The Liquid Presence of Religion in the Public Sphere: A Conference Report
On 20-21 August 2025, the Center for Religion in the Public Sphere (CRiPS) at Tilburg University hosted the two-day conference “The Liquid Presence of Religion in the Public Sphere”. This event was an initiative from members of the European Sociological Association, organised in Research Network 34, with a special interest in the sociology of religion, and with financial support from NOSTER.
In between the large biannual ESA conferences, the Research Network 34 organises midterm conferences devoted to a particular theme and open to all scholars interested in a social-scientific approach to religion. This edition was built on the successful launch of CRiPS on 20 February 2025 as a cooperation between the sociology department at the Tilburg School for Social and Behavioral Studies and the department of Religion and Practice at the Tilburg School of Catholic Theology. There, a lively conversation was opened on the idea that religion can be found everywhere: not just in traditional institutions but flowing through politics, culture, and everyday life. This “liquid presence” invites us to think differently about how religion appears, disappears, and reconfigures in diverse contexts.
The theme returned to a central theme introduced by José Casanova (1994), modified to the liquid presenceof religion as we need to stop taking for granted how religion is present – not to open up scholarly discussions on the definition of religion, but to be able to see, understand, and possibly explain how religion appears, disappears, and reconfigures in diverse contexts. What is regarded as religion? How is religion used? Or as the call for papers for the conference read:
What happens when the boundaries between religion and other institutional spheres, such as politics, economy, education, care, and the arts, are revisited? This question calls for renewed attention to the public sphere, stretching from the prominent presence of religion in contemporary politics to the public significance of individual faith among younger generations.
Examples during the conference were the role of religious institutions, spiritual movements and sacralizing discourses in state, market, and civil society; in the provision of welfare, education, rituals and meaning. Presentations reflected on the role of religion in ‘modern’ societies beyond theories of privatisation and differentiation. Especially some of the younger researchers stood out in giving high-quality presentations of their recent research.
The first keynote was delivered by Marian Burchardt, Professor of Sociology at Leipzig University and Senior Research Partner at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen. In his lecture, he put forward the suggestion that religion in contemporary societies often appears as heritage and illustrated this with various examples from his empirical research across the globe, such as the public significance attributed to the fire of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris and its subsequent restoration. Unfortunately, Suzanne Klein Schaarsberg, Assistant Professor of Religion in the Public Domain at Tilburg University, was unable to deliver her keynote. Kees de Groot, KSGV professor at Tilburg University, stepped in and presented his proposal to distinguish more clearly between religion and processes of sacralization before investigating the connections between the two, such as in the Saint Martin’s Parade in Utrecht. How do the fields of religion, art, and governance interact here in producing ‘holy play’? Both keynotes were followed by a lively discussion, drawing connections between various research projects.
The conference took place in one venue, the new ‘Scandinavian style’ Marga Klompé Building with lots of wood and glass, allowing for frequent meetings in between sessions. Some 60 sociologists, theologians and scholars in religious studies attended the conference, including the conference dinner, a vegetarian barbecue in the surroundings of the green Warande park. Junior and senior colleagues from various continents got to know each other and made plans for collaborations.
Thanks to the smooth cooperation between the international board and the local team, the conference turned out to be a huge success, contributing to a revived scholarly attention for religion in the Netherlands, drawing attention from the international community.