Bibliograph

Secular conversions, political institutions and religious education in the United States and Australia, 1800-2000, Damon Mayrl, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Type

Label

Secular conversions, political institutions and religious education in the United States and Australia, 1800-2000, Damon Mayrl, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Secular conversions

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

950611313

Responsibility statement

Damon Mayrl, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Sub title

political institutions and religious education in the United States and Australia, 1800-2000

Summary

Why does secularization proceed differently in otherwise similar countries? Secular Conversions demonstrates that the institutional structure of the state is a key factor shaping the course of secularization. Drawing upon detailed historical analysis of religious education policy in the United States and Australia, Damon Mayrl details how administrative structures, legal procedures, and electoral systems have shaped political opportunities and even helped create constituencies for secular policies. In so doing, he also shows how a decentralized, readily accessible American state acts as an engine for religious conflict, encouraging religious differences to spill into law and politics at every turn. This book provides a vivid picture of how political conflicts interacted with the state over the long span of American and Australian history to shape religion's role in public life. Ultimately, it reveals that taken-for-granted political structures have powerfully shaped the fate of religion in modern societies. --, Provided by publisher

Table Of Contents

Politics, institutions, and secularization -- Forging the nineteenth-century settlement, 1800-1880 -- State-building and secularization in comparative perspective -- The nineteenth-century settlement in transition, 1880-1945 -- Slow secularization in the permeable American state -- Settlement stability in the insulated Australian state -- Forging the twentieth-century settlement, 1945-2000 -- Secularization and the courts in postwar America -- Desecularization and electoral institutions in postwar Australia -- Implications -- Toward a twenty-first century settlement?

Creator