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We operationalize three dimensions of religion—religious affiliation, religious commitment, and religious belief—to offer a detailed analysis of how religion affects presidential approval ratings. Using data from the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 American National Election Studies, we demonstrate that operationalizing religion as a rudimentary Protestant—Catholic affiliation dichotomy masks its influence on presidential approval. We find that religious affiliation, even when measured more precisely than with a Protestant—Catholic dichotomy, contributes less to models of presidential approval than do measures of religious commitment and (especially) orthodoxy of religious belief.

The volume collects eminent works on the relationship between politics and religion by leading figures in Cultural Studies. The contributors share in the basic belief that the roots of contemporary conflicts have to be uncovered from the historical descent of religion

The article explores some dilemmas of current Western liberal democratic politics. It proposes that a necessary tension be held between practical politics & radical critique. It reviews the Christian prophetic tradition as a contribution toward doing that & argues for "eschatological performance" as an appropriate way of rereading this tradition in a contemporary pluralistic context. The article suggests that, to be useful politically, "prophetic imagination" must retain its theological identity & questioning. It critiques the realist/nonrealist philosophical framework for doing this, & suggests how responsibly prophetic political theology can be both fluid & critically realist in its outlook. Adapted from the source document.

In the Middle East over the past half-century, three religious processes have grown together. One, the growth of fundamentalism, has received worldwide attention both by academics and journalists. The others, the bureaucratization of religion and the state co-optation of religion, of equal duration but no less importance, have received much less attention. The bureaucratization of religion focuses on the hierarchicalization of religious specialists and state co-optation of religion focuses on their neutralization as political opponents. Few commentators link the three processes. In Jordan, fundamentalism, the bureaucratization of religion (BOR), and state co-optation of religion (SCR) have become entwined sometimes in mutually supportive and sometimes in antagonistic relations. The following case study will describe and analyze the implications of this mutual entanglement for the relations of state and civil society and for the human beings simultaneously bureaucratized and "fundamentalized."

This research focuses on issues of religious, cultural and political conflicts and the integration of Ulama and Umara in Purwakarta which intersect with the political dimensions ahead of the Regional Head Election. The specific focus is on the evaluation of religion over culture and turns into a strategic issue played by interest groups. This research is a type of field research research using a qualitative dialectical phenomenological approach as the method. The collection of data and information was carried out by means of observation techniques. The findings of this study include the first, the religious and cultural relations in Purwakarta due to the perspective of the FPI, KUI and FUI mass organizations in assessing that the preservation of Sundanese culture in Purwakarta is contrary to Islamic teachings. second, the form of conflict between Ulama and Umara begins with the case of "the flute and the Koran, the making of puppet figures, the Hideung Bodas (Black and White) Festival of the Tumpeng Parade, the Bebegig Parade, to the confrontation of Sampurasun vs campurracun, and is closely related to political issues. and religious doctrine and understanding of Sundanese culture. But then it is processed into a religious issue and utilized by interest groups.Third, efforts to integrate ulama and Umara are carried out by holding a Cultural and Religious Workshop, establishing communication and compromising on the conflicts that occur.

This study examines the extent of separation of religion and state (SRAS) between 1990 and 2002 in 152 states using the Religion and State database. The results show that when using a strict interpretation of SRAS—nostate support for religion and no state restrictions on religion–no state has full SRAS except the United States. Even when discounting moderate amounts of government involvement in religion (GIR), greater than three quarters of states do not have SRAS. The findings also show that GIR has increased slightly between 1990 and 2002, economic development is associated with higher levels of GIR, states with Muslim majorities have higher levels of government support for religion, and democracies have higher levels of SRAS than do autocratic states but rarely have full SRAS. This contradicts the idea that SRAS is an essential element of democracy and predictions that religion will cease to be an important political and social factor in modern times.

This paper presents the discourse, or more often the struggle, between secularists and Islamists in Tunisia relating religion and the state within the desired democratic system. The movement of 18 October is a landmark in the efforts for constructive work between different political constituents which emphasized that the relationship between religion and the state is not expected to have a ready-made formula; instead, it is the product of a social pact that interacts with politics, culture and economics. The paper looks into the basis or foundation for cooperation, the feasibility of the merger between religion and the state, the timing – before or after democracy takes hold – the focus on form and substance of democracy, its connection to laws, etc. Whereas it may be possible to separate religion from the state, it is not possible to separate it from politics as this requires a dissociation of some devout believers from their system of belief, thus denying their basic rights. There are no guarantees that within a democratic system some groups and parties basing themselves on religion will be against democracy. These groups should remain part of the political system, the solution being to honour a social pact that is based on respecting constitutional institutions, national identity, principles of the republican system and human rights.

This article offers two main arguments, both of which have important corollaries. First, the author argues that religion, & a specific form of religion, played a major role in the downfall of communism & the Soviet Union. A corollary is that religious motivations furnished important impetus to the development of democracy in former communist countries (FCC). Second, the author argues that courts, & more specifically constitutional courts in FCC, played a major role in promoting democracy in those nations. A corollary to that assertion is that constitution courts in most FCC have demonstrated considerable respect for & promotion of the role of religion in FCC. These assertions & their corollaries are discussed in light of scholarly studies on the place of religion in the modern constitutionalism movement in former colonial & communist countries. References. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2006 The American Academy of Political and Social Science.]

In the early post-revolutionary days the Islamic government in Iran sought to exclude women from the public domain and relegate them to the sphere of domesticity. But Iranian women refused to be marginalised. It is the contention of this article that 20 years after the inception of the post-revolutionary Islamic government in Iran women have succeeded in overcoming the considerable barriers put before them by the government and also the considerable ideological divides that existed amongst themselves. (DSE/DÜI)

Violence (broadly defined to include collective as well as individual violence) associated with the recent rise of newer religious groups or "cults," as well as longer-term minority religions, is examined, using a conflict orientation. The interactional nature of such violence is discussed, with accusations of violence concerning minority & newer religions placed in a conflict perspective that stresses the interdependency of religious groups & their opponents. Special attention is given to allegations of (1) violence derived from group teachings & practices, with a focus on major recent tragic events involving religious groups; & (2) violence directed against members & groups by others, including private individuals & organization, as well as governmental entities. Adapted from the source document.