Current interest in the relation of religion and politics is intense in both the US and Germany. Yet observers are regularly struck by fundamental divergences between approaches to and conceptualisations of this field on either side of the Atlantic. This volume, containing contributions by German and American authors from various disciplinary backgrounds, seeks to offer some clarification by elucidating traditional and newly emerging differences between, but also common challenges to, these societies in issues such as pluralism of values, religious education, the role of religious minorities, the relation of religion and elite formation, and religious aspects of voting patterns.

Nach Katastrophen wie den AmoklAufen in Erfurt und Winnenden oder dem Flugzeugabsturz in den franzAsischen Alpen bieten Akumenische Feiern den AngehArigen wie der Gesellschaft Orte des Gedenkens und Trauerns. Welche Funktion haben sie in einer sAkularen Gesellschaft? Welche Aufgaben verbinden sich fA"r die Kirchen und die Seelsorge damit? Verschiedene theologische Disziplinen unterschiedlicher Konfessionen, Politikwissenschaft und staatliche Institution, Wissenschaftler wie Praktiker kommen zu Wort.