This chapter investigates the political mobilization of religious networks in the construction of the European Union by focusing on the role of key religious organizations in dialogue with European institutions, from the 1950 Schuman Declaration to the institutionalization of religious dialogue in Article 17 of the 2009 Lisbon Treaty. It sets out a typology of transnational religious structures, elaborates the main policy areas for religious/convictional actors, and discusses major challenges to the present structure and nature of the European Union, paying particular attention to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Brexit), the movement of forcibly displaced populations, and the rise of populism and right-wing nationalism.
Religion and Politics in the European Union: The Secular Canopy FranÇois Foret Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2015, Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics, xiv + 232 pp (hardback £64.99) ISBN: 978-1-107-08271-7