MACMILLAN Public Discourses About Homosexuality and Religion in Europe and Beyond

This volume addresses three things many people do not discuss candidly with strangers or mere acquaintances: God, sex, and politics. These can easily become topics of fierce debate, particularly when taken together, as has been the case with same-sex marriage legislation, the Vatican’s criticism of “gender ideology,” or the repeatedly asserted claim that Islam, homosexuality, and gender equality are essentially incompatible. This volume investigates what is at stake in these constructions of religion and homosexuality in public discourses. Starting with the Netherlands as a special case study, it proceeds with contributions on other predominantly postsecular countries in central, northern, and southern Europe as well as several postcommunist and postcolonial countries “beyond Europe.” Combining contemporary and historical perspectives and approaches from both the humanities and the social sciences, the contributors explore how national and European identities are constructed and contested in debates on religion and homosexuality. Chapter 2 and Chapter 8 of this book are available open  access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com. Review “Religion and homosexuality make strange bedfellows. Nevertheless, today, they are inseparable in public discourse. This wonderful collection of essays confirms the internationalization of a configuration that extends beyond Western Europe, from Russia and Serbia to Zambia and Indonesia. At the same time, it establishes that the discursive articulation of religion and homosexuality has become a primary way to talk about national identity.” (Éric Fassin, Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies, Université Paris 8 Vincennes – Saint-Denis, France) “This book provides much needed and very thoughtful analysis of how public debates about gender and sexuality in general and homosexuality in particular drive politics across Europe and well beyond. The breadth and depth of the research allows for counter-intuitive insights, showing the plurality of religious voices and the range of those voices within and across traditions and countries instead of the usual ‘two sides’ of debate.” (Janet R. Jakobsen, Chair and Claire Tow Professor of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, Barnard College, Columbia University, USA) From the Back Cover This volume addresses three things many people do not discuss candidly with strangers or mere acquaintances: God, sex, and politics. These can easily become topics of fierce debate, particularly when taken together, as has been the case with same-sex marriage legislation, the Vatican’s criticism of “gender ideology,” or the repeatedly asserted claim that Islam, homosexuality, and gender equality are essentially incompatible. This volume investigates what is at stake in these constructions of religion and homosexuality in public discourses. Starting with the Netherlands as a special case study, it proceeds with contributions on other predominantly postsecular countries in central, northern, and southern Europe as well as several postcommunist and postcolonial countries “beyond Europe.” Combining contemporary and historical perspectives and approaches from both the humanities and the social sciences, the contributors explore how national and European identities are constructed and contested in debates on religion and homosexuality. Chapter 2 and Chapter 8 of this book are available open  access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com. About the Author Marco Derks is an independent scholar of religion, sexuality, and gender. Mariecke van den Berg is Professor by Special Appointment of Feminism and Christianity at Radboud University Nijmegen, and Assistant Professor of Interreligious Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands.