Work

Religion and political participation reconsidered: Understanding the role of religious civil society as political intermediaries

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: In this article, we expand the understanding of the role of religious civil society actors as political intermediaries by re-evaluating the meaning of political participation and power, and moving beyond a binary understanding of religion and political participation in liberal democracies. We present three key findings of our research on faith-based organizations (FBOs) in Flanders: (1) service delivery functions as a site for political participation, (2) ‘the society’ and ‘the people’ form an actor people try to influence to pursue ‘political’ aims, and (3) people develop subjectivities at the intersection between political participation and religiosity through engaging with forms of power governing both domains. These findings lead us to conceptualize the political intermediary function of religious civil society as forming a space where citizens negotiate political and religious subjectivities, and in doing so redefine the boundaries of religion and political participation.

Source: Journal of Civil Society

Authors: Dries Ver Elst, Stijn Oosterlynck, Patrick Loobuyck, Mieke Schrooten

Institutions: University of Antwerp, Odisee, University of Applied Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Religion and Society Interactions

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

Funder: Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

Award: SOLIGION: Co-creating complementary forms of social support across faith-based organisations and