Religion and Civil Society in Europe, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2013

Religion is back again in Europe after never having been gone. It is manifest in the revival of religious institutions and traditions in former communist countries, in political controversies about the relationship between the church(es) and the state and about the freedom of religion and the freedom to criticize religion, and in public unease about religious minorities. This book is about religion and civil society in Europe. It moves from general theoretical and normative approaches of this relationship, via the examination of national patterns of religion-state relations, to in-depth analyses of the impact of religion and secularization on the values, pro-social attitudes and civic engagement of individuals. It covers Europe from the Lutheran North to the Catholic South, and from the secularized West to the Orthodox East and Islamic South-East with comparative analyses and country studies, concluding with an overall Europe-USA comparison.    

Acknowledgements.- Note on the European Values Study as Main Data Source.- Preface.- Chapter 1. Introduction: European Diversity and Divergences; Joep de Hart, Paul Dekker and Loek Halman.- Chapter 2. Religion and Civil Society: Theoretical Reflections; David Herbert.- Chapter 3. Religion, State and Civil Society in Europe: Triangular Entanglements; John Madeley.- Chapter 4. The Dynamics of Civil Society: Density, Age, Fertility and Completeness in the Religious Voluntary Sector; Sigrid Roßteutscher.- Chapter 5. Secularization and Shifting Sources of Morality: Religion and Morality in Contemporary Europe; Loek Halman and Erik van Ingen.- Chapter 6. Social Trust and Religion in Sweden: Theological Belief vs. Social Organization; Susanne Wallman Lundåsen and Lars Trägård..- Chapter 7. Religion and Civil Society in Italy and Other Latin Countries; Franco Garelli.- Chapter 8. Secular Values, Religious Beliefs and Civil Life: A Comparative Analysis of Helping Values and Behaviour; Kingsley Purdam and Ingrid Storm.- Chapter 9. Religion, Spirituality and Civic Participation; Joep de Hart and Paul Dekker.- Chapter 10. The Spiritual Revolution and Social Capital in Denmark; Peter Lünchau.- Chapter 11. Religion and Social Participation in Postcommunist Europe; Mălina Voicu and Claudiu Tufiş.- Chapter 12. Religion and Civil Society in the Post-Soviet Space; Olga Balakireva and Yuliya Sereda.- Chapter 13. The Impact of Religion on the Political Participation of Muslims: The Case of Switzerland; Marco Giugni, Matteo Gianni and Noémi Michel.- Chapter 14. Democracy, Civil Society and Islam; Yilmaz Esmer.- Chapter 15. Does Praying Together Means Staying Together?: Religion and Civic Engagement in Europe and the United States; Pippa Norris.- Index.

Joep de Hart is endowed Professor in the Sociology of Religion at the Protestant Theological University (Amsterdam/Groningen), and a research fellow of the Netherlands Institute of Social Research | SCP.

Paul Dekker is Professor of Civil Society at Tilburg University, the Netherlands, and a research fellow of the Netherlands Institute for Social Research | SCP.

Loek Halman is Associate Professor of Sociology at Tilburg University, the Netherlands, and one of the coordinators of the European Values Study.

Based on the European Values Survey (EVS) conducted from 1981-2009

Focuses on the diversity of Europe and how secularization has affected civic engagement

Contributors are leaders in the field of civil society and religious life