RELIGION AND SECULARISM

According to many important twentieth-century social theorists, modernization of the world meant its secularization: as the world developed, it would also become much more secular: less dependent and less influenced by religious ideas. By the early twenty-first century, we know that this assumption has turned out to be inaccurate. This seminar in political theory explores the relationship between religion and secularism, focusing on the political significance of the relationship. It begins by exploring the development of religious diversity among (primarily Christian) religious positions in the West in the early modern period (from the Protestant reformation through the eighteenth-century). It moves to more contemporary themes, including the tension between religious identities and the modern state, the so-called God debate by prominent atheists, and other recent controversies about religious diversity (e.g., the Danish controversy over antiIslamic cartoons). We will focus on the development of ideas (what does “toleration” mean?) and concepts (what is “secular”?). The readings will include historical and contemporary texts.