Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Transformation of Church-State Relations in the United States and Australia

加州大学伯克利分校的玛格丽特·韦尔达蒙·梅尔研究了二十世纪美国和澳大利亚政教关系的历史发展。尽管两国有许多相似之处，但在这一时期，两国对宗教组织采取了非常不同的方式。当美国走向更严格的政教分离时，澳大利亚采取了一系列政策，加强了两者之间的相互联系。这两个国家走的是什么不同的道路？本项目旨在通过审查国家在教育和社会福利两个特定领域对宗教组织的政策的背景和发展来解释这种差异。它通过历史和比较的方法做到了这一点。重要的数据来源包括政府报告、立法辩论、法院裁决和行政文件；宗教压力团体的记录；以及其他公共历史文献，如报纸、回忆录和辩论材料。研究将在澳大利亚和美国的政府档案馆和图书馆进行。这项研究的主要智力贡献将是提高社会学对是什么推动政教关系转变的理解。目前，对美国案例的孤立研究出现了多种相互矛盾的解释。本研究借鉴了已有的国家建设和世俗化理论，并利用跨国比较的方法，对已有的解释进行了评析，形成了一种可推广到其他国家的理论方法。此外，它将增加我们对世俗化进程的理解的细节，并突出宗教行为者和宗教冲突在国家建设过程中所发挥的作用。除了学术上的好处，这个项目还将产生几个更广泛的影响。首先，它将通过加强澳大利亚和美国学者之间的机构和知识联系，帮助为未来的研究和教育建立基础设施，特别是在社会学领域，两国的学术界在很大程度上是孤立地工作。其次，这个项目的跨学科重点将是社会学、政治学、法学和宗教研究学者之间建立桥梁的持续努力的兴趣和贡献。最后，它将为当代最具争议的政治辩论之一--宗教在政治中的适当作用--提供重要的历史和比较背景。通过揭示历史上推动这场辩论的主要参与者和动机，它将丰富政治辩论，并使决策者能够做出比以前更明智的决定。为了最大限度地扩大其公众影响，这项研究的发现将通过会议报告、期刊文章和一本书广泛传播。

SES-0727814Margaret WeirDamon MayrlUniversity of California BerkeleyThis is a study of the historical development of church-state relations in the United States and Australia during the twentieth century. Despite their many similarities, the two nations adopted very different approaches toward religious organizations during this period. While the United States moved toward stricter separation of church and state, Australia adopted a set of policies that increased the interconnections between the two. What accounts for the different paths taken by these two nations? This project aims to explain this divergence by examining the context and development of state policies toward religious organizations in two particular domains: education and social welfare. It does this through historical and comparative methods. Important data sources will include government reports, legislative debates, court decisions, and administrative documents; the records of religious pressure groups; and other public historical documents such as newspapers, memoirs, and polemical tracts. Research will be conducted in government archives and libraries in both Australia and the United States. The primary intellectual contribution of this research will be to improve sociological understanding of what drives shifts in church-state relations. Currently, multiple competing explanations have arisen from studies of the American case in isolation. This study draws upon existing theories of state building and secularization, and takes advantage of transnational comparison, to adjudicate among these existing explanations and to forge a theoretical approach that is generalizable to other countries. Further, it will add detail to our understanding of processes of secularization, and highlight the role that religious actors and religious conflict have played in the process of state building. Beyond its scholarly benefits, this project will also have several broader impacts. First, it will help build the infrastructure for future research and education by strengthening institutional and intellectual connections between Australian and American scholars, particularly within sociology, where the two nations' academic communities have labored largely in isolation. Second, the interdisciplinary focus of this project will be of interest to, and contribute to ongoing efforts to build bridges among, scholars in sociology, political science, law, and religious studies. Finally, it will provide important historical and comparative context for one of the most contentious contemporary political debates: that of the appropriate role of religion in politics. By uncovering the primary actors and motives that have animated this debate historically, it will enrich political debate and enable decision-makers to make more informed decisions than was previously possible. To maximize its public impact, the findings of this research will be disseminated broadly through conference presentations, journal articles, and a book.