Religion and Politics in the European Union The Secular Canopy Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics Series

This book analyzes the place and influence of religion in European politics. François Foret presents the first data ever collected on the religious beliefs of European decision makers and what they do with these beliefs. Discussing popular assumptions such as the return of religion, aggressive European secularism, and religious lobbying, Foret offers objective data and non-normative conceptual frameworks to clarify some major issues in the contemporary political debate.

1. Religion in the framing of a European polity; 2. Religion in the selection of European rulers: is the EU Christian democratic, secularist, or neutral?; 3. Religion in the European electoral process: more than a trace, less than a path; 4. Religion and political socialization in Brussels; 5. Religion and public action in the EU; 6. Legitimization of the EU: meeting religion in the public sphere; 7. Religion in the external identity of the EU; Appendix: presentation of the survey 'relep': method, sample, range, and limits of the data.

François Foret is a Professor of Political Science at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and holds a Jean Monnet Chair funded by the European Commission. He is the director for political research at the Institute for European Studies at ULB and a researcher at the Centre d'étude de la vie politique (CEVIPOL). His research interests include European integration, institutions, politics and policies; European identity and memory; symbolic politics; the role of culture in the legitimization of political orders; and the interaction between religion and politics.