At the end of the 19th century, new communities emerged in Europe that signaled new ways of thinking about politics and the place of religion in society. Scholars such as Peter van Rooden and Hugh McLeod have argued that these new developments were related to the rise of new “religious regimes.” In the Netherlands, a number of communities came to embody distinct moral collectivities within the nation. Through this process, religious/ideological diversity became the principle of social organization that the Dutch call “pillarization.” This arrangement of segmented pluralism, however, abruptly ended in the 1960s. Though Van Rooden limits his analysis to the Netherlands, similar transformations in the social role of religion took place across Europe. Are these changes comparable or perhaps even part of a shared historical process?

The question of the social role of religion in Europe raises a number of questions. How do citizens make particular arrangements of religious pluralism dominant and in which social domains do they implement their ideas? Why do some groups succeed and others fail to realize their ambitions? Related to this is the question of which problems such arrangements (are meant to) solve and which problems they in turn themselves create within religious groups, politics, civil society, art and culture. Especially relevant here is an international comparative framework: what is the relation between local, regional, national and colonial religious regimes? This implies that within any given national setting there will not be one national arrangement, but rather competing formations.

Working from this historical perspective, the conference also intends to consider more recent developments. It is often assumed that since the 1960s no new dominant arrangement of religious diversity has emerged. Is it more accurate now to speak of “secular regimes,” within which religion is of little significance? Or, on the other hand, in view of the persistence of religious traditions is it perhaps possible to distinguish the contours of a new “inclusive” arrangement? In that case, how can we describe the place of religion in contemporary society more precisely? Which developments have most shaped current patterns? In this regard, the question of the relation between changing religious/secular regimes and narratives of individualization, diversification, secularization and globalization are especially relevant.

By focusing on changes in the governance of religious diversity, this conference intends to stimulate research on the place of religion in European history and society. Drawing on multiple disciplines, the conference will closely engage the complex relation between ideals and actual practices in the competing religious regimes of 20th century Europe.