At the beginning of this century, we thought religion would disappear from our society as a matter of course. Faith in a god seemed to have gone out of fashion. Traumatic events – like those of September 11, 2001 – shook us up. But by that time, we had forgotten how to relate to religion. And this was noticeable in numerous social and political debates on issues touching on religion.
Faith in politics describes the investigation into how politicians dealt with religion-related issues at the beginning of this century. Based on two cases – the wedding official with conscientious objections and non-stun ritual slaughter – the author shows how our approach to religion, tolerance, and principles such as religious freedom and the separation of church and state has changed.
Rien Fraanje (1973) studied Public Administration in Leiden. He published articles on the functioning of public administration in Bestuurskunde, Bestuurswetenschappen and Beleid & Maatschappij, among others. With colleagues and on his own, he wrote and edited books on local government, the design of domestic governance in the Netherlands, and Christian Democracy. He has written in Trouw, De Volkskrant and NRC, among others, on politics, literature and the Northern Ireland conflict. He was editor of and wrote for the literary magazine Liter. He currently works as a literary critic for Nederlands Dagblad.