TY - JOUR
T1 - Separation of religion and state in the twenty-first century
T2 - Comparing the Middle East and Western democracies
AU - Fox, Jonathan
AU - Sandler, Shmuel
PY - 2005/4
Y1 - 2005/4
N2 - The separation of religion and state in western democracies and the Middle East is examined using five measures from the Religion and State dataset: the official relationship between religion and the state, the comparative treatment of different religions, discrimination against minority religions, regulation of the majority religion, and religious legislation. The results show that, while all the these factors are more prevalent in the Middle East, all of them are also present in at least some western democracies. Also, all western democracies except for the U.S. have at least some of these five forms of government entanglement with religion. These results imply that the U.S. separation of religion and the state is the exception for liberal democracies rather than the rule and that religious democracy, including Islamic democracy, is possible.
AB - The separation of religion and state in western democracies and the Middle East is examined using five measures from the Religion and State dataset: the official relationship between religion and the state, the comparative treatment of different religions, discrimination against minority religions, regulation of the majority religion, and religious legislation. The results show that, while all the these factors are more prevalent in the Middle East, all of them are also present in at least some western democracies. Also, all western democracies except for the U.S. have at least some of these five forms of government entanglement with religion. These results imply that the U.S. separation of religion and the state is the exception for liberal democracies rather than the rule and that religious democracy, including Islamic democracy, is possible.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=18244388963&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2307/20072892
DO - 10.2307/20072892
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AN - SCOPUS:18244388963
SN - 0010-4159
VL - 37
SP - 317-335+378
JO - Comparative Politics
JF - Comparative Politics
IS - 3
ER -