Religion and Civil Society Network

The Religion and Civil Society Network brings together the established expertise of the Lincoln Theological Institute and the Centre for Religion and Political Culture in order to coordinate advanced research into the relationships between religion and civil society. It exists in order to:

• enquire after the changing role of religion in the public sphere
• examine the changing nature of civil society and the contribution of religion to such changes
• interrogate key categories (public/private, global/local, political economy, democracy, belief, secularism/secularization) as they relate to the practice of religion
• engage with religion as it impinges at different levels of public life: in intellectual and academic debate; in practical policy-making; at local, national and international contexts.

Religion has a renewed public profile in the world today. In Western societies, after decades in which it was predicted that religion would inevitably disappear from public life, we are seeing a dramatic re-appearance of religion taking place. Assumptions about the 'privatisation' of religion associated with Western modernity are seemingly being revised. A number of social scientists and cultural theorists have therefore been employing terms like 're-enchantment', 'resacralization' and 'post-secularism' to describe Western culture since the mid-1990s.

This is not simply a question of so-called 'religious fundamentalism'. One of the features of the resurgence of religion in the public realm today is its complexity, not least the diverse ways in which local, national and international dynamics are interwoven. Within civil society in particular, faith-based organizations are developing into significant lobbying forces for social change, and religious networks are serving as important conduits for transnational processes and influences.

This phenomenon of the new visibility of religion in civil society therefore represents one of the most significant social and intellectual paradigm shifts of our day. It requires us to ask new questions, assume new methods of enquiry and adopt new theoretical frameworks. The Religion and Civil Society Network has been established to undertake these tasks. 

The RCSN was founded in 2006 (then as the Manchester Research Institute for Religion and Civil Society) and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams gave an inaugural public lecture Faith, Freedom, Secularity to mark the occasion. A streaming video of the entire speech can be downloaded by clicking here. As well, Professor Graham Ward was interviewed by BBC Manchester radio to discuss religion and civil society (click here to listen to an mp3, kind permission of the Terry Christian Show, BBC Radio Manchester).