Political Science of Religion: Demarcating the Field

Potz, Maciej

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-20169-2_2

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…However, it seems that the Church's ability to display cohesion and maintain discipline among members as one form of influence on public life (Wald et al, 1990;Ganghof, 2003;Fink, 2009;Potz, 2020), is limited, since even in the case of strongly institutionalized religiosity (28% of all Catholics) only slightly more than half of the respondents shared its rejectionist stance on IVF, abortion, and homosexuality; and even in this group, the respondents used almost no justifications derived from religious language. Other respondents were found to be closer to a mixed orientation (partly accepting/partly rejecting).…”

Section: Discussion Of the Main Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differentiation of religiosity and its effects on biopolitical orientations among Catholics: evidence from Poland

Borowik

Grygiel

2023

Politics and Religion

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Existing research proves the connection between religion and social attitudes toward biopolitical topics. The purpose of our analyses was to deepen reflection on these connections. We explored the internal pluralization of religiosity and ideological self-placement and their significance for orientations toward abortion, in vitro fertilization, and homosexuality, subjects of intensive political debate engaging the Catholic Church. Our analysis, based on a nationally representative sample of Catholics in Poland, leads to the conclusion that, despite high indicators of religiosity, the capacity of the Roman Catholic Church to form a consistent cognitive perspective among its followers is limited. Even among Catholics who present fully institutionalized religiosity (~25%), only half agree with the Church's teaching on biopolitical themes. These findings are discussed in the context of the importance of intra-religious pluralism for understanding the ideological role of religion in countries with high levels of belonging to one, dominant form of it.

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Section: Discussion Of the Main Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differentiation of religiosity and its effects on biopolitical orientations among Catholics: evidence from Poland

Borowik

Grygiel

2023

Politics and Religion

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“…This ritual appropriation of public ceremony complements ideological claims with respect to national identity described above (Case 1)-the political ritual being an expression of a state's legitimation formula. 70 In the intronization ceremony, the Church appropriated the symbol of state authority-kinghood-and conferred it upon a figure from its own symbolic universe. In a fashion typical for identity fusion, the bishops declared themselves "religious authorities" of all Poles, entitled to speak on behalf of the entire nation (including emigrants) and to submit it to the power of the supreme religious figure of their Church.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symbolic Conflict in the Public Sphere: The Catholic Church against the State in Post-Communist Poland

Potz

2023

East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures

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This article explains the public engagement of the Catholic Church in Poland in the post-communist period (from 1989 to approximately 2015) as a symbolic challenge to the state. It draws on Simon Harrison’s theory of symbolic conflicts—conflicts over symbolic capital—applied to power struggles involving religious actors in contemporary political systems. The Polish Church engaged in a valuation contest against the state in which it tried to champion its own religious interpretation of several key elements of Polish statehood and national identity using items from its own symbolic arsenal, including the notion of Pole-Catholic and an emphasis on the Christian origins of Poland. Similarly, by solemnizing state ceremonies with religious symbolism and politicizing the cult of religious figures, the Church sought to sacralize the public sphere. Although these challenges to the symbolic inventory of the state have not led to its total replacement by a competing set of religious symbols, the series of low-intensity conflicts generated a considerable amount of symbolic capital for the Church and contributed to maintaining its authority as a value-based public actor. This, ultimately, helped in sustaining the Church’s political leverage throughout most of the post-1989 period, well into the second decade of the twenty-first century. It is only in the last few years that the Church’s support for a more stringent abortion law, the scandals connected with sexual abuse by the clergy and its concealment by the hierarchy, and questions over Pope John Paul II’s moral integrity have considerably harmed its public image.

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“…of religion (Potz, 2019;Potz, 2020). The first is the so-called cultural/humanistic perspective, which "seeks to explain the relationship between religion and politics from the point of view of the individual" (Potz, 2019, p. 286).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2008, he proposed a new research scheme that was intended to be a more comprehensive approach to analyzing the causes of the political mobilization of (Black) churches, and although he declared a departure from earlier findings regarding the influence of theological differences (especially in the context of the conservative-liberal divide), he also placed some theological considerations among the many external and internal factors taken into account. After discussing McDaniel's model in detail and analyzing his attitude toward the role of theology, I will try to relate the model under discussion to the research perspectives advocated in the political science of religion (Potz, 2019;Potz, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Political Mobilization of African American Churches: Forms, Models, Mechanisms

Napierała

2023

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African American churches are famous for their political involvement and advocacy efforts on behalf of their own ethnic group. However, while some of them have been heavily involved in various forms of political activity, others have avoided it, focusing mainly on matters of the spirit. In this article, I will present the origins and various forms of Black churches’ political engagement, but foremost I will analyze the debate concerning the mechanisms of their political mobilization, trying to answer the question regarding the key factors, which according to researchers, influence churches’ activism. Different research perspectives will be considered, and special attention will be paid to the comprehensive model by Eric L. McDaniel.

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Political Science of Religion: Demarcating the Field

Cited by 4 publications

References 32 publications

Differentiation of religiosity and its effects on biopolitical orientations among Catholics: evidence from Poland

Differentiation of religiosity and its effects on biopolitical orientations among Catholics: evidence from Poland

Symbolic Conflict in the Public Sphere: The Catholic Church against the State in Post-Communist Poland

The Political Mobilization of African American Churches: Forms, Models, Mechanisms

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