Political Religion Beyond Totalitarianism The Sacralization of Politics in the Age of Democracy

The success of fascist and communist regimes has long been explained by their ability to turn political ideology into a type of religion. These innovative essays explore the notion that all forms of modern mass-politics, including democracies, need a form of sacralization to function.

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Introduction: Politics and Religion; P.Dassen, J.Augusteijn & M.Janse PART I: DEFINITION Religion and Politics: In Search of Resemblances; H.Paul The Religious Side of Democracy. Early Socialism, 21st-century Populism and the Sacralization of Politics; H.te Velde PART II: RELIGION AND DEMOCRACY: A Dangerous Type of Politics? Politics and Religion in Early Mass Organizations: The Anglo-American World, c. 1830; M.Janse De-sanctifying Affairs of State: The Politics of Religion in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852); E.van de Bilt, PART III: SOCIALISM Visual Essay: Religious Aspects of Socialist Imagery, c.1890-2000; J.Groothuizen  D.Bos A Grassroots Sacred Socialist History. Dutch Social Democrats (1894-1920); A.van Veldhuizen PART IV: NATIONALISM Nationalism as a Political Religion: The Sacralization of the Irish Nation; J.Augusteijn The German Nation as a Secular Religion in the First World War? About the Problem of Unity in Modern German History; P.Dassen History or Civil Religion? The Uses of Lincoln's 'Last, Best Hope of Earth'; A.Fairclough PART V: RELIGION AND REVOLUTION Revolutionary Mystique: Religious Undertones in the Russian Revolution of 1917; H.Kern The Belief in Disbelief: Anticlericalism and the Sacralization of Politics in Spain (1900-39); E.Storm Concluding Remarks; J.Augusteijn, P.Dassen & M.Janse

EDUARD VAN DE BILT Post Doctoral Researcher at the Institute of History of Leiden University, The Netherlands DENNIS BOS Lecturer in Dutch History at Leiden University, The Netherlands ADAM FAIRCLOUGH Post Doctoral Researcher at the Institute of History of Leiden University, The Netherlands JOLIJN GROOTHUIZEN Post Doctoral Researcher at the Institute of History of Leiden University, The Netherlands HENK KERN Lecturer and teacher in the departments of History and Russian Studies at Leiden University, The Netherlands HERMAN PAUL Lecturer in Historiography and Historical Theory at Leiden University, The Netherlands ERIC STORM Lecturer at Leiden University, The Netherlands HENK TE VELDE is a post doctoral researcher at the Institute of History of Leiden University, The Netherlands ADRIAAN VAN VELDHUIZEN Lecturer at Leiden University, The Netherlands