Religious Revival, Secularisation, or Both? Religion and politics in times of increasing societal complexity

The role of religion in current politics has become increasingly complex. On the one hand, Western societies keep becoming more secularized as the share of non-denominational people in populations grows and religiously influenced values such as traditional family models and gender roles are still in retreat. On the other hand, religion is an ongoing issue in political debates, for instance, when it comes to the visibility of religious attire in the public sphere, the accommodation of religious minorities, or the dangers of religious fundamentalism. Furthermore, some would even argue that we observe a return of religion deriving from the settlement of more deeply religious (primarily Muslim) immigrants but also from a backlash within secularized societies where Christianity is being rediscovered. This section intends to disentangle the complex relations between religion and politics in current Western societies as well as beyond. Panels will illuminate to what extent secularization is still relevant and where religions manage to maintain a dominant factor or even succeed in making a comeback. When doing so, panels will focus on the current role of religious actors, such as religious parties or churches, on national and regional levels and in the global context. Furthermore, panels will refer to discourses on relevant issues such as LGBT+ rights, reproductive medicine, bioethics, religious education, religious buildings, symbols, and attire in the public sphere, or religious fundamentalism. Possible topics for panels are as follows: ▪️ What are the reasons behind (de)secularization? ▪️ The impact of (de)secularization on minorities ▪️ How the secular and religious revivalist perspectives impact the current conflicts ▪️ The role of religious parties in (secularizing) societies ▪️ Party competition on the public role of religion ▪️ Between state and civil-society: Churches and Religious Temples as intermediate organizations ▪️ Religion and terrorism ▪️ The securitization of religion ▪️ Politics, Religion and Gender ▪️ Political controversies on morality political issues ▪️ The governance of religious diversity ▪️ The collective action of religious minorities ▪️ Religion and religiosity as providers of social capital and societal coherence ▪️ Religion and democracy: a conflicting relationship? ▪️ The accommodation of Islam in Western societies : Conflicts on religious symbols, rituals, buildings and education ▪️ Digital religion and Politics ▪️ International relations and the role of religion ▪️ EU politics and religion ▪️ Bureaucracy and religion The panels will include both theoretical debates and empirical considerations. Among others, the panels will seek to critically analyze and rethink the main categories and theses commonly adopted to understand the relations between religion and politics. We welcome submissions with different geographical backgrounds and different approaches, from single or comparative case studies, statistical analyses to experiments.