ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyses specific debates involving issues related to religion in Italy in the last 20 years, to understand whether or not the opposite perspectives on these specific issues can be blended into stable coalitions divided by more general orientations, that is, culture wars. It focuses on the main debates directly involving religion, and precisely: LGBT rights and same-sex marriages, beginning of life, end of life, schools and religious education, religious values in national and European identity, and issues related to minority religions and migration. The book deals with the debate around the end of life, and specifically euthanasia, which in Italy took the form of the regulation of advance health care directive. It focuses on the role of religion in education, paying attention to an issue often neglected in recent studies concerning religion in the public and political spheres.
