Thirteenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

This study defines religion and then shows how the operative definitions are just as relevant to other phenomena such as patriotism and nationalism. To a certain measure when examining nationalism and religion, we are dealing with variations of similar occurrences, strongly intertwined with each other. This paper takes the task of solidly framing the concept of civil religion by presenting a general model that puts into one cohesive context civil religion and traditional one. The new paradigm suggested in this research is that the relations between traditional religion and civil religion are merely a representation of a struggle many centuries long between godly authorities and civil authorities. Hence, the two forms of religion never occur in the form of a dichotomy; rather, there is a continuum stretching between two poles, with states and nations falling along a range, some of them closer to the extreme traditional religion end of the scale and others located near the opposite extremity of the civil religion.

Presenters

Eyal Lewin
Chair of Department of Middle Eastern Studies and Political Science, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ariel University, Israel