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Rethinking religious competition

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Date Issued:
2010
Summary:
In his book Rendering Unto Caesar, Anthony Gill suggests that in countries with repressive authoritarian governments, religious competition plays a crucial role in determining whether the dominant religious institution will support or oppose the regime. Gill's theory, however, assumes that religious institutions are unitary rational actors. While this assumption may be reasonable in Catholic countries of Latin America where Gill based his theory on the hierarchical National Bishops' Councils, it is not applicable to Sunni Islamic countries of North Africa because of the decentralized Sunni Islamic religious structure. This finding suggests that although religious actors behave rationally in the religious market to maximize the souls for their religion, not all religious actors necessarily view the same religion and its role in the politics of the society in the same manner: in some cases, intra-religious competition is a larger factor in church-state relations than inter-religious competition.
Title: Rethinking religious competition: church-state relations in Catholic- and Islamic- majority authoritarian states.
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Name(s): Chase, Heather.
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Thesis
Issuance: multipart monograph
Date Issued: 2010
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic resource
Extent: vi, 72 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: In his book Rendering Unto Caesar, Anthony Gill suggests that in countries with repressive authoritarian governments, religious competition plays a crucial role in determining whether the dominant religious institution will support or oppose the regime. Gill's theory, however, assumes that religious institutions are unitary rational actors. While this assumption may be reasonable in Catholic countries of Latin America where Gill based his theory on the hierarchical National Bishops' Councils, it is not applicable to Sunni Islamic countries of North Africa because of the decentralized Sunni Islamic religious structure. This finding suggests that although religious actors behave rationally in the religious market to maximize the souls for their religion, not all religious actors necessarily view the same religion and its role in the politics of the society in the same manner: in some cases, intra-religious competition is a larger factor in church-state relations than inter-religious competition.
Identifier: 779183720 (oclc), 3334253 (digitool), FADT3334253 (IID), fau:1392 (fedora)
Note(s): by Heather Chase.
Thesis (B.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, Honors College, 2010.
Includes bibliography.
Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subject(s): Church and state -- Latin America -- History -- 1965-
Islam and state -- Islamic countries
Religion and politics -- Latin America
Religion and politics -- Islamic countries
Held by: FBoU FAUER
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3334253
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Host Institution: FAU

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