Religious America, Secular Europe A Theme and Variations [Paperback]

Europe is a relatively secular part of the world in global terms. Why is this so? And why is the situation in Europe so different from that in the United States? The first chapter of this book - the theme - articulates this contrast. The remaining chapters - the variations - look in turn at the historical, philosophical, institutional and sociological dimensions of these differences. Key ideas are examined in detail, among them: constitutional issues; the Enlightenment; systems of law, education and welfare; questions of class, ethnicity, gender and generation. In each chapter both the similarities and differences between the European and the American cases are carefully scrutinized. The final chapter explores the ways in which these features translate into policy on both sides of the Atlantic. This book is highly topical and relates very directly to current misunderstandings between Europe and America.Contents: Introduction; Religious America, secular Europe?; Variation1: contrasting histories; Variation 2: different intellectual traditions; Variation 3: institutional carriers; Variation 4: social difference; So what? Policy implications; Bibliography; Index.Peter Berger is known all over the world for his work in sociology, including the sociology of religion. he has taught at the New School for Social Research, at Rutgers University, and at Boston College. He has written numerous books on sociological theory, the sociology of religion, and Third World development, which have been translated into dozens of foreign languages. Among his more recent books are Questions of Faith: a Skeptical Affirmation of Christianity (2004); The Desecularization of the World : Resurgent Religion and World Politics (1999); Redeeming Laughter: The Comic Dimension of Human Experience (1997); Modernity, Pluralism and the Crisis of Meaning (with Thomas Luckmann, 1995); The Capitalist Revolution: Fifty Propositions About Prosperity, Equality and Liberty (1988); and l��