The Religious Politics of Solidarity: Transnational Religious Networks in Europe and the Americas

Religious groups play a central role in transnational political movements. While much public academic attention has focused on the relationship between religion and political conservatism – as in the case of abortion or sexual identity, where religious actors usually call for a restriction of individual rights on the basis of traditional values – in other fields religious actors are also engaged in a different kind of politics. A case in point is the issue of migration. Theological principles from different religious denominations often motivate religious groups to support migrants, including religiously derived notions of hospitality, compassion, and solidarity. Such religious principles are at the heart of political actions by both politically conservative and politically progressive religious groups. The latter, based on ideological principles linked to ideas of resistance and liberation, such as liberation theology and black theology, have stimulated interfaith cooperation across countries in support of people who migrate. But also, theological principles that are usually associated with conservative political positions in other fields of morality politics – such as the inviolability of human dignity or the defence of the traditional family – can be mobilized in the migration field in defence of migrants’ rights. Whereas the role of religious actors as providers of services in the migration field has been quite extensively analysed (Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, 2011; Clarke 2006; Snyder, 2009) their role as morally-driven political entrepreneurs has so far remained understudied. By contrast, in other fields of morality politics – abortion, homosexual marriage, etc. – it has been precisely this role that has captured most of the attention (Burlone and Richmond, 2018; Engeli, 2009; Laborde 2018, Mooney and Schuldt, 2008). The current proposal therefore aims to fill a gap in the analysis of the relationship between religion and politics today by focusing on the role of religion in motivating religious groups on both the conservative and the progressive side of the political spectrum to act in solidarity with migrants. To do so, the research will answer the question of how theological ideas provide normative justification and motivation for political solidarity with migrants within the framework of morality politics. Through a theoretically-guided empirical analysis, the research will examine transnational interfaith solidarity networks in two borderlands between the Global North and the Global South –Mexico-United States and Morocco-Spain – by using a qualitative approach that aims to compare and highlight solidarity dynamics and ideological motivations across regions.