Il tema dell'influenza della fratture religiosa nella determinazione delle preferenze politico-elettorali e del confronto interpartitico è stato considerato in misura marginale in molteplici studi sul sistema partitico canadese. Nell'ambito del dibattito dottrinario e politico, la tendenza generale che è prevalsa sinora è stata quella di mettere in risalto, più che altro, le intersecazioni esistenti tra le diversità linguistiche ed etno-culturali con un ordine politico oramai profondamente secolarizzato, in cui la religione riveste un ruolo superficiale e secondario per influenzare le scelte degli elettori.
Though the US is the oldest & most thoroughgoing secular state, org'd religion plays a greater part there than anywhere else. Secular state & religious society are, in fact, complementary to each other. In America, the origins of secularism are religious - the belief in the uniqueness of the religious life - whereas in Europe the origins are pol'al - the attempt to ensure pol'al stability in an irreligious society. If religion is recognized as constituting belief in an after-life, then totalitarian creeds which believe that satisfaction can be attained in this world are not protected under the First Amendment. The line between the spheres of gov'al & religious action is, however, not clear, as was shown in the McCollum case where it was deemed unconstitutional for a Sch district to grant 'released time' for religious instruction. IPSA. Adapted from the source document.
The theme of nihilism offers fertile avenues for exploring the antinomies of classical liberalism. In its instantiation as violence, nihilism challenges classical liberalism and its recognised political settlement, notably received arrangements harnessed to cultivate uncontrolled passions or religious fervour. In its affinity to Islam, nihilism defies the secular settlement through its appeals to transcendence. By seeking legitimacy in the sacred, nihilism disrupts established boundaries between the religious and the secular. Nihilism exposes the difficulty of forging worlds of transcendence on the modern register of immanence. Transcendence affords the possibility of escape, immanence closure. The two can be reversed in politics, as the experience in several Islamic Cultural Zones (ICZs) suggests. Appeals to transcendence seek to reorganise the social world in the name of escaping it. Immanence, on the other hand, can rework notions of redemption and salvation into secular stories of progress. This paper explores how the presumed nihilistic tendency appearing in the ICZs destabilises the liberal settlement, not in the conventional sense of presenting a religious counterpoint, but in reworking religious themes into secularity. Nihilism illustrates both the contradictory character of modernity and modernity's potential to generate varied societal projects, including those informed by the sacred. The recognition that modernity can spawn discordant impulses in reconciling religion and politics helps rethink post-secular lives under the long shadow of disenchantment. Adapted from the source document.
An examination of the secularist vs pro-Islamist conflict in Turkey highlights popular bases of support for secular principles reflected in public policies & recent debates over the civil code vs shariah rule (seriat in Turkish). An analysis of the nature of popular support for both an Islamist state & the Turkish civil code (the pillar of secularism in Turkey) is based on information obtained from interviews conducted in Feb 1999 with a random sample of 3,053 Turkish citizens over age 18 living in 16 provinces. Although a significant portion of the respondents did not totally reject seriat, only a small marginal group supported its implications. However, approval of post-1997 policies instituted when tension between secularist republic forces & the pro-Islamist Welfare Party were at their height was much lower than the overall support for long-standing secularist principles contained in the civil code. It is noted that women are significantly more supportive of the civil code than men. The implications for religion & politics in Turkey are discussed. 9 Tables, 1 Figure, 1 Appendix. J. Lindroth
The author emphasizes the self-determination of local actors who must struggle on their own terms, and the internal dynamics of how rebellions may evolve into transformative revolutions over time. Regarding the outcomes of 2011 rebellions across the Arab world the author proposes engaging Islamists in open political contestation, within the same constitutional and democratic framework that apply to all citizens. The article focuses on the mediation of tensions in this relationship between Sharia (the normative system of Islam) and the post-colonial state through the separation of Islam and the state, while affirming and regulating the connectedness of Islam and politics. Adapted from the source document.
