Author(s): Bryan S Turner

General Non Fiction

A Kapunda Press Title.

"this important book examines the implications of significant societal changes for the vitality of civil society"

PETER KURTI

What is the future of democracy in a religious world? Over the next fifty years, Australia is predicted to become a less religious country, while the world at large will become more religious. This raises questions about what kind of society Australia will be as the positive and negative influences of religion fade, and liberalism and

democracy struggle to adapt to a changing world. It also raises challenges for Australia's democratic leaders, who might struggle to comprehend the needs of the minority of religious Australians, and to balance these with the demands of the non-religious majority. In Faith's Place, eight essayists, including the Liberal Party's Dean Smith and the Labor Party's Luke Gosling, respond to Bryan Turner and Damien Freeman's critical assessments of the challenges for democracy and religion in Australia.

The collection offers a number of Australian and international perspectives on what it means for democracy and religion to flourish in Australian society and politics today. "a timely consideration of church-state relations"

MICHAEL SEXTON SC