This book develops a new theory of the conditions under which in-group pride can facilitate out-group tolerance.

Under what conditions does in-group pride facilitate out-group tolerance? What are the causal linkages between intergroup tolerance and socialization in religious rituals? This book examines how Muslims from Russia's North Caucuses returned from the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca both more devout as Muslims and more tolerant of out-groups. Drawing on prominent theories of identity and social capital, the authors resolve seeming contradictions between the two literatures by showing the effects of religious rituals that highlight within-group diversity at the same time that they affirm the group's common identity. This theory is then applied to explain why social integration of Muslim immigrants has been more successful in the USA than in Europe and how the largest Hispanic association in the US defied the clash of civilizations theory by promoting immigrants' integration into America's social mainstream. The book offers insights into Islam's role in society and politics and the interrelationships between religious faith, immigration and ethnic identity, and tolerance that will be relevant to both scholars and practitioners.

The Routledge Handbook of Religious and Spiritual Tourism provides a robust and comprehensive state-of-the-art review of the literature in this growing sub-field of tourism. This handbook is split into five distinct sections. The first section covers past and present debates regarding definitions, theories, and concepts related to religious and spiritual tourism. Subsequent sections focus on the supply and demand aspects of religious and spiritual tourism markets, and examine issues related to the management side of these markets around the world. Areas under examination include religious theme parks, the UNESCO branding of religious heritage, gender and performance, popular culture, pilgrimage, environmental impacts, and fear and terrorism, among many others. The final section explores emerging and future directions in religious and spiritual tourism, and proposes an agenda for further research. Interdisciplinary in coverage and international in scope through its authorship and content, this will be essential reading for all students, researchers, and academics interested in Tourism, Religion, Cultural Studies, and Heritage Studies.

The Politics of Religious Party Change examines the ideological change and secularization of religious political parties and asks: when and why do religious parties become less anti-system? In a comparative analysis, the book traces the striking similarities in the historical origins of Islamist and Catholic parties in the Middle East and Western Europe, chronicles their conflicts with existing religious authorities, and analyzes the subsequently divergent trajectories of Islamist and Catholic parties. In examining how religious institutional structures affect the actions of religious parties in electoral politics, the book finds that centralized and hierarchical religious authority structures - such as the Vatican - incentivize religious parties to move in more pro-system, secular, and democratic directions. By contrast, less centralized religious authority structures - such as in Sunni Islam - create more permissive environments for religious parties to be anti-system and more prone to freely-formed parties and hybrid party movements.

This is a book about pilgrimage, peace building, and being here in the future. Sacred journeys are by far the most peaceful mass rituals that humankind has yet devised for itself. Can these journeys contribute to ending the poverty, racial inequality, and intractable conflict so common on the world stage today? In a radical rethinking of the nature and definition of pilgrimage, anthropologist Ian McIntosh describes this ancient practice as a handy tool in the peace-builder’s toolkit. In a range of case studies, he shows how pilgrimage provides geographically and historically separated peoples with a strong sense of their membership in a global community facing global challenges. The text includes autobiographical accounts of the author’s experience of pilgrimage in Aboriginal Australia, Communist China, multi-faith Sri Lanka, and the embattled Gaza Strip. There are also academic papers that advance the proposed link between pilgrimage and peace building from Canada, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Russia and elsewhere. The common thread in all these sacred journeys is a vision of peace, justice and sustainability. We are all in this together. For humankind to survive on this planet, pilgrimage, in all its rich diversity, will undoubtedly play a critical role.

Explains how abortion politics influenced a fundamental shift in conservative Christian politics, teaching conservatives to embrace rights arguments.

An accessible, authoritative history of terrorism, offering systematic analyses of key themes, problems and case studies from terrorism's long past.

This collection of essays presents the very latest research on the peace-building dimension of sacred and secular journeys at individual, societal, regional and global levels. Not since the 1980s has there been any concerted effort to explore the potential of such journeys in helping to bridge the divide that separates people of diverse ethnicities, religions and cultures. This volume gathers together empirical studies, regional analyses, and personal reflections from four continents and twelve countries, including Sri Lanka, Syria, Ethiopia, and Indonesia, which highlight the potential of religious tourism and pilgrimage for promoting interfaith solidarity, natural dialogue, and inner peace. It will be of interest to religion, tourism and peace scholars, as well as to political scientists and anthropologists.

This book examines the religious attitudes of African American Catholics and their relationships to the church.

Evangelical and Catholic groups are transforming Brazilian politics. This book asks why, and what the consequences are for democracy.