Abstract
In the U.S. the Madisonian model remains a relative success story in terms of managing deep pluralism. It’s important to look closely at what have been the sources of American flexibility in handling cases where theological/moral differences may be irreconcilable and accommodations costly, yet workable solutions have still been found. In particular, the example of the conservative Mennonite tradition is illustrative of what religions and political regimes may need to “give” to make robust pluralism work.
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Notes
See global comparative data from the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project (http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/) and from the Religion and State Project (http://www.thearda.com/ras/) vis-à-vis regulation of religion.
Note that some Anabaptists today are arguably part of “evangelicalism” broadly speaking (see Dayton and Johnston 2001), but the more sectarian, conservative (plain) Mennonites are not generally part of this convergence.
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Hoover, D.R. Pluralist Responses to Pluralist Realities in the United States. Soc 53, 20–27 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-015-9967-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-015-9967-2