Religion between Nation and Europe: The French and Belgian ‘No’ to the Christian Heritage of Europe

Forêt, François; Riva, Virginie

doi:10.1080/01402381003794621

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…It does not mean that these parties have left their secular(ist) heritage fully behind (Dolezal, Helbling, and Hutter 2010, 185). The reference to the Judeo-Christian culture is rather used as a sacred code word to denote a secular, liberal order distinct from Islam, reflecting the culturalization of Christian religion in Europe (Foret and Riva 2010, 793). The confusion arising from using religious wordings for a secular and liberal order illustrates once more how important a more in-depth understanding of religion's role in politics is.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-emerging Christianity in West European Politics: The Case of the Netherlands

Vollaard

2013

Politics and Religion

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Does Christianity re-emerge in politics even in the most secularized part of the world, Western Europe? In this article, the exemplary case of the Netherlands provides empirical evidence for two mechanisms of resurgent Christianity in party politics. In this way, the article also offers a more precise understanding under what conditions various dimensions of religion become (again) or remain politically significant. The first mechanism has been the incentive of secularization and secularism for remaining Christians to regroup in a so-called creative minority to convey an explicitly faith-based message to a broader public. Modernization has therefore not automatically meant less religion in politics. However, creative minorities remained a relatively minor affair in Dutch party politics, despite the large number of Christian migrants and their descendants. Second, Christian and culturally rightwing, secular parties have increasingly referred to a Judeo-Christian culture to mark the political identities of the European Union and its nations in response to Islam's growing visibility. The concept of Judeo-Christian culture foremost functioned as a sacred word to denote the liberal and secular order of the West, reflecting the re-emergence of Christianity as cultural phenomenon rather than faith in West European politics.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-emerging Christianity in West European Politics: The Case of the Netherlands

Vollaard

2013

Politics and Religion

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“…Coupland 2004;Barnett 2005; for Catholicism in particular see Nelsen and Guth 2003;Nelsen 2005;Taylor 2012b), but there are other studies that link the origins of the European project to the role of the Catholic founding fathers and, at the party level, to Christian Democracy. In this context, religious legitimization of the EU has been observed on various levels (Marks and Wilson 2000;Coupland 2003;Neslen and Guth 2003;Gallagher 2005;Nelsen 2005;CheliniPont 2009;Foret and Riva 2010;Hobolt et al 2011).…”

Section: Religion and European Identity: Christian Heritage Legitimamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many studies of the relations between Christian churches and the EU in fact point to the dependence of these relations on the national models and institutional arrangements whose elements have been transferred to the European level (cf. Willaime 2009;Foret and Riva 2010). Even though these studies hardly ever mention the effect historical institutionalism has had on them, their compatibility with this theoretical position is indisputable.…”

Section: Religion and European Integration Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Debates on various models of laïcité/secularism in Europe have also appeared in this context (cf. Knippenberg 2006;McRea 2007aMcRea , 2007bMcRea , 2011Willaime 2009;Foret and Riva 2010;Doe 2011;Carp 2011) often with modernity (or rather multiple modernities) as a fundamental theoretical framework (see e.g. Byrnes and Katzenstein 2006; most of the contributions to Foret and Itcaina 2012).…”

Section: Religion and European Identity: Christian Heritage Legitimamentioning

confidence: 99%

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The European Union and the Catholic Church

Kratochvíl

Doležal

2015

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The main purpose of this series is to provide and sustain excellence in international relations research in and on Central Europe. The series aims to provide readers with high quality publications from scholars conducting IR research from the Central and Eastern European (CEE) perspectives that will resonate with the IR community as well as practitioners in and beyond the region. Reflecting on the range and depth of research and scholarship in this region, this series welcomes original and innovative contributions from established IR researchers who have helped to establish the IR field in Central and Eastern Europe as well as by emerging scholars who are building on this tradition. The series is purposely interdisciplinary and welcomes studies which examine IR topics from the CEE perspectives in international politics. These perspectives are shaped by the experience of small states vs. great powers' interests, regionalisation, national minorities, the role of international institutions, the position between the West and East broadly defined, as well as intellectual traditions.

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“…In many ways, the EU has repeatedly displayed a determination to remain formally secular, mimicking a classic French-style laïcité in both its treaties and directives (see Foret and Riva 2010). Yet this frequently made comparison arguably presents only a partial picture -in fact, the way different religious interest groups in Brussels are forced to compete on an even 'playing field' also has distinct overtones of the American version of church and state separation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consulting and compromising: the (non-)religious policy preferences of British MEPs

Steven

2014

Religion, State and Society

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The United Kingdom (UK) provides an important case study when analysing the influence of religious attitudes and values on political behaviour in the European Union. Our research shows British Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to be relatively at ease working with the different faith-based organisations which seek to influence the European policy process-and much more so than many of their colleagues from other member states. This can potentially be explained by the more 'pluralist' political culture which is prevalent in the UK, and can also be related to the comparatively high rates of non-church attendance amongst the British sample which facilitates their even-handedness towards different groups. This, in turn, produces a resistance to allowing religious factors to disproportionately influence European policymaking.

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Religion between Nation and Europe: The French and Belgian ‘No’ to the Christian Heritage of Europe

Cited by 14 publications

References 7 publications

Re-emerging Christianity in West European Politics: The Case of the Netherlands

Re-emerging Christianity in West European Politics: The Case of the Netherlands

The European Union and the Catholic Church

Consulting and compromising: the (non-)religious policy preferences of British MEPs

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