Changing socio-religious realities: Practical negotiation of transitions in the governance of religion or belief, state and society

Abstract

This article argues for the importance of developing forms of governance with regard to the relationship between religion or belief, state and society in Europe so as to better reflect and “reality-match” the contemporary socio-religious realities characteristic of a continuing Christian inheritance along with an increasing secularity and growth in religious plurality, than do current patterns that usually embody privilege for a particular Christian Church or Churches largely derived from Christendom models. Having noted that recognising a need for change, deciding on a direction for change, and actually implementing change are three different things, the article draws on a social contextualist approach to the application of negotiation theory in relation to organizational change as developed by Charles Samuelson and David Messick (1995) in order to illuminate factors that can either hinder and / or facilitate such developments.