The secular state under siege: Religion and politics in Europe and America

Dikici, Erdem

Abstract

Since the last three decades, there has been a growing corpus on the return of public religion or politically assertive religions. Scholars from different disciplines, from sociology to international relations and politics, are interested in understanding and exploring the concepts of secularism and secularisation as well as the importance of religion in contemporary society, politics and international relations. The Secular State Under Siege is a timely book that unpacks the relationship between religion and politics ‘from a historical and institutional perspective with a dual focus on Western Europe and Northern America, Christianity and Islam.’ (p. 1). The book develops several avenues of inquiry, including religion in social and political theory, the relationship between secularism and liberal democratic state, the emergence of the idea of secularism, and so forth. The main goal of the book is to explore why Islam in Europe and the Christian Right in the USA pose significant challenges to the secular liberal democratic states.

• Journal Article Type: Book Review
• Acceptance Date: Mar 1, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Mar 10, 2016
• Publication Date: Mar 10, 2016
• Deposit Date: Oct 10, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 11, 2022
• Journal: Nordic Journal of Migration Research
• Electronic ISSN: 1799-649X
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 70-71
• Item Discussed: Joppke, Christian (2015) The Secular State Under Siege: Religion and Politics in Europe and America, Cambridge: Polity. 236 pp.
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/njmr-2016-0006
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10020945
• Publisher URL: https://journal-njmr.org/articles/abstract/10.1515/njmr-2016-0006/