Catholicism and democracy: a reconsideration

An established approach to the emergence and consolidation of secular democracy maintains that democracy requires a supportive culture, and that certain national and religious cultures are better suited to democracy than others. Catholicism (especially pre-Vatican II Catholicism) is typically portra...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bell, Edward (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Creighton University 2008
In: The journal of religion & society
Year: 2008, Volume: 10
Further subjects:B Politics and Christianity; Catholic Church
B Rational Choice Theory
B Democracy and Christianity
B Church and state; Catholic Church
B National socialism; Germany
B Anticlericalism
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Summary:An established approach to the emergence and consolidation of secular democracy maintains that democracy requires a supportive culture, and that certain national and religious cultures are better suited to democracy than others. Catholicism (especially pre-Vatican II Catholicism) is typically portrayed by scholars in this school as being inimical to democracy. The rational choice perspective, by contrast, posits that interests, resources, and strategic power relationships drive the democratization process, and that culture is largely irrelevant. This paper examines the historical relationship between the Catholic Church and secular democratic institutions and concludes that the rational choice model offers more insight into that relationship than the cultural model. Specifically, the notion that Catholicism was an impediment to democratization is shown to be problematic.
ISSN:1522-5658
Contains:Enthalten in: The journal of religion & society
Persistent identifiers:HDL: 10504/64352