Political Religion Beyond Totalitarianism : The Sacralization of Politics in the Age of Democracy

The success of fascist and communist regimes has long been explained by their ability to turn political ideology into a type of religion. These innovative essays explore the notion that all forms of modern mass-politics, including democracies, need a form of sacralization to function. It has long been established that an important element in the success of fascist and communist regimes was their ability to turn their political ideology into a type of religion. The eleven innovative essays in this volume explore the notion that all forms of modern mass politics, including liberal democracies, need such a form of sacralization of politics to function. In modern democracies different political players compete for the support of the people. Sacralization of political forms and ideas, this volume suggests, is necessary to mobilize the hearts and minds of the masses because they expect and desire politics to be more than mere administration. Sacralization, therefore, lies at the heart of modern politics. This volume offers a challenging new view on the relationship between modern politics and religion, paying special attention to the role of ordinary people in the process of sacralization Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction: Politics and Religion....Pages 1-11 Front Matter....Pages 13-13 Religion and Politics: In Search of Resemblances....Pages 15-32 The Religious Side of Democracy: Early Socialism, Twenty-first-century Populism and the Sacralization of Politics....Pages 33-51 Front Matter....Pages 53-53 A Dangerous Type of Politics? Politics and Religion in Early Mass Organizations: The Anglo-American World, c. 1830....Pages 55-76 De-sanctifying Affairs of State: The Politics of Religion in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)....Pages 77-97 Front Matter....Pages 99-99 Religious Aspects of Socialist Imagery, c.1890–2000: A Visual Essay....Pages 101-114 A Grassroots Sacred Socialist History: Dutch Social Democrats (1894–1920)....Pages 115-133 Front Matter....Pages 135-135 Nationalism as a Political Religion: The Sacralization of the Irish Nation....Pages 137-160 The German Nation as a Secular Religion in the First World War? About the Problem of Unity in Modern German History....Pages 161-187 History or Civil Religion? The Uses of Lincoln’s ‘Last Best Hope of Earth’....Pages 188-211 Front Matter....Pages 213-213 Revolutionary Mystique: Religious Undertones in the Russian Revolution of 1917....Pages 215-230 The Belief in Disbelief: Anticlericalism and the Sacralization of Politics in Spain (1900–39)....Pages 231-254 Concluding Remarks....Pages 255-260 Back Matter....Pages 261-273