Jan-Werner Müller on the role of religion in politics

Jan-Werner Müller, professor of political science at Princeton University, reflects on the significance of religion in politics in the liberal weekly magazine Heti Világgazdaság: "It's a well-worn contrast: the United States is religious, Europe is secular. Yet, in some respects, this clichéd opposition has actually been reversed recently: religion played virtually no role during the last American presidential elections, while in a range of different European countries major controversies about religion have flared up, suggesting that questions of faith are back at the center of European politics. ... In short, there is a pattern here. ... Globally, there might be good reasons to talk about what sociologists describe as the rise of 'post-secular societies,' but Europe remains the exception. ... For the moment, the temptation is for the European right to find its 'new look' through a selective appeal to religion - and wait and see whether it works as an electoral strategy. They should remember, though, that starting a Kulturkampf is to play with fire: it might be possible to instrumentalize religious passions for a time; but such passions cannot permanently be controlled from above."

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