Introduction to the Special Issue “Religion and Politics: Historical Developments and Contemporary Transformations”

In the 1966 animated television special “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”, character Linus Van Pelt infamously claimed that there are three things he learned never to discuss with people: “religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin” (Mendelson et al. 1966). Other adages at the time variably expanded the list to include other ostensibly taboo topics such as money, sex, or race. By the 1990s, a Miss Manners column in the Chicago Tribune addressed the growing list of impolite topics by saying the author “balks at the idea that we can all now be trusted to enliven our social lives by discussing important political, social and religious issues” (United Feature Syndicate 1998). Why, then, invite papers exploring exactly those two topics: religion and politics?

At one time, the study of religion and politics also seemed like a topic to avoid in academia (e.g., Fox 2001; Jelen 1998; Wald and Wilcox 2006). It was not until the 1980s that religion made a resurgence as a topic of study in the field of political science, and, even then, it was often a marginalized or isolated topic. This trend may be surprising to some scholars, given both the historicity of the topic (e.g., Bellah 2011; Durkheim [1912] 1995; Geertz 1973; Weber [1920] 1993) and the many modern applications that define global politics in the 21st century (e.g., secularization, religious nationalism and fundamentalism, religious conflict and culture wars, religious liberty and tolerance, colonialism, and multiculturalism). Indeed, religious actors are quite prominent in many political systems, and religion is a central component of daily life in many regions of the world. Yet, scholars are still “catching up” in our understanding of how religion influences politics, and, increasingly, how politics influences religion. This alone would be sufficient reason to expand the research field.

The salience of religion and politics as identities and ideological systems heightens the need for academic research on the topic. Religion and politics both offer a comprehensive system through which individuals can understand their role in society and the ethics of their actions and ascertain human meaning (e.g., Gentile 2006). When core beliefs and identities are defined by these ideologies, it is inevitable that they come into conflict with one another, as one may simultaneously identify with a particular religion and a particular political ideology. How might individuals reconcile the cognitive dissonance experienced when these ideologies conflict? Most scholarship over time has assumed that religious values take precedence, but scholars have increasingly recognized that religious and political identities have a reciprocal relationship: religious values inform political identities, and political identities also inform religious values (e.g., Campbell et al. 2018; Hafner and Audette 2023; Margolis 2018; Patrikios 2008). This dynamic interaction increases the intrigue and need for scientific rigor when understanding the complex relationships among competing ideologies. Beyond individual identities, this also translates to a reciprocal relationship between religious and political institutions, which can further entrench ideological systems (e.g., Bossy 1985; Casanova 1994; Taylor 2007).

A third reason to expand the religion and politics literature is because of the tangible effect that many of these interactions have on the lives of people across the globe (e.g., Bowen 2003; Glass 2018; Toft et al. 2011). In this Special Issue alone, you will read accounts of threats to democratic governance, the ability to obtain credit to purchase necessary goods, attitudes toward the use of military force, schisms within religious traditions, and the freedom to practice one’s religion, among other topics. The balance between religion and politics significantly affects the daily lives and liberties of most of the world’s population, along with social forces such as demographic trends, migration patterns, and the formation of social communities. Religion and politics also help us understand everyday human behaviors and decision making.

Finally, one may wish to grow in their understanding of the relationship between religion and politics precisely because it is uncomfortable. Psychology tells us that “achieving personal growth often requires experiencing discomfort” (Woolley and Fishbach 2022). Though discussing religious organizations through a scientific or political lens may seem crass, the sometimes-uncomfortable interchange between religion and politics reveals much about power structures, the formation of identities and groups, the diffusion of social norms, how authorities gain legitimacy, and how culture acts as a method of social control, among other essential observations across many different academic disciplines. In short, the contentiousness of these topics expands our understanding of what is possible and desirable for human institutions.

This Special Issue was curated in a spirit of pluralism. To understand a topic as broad and fundamental as the intersection of religion and politics, we chose not to limit research contributions to a particular research methodology, geographic focus, academic discipline, or theoretical angle. Instead, we sought out high-quality contributions from scholars working across the entire field. The result is a truly pluralistic Special Issue. You will find research using case studies of religions or political issues originating in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Some involve contemporary disputes, others historical developments. The articles utilize both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, including a wide range within each of those broad categories. Very likely, readers and authors of the articles represented in this Special Issue could find much to disagree about, but we hope that all will agree that these articles represent a rigorous response to the call for novel research that advances the complicated study of religion and politics.

The first article in this Special Issue is Danielle N. Lussier’s review article, which challenges scholars of religion and politics to find ways to compare phenomena across different religious practices and traditions. Lussier centers houses of worship as an often-overlooked variable for accomplishing this task. Scholars would do well to consider this intermediary variable in comparative studies of religion. Another review article by Ishama Medilien and Timothy John Steigenga challenges the prominent religious economy model, and, in particular, its application to the Catholic Church in Chile by scholar Anthony Gill. They offer new analysis of three Latin American countries to complexify and critique the theory, taking into consideration religious market forces and assumptions behind the application of the model.

In a related research analysis, Carlos Piccone-Camere examines how the Catholic Church developed its anticommunist stance in the region, as well as the implications of this stance for movements such as liberation theology. Historical analyses such as these are essential in understanding a region where religious market forces are more dynamic than ever. For example, another article by Fernando Adolfo Mora-Ciangherotti assesses how the growth in Protestant churches in Venezuela influenced the 2024 campaign of President Nicolás Maduro Moros, who campaigned directly to and with evangelical leaders. It is a fascinating case study of how political actors who have faced ethical controversies may nonetheless be accepted by a devoted religious population.

We are also pleased to include four articles that examine the historical development of Islamic legal and religious traditions. Mustafa Yasin Akbaş chronicles the intriguing history behind Shirwānī’s ḥadīth methodology book in the Ottoman Empire, as well as its impact on subsequent scholarly life. Likewise, Birnur Deniz focuses on the Ottoman Empire and the development of sophisticated credit relations, often viewed as a paradox, given the prohibition of interest in Islam. The article examines how a financing transaction gained legal status in Hanafi jurisprudence, offering a commentary on the development of Islamic law in the Hanafi school. Also examining Islamic legal systems, Sümeyra Yakar and Emine Enise Yakar report results from their fieldwork focusing on the country of Saudi Arabia and how the role of judges and judicial procedure has changed over time, including recent developments and the codification of legal regulations. Finally, Esra Atmaca examines the historical rivalry among Muslim administrators over the kiswa, a cloth that is annually draped over the Ka‘ba in Mecca. This has important implications for how religious and political leaders can try, and have historically tried, to legitimize their authority.

Two articles examine governance and political movements in predominantly Muslim countries. Arık et al. examine the 2023 election in Türkiye, which constitutionally protects the concept of laiklik, or secularism, but nonetheless sees a prominent religious influence in society. They explore the case study of an opposition presidential candidate “stepping/standing” on a prayer rug with his shoes on to describe how the media politicizes religion and influences religious discourse. Similarly, Harris S. Kirazli’s article examines how leaders in Egypt and Türkiye crafted strategic political alliances with Islamic political movements, which were subsequently denounced by the leaders and excluded from political power. Like Mora-Ciangherotti’s analysis of Venezuela, these articles demonstrate ways in which political leaders can capitalize on religious discourse for political gain.

Turning to analyses of other religious traditions, Xiaoshuang Liu reports results from a compelling historical analysis and fieldwork in Northeast China, examining how shamanism has developed after receiving protection from the state, which signed an international treaty to safeguard folk cultures in the early 2000s. The reciprocal relationship between religious practices and public benefit is on full display in the “generation of the public from the private” and the “promotion of the private by the public”. Geoffrey A. Sandy’s article on the current schism in the Anglican Communion, brought about by culture war issues such as the ordination of women and the blessing of same-sex unions, introduces a new framework to understand the divide: conservative and progressive mindsets. This framework has potential to explain divides in other religious communities and open up avenues for further research on how minoritized mindsets within religious communities adapt to their status. While looking for alternative frameworks to analyze contentious issues, readers may also explore Diego Pérez-Lasserre’s article challenging legal interpretivism as the dominant paradigm in legal hermeneutics and suggesting mysticism as an alternative.

Finally, this Special Issue includes a series of four articles examining the interplay between religion and politics in the United States. Theodore Madrid provides an important historical example, in Archbishop John Carroll, of how Roman Catholics in the early United States thought about religious liberty and church–state relations. For a group that eventually grew to become the single largest denomination in the country, it was important to establish a philosophical basis for how to explain their accused dual allegiance between the Pope and the nation. Next, James Guth and Brent F. Nelson provide a sweeping analysis of how different religious groups view military intervention in American society. They find unique effects across different religious traditions, providing the springboard for more analysis about how religious groups discuss foreign policy issues and how political coalitions use these issues to appeal to religious voters. Arrenius et al. use a survey experiment to determine how different religious groups respond to a professor making political comments in class, analyzing punitive attitudes and how religious groups apply them in culture wars debates. The Guest Editors were also grateful to have our own article accepted for publication, in which we describe the ways in which religious conversion can have a mobilizing effect on immigrant groups in American politics through a process of identity adaptation and formation.

Although the articles address myriad topics, they are united by a unique focus on the reciprocal relationship between religion and politics. Some address this topic more directly, but all include acknowledgement of ways in which religion influences political attitudes, actions, or policies and the state or political actors influence religious values, practices, or development. Certainly, this is not the last word on this critical topic, and we, the Guest Editors, hope that readers will carefully consider the work here and how future research might further expand on the “historical developments and contemporary transformations” of the relationship between religion and politics. In particular, testing theories in different regions or historical eras or across different religious traditions would allow scholars to continue to refine and assess the generalizability of our current understanding of religion and politics. We are grateful to all who submitted research for consideration in this Special Issue, to reviewers, to the journal’s editors, to Sandee Pan for the excellent editorial support, and, most of all, to readers who will learn from and expand on the research showcased here.