The Invisible Politics of Religion: The Religious Third Sector and Territorial Welfare

Abstract

The interaction between religion and politics has been frequently portrayed through highly politicized controversies on symbolic issues, public statements of religious authorities, interreligious competition, religious violence, etc.. By contrast, this panel aims at focusing on the discrete forms taken by religious actors’ interventionism in contemporary secularized European public spheres, especially in the field of territorial welfare. The local scale is particularly relevant as constituting the arena where public authorities, private actors, religious and secular “third sector” organizations manage – or not - to constitute efficient networks of governance. These local arrangements constitute an implicit form of regulation of public life by religious actors that do not necessarily coincide with the definition of the common good provided by the religious authorities. While focusing on European case-studies, papers addressing the behaviour of one or more religious actors on a wide range of issues (such as social justice, migrant care, health care, education, peace movements, …) will be welcome.

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