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Accommodating Religious Pluralism in Denmark

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2014

Anne Mark Nielsen
Anne Mark Nielsen*
Affiliation:
Post doctoral fellow at Roskilde University, Denmark [[email protected]].
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Abstract

This article discusses the room for accommodating religious diversity offered by the particular configuration of secularity existing in Denmark. Theoretically, the article adopts Jose Casanova and Mark Chaves’ proposals to separate analytically between the core elements of secularisation, and to leave open for empirical analyses the development and potential connections between these in different geographical and geo-political contexts.

From this perspective, the article discusses the conditions for accommodating religious diversity offered by the peculiar combination prevailing in Denmark of a low level of structural differentiation combined with a high level of rationalisation, generalisation, and privatisation of religion. The article argues that the legal inequality existing in Denmark between religious communities stemming from the existence of a state supported church (i.e. a low level of differentiation) matters less for the accommodation of religious diversity than do widely held and strongly embedded popular sentiments and imaginations of the public sphere as strictly secular (i.e. a high level of rationalisation, generalisation and privatisation of religion).

Résumé

Cet article étudie la manière dont la configuration particulière de sécularisme propre au Danemark accorde l’espace nécessaire à la diversité religieuse. Il adopte le cadre théorique proposé par José Casanova et Mark Chaves pour distinguer analytiquement les composants centraux de la sécularisation et garantir l’étude empirique de leurs développements et de leurs rapports dans différents contextes géographiques et géo-politiques. Dans cette perspective, l’article étudie les conditions requises pour établir la diversité religieuse au Danemark à travers la combinaison d’un faible niveau de différenciation structurelle, et d’un haut niveau de rationalisation, de généralisation et de privatisation de la religion. L’article suggère que l’inégalité légale existant au Danemark entre les communautés religieuses issue de la relation forte entre l’État et l’Église (ex. le faible niveau de différenciation) compte moins pour la diversité religieuse que les sentiments et imaginaires séculaires largement et fortement partagés dans la sphère publique (ex. haut niveau de rationalisation, généralisation et privatisation de la religion).

Zusammenfassung

Es geht in diesem Beitrag um die Art und Weise, wie Dänemarks säkulares System der religiösen Diversität den notwendigen Spielraum einräumt. Der theoretische Rahmen von José Casanova und Mark Chaves erlaubt es, die zentralen Elemente der Säkularisierung analytisch zu unterscheiden und die empirische Studie ihrer Entwicklungen und Verhältnisse in verschiedenen geographischen und geopolitischen Zusammenhängen zu ermöglichen. Unter diesem Gesichtspunkt untersucht der Aufsatz, welche Voraussetzungen das dänische System basierend auf einem niedrigen Niveau struktureller Differenzierung und einem hohen Niveau an Rationalisierung, Verallgemeinerung und Privatisierung der Religion für die religiöse Diversität bietet. Es zeichnet sich ab, dass die legale Ungleichheit, die in Dänemark unter religiösen Gemeinschaften aufgrund der starken Beziehung zwischen Staat und Kirche (z.B. das geringe Niveau der Differenzierung) besteht, weniger Bedeutung für die religiöse Diversität hat, als die weitverbreiteten und stark geteilten Gefühle und säkularen Vorstellungen (z.B. ein hohes Niveau an Rationalisierung, Verallgemeinerung und Privatisierung der Religion).

Keywords

Religious diversitySecularisReligious minoritiesAccommodating pluralismDiversité religieuseSécularismeMinorités religieusesPluralismeReligiöse DiversitätSäkularismusReligiöse MinderheitenPluralismus
Type
Exceptional Cases
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , August 2014 , pp. 245 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.S. 2014 

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