The Rise of “Cultural Religion” in European Christianity: Learning from Poland, Northern Ireland, and Sweden

Abstract

This article draws on a global, 15-nation comparative study of religion, politics, and the state. The three countries at issue here may seem more peripheral than central to Europe, but all represent important aspects of the late 20th-century European experience—whether the tension between religion and secularity in Poland, the conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, or the final sigh of religious disestablishment in Sweden. While unpacking these different scenarios, the author uncovers a shared phenomenon of “cultural religion”.