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Religion and politics rules
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POSC 4003002, Special Topics:
Religion & Politics
An
undergraduate course, this comparative study of religion and politics begins
with a cross-national analysis of trends in religiosity (or, alternatively,
secularism). From this foundation, primary attention in the class is given
to three issues--
- the structure and occasional resolution of sectarian
conflicts in which faith communities are politically pitted against each
other (examples include Sunnis v the Shi'a in Lebanon and Iraq, Catholics v
Protestants in Northern Ireland, Hindus v Muslims in India)
- religious-secular conflicts over the proper role of
religion in public life, that is, to what extent and how religious
principles should inform public policies on such things as life issues
(abortion, marriage and divorce, euthanasia), public education, science and
health, and the rights of minorities (head scarves in France)
- religion as a vehicle (either progressive or reactionary)
for social reform with respect to questions of social justice (income
inequalities, gender discrimination), environmental protection, war and
peace, and human rights.
Other issues that may be considered, at greater or lesser
detail, include
- the role of religion in legitimating or challenging state
regimes
- cooperation and competition between the state and faith
communities in the provision of social welfare and other services
- an alternative view of the "bully pulpit," by which
some religious officials convert themselves into candidates for office
(examples include the Reverend Governor Huckabee; Rabbi Meir Kahane; Father,
then US Representative Robert Drinan; and the Ulster Unionist leader
Reverend Ian Paisley)
- politics within faith communities, in which religious
institutions are considered as political systems and the focus is on how
conflicts within the "church" are resolved (instances include control over
the Southern Baptist Convention, the ordination of women in the Catholic
Church, the ordination of gay priests in the Episcopal Church and
implications for the Anglican Communion, and papal efforts to regulate the
Liberation Theology activities of Latin American priests)
Texts
- Esposito, J.L. 1998. Islam and politics
(4th). (Syracuse University Press, 1998)
- Monsma, S.V., and Soper, J.C. 1997.
The Challenge of Pluralism: Church and State in Five Democracies (Rowman
& Littlefield, 1997).
- Wald, K.D., and Calhoun-Brown, A.
Religion and Politics in the United States (5th), (Rowman &
Littlefield, 2006)
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