Introduction -- The Historical Development and Definition of a Secular State -- The Constitutional Development and Regulation of Turkish Secularism -- The TCC's Approach to Secularism in Freedom of Religion Cases -- Protection of Secularism within the Framework of the Political Party Regime -- The Impact of the 2017 Constitutional Amendments on the Protection of Secularism -- The ECtHR and Turkish Secularism -- Conclusion.
This book confronts the key questions surrounding comparative secularism in historical perspective. The contributions critically consider the normative ideas and alternative political arrangements that govern religion's relation to politics and to the public and private spheres. Containing contributions by world-renowned scholars such as Michael Walzer, Asma Afsaruddin and Sudipta Kaviraj, this book recounts the arguments, debates, and disputations regarding secular arguments for accommodating religion. It does so in both critical and appreciative ways and describes some of the outcomes in actually existing institutions, policies, and practical arrangements. With the addition of many non-Western experiences and viewpoints on how secularism is theorized and lived, politically and historically and from Europe and Asia to Africa and the Americas, this volume is of great value political philosophers across the globe
"America's secularism debates distract from the deeper problem of a flawed political structure causing gridlock. Public failure evokes personal vice, leading to a cultural war between thinly veiled liberal condescension and right-leaning racism, each latching onto rapidly changing controversies, mostly "religious," and failing to address root causes"--
"Exploring the culture and worldview of socialist secularism and its impact on German history, this book reveals the educational efforts of red secularists to transmit to workers their humanistic-materialistic worldview and their crucial role in the political struggles over religion which fed into the National Socialist dictatorship of 1933"--
"Exploring the culture and worldview of socialist secularism and its impact on German history, this book reveals the educational efforts of red secularists to transmit to workers their humanistic-materialistic worldview and their crucial role in the political struggles over religion which fed into the National Socialist dictatorship of 1933"--
Legal secularism and political participation
ABSTRACT: As is well known, the Italian term 'laicità' is polysemic and cannot be adequately translated into English. The word 'secularism', in fact, only captures certain senses of 'laicità'. Ultimately, we are dealing with a very complex phenomenon that surely cannot be analyzed with a dichotomic black and white concept. In this paper we are mainly interested in highlighting legal secularism, understood as neutrality. However, we must pay attention to the fact that liberal neutrality, understood as mutual tolerance and impartiality of institutions, is a "committed neutrality" which deeply differs from Max Weber's uncommitted neutrality to which scientists aspire. On the other hand, the ideal of legal secularism comes into harsh conflict with the partisan spirit that characterizes political life. Democracy is not only respect for rules, but must come to terms with the citizens' variegated senses of belonging to this or that community. As they say: "My country, right or wrong". Precisely because of these limits to rational discourse, we believe that legal secularism, in a broad sense, is not fully achievable even in an open society.
SOMMARIO: 1. L'individuazione del tema che verrà affrontato - 2. Laicità, una nozione complessa - 3. (segue) Tre concetti di laicità - 4. (segue) La neutralità degli scienziati e la neutralità delle istituzioni laico-liberali - 5. (segue) La così detta "scienza del diritto": un ideale sulla via del tramonto - 6. Partecipazione e appartenenza - 7. (segue) Il fascino duraturo della democrazia diretta e la ritrosia del laico - 8. (segue) Il successo delle argomentazioni fallaci quale fenomeno collettivo - 9. Concludendo: i pregi e i limiti della ragione laica.
A profound cultural shift is taking place in western societies: religion is in decline and secular worldviews are on the rise. At the same time, religion is taking more overtly political shapes and still affects our world in important, sometimes dangerous ways. This book examines two rival explanations for these trends, critiquing the popular notion that God has been 'killed' by modern science, and offering a fresh take that draws on research in the social sciences to argue that greater socio-economic equality and moral values that favour tolerance are at the heart of our collective drift away from organized faith.
Chapter 1: Introduction -- Chapter 2: Modernisation, Modernity, Liberalism and Religion -- Chapter 3: Marxian Critique of Religion -- Chapter 4: Early Habermas's Critique of Gadamer and His Later Approach to Religion -- Chapter 5: The Gadamer-Habermas Debate and its Implication for Religion -- Chapter 6: Post-Secularism, Liberalism and Their Discontents -- Chapter 7: Conclusion.
Intro -- Acknowledgment -- Contents -- List of Contributors -- Introduction: Religious Pluralism and Law in Contemporary Brazil -- 1 The Legal-Administrative Changes of the Post-Constituent Pluralist State -- 2 Religious Activism and Rights -- 3 Part 1. Pluralism: Minority Rights, Religious Freedom and Secularism -- 4 Part 2. Human Rights as Language -- References -- Part I: Pluralism: Minority Rights, Religious Freedom and Secularism -- Religion and Laicity in Dispute: Two Categories Under Construction in Brazil´s Legal Debate on Religious Education in Public S... -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Religious Education as a Public Issue in a Historical Perspective -- 2.1 Religious Education in Republican Constitutions -- 2.2 Religious Education Regulations in the National Education Guidelines and Framework Law of 1961, 1996 and 1997 -- 2.3 Religious Education Regulations in the Agreement Between the Holy See and Brazil -- 3 Debates on the Unconstitutionality of Religious Education in the Public Hearing -- 3.1 The Characters and the Game´s Rules -- 3.2 The Rules -- 3.3 The Debate: Presentations, Categories, Arguments, and Positions -- 3.4 Presentations of Executive and Legislative Representatives -- 3.5 Arguments of Legislative Representatives -- 3.6 Presentations and Arguments of Civil Society Representatives -- 3.7 Demonstrations by Representatives of Religious Organizations -- 3.8 Demonstration by Representatives of Non-Religious Organizations -- 4 Final Considerations -- References -- Evangelical Jurists and Human Rights in Brazil: A Case Study of the National Association of Evangelical Jurists (ANAJURE) -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Methods -- 3 The Political Context of the Emergence of ANAJURE -- 4 The Process of Mobilizing Jurists on Behalf of Evangelicals -- 5 The Supreme Federal Court´s Criminalization of Violence Against Homosexuals.
This article analyses the trajectories of secularization, de-secularization and re-secularization in Bangladesh. It is about mapping broad historical developments with reference to basic understanding of secularization and its progress in Bangladesh. The central question in the article is: How have the trajectories of secularization, de-secularization and re-secularization in Bangladesh been influenced by the nexus of internal–external dynamics of political and social forces developed in the 1980s? The article argues that a decisive attempt to rediscover liberal and secular character of politics is currently evident in Bangladesh. The attempt to reestablish secularism in the society also faces a host of challenges, stemming from national, regional and global contexts that echo the 1980s. Methodologically, it is based on policy outlook and trend analysis.
Italy, seat of the Pope and Vatican City, has a long and difficult relationship with religious freedom. Often identified as a Catholic nation par excellence, Italy owes its unification to a political class that advocated the separation of Church and State. Home of the Concordat, contemporary Italy recognises a peculiar notion of legal secularism (laicità) as the supreme principle of its constitutional order. Through the glasses of law, tracing the history of the right to religious freedom from the Unification to the present day, the nine chapters of the book allow an insight on paradoxes and contradictions of a complex system made of unresolved stratifications where a strong constitutional recognition of religious freedom is accompanied by a weak legislative protection of religious pluralism and, at the same time, a vigorous religious agency in the public space. Religious freedom in Italy offers an interpretation of a model of religious freedom that is not only a paradigm for many European experiences but also a possible interpretative parameter to better understand the dynamics of religious freedom between the two shores of the Mediterranean.
"Charles Taylor is one of the most influential and prolific philosophers in the English-speaking world. The breadth of his writings is unique, ranging from reflections on artificial intelligence to analyses of contemporary multicultural societies and the role of religion. In this thought-provoking introduction to Taylor's work, Ruth Abbey outlines his ideas in a coherent and accessible way without reducing their richness and depth. His contribution to many of the enduring debates within Western philosophy is examined and the arguments of his critics assessed. Taylor's reflections on the topics of moral theory, selfhood, political theory and epistemology form the core chapters within the book. Retaining the thematic approach of the first edition, this second edition has been revised, rewritten, and restructured, with a new chapter taking account of Taylor's contribution to religion and in particular his major book A Secular Age (2007). It also addresses his other works published in the last twenty years such as Secularism and Freedom of Conscience (2011). An ideal companion to Taylor's ideas and arguments, Charles Taylor is essential reading for students of philosophy, religion and political theory, and will be welcomed by the non-specialist looking for an authoritative guide to Taylor's large and challenging body of work"--