Religious Dissociation and Liberal Separation
Inside a Christian Brotherhood and a Masonic Lodge
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4876833 |
|---|---|
| Authors | G Hill (0000-0002-1708-535X, Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 65 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 216-247 |
| Publication date | 2024-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-9756 • E-ISSN: 1474-0583 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0003975623000577 |
| OpenAlex | W4391321118 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 40 |
Recent years have seen a flourishing of everyday experimentations with the category of religion: the "spiritual but not religious," "religionless" Christians, and many more. Why is there such proliferation of popular experimentation with-and often distancing from-the category of religion? This article explores two such cases of experimentation, a religion-disavowing evangelical Christian brotherhood in Mexico and a Masonic lodge in Switzerland, and shows how, in these two cases, disavowing religion is in part a response to problems associated with a founding principle of liberalism, the separation of private conscience from public citizenship. Subjects of liberal separation are vulnerable to feelings of cloistered conscience and hollow citizenship, problems that are inherent to liberal separation, as evidenced by Freemasonry's age-old experimentations. These problems are also, however, exacerbated by dwindling popular faith in the institutions of religion and liberal democracy, as evidenced by contemporary evangelical trends of which the Christian brotherhood is exemplary. Such experimentations can be distinguished between those that collapse conscience and citizenship and those that defend the separation while still looking for indirect connections. This contrast is also highlighted by the comparison of religion-disavowing evangelical Christians and Freemasonry
Dissociation (chemistry) · Political science · Religious freedom · Separation (statistics) · Sociology · Chemistry · Computer Science · Law · Organic Chemistry · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices · Theological Perspectives and Practices
Religion as a Category of Governance and Sovereignty
American Blindspot
The Flag and the Cross
After Heaven
Pricing Beauty
The New Metaphysicals
Trying to Understand French Secularism
Karl Marx
Body and Soul
Cultural Backlash
Theology and Social Theory
Spiritual, but not Religious
American Babylon
Prison Religion
Taking America Back for God
Religious Difference in a Secular Age
La Religión en El Censo
Culturalized Religion
Fast or Slow
Critique and crisis
Double Standards? Veils and Crucifixes in the European Legal Order
Between nationalism and civilizationism
Habits of the Heart
Between Church and State
The Ecstatic Edge of Politics
Secularism and Freedom of Conscience
Enchanting Self-discipline
Spiritual But Not Religious? Beyond Binary Choices in the Study of Religion
The Unobtrusive Tactics of Religious Movements
Association for the Sociology of Religion Presidential Address * Socially Engaged Religion in a Post-Westphalian Global Context
Unsettling the Self
Populism and the double liberalism
Why populism
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |