1st Edition

The Politics and Practice of Religious Diversity National Contexts, Global Issues

Edited By Andrew Dawson Copyright 2016
    222 Pages
    by Routledge

    222 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    The Politics and Practice of Religious Diversity engages with one of the most characteristic features of modern society. An increasingly prominent and potentially contentious phenomenon, religious diversity is intimately associated with contemporary issues such as migration, human rights, social cohesion, socio-cultural pluralisation, political jurisdiction, globalisation, and reactionary belief systems.





    This edited collection of specially-commissioned chapters provides an unrivalled geographical coverage and multidisciplinary treatment of the socio-political processes and institutional practices provoked by, and associated with, religious diversity. Alongside chapters treating religious diversity in the ‘BRIC’ countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, are contributions which discuss Australia, Finland, Mexico, South Africa, the UK, and the United States.





    This book provides an accessible, distinctive and timely treatment of a topic which is inextricably linked with modern society’s progressively diverse and global trajectory. Written and structured as an accessible volume for the student reader, this book is of immediate interest to both academics and laypersons working in mainstream and political sociology, sociology of religion, human geography, politics, area studies, migration studies and religious studies.

    Introduction: The Politics and Practice of Religious Diversity: National Contexts, Global Issues  Part 1: The ‘BRIC’ Nations  1. Friends and Foes of the ‘Russian World’: The Post-Soviet State’s Management of Religious Diversity  2. The Challenges of Managing Religious Diversity in India: Between Hegemonic Domination and the Quest for Equality  3. Islam and the State in Brazil: Reflections on the Freedom of a Minority Religion  4. Religious Diversity and the State in China  Part 2: Governance  5. Governance and Religious Diversity in Australia: Multifaith Relations and Religious Instruction in the State of Victoria  6. Managing Religious Diversity in Finland: From Church Law to Governance Networks  7. Religious Diversity and the Shifting Sands of Political Prioritization: Reflections on the UK Context  Part 3: Globalizing Modernity  8. The Globalization of Religious Advocacy: Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy  9. Diversity, Death and Divinity in Mexico: A Political-Religious Economy of La Santa Muerte  10. State Regulation or ‘Public Religion’? Religious Diversity in Post-apartheid South Africa

    Biography

    Andrew Dawson is Professor of Modern Religion in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University, UK. He researches the relations between modern society and religion. His recent publications include: (as author) Sociology of Religion (2011) and Santo Daime: A New World Religion (2013); (as editor) Summoning the Spirits (2011).