Religion and the Culture Wars: Transnational Perspectives

Wednesday, 9 July 2025: 15:00-16:45
Location: ASJE018 (Annex of the Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences)
RC22 Sociology of Religion (host committee)

Language: English

Since sociologist of religion James Davison Hunter published the first academic account of the culture wars in America in 1991, the phenomenon has seemingly only intensified, with religion enduring as a key factor. Some US-based research argues that the divisions exist more in the civil sphere than individual attitudes. Yet, some similar patterns of conflict between “conservatives” and “liberals” on moral and social issues have also emerged in other societies in the twenty-first century. To what extent is the culture wars a useful frame beyond (and within) America? Are there direct connections between contexts? What role does religion play in differing contexts and transnational connections contributing to culture wars? This panel aims to explore these dynamics.
Session Organizers:
Rebecca CATTO, Kent State University, USA and Joshua WARREN, University of Kent, USA
Oral Presentations
The Glocal Right Circuits: Mapping the Transnational Flows of Anti-LGBTQ Conservatism between Taiwan and the United States
Ying-chao KAO, USA
The Uncommitted: The Implications of American Muslim Political Unmooring
Khirad SIDDIQUI SIDDIQUI, USA
Role of Religious Beliefs in Polarization of Abortion Attitudes in Poland
Alicja ZAWISTOWSKA, University of Bialystok, Poland
A Short Exploration of Turkey’s Moral Landscape through a TV Series: Red Buds
Buke KOYUNCU, Turkey; Rukiyye Zinnur FIDAN, Turkish-German University, Turkey
Mapping Moral Controversies in the Digital Age: Big Data Insights into Global Culture Wars
Martin COUTO GARCÍA, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain; Mar GRIERA, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
Distributed Papers
The Rise of Sectarian Polarization in Yemen
Ibrahim FRAIHAT, Qatar
Christian Nationalism Divided: Exploring the Transferability of an American Concept to Secularized European Multi-Party Democracies
Titus HJELM, Finland; Ilkka KOIRANEN, University of Turku, Finland; Tuomas ÄYSTÖ, University of Helsinki, Finland; Jere KYYRÖ, University of Turku, Finland; Talvikki AHONEN
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