Religion in Fortress Europe: Perspectives on Belief, Citizenship and Identity in a Time of Polarized Politics

Description

How does religion maintain or challenge discourses on national identity? What are the roles that religion plays on all sides - from Islamophobia of the radical right to the Christian alliances on both sides of the Atlantic, to the Islamic beliefs and practices of European citizens as well as migrant communities - in the constitution of Fortress Europe? Are there any alliances shaping between belief and unbelief on either side of the battle for the future of Europe? These questions and more motivate the chapters in this timely interdisciplinary collection, with contributions focusing on diverse contexts throughout Europe involving a broad range of religious identifications and actors.

Morteza Hashemi is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Nottingham, UK. Christopher R. Cotter is Staff Tutor (Lecturer) in Sociology and Religious Studies at the Open University, UK.

A rich and insightful volume that sheds light on religious marginalization and its various stakeholders in 21st-century Europe, urging introspection into the national identities, cultural assumptions and social infrastructures that allow for perpetuated othering and exclusion in liberal democracies. * Carol Ferrara, Anthropologist and Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing Communication, Emerson College, USA * This timely collection gives the field a rich account of the lived experience of believers and religious community members across contemporary Europe. Insight is provided by detailed case studies covering the British, Swiss, Finnish, Dutch and German contexts among others. These are used to generate theories crucial for our understanding of current controversies, and the struggles and achievements of those within marginalized religious communities across Europe. At a time when migration policies are increasingly exclusive or punitive towards particular minority groups, this work will be compulsory reading for scholars and students studying political religion, ethnicity and migration and sociology of religion. Expertly woven together by emerging leaders in the study of religion and secularity, this is an important and valuable collection. * Siobhan McAndrew, Senior Lecturer in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, University of Sheffield, UK *