Church-state Relations

Encounters between agents of the state and religious organizations have been increasing throughout the world, thus the need to understand the relationships between religion and other major domains of life is increasingly important. In this comprehensive reader on church-state relations, scholars examine the connections between religion and political life from a comparative perspective.

Thomas Robbins has held teaching and research positions at Queens Col-lege, Yale University, Graduate Theological Union, and Central Michigan University. His articles on contemporary religious movements have ap-peared in Daedalus, Social Problems, Social Policy, and Society. He is co-editor of In Gods We Trust: New Patterns of Religious Pluralism in America (Transaction, 1980) and Cults, Culture, and the Law. Roland Robertson is professor of sociology and religious studies, University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of many articles and books on religion, international relations, and sociological theory including International Sys¬tems and the Modernization of Societies and The Sociological Interpretation of Religion.

Acknowledgments -- Introduction Part I General Considerations -- 1. General Considerations in the Study of Contemporary Church-State Relationships /Roland Robertson -- 2. The Restoration of "Power" to the Sociology of Religion /James A. Beckford -- 3. Church-State Relations and the World System /Roland Robertson -- 4. When Will Revolutionary Movements Use Religion? /Leland W. Robinson -- Part II Church-State Tension in the United States -- 5. Church-State Tension in the United States /Thomas Robbins -- 6. A Mythical Past and Uncertain Future /N. J. Demerath III and Rhys H. Williams -- 7. The Courts and Secular Humanism /Phillip E. Hammond -- 8.Religious Exemptions /Leo Pfeffer -- 9. The Supreme Court Redefines Tax Exemption /Dean M. Kelley -- 10. Civil Rights, Indian Rites /Robert S. Michaelsen -- 11. Church-State Tensions and Marginal Movements in the United States /Thomas Robbins Part III Comparative Perspectives -- 12. Church-State Relations in Comparative Perspective /Roland Robertson -- 13. Religion, the State and Political Legitimacy in the World's Constitutions /John Markoff and Daniel Regan -- 14. Symbiosis of Religious and Political Authorities in Islam /Hamid Dabashi -- 15. Latin America and Liberation Theology /Roland Robertson -- 16. Civil Religion vs. State Power in Poland /Ewa Morawska -- 17. Religion, State and Civil Society: Nation-Building in Australia /Bryan S. Turner -- 18. State, Religion and Law in Ireland /John Fulton -- 19. The British Right to Discriminate /Eileen Barker -- About the Contributors -- Index.