ABSTRACT
Political events in the 1980s reminded social scientists of the power of religion to influence parties and social movements. The Iranian revolution showed that a religious movement could overthrow a regime once seen as the exemplar of secularization in the region (Brumberg 2001; Siavoshi 2002). The rise of the Christian Right in the United States showed how religious movements can evolve along with political parties (Wilcox 2007a), changing both in the process. The role of the Pope and the Catholic Church in supporting Solidarity in Poland showed the power of religious groups to mount movements and parties that challenge non-democratic regimes; the Church’s more complex role with post-independence political parties in Poland showed that democracy does not simplify the relationships between religious institutions and parties (Byrnes 2002).
