Dear Colleagues,

During the liminal period of the late medieval into the early modern eras, the gradual transition toward inductive reasoning of the early Renaissance, religious pluralism unleashed by the Protestant Reformation, and adoption of individual rights theory and contractarianism of the seventeenth century have furnished the conditions necessary for the emergence of civil society in the development of liberal democratic regimes.

To maintain political stability, liberal democracies in diverse nations have, for two centuries, struggled to define and preserve the keystone between two overarching and indispensable yet opposed philosophical commitments for a stable civil society: the keystone of a theoretical tension essential to maintain a socially stable equilibrium between the two opposing forces of individual liberty and rights vs. democratic politics and popular rule. Liberal democratic regimes have frequently encountered threats to civil society’s equilibrium from political whirlwinds of powerful advocates of the two forces, including the declaimed supremacy of liberty of conscience and freedom of religious exercise contra the presumed superiority of democracy and popular regulatory policy.

During the past three decades, the global resurgence of populist nationalism combined with strident political theologies has increasingly inspired passionate and highly motivated religious voters and factions whose efforts appear to have generated new whirlwinds of political destabilization. As they vie for political and ideological control of the state, the mix of deeply rooted religious values of national cultures, divided loyalties to incompatible denominations, and dynamic sectarian presence in the public square may disrupt civil society’s equilibrium along with the theoretical integrity of liberal democracy itself.

This Special Issue of Religions will provide thoughtful assessments on and critiques of the extent to which religion poses a threat to contemporary civil society or holds the promise of protecting its liberal democratic character. Do religious values tend to undermine or reinforce civil society’s ability to promote political stability? To what extent, if any, are the political dynamics of religious pluralism a threat to civil society? Does religiously motivated political activism have a beneficial or deleterious impact on the maintenance of a peaceful and stable civil society? Are efforts to expand religious liberty diminishing the reach of democratic decision-making and thus undermining the tension between liberty and democracy that provides an equilibrium necessary for the stability of liberal democratic regimes? Or, are democratic policies inordinately encroaching on the rights of religious liberty to the same end? What impact does proselytization or evangelization have on political institutions of civil society? And, is it ethically appropriate that religion be employed as an engine of public policy?

We invite submissions that address these or other related questions across a broad range of theoretical and methodological approaches, including those of comparative politics, history, law, philosophy, political science, religious studies, or theology. The manuscripts are due by December 1, 2020. If the Special Issue contains more than ten papers, there is the option of also publishing the Special Issue in printed book form.

Dr. John R. Pottenger
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• civil society
• individual rights
• interest groups
• liberal democracy
• nationalism
• policymaking
• political theology
• populism
• religion