ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book gives the conceptualization of "religion" in legal conflicts between Native American religionists and state agencies in the United States. It gives a wide range of different "state-religion" interrelations, ranging from the attempt by religious institutions to be separate from the secular world, as in the case of the Old Colony Mennonites examined by Lorenzo Canas Bottos, to the endeavours by African migrants in Germany to attain citizenship in the country of immigration via participation in Pentecostal churches. The modernist rift between "religion" and "law" has also been connected to deliberations on "rationality" and "legitimate power". The book explores universalist claims by religions like Christianity can be strategically invoked by migrants who seek both incorporation into transnational religious networks and local incorporation into the citizenry of the country of immigration. It also explores some important dimensions of these transnational permutations of order.
