Desecularization of Society and Politics

Dear Colleagues,

After decades of debates on secularization theses, we can observe some renewed interest in the social and political role of religion—both in scholarship and in empirical reality. Interestingly, this occurs not only in non-Western societies but also in Western liberal culture. In some states, religion seems to be placed as an element of national identity, while in others, there are enacted laws based on values delivered by particular religions. In many places, political parties, movements, and communities adhering to the importance of religion are growing in numbers and impact. Religions and religious traditions influence not only personal beliefs and practices but also normative systems of social conduct, of lawmaking and public policies; as such, the liberal, secular order is frequently subject to critique.

In this Special Issue, we aim to explore the resurging importance of religion in the contemporary world in places where some kind of secularization has hitherto taken place—the phenomenon often termed ‘desecularization’. We are particularly interested in its causes and social and political consequences and seek research on this emerging issue.

• Core questions we propose to answer include the following:

1. What are the cases and contexts of religious resurgence in the public sphere today?
2. Why does religion tend to return to the public sphere in contemporary societies?
3. Which actors (political parties, states, organizations, religious movements, churches, etc.) are or attempt to be agents of desecularization today?
4. What are the justifications and proposals for a greater role of religion in the social and political sphere?
5. Can desecularization modify liberal frames of Western societies?

• We welcome contributions that address the following themes:

1. Theoretical reflection on concepts and reasons for desecularization.
2. Relations between secularization and desecularization.
3. Case studies and contexts of particular desecularization events and processes.
4. Religious justifications and inspirations of political acts and policies.
5. The role of religion in building national identities.
6. Concepts and attempts to depart from the separation of religion and politics and to build a confessional state.
7. Traditional, conservative and fundamentalist movements and parties and their social and political impact.
8. Desecularization of public education, culture or social life.
9. Models and patterns of desecularization.
10. Concepts and justifications of religious resurgence in political and social thought.

Contributions from political theorists and scientists, sociologists of religion, lawyers, philosophers, anthropologists and theologians are welcome. We would like to invite interested authors to initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200-300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editors (piotr.musiewicz@ignatianum.edu.pl / isepulveda@uloyola.es) or to Vinicio Altmann (vinicio.altmann@mdpi.com), Assistant Editor of Religions. Abstracts will be reviewed to ensure their proper fit within the scope of this Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Piotr Musiewicz
Dr. Ignacio Sepúlveda
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• secularization
• sociology of religion
• politology of religion
• religion and politics
• post-secularity
• public sphere
• deprivatization of religion
• religious nationalism