» Secularism as a political doctrine I see … Talk Islam

thabet

01:45:09 pm on June 8, 2008 | # | |
Tags: religion, secularism, state, talal asad

Secularism as a political doctrine I see as being very closely connected to the formation of religion itself, as the “other” of a religious order. It is precisely in a secular state - which is supposed to be totally separated from religion - that it is essential for state law to define, again and again, what genuine religion is, and where its boundaries should properly be. In other words, the state is not that separate. Paradoxically, modern politics cannot really be separated from religion as the vulgar version of secularism argues it should be - with religion having its own sphere and politics its own. The state (a political entity/realm) has the function of defining the acceptable public face of “religion”.
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bdr 2:11 pm on June 8, 2008 | #

Thabet, you exhaustiveness is impressive (if that makes sense).
razib 2:59 pm on June 8, 2008 | #

amen!
Lawrence of Arabia 4:13 pm on June 8, 2008 | #

…domesticating them [christianity, islam, etc.], deforming them so that they owe their allegiance to the state, and the new political sphere in fact becomes the new religion of the people.
Yahya Birt 6:02 pm on July 14, 2008 | #

Thabet: what’s the page ref. number please? Rgds a lazy Yahya
thabet 8:46 pm on July 14, 2008 | #

Yahya, this is from an interview Asad gave to Asia Source in 2002.
» Sunny Hundal has a post on the case of t … Talk Islam 6:30 am on August 5, 2008 | #

[...] me quote this again from Talal Asad (my emphasis): Secularism as a political doctrine I see as being very closely [...]

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