ABSTRACT

The Politics and Practice of Religious Diversity engages with one of the most characteristic features of modern society. An increasingly prominent and potentially contentious phenomenon, religious diversity is intimately associated with contemporary issues such as migration, human rights, social cohesion, socio-cultural pluralisation, political jurisdiction, globalisation, and reactionary belief systems.

This edited collection of specially-commissioned chapters provides an unrivalled geographical coverage and multidisciplinary treatment of the socio-political processes and institutional practices provoked by, and associated with, religious diversity. Alongside chapters treating religious diversity in the ‘BRIC’ countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, are contributions which discuss Australia, Finland, Mexico, South Africa, the UK, and the United States.

This book provides an accessible, distinctive and timely treatment of a topic which is inextricably linked with modern society’s progressively diverse and global trajectory. Written and structured as an accessible volume for the student reader, this book is of immediate interest to both academics and laypersons working in mainstream and political sociology, sociology of religion, human geography, politics, area studies, migration studies and religious studies.

chapter |26 pages

The politics and practice of religious diversity

National contexts, global issues

part I|72 pages

The ‘BRIC' Nations

chapter 1|20 pages

Friends and foes of the ‘Russian world'

The post-Soviet state's management of religious diversity

chapter 2|18 pages

The challenges of managing religious diversity in India

Between hegemonic domination and the quest for equality

chapter 3|15 pages

Islam and the state in Brazil

Reflections on the freedom of a minority religion

part II|54 pages

Governance

chapter 5|17 pages

Governance and religious diversity in Australia

Multifaith relations and religious instruction in the State of Victoria

chapter 6|15 pages

Managing religious diversity in Finland

From church law to governance networks

chapter 7|20 pages

Religious diversity and the shifting sands of political prioritization

Reflections on the UK context

part III|52 pages

Globalizing modernity

chapter 8|19 pages

The globalization of religious advocacy

Implications for US foreign policy

chapter 9|13 pages

Diversity, death, and divinity in Mexico

A political-religious economy of La Santa Muerte

chapter 10|18 pages

State regulation or ‘public religion'?

Religious diversity in post-apartheid South Africa