Theories of European integration and religion: a critical assessment

TL;DRAbstract

Religion has been for centuries a touchstone for thinking about European political history in its various forms. European integration is a major development in continental politics in modern times. Its relationship to religion in collective imaginaries is dual. On the one hand, the European Union (EU) may be envisioned as the final product of the political and cultural disenchantment which had its roots in the Enlightenment, a rationalist process relying on economic interests to overcome warlike passions, among them religious ones. From this angle, the EU appears as foreign or even hostile to religion. On the other hand, European integration is reputed to have been conceived of and created by Christian Democracy, conveying a moral vision of politics and in some cases a culturalist one when defined as a ‘Christian club’. These two conceptions coexist and alternate depending on circumstances and audience. Each theory of European integration carries a specific vision of the modern

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper