Relations Between State and Religious Organisations Under Pressure to Reform: The Change of the Public Role of Religious Organisations in Europe Against the Background of Secularization and Religious Pluralisation

In European states historical rooted national state-church regimes are under pressure due to two different societal developments: First, religiosity in these societies has decreased which is not least reflected by a weakening commitment of many people to the Christian churches. Second, as a result of immigration processes the religious diversity of the populations has increased. Because of these developments not only regimes with an established church (like in England or Scandinavia), but also cooperation patterns of the state with one or several Christian Churches (like in Germany and Austria) or regimes with a stricter separation (like in France and in the Netherlands) are questioned fundamentally. Consequently, this impacts the role of religious organizations as agencies that fulfil public tasks or perform public services, for instance in the policy fields of education and welfare. Pursuing a comparative policy analysis, this research project looks at processes of reform concerning state-church-relations in the policy field of welfare in different European states. The projects focuses on the question of under what circumstances political decision making processes about a reform of the public role of the churches and religious organisations, respectively, take place, what actors are involved and which results are achieved.