When “Civil Religion” Becomes “Political Reli- gion”: The Special Case of Great Britain

Year 2017, Volume: 58 Issue: 2, 145 - 159, 01.08.2017

Kemal Ataman Kitty Vaughan

https://doi.org/10.1501/Ilhfak_0000001475

Abstract

Recently there has been a renewed interest in the study of ‘civil religion’ from a comparative perspective. Some literature developed around the concept tends to present civil religion as a universally applicable theory. This study agrees that the theory of civil religion is, in fact, a universally valid theory since every functioning society needs a type of religion or civil religion. The article further argues, however, that every society has its own unique set of local, ethnic, historical, socio-political, and religious characteristics that make it different from other societies in certain important respects. Therefore, any civil religion that emerges in one society may differ in form and content from other societies however much they may have in common. This article aims to prove this by analysing the special case of Great Britain

Keywords

Civil Religion, Great Britain, Coronation, Queen, Armistice Day, Nationalism, Political Religion

When “Civil Religion” Becomes “Political Religion”: The Special Case of Great Britain

Abstract

Sivil din tartışmaları etrafında gelişen literatürün önemli bir kısmının, kavramı evrenselleştirerek her toplum için geçerli bir teori olarak ele alma eğilimde olduğu anlaşılıyor. Buna göre her fonksiyonel toplum sivil din veya sivil din-benzeri bir oluşuma ihtiyaç duyar. Bu çalışma sivil din kavramının her fonksiyonel toplumda farklı form ve içerikle de olsa var olduğu tezine katılmakla birlikte, “toplumların kendi biricik tarihsel tecrübeleri, din-kültür ilişkileri ve demografik yapıları, her toplumun kendi karakterini temsil eden evrenselliğe direnen bir sivil din yaratmasını kaçınılmaz kılar” tezini sosyal gerçeklikle daha fazla örtüşen bir tez olarak görmektedir. Makale, söz konusu tezi Büyük Britanya örneği üzerinden analiz etmeyi hedeflemektedir

Keywords

Sivil Din, Büyük Britanya, Taç giyme Töreni, Kraliçe, Ateşkes Günü, Milliyetçilik, Siyasi Din

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