Religion in an Expanding Europe

In: Journal of church and state: JCS, Band 49, Heft 2, S. 359-360

Abstract

In his fascinating analysis of secularization, JosACO Casanova argues that secularization is not an inevitable teleological outcome; rather, he views European secularization as 'exceptional,' because the process of rehgious decline is 'accompanied by a 'secularist' self-understanding that interprets the decline as 'normal' and 'progressive" for the 'modern' and 'enlightened' European (p. 89). Casanova and Bassam Tibi, although in disagreement about important aspects of Europe's Muslim question, remind one that, given Europe's growing Mushm population, a significant religious minority that is not assimilated or integrated into European civil and political hfe, namely the original member states of the EU, are not as liberal as some may like to beheve.