How Secular Are Western Governments' Religion Policies?

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Abstract

This study examines government religion policy in 26 Western democracies between 1990 and 2014 using the Religion and State round 3 (RAS3) dataset to determine whether these policies can be considered secular. While many assume that the West and its governments are secular and becoming more secular, the results contradict this assumption. All Western governments support religion in some manner, including financial support. All but Canada restrict the religious practices and/or religious institutions of religious minorities. All but Andorra and Italy restrict or regulate the majority religion. In addition religious both governmental and societal discrimination against religious minorities increased significantly between 1990 and 2014. All of this indicates religion remains a prominent factor in politics and society in the West.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3-33
Number of pages31
JournalSecular Studies
Volume1
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Copyright 2019 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Funding

This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant 23/14), The German-Israel Foundation (Grant 1291–119.4/2015) and the John Templeton Foundation. Any opinions expressed in this study are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the supporters of this research.

FundersFunder number
German–Israel Foundation1291–119.4/2015
John Templeton Foundation
Israel Science Foundation23/14

    Keywords

    • Western democracies
    • religion policy
    • secularism

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