Contesting Secularism

Comparative Perspectives

Anders Berg-Sørensen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317160236
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religious Essays

As we enter the twenty-first century, the role of religion within civic society has become an issue of central concern across the world. The complex trends of secularism, multiculturalism and the rise of religiously motivated violence raise fundamental questions about the relationship between political institutions, civic culture and religious groups. Contesting Secularism represents a major intervention into this debate. Drawing together contributions from leading scholars from across the world it analyses how secularism functions as a political doctrine in different national contexts put under pressure by globalisation. In doing so it presents different models for the relationship between political institutions and religious groups, challenging the reader to be more aware of assumptions within their own cultural context, and raises alternative possibilities for the structure of democratic, multi-faith societies. Through its inter-disciplinary and comparative approach, Contesting Secularism sets a new agenda for thinking about the place of religion in the public sphere of twenty-first century societies. It is essential reading for policymakers, as well as for scholars and students in political science, law, sociology and religious studies.

Ashgate AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Series

Series Editors:

Linda Woodhead, University of Lancaster, UK

Rebecca Catto, University of Lancaster, UK

This book series emanates from the largest research programme on religion in Europe today – the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme which has invested in over seventy-five research projects. Thirty-two separate disciplines are represented looking at religion across the world, many with a contemporary and some with an historical focus. This international, multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary book series will include monographs, paperback textbooks and edited research collections drawn from this leading research programme.

Other titles in the series:

Understanding Muslim Chaplaincy

Sophie Gilliat-Ray, Stephen Pattison and Mansur Ali

Religion in Consumer Society

Brands, Consumers, and Markets

Edited by François Gauthier and Tuomas Martikainen

Religion in the Neoliberal Age

Political Economy and Modes of Governance

Edited by Tuomas Martikainen and François Gauthier

Contesting Secularism

Comparative Perspectives

Edited by

Anders Berg-Sørensen

University of Copenhagen, Denmark

First published 2013 by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2016 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright © 2013 Anders Berg-Sørensen and contributors

Anders Berg-Sørensen has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editor of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Contesting secularism: comparative perspectives. – (Ashgate AHRC/ESRC religion and society series)

1. Secularism – Comparative studies. 2. Religion and sociology – History – 21st century. I. Series II. Berg-Sørensen, Anders.

306.6-dc23

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Contesting secularism: comparative perspectives / edited by Anders Berg-Sørensen.

p. cm.—(Ashgate AHRC/ESRC religion and society series) Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-4094-5740-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4094-5741-1 (ebook)

1. Religion and politics. 2. Secularism. I. Berg-Sørensen, Anders.

BL65.P7C664 2013

201’.72—dc23

2012037296

ISBN 9781409457404 (hbk)

ISBN 9781315574035 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781315574035

Contents

• List of Tables
• Notes on Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Contesting Secularism Anders Berg-Sørensen
• PART I SECULARISM: GENERAL LINES
  • 1 Multiple Secularisms and Multiple Secular States Rajeev Bhargava
  • 2 Priority for Liberal Democracy or Secularism? Veit Bader
  • 3 Muslims, Religious Equality and Secularism Tariq Modood
  • 4 The Post-Secular Turn in Feminism Rosi Braidotti
• PART II SECULARISM: ILLUSTRATIONS
  • 5 Secularism, Constitutionalism and the Rise of Christian Conservatives in the US Rogers M. Smith
  • 6 Neither Religious nor Secular: The British Situation and its Implications for Religion-State Relations Linda Woodhead
  • 7 The Indeterminacy of Laïcité: Secularism and the State in France John R. Bowen
  • 8 Contested Secularism in Turkey and Iran Elizabeth Shakman Hurd
  • 9 Secularism, Popular Passion and Public Order in India Thomas Blom Hansen
• Index

List of Tables

• 1.1 Degrees and Dimensions of Establishment or Separation
• 1.2 General Features of Value-Based Secular States
• 1.3 Forms of Secularism
• 1.4 Forms of Secularism with Supplements
• 3.1 Religion vis-à-vis State and Civil Society in Three Countries
• 6.1 Churchgoing in England (Brierley, 2006: 12.2.1)

Notes on Contributors

Veit Bader is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam.

Anders Berg-Sørensen is Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen.

Rajeev Bhargava is Professor and Director at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi.

John R. Bowen is Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor at the Department of An...