Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Part One Circling the Globe
Religion in Oppression, Liberation, and Competition in Brazil and Guatemala
Troubles and Changes in European Christendom: Poland, Northern Ireland, and Sweden
Four Islamic Societies and Four Political Scenarios: Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, and Indonesia
Two Multireligious ``Mindfields'': Israel and India
Tracking Buddha through Thailand, Japan, and China
Part Two Coming Home Culture Wars and Religious Violence
Religious Politics without a Religious State?
Taking Exception to American Exceptionalism
Appendix: A Multicomparativist on the Road  
Notes
Index

About the Author

Jay Demerath is a professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the author of ten books, among them Sacred Companies: Organizational Aspects of Religion and Religious Aspects of Organizations and A Bridging of Faiths: Religion and Politics in a New England City. He is the immediate past president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.

Reviews

àscholars, graduate students, and advanced undergraduatesàwill profit enormously from [this] fine book and from examples.
*Journal of American Academy of Religion*

Demerath rides a global highway from South America to the Middle East, India and beyond, discovering the diversity of religious responses to the social and political crises of the contemporary age. This is a brilliant demonstration of a newly emerging global sociology of religion. A journey worth taking, with intellectual rewards every step of the way.
*author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence*

Fresh, enriching, challenging: Crossing the Gods is the first truly sociological approach to contemporary world religions and their social and political contexts. A major contribution.
*professor of sociology, University of Houston*

This book is without parallel, a truly comparative perspective on the American religious arrangement. It offers useful and insightful overviews of church-state relations around the world.
*Trinity College, Hartford*