Politics and Religion

Politics and religion is a pairing that has never been more relevant. Across the world, the relationships between religious belief, political authority, and civil society are sites of intense debate and sometimes violent conflict. Religion shapes political movements, influences electoral behaviour, informs law and policy, provides resources for both oppression and resistance, and continues to be a major force in international relations.

Understanding politics without understanding religion, and understanding religion without the tools of political analysis, leaves you with an incomplete picture of how the world works.

At the University of Stirling, this four-year full-time programme examines the complex and often contested relationships between political institutions and religious communities, ideologies, and practices. A year abroad is incorporated into the degree, giving you the opportunity to study at a partner institution overseas and to encounter the politics of religion in a different national and cultural context. You will engage with political theory, comparative politics, international relations, and the sociology and philosophy of religion, developing the analytical tools to understand how religious and political forces interact in different societies and historical periods.

You will develop skills in critical analysis, research, and written argument, alongside the ability to engage with complex empirical and normative questions about the proper relationship between church and state, religion and public reason, and faith and democracy.

Graduates go on to careers in the civil service, diplomacy, international organisations, NGOs, journalism, policy research, education, faith-based organisations, and a wide range of other fields where understanding the intersection of religion and politics is valued. Postgraduate study in politics, religious studies, theology, or international relations is a natural next step.