Traditional and Civil Religions: Theory and Political Practice

Dear Colleagues,

The significance of religions in political life is both palpable and durable; whether in traditional forms or manifest as secularized civil variants, their enduring salience demands analysis. This Special Issue focuses on the practical, material aspects of such religious engagement in political life, the goal being to achieve insightful theoretical understandings of these complex, variable, and evolving phenomena. The scope of this call for papers includes, but is not limited to:

Traditional religions as they pertain to politics, both formally and informally. Expressions of religion by faith or belief-based associations, in social movements, in less formal aspects of sectarianism, and by other participants in civil society that have influenced political outcomes.

Secular religions, e.g., civil regions and explicit ideologies that operate on similar bases of ideals, faith, and utopia.

The overarching scope of this call is broadly international. There have been single and comparative case studies examining the use of religion to motivate political action (Ziv 2024) or to bolster democratic and non-democratic political systems (Riaz 2024). We have also seen political actors use religion as a means to unify or divide, as most recently seen with the Israeli–Hamas conflict (Issa and Yasin 2024). Additional examples of significant areas of study include the circumstances of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, what Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban has referred to as “illiberal Christian democracy”, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ascendant Hindu nationalism. In the United States, we have witnessed the rise of the Christian right and the role of Christian Evangelicalism (e.g., Sokhey and Djupe, 2024; Haynes, 2021). In all these cases, the political ambivalence of religion (Philpott 2007) is evident.

We request that prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing the intended contribution. Please send these to the Guest Editor or to the Assistant Editor of Religions. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Interdisciplinary and methodologically diverse original research is welcome and encouraged, as are relevant review articles. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Reference

• Haynes, Jeffrey. 2023. Trump and the Politics of Neo-Nationalism: The Christian Right and Secular Nationalism in America. London: Routledge Press.
• Issa, Shahenaz and Ayman Yasin. 2024. Religious Conflict Between Israeli and Hamas: Naming of Weapons and Battles. International Journal of Religions. 2024, 5: 198-212. DOI: https://doi.org/10.61707/hpzc0m56
• Philpott, Daniel. Explaining the Political Ambivalence of Religion. The American Political Science Review 2007 3: 505–25. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27644463.
• Riaz, Ali. 2024. Religion as a Tool for Authoritarian Legitimation: The Case of Bangladesh. World Affairs 2024 2: 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1002/waf2.12016.
• Sokhey, Anand and Paul Djupe (editors). Trump, White Evangelical Christians, and American Politics: Change and Continuity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024.
• Ziv T. A spiritual call: the courses of action taken by individuals influenced by religious soft power. Politics and Religion. Published online 2024:1-20. doi:10.1017/S1755048324000099

Prof. Dr. Lan T. Chu
Prof. Dr. Anthony Kammas
Prof. Dr. Jeffrey Haynes
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.