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Religion and Churches

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Handbook of European Societies

Abstract

The scenario of European society is changing rapidly, particularly in the field of religion and churches. Culture is of vital importance to the presence of religion and churches in the single nations. The religions and churches which have crossed Europe have exerted a certain degree of political power, thus influencing the economy and other related spheres of life.

A common datum affects religions and churches in Europe today: a visible reduction of religious practice. Changes are also evident in other religions of non-European origin but present in almost all of Europe. The different religions and churches operating in Europe manifest a variety of behaviours towards religious pluralism. The difference between religions of Western and Eastern Europe depends mainly on issues of national identity related to religious adherence. The territorial map of Religious Europe is characterized not only by the presence of this or that religious culture but also and above all by the existence of large numbers of minorities: Orthodox Christians or Protestants in Catholic countries, Catholics and Orthodox Christians in Protestant countries Jews and Muslims in the majority of European countries.

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Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank, for their kind and fruitful co-operation Alex Agadjanian, Eileen Barker, Irene Becci, Nonka Bogomilova, Irena Borowik, Pierre Bréchon, Xavier Costa, Karl-Fritz Daiber, Francisco Diez de Velasco, Grace Davie, Luca Diotallevi, Johann Figl, Gavril Flora, Lucia Greskova, Gustav Erik Gullikstad Karlsaune, Danièle Hervieu-Léger, Tomáš Havlícek, Nikos Kokosalakis, Tuomas Martikainen, Zoran Matevski, Frédéric Moens, Kati Niemelä, Enzo Pace, Thorleif Pettersson, Ole Riis, Marjan Smrke, Osman Tastan, Larissa Titarenko, Miklós Tomka, Silvia Velicova, Sipco J. Vellenga, Helena Vilaça, Srdan Vrcan, Ruta Žiliukaite, Siniša Zrinščak; Ilaria Riccioni, Raffaella Leproni and Kay McCarthy (for the translation).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sciences of Education, University of Roma Tre, Roma, Italy

    Roberto Cipriani

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  1. Roberto Cipriani
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Correspondence to Roberto Cipriani .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst. Humanwissenschaften, Pädagogische Hochschule Schwäbisch Gmünd, Oberbettringer Str. 200, Schwäbisch Gmünd, 73525, Germany

    Stefan Immerfall

  2. Dept. Sociology, University of Cambridge, Free School Lane, Cambridge, CB2 3RQ, United Kingdom

    Göran Therborn

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Cipriani, R. (2010). Religion and Churches. In: Immerfall, S., Therborn, G. (eds) Handbook of European Societies. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-88199-7_15

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