This page is an archive of the proposed deletion of the article below. Further comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination). No further edits should be made to this page.
The result of the debate was no consensus to delete -- Francs2000 | Talk 15:40, 7 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The article is original research and a newly coined term. Any article on whether this or that ideology or system of government has traits in common with a religion is also hopelessly POV. Whatever content can be salvaged from Political religion (and there isn't much) should just be added to the article on Totalitarianism. Mihnea Tudoreanu 17:32, 26 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]
FYI: "political religion" gets 307 hits on Google Scholar, and is in an academic journal title (Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions). The term refers essentially to secular ideologies which are dogmatic enough and successful enough to have a cultural and political power equivalent to a religion, as well as sharing memetic qualities with religion, such a degree of utopianism and the aim of transforming society. Quintessential examples are Marxism and Nazism, but totalitarianism is not a requirement (eg neo-liberalism can be analysed as a political religion). I would urge all those who voted to delete on grounds of neologism or original research to reconsider. Rd232 17:32, 29 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Vs civil religion: although some scholars use the terms as equivalent, others see a useful distinction, using "civil religion" as something much weaker, which functions much more as a socially unifying and essentially conservative force, where a political religion is radically transformational. Rd232 17:38, 29 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Vs theocracy: nothing to do with it. There need not be any conventionally religious or spiritual element at all - eg (atheist) Marxism. Rd232 17:42, 29 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]