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Alternative Religion – A New Political Cleavage?: An Analysis of Norwegian Survey Data on New Forms of Spirituality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2009

Pål Ketil Botvar
Pål Ketil Botvar*
Affiliation:
Center for Church Research
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Pål Ketil Botvar, Center for Church Research, P.O. Box 45, Vinderen N-0319, Oslo, Norway. E-mail: Botvar@kifo.no
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Abstract

The article addresses the relationship between religion and politics, and combines theories on religious change with theories on political cleavages. Empirical evidence is presented from a Norwegian survey of new forms of religiosity and political attitudes. Woodhead and Heelas (2004) have posited the hypothesis that a silent revolution is taking place where (traditional) religion is giving way to what they call “spirituality of life.” This article questioned the assumption that the individualistic and consumer-oriented New Age movement of the 1980s and 1990s has developed into a new religious movement that is concerned with life quality and social questions. According to the literature on political cleavages, certain demands have to be fulfilled before a social divide or a conflict develops into a full political cleavage. With respect to alternative religion, the empirical analysis reveals that the main obstacle is related to the lack of a collective ideological platform.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , December 2009 , pp. 378 - 394
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2009

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