In 2017, I argued that the concepts of civil and political religions help explain contemporary sociopolitical developments in Russia and…
Revisited: Political religion and crises of legitimacy
civil religion
Millenarianism in the Soviet Union and Maoist China
As late modernizers, both Russian and Chinese societies urgently catapulted themselves into modernity, not through the gradual capitalist rationalization process…
Inheritance and belief
Can we apply what we have learned about religious conversion to instances in which individuals do not embrace the convictions…
The civil religion of “I have a dream”
This Wednesday will mark the fiftieth anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s landmark "I have a dream" speech and the…
A conversation with Robert Bellah
Margarita A. Mooney interviews Robert Bellah at Patheos.
On the freedom of the concepts of religion and belief
This short piece attempts to come at the current debate on law and religious freedom from two unusual angles. I…
After Sandy: Presidential rhetoric and visions of solidarity
On Monday afternoon as Hurricane Sandy threatened landfall, President Obama warned reporters gathered at the White House that the storm would…
American civil religion in the age of Obama: An interview with Philip S. Gorski
Philip S. Gorski is Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies and Co-Director of the Center for Comparative Research at Yale…
Back to his roots
When writing about other people, we all should follow Pierre Bourdieu’s advice to not be too fascinated by our human…
Religious freedom, minority rights, and geopolitics
Conventional wisdom has it that religious liberty is a universally valid principle, enshrined in national constitutions and international charters and…