Crossing the gods : world religions and worldly politics
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Crossing the gods : world religions and worldly politics
Rutgers University Press, c2001
Available at 8 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Crossing the Gods examines the sometimes antagonistic, sometimes cozy relationship between religion and politics in countries around the globe. Eminent sociologist of religion Jay Demerath traveled to Brazil, China, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, and Thailand to explore the history and current relationship of religion, politics, and the state in each country. In the first part of this wide-ranging book, he asks. What are the basic fault lines along which current tensions and conflicts have formed? What are the trajectories of change from past to present, and how to they help predict the future? In the book's second part the author focuses on the United States the only nation founded specifically on the principle of a separation between religion and state - and examines the extent to which this principle actually holds and the consequences when it does not. Highlighting such issues as violence, globalization, and the fluidity of individual religious identity. Demerath exposes the fallacies underlying many of our views of religion and politics worldwide.
Finally, Demerath places the claim of America as the world's most religious nation within a comparative context and argues that our country is not "more religious" but "differently religious." He argues that it represents a unique combination of congregational religion, religious pluralism, and civil religion.
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