This paper addresses the fundamental question of the current shifts in and transformation of boundaries between religion and the (democratic) state in light of ongoing pluralisation in the Western world. Instead of focusing on the usual configuration of church-state relationships the panel suggests to look at more subtle boundaries between the sacred and the secular in religion and politics and to reflect their (changing) characteristics and functions. Contributors should address at least one of the four main questions: (1) how have these assumed boundaries been changing during the last decades and in the light of cultural pluralisation and political transformation? Did e.g. new normative principles perforate traditional boundaries between the sacred and the secular? (2) To what extent do new institutional arrangements with the state in- or exclude certain religions? The third question asks (3) how these different types of boundaries are related to each other. Does e.g. the dissolution of one boundary provoke the emergence/creation of another? The paper aims at bringing these different types of boundaries together in an integrated concept for comparative emprical research.
