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Based on primary research, this book explores the controversies, policies and practices of ‘public faith’, questioning perceptions of a fixed divide between religious and secular participants in public life and challenging prevailing concepts of a monolithic ‘neutral’ public realm. It takes an in-depth look at the distinctiveness of faith groups' contribution, but also probes the conflicts and dilemmas that arise, assessing the role and capacity of faith groups within specific public policy contexts, including education, regeneration, housing and community cohesion.

This book adopts a multidisciplinary approach to examine the role of FBOs in overcoming poverty and social exclusion in European cities. At a time of uniquely European controversies and neoliberal globalisation, this volume explores the defining relations of FBOs and contains sectoral studies to explore how FBOs are growing in importance in the provision of social services in the European urban context. This seminal book is an essential reference source for academics studying social policy, sociology, geography, politics, urban studies and theology/religious studies.

This original book makes a timely and potentially controversial contribution both to the teaching of social policy and the wider debates surrounding it in Britain today. It offers a critical and theoretically-sensitive overview of the role of religious values, actors and institutions in the development of state and non-state social welfare provision in Britain, combining historical discussion of the relationship between religion and social policy in Britain with a comparative theoretical discussion that covers continental Europe and North America. Grounded in new empirical research on religious welfare organisations from the nine major faiths in the UK, the book brings together all of these perspectives to argue for an analytical shift in the definition of wellbeing through a new concept called ‘ways of being’. This reflects the moral, ideational and cultural underpinnings of social welfare. Written in a readable style, the book will appeal to students and tutors of social policy, as well as policy-makers seeking to inform themselves about the key issues surrounding faith-based welfare in modern Britain.

This book examines social change in Europe in recent years and how it relates to religion, minority populations, and gender, and their interacting effects on inclusion and conflict. Bringing together international experts in a wide range of fields, the book looks closely at various practices of social service provision in a number of different countries, exploring links between values, welfare, and social change, with particular attention to changes brought about by recent austerity measures. The book provides an overview of the relationship between welfare and religion, which developed during the 20th century. It explores the idea of secularisation or religious change and the increasing visibility of religion in northern Europe, the fragile organisation of welfare in southern Europe, and the complex situation in post-communist Europe, where the transition from a command economy to a neoliberal system has created new forms of exclusion. The book highlights the need to put research results into practice through policy recommendations, and makes special reference to a welfare project called WaVE.

A growing number of people are claiming or reclaiming a religious or spiritual identity for themselves. Yet, in contemporary Western societies, the frameworks of understanding that have developed within the social science disciplines, and which are used to analyse data, are secular in nature, and so may be inappropriate for investigating some aspects of religion, spirituality and faith and how these intersect with individuals' lives. This book addresses important theoretical and methodological issues to explore ways of engaging with religion and spirituality when carrying out social science research. Divided into three sections, the book examines the notion of secularism in relation to contemporary western society, including a focus upon secularisation; explores how the values underpinning social scientific enquiry might serve to marginalise religion and spirituality; and reflects on social science research methodologies when researching religion and spirituality.

It has long been assumed that religion is in decline in the West: however it continues to have an important yet contested role in individual lives and in society at large. Furthermore half a century or so in which religion and belief were barely talked about in public has resulted in a pressing lack of religious literacy, leaving many ill-equipped to engage with religion and belief when they encounter them in daily life – in relationships, law, media, the professions, business and politics, among others. This valuable book is the first to bring together theory and policy with analysis and expertise on practices in key areas of the public realm to explore what religious literacy is, why it is needed and what might be done about it. It makes the case for a public realm which is well equipped to engage with the plurality and pervasiveness of religion and belief, whatever the individual’s own stance. It is aimed at academics, policy-makers and practitioners interested in the policy and practice implications of the continuing presence of religion and belief in the public sphere.

The relationship between science and belief has been a prominent subject of public debate for many years, one that has relevance to everything from science communication, health and education to immigration and national values. Yet, sociological analysis of these subjects remains surprisingly scarce. This wide-ranging book critically reviews the ways in which religious and nonreligious belief systems interact with scientific theories and practices. Contributors explore how, for some secularists, ‘science’ forms an important part of social identity. Others examine how many contemporary religious movements justify their beliefs by making a claim upon science. Moving beyond the traditional focus on the United States, the book shows how debates about science and belief are firmly embedded in political conflict, class, community and culture.

As religion continues to regain its centrality in both academic and policy circles around the world, this book presents a new framework which examines the complex social and political dynamics shaping social welfare in the Middle East. Based on an in-depth study of the major Muslim and Christian religious welfare organisations in Lebanon (including Hezbollah), and drawing upon supplementary research conducted in Iran, Egypt, and Turkey, the book argues that religion is providing sophisticated solutions to the major social and economic problems of the Middle East.

The book looks at how ‘the Muslim woman’ is socially constructed through an analysis of contemporary racialized and gendered policy narratives in the UK. It is focused on Prevent, the UK’s counter-terrorism agenda, established after the London bombings in 2005. It examines specific initiatives to ‘empower Muslim women’ to combat terrorism. It also considers how Muslim women are positioned within broader debates about multiculturalism, integration and Britishness. It argues that together such characterisations represent a form of gendered Orientalism which produces and legitimates anti-Muslim racism and Islamophobia more generally in society. Moreover, there are particular negative effects on Muslim women which can be seen through increasing discrimination in employment and incidents of racial violence. In addition, this book looks at how women, who were themselves directly involved or affected by these initiatives, navigated and negotiated these top-down policy narratives. Using original empirical research, therefore, the book deconstructs simplistic representations of Muslim women solely as victims of their ‘culture’. The book calls for a more intersectional analysis when considering Muslim women’s lives which takes into account differences in class, race, ethnicity and citizenship status as well as racism and sexism in wider society.