversity in Catalonia. The article reflects on the increasing relevance of religious affairs in the Catalan policy agenda and examines the emergence and configuration of a specific, distinct and prominent regional policy programme on religious diversity. The case of Catalonia is especially relevant since its ongoing nation-building project bestows additional complexity and strategic relevance on the policy approach towards religious issues.
This chapter introduces the reader to the main themes and general content of this edited volume on religion and volunteering. It starts from the observation that the relationship between religion and volunteering constitutes a key focus of research on volunteering. The ‘default’ perspective posits a strong and positive causal relationship between both phenomena. However, both volunteering and religion are multi-dimensional and dynamic social phenomena. On closer inspection the relation between them appears to be more complex, contested and ambiguous than is generally assumed. The introduction further explores the (intensifying) tensions between religion and volunteering from the viewpoint of the particular nature and changing role of religion in society. A fundamental tension originates in the definition of volunteering as a freely chosen activity. From a religious perspective, in contrast, being of service to others is something the pious person does in obedience to God. A second source of tension relates to processes of religious change that include both the return and decline of religion A post-secular perspective is introduced, contributing to a more complex and variable understanding of how religion and volunteering interrelate. Against this broader background, the anthology addresses the following questions: How do the relationships between types of religions/religiosity and types of volunteering vary within and across nations? What recent changes in our understanding of society, religion and volunteering challenge the default view? What other dimensions, enactments, and consequences of the interplay religion and volunteering can be studied beyond the traditional perspective?
Faith-based organizations continue to play a significant role in the provision of social work services in many countries but their role within the welfare state is often contested. This text explores their various roles and relationships to social work practice, includes examples from different countries and a range of religious traditions and identifies challenges and opportunities for the sector. Social Work and Faith-based Organizations discusses issues such as the relationship between faith-based organizations and the state, working with an organization’s stakeholders, ethical practice and dilemmas, and faith-based organizations as employers. It also addresses areas of debate and controversy, such as providing services within and for multi-faith communities and tensions between professional codes of ethics and religious doctrine. Accessibly written by a well-known social work educator, it is illustrated by numerous case studies from a range of countries including Australia, the UK and the US. Suitable for social work students taking community or administration courses or undertaking placements in faith-based organizations, this innovative book is also a valuable resource for managers and religious personnel who are responsible for the operation of faith-based agencies.
In the contemporary political context, religion is rarely out of the news, usually postulated as a regressive force, battling against modern liberal Western values. However, in everyday life, and specifically with regard to place value, the situation is more complex. This paper addresses the challenge this context and the attendant notion of postsecularism bring to planning practice. It argues that religious and spiritual values can be rearticulated as concepts which add a substantive positive dimension to planning and its conceptualisation and constructions of place. This is done by developing the notion of municipal spirituality, which draws on the theological conceptions of transcendence and the common good to redefine the value of places whose worth cannot easily be made in instrumental terms. In so doing, it challenges the current antagonistic opposition of religious and liberal democratic values, repositioning religious and spiritual concepts in an inclusive way. The idea of municipal spirituality illustrates how planning could have a role in defending and promoting such places. Further, it demonstrates the importance of engaging in agonistic rather than antagonistic debate, rearticulating the criteria on which places can be valued by planning practice.
This paper investigates the values, beliefs and attitudes (VBA) held by individual employees within business environments which motivate and shape behavior in the workplace, and the extent to which VBA reveal roots and drivers linked to spiritual capital (and associated capitals). Building on early authorial work (Baker, Stokes, Lichy, Atherton, 2011), and referring to literature from theology and religion, as well as business organization and management, the paper discusses the critical and dialectical relationship between different forms of capital (for example, social, human, economic), modernistic, ‘hard’ cultures and issues of managerialism and alternative critical, ‘soft’ frameworks and sources of ethics and values – and their impact on the business setting. It will do this primarily by proposing a new typological model showing the dynamic and potentially progressive interplay between spiritual, human, bridging and linking forms of social capital within corporate and public settings and explores their implications for management. This typological model is derived from original research using in-depth semi-structured interviews from three different organizations in North West England and North Wales, to determine the extent to which notions of the postsecular and spiritual capital may operate in workplaces.
The integration of Muslim immigrants in Western countries especially Britain has
attracted wider attention both from academia, policymakers and public in gen-
eral. Their different religion (i.e. Islam) has been regarded as the crucial factors
in the process contextualised by the socio-political circumstances of the host
society and the existence transnational link to the home country encouraging
them to reproduce and transplant their ethno-religious tradition in diaspora. The
article addresses the interplay between, on the one hand, the strong and weak-
ness of the politics of multiculturalism and the secularisation and desecularisation
of British society, and on the other, the institutionalisation of Islam in Britain amidst
the persistent internal divisions and fragmentations of minority Muslim immi-
grant communities. As the result, Muslim immigrants have set up an ethno-reli-
gious integration trajectory through their own established socio-religious institu-
tions and associations in parallel with the host country social and political ones.
Integrasi imigran Muslim di negara-negara Barat khususnya Inggris telah
memeroleh perhatian luas baik dari kalangan akademisi, pembuat kebijakan dan publik pada umumnya. Keragaman agama mereka (termasuk Islam) dipandang
sebagai faktor penting dalam proses yang dikontekstualisasi oleh lingkungan sosio-politik masyarakat setempat dan hubungan transnasional yang ada dengan negara
asal yang mendorong mereka mereproduksi dan mentransplantasi tradisi etno-religi mereka di diaspora. Artikel ini memaparkan hubungan saling pengaruh
antara kekuatan dan kelemahan politik multikulturalisme di satu sisi, dan
institusionalisasi Islam di Inggris yang melahirkan pembagian dan fragmentasi
internal di kalangan komunitas imigran Muslim minoritas di sisi lain. Akibatnya,
imigran Muslim telah membangun peta integrasi etno-religi melalui lembaga-lembaga dan asosiasi-asosiasi sosio-religi mereka yang sudah mapan paralel
dengan lembaga dan asosiasi social dan politik negara setempat.
In this chapter I will examine one symptom of what Jose Casanova describes as the emergence of new historical developments associated with 'a certain reversal of what appeared to be secular trends' in that 'religions across the world are entering the public sphere and the arena of political contestation' (Casanova, 1994: 6). These developments are taken by some to be evidence of the advent of 'post-secular societies' (Habermas, 2006: 46), which is having particular effects in terms of the necessity of fostering the willingness to communicate (Habermas, 2010: 16) between what Habermas calls 'secular citizens' and 'religious citizens'. There are obvious problems associated with the inference (in the prefix 'post') that secularization is a linear and homogenous process (Reder, 2010: 38). Reder and Schmidt attempt to downplay 'the post-secular' as epochal shift and instead refer to it as a term that (1) acknowledges the continuing social role religions play in societies and (2) has become synonymous with examples of increasing engagement (that is, 'constructive dialogue') between faith communities and governments (Reder and Schmidt, 2010: 1). With regard to the latter, Dinham and Lowndes have stated that: 'academics, policymakers and practitioners are grappling with the emphatic return of faith to the public realm of policy making, and seeking to make sense of its implications' (Dinham and Lowndes, 2009: 1). This chapter is an example of these 'grappling' activities. I will be examining a particular question in this context which is directly linked to questions raised by Raymond Plant's chapter, namely: to what extent are religious identities and arguments being included in the public political culture? By so doing I will examine two high-profile contributions that attempt to make sense of religious identities and religious arguments in the public realm, and that make recommendations with regards to their place, role and significance.
Recent research in human geography offers some significant and fresh expressions of partnership between faith-motivated actors and others in the emerging landscapes of third sector activity. These often arise from shrinkage of the formal state and engagement with, or resistance to, different welfare regimes. I discuss three avenues for discerning key factors underlying these rapprochements. First, I suggest that ideas about postsecularity and its attendant reflexive and discursive technologies can inform our understanding of the conditions in which crossover mutualities between religious and secular discourses can be enabled. Second, two different flavors of discursive critique of secularism point to postsecular possibilities. The first stems from a philosophical and theological assault on the outcomes of secularist politics and society from within religious and political establishments. These discursive responses coincide with evidence of other new arenas of postsecular praxis. As faith-based and secular organizations provide opportunities for religious and nonreligious people to work together, the boundaries between them permit translation and crossover. Some partnerships may be pragmatic, but they demonstrate willingness for rapprochement. These conditions also open opportunities for faith-groups to break out from their “hushed up” positions in the public sphere and for a new postsecular consciousness: shared citizenship, tolerance, transformation and crossover. Thirdly, the translation of postsecularity is a movement away from fundamentalist religion that accepts faith-action as a form of “no–strings” service and caritas rather than as a vehicle for evangelism. The continuing emergence of Christian faith–praxis in public points to possibilities of what is invisible and visible in society, and is aided by a willingness with faith–networks embracing the public (versus private) praxis of faith. These present an exciting agenda for research into the organizational practices that are developed and negotiated to initiate and sustain such rapprochement.
Interculturalism is a new concept for managing community relations in a world defined by globalization and ‘superdiversity’. This book argues that as countries become more diverse a new framework of interculturalism is needed to mediate these relationships and that this will require new systems of governance to support it.
This historical-institutionalist study explores the mechanisms behind the increasing presence of religiously motivated civil society associations (RMAs) in the realm of welfare provision. The focus of the study is an in-depth analysis that compares the case of Turkey to four European countries: Britain, France, Germany, and Sweden. Through an analysis of these cases, the study demonstrates that neither the common sociology of religion argument that religion is returning to the public sphere nor the widespread claim of welfare retrenchment is sufficient to explain the increasing emphasis on RMAs in various countries. The leading argument of the dissertation presents different institutional histories as the main reason behind different degrees of change present in each respective realm of social policy. The two mechanisms that are focused to understand change are: (1) shifts in state-society relationships/transformations of welfare state structures; and (2) shifts in state-religion relationships/rearrangement of institutional structures between the state and various religious communities.
The comparison between Turkey and the four western European countries demonstrates that in countries with immature welfare states the rise of RMAs has more serious implications for social rights and democratic citizenship. In contrast to low level of change in France and Germany, and medium level of change in Britain and Sweden, Turkey is defined as a case of high level of change because both the state-society and state-religion relationships have undergone major transformations in the post-1980s. The presence of long-standing institutional arrangements in either the state-society or state-religion area is the main reason that Britain, France, Germany and Sweden have enjoyed relative stability by comparison.
The thesis, in addition to the historical-institutionalist analysis of the four European cases, includes a comprehensive study of the Turkish case. The historical analysis of the state-society and state-religion relations in Turkey since the early twentieth century shows that the specific secularization history of this country, coupled with the relatively immature characteristics of its welfare state, created a larger space for the rise of RMAs. The empirical research, on the aims, motivations and organizational structures of the RMAs and their connections to state, business and civil society networks, shed light on how social policy arena transforms with the increasing presence of these associations in the welfare mix.
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