Hearts and Minds at Stake: How Religious Organizations Sustain Moral Authority in Secular Regulatory States

For centuries, the churches claimed jurisdiction over moral issues such as marriage, life and death, as well as education. As part of the broader nation-building process, progressive secularization and liberalizing trends, the state took over the governance of many areas and the moral authority of the churches and their policy-making capacity diminished. This trend continues until today and is reinforced by public scandals such as the sexual abuse of minors. Yet, the loss of moral authority is far from being complete as religious doctrines are a base for moral consent in several segments of our society and religious organization still involved in the governance of value-laden issues. We suggest conceptualizing religious communities as “regulatory intermediaries” because this analytical lens allows us to capture and compare the diverse formal and informal roles of religious actors in Europe and to make an informed statement on their remaining moral authority. The study relies on 140 expert interviews in six European countries (Belgium France, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) with representatives of at least two denominations per country (Catholic, Protestant, Muslim) and with regard to five morality policies (abortion, assisted dying, same-sex marriage, prostitution, and religious education).