The Secular State Under Siege

Author : Christian Joppke
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2015-04-22
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780745691404

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The Secular State Under Siege by Christian Joppke Pdf

Throughout human history, religion and politics have entertained the most intimate of connections as systems of authority regulating individuals and society. While the two have come apart through the process of secularization, secularism is challenged today by the return of public religion. This cogent analysis unravels the nature of the connection, disconnection, and attempted reconnection between religion and politics in the West. In a comparison of Western Europe and North America, Christianity and Islam, Joppke advances far-reaching theoretical, historical, and comparative-political arguments. With respect to theory, it is argued that only a “substantive” concept of religion, as pertaining to the existence of supra-human powers, opens up the possibility of a historical-comparative perspective on religion. At the level of history, secularization is shown to be the distinct outcome of Latin Christianity itself. And at the level of comparative politics, the Christian Right in America which has attacked the “wall of separation” between religion and state and Islam in Europe with the controversial insistence on sharia law and other “illiberal” claims from some quarters are taken to be counterpart incarnations of public religion and challenges to the secular state. This clearly argued, sweeping book will provide an invaluable framework for approaching an array of critical issues at the intersection of religion, law and politics for advanced students and researchers across the social sciences and legal studies, as well as for the interested public.

Author : Mark Farha
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 329 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2019-08-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781108471459

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Lebanon by Mark Farha Pdf

Chronicles secularism in Lebanon up to the present day, presenting possible causes for its decline in the face of sectarianism.

Author : Ẓahīr ʻAlī
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2016
Category : Secularism
ISBN : 9350024160

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Secularism Under Siege by Ẓahīr ʻAlī Pdf

Author : Dick Houtman,Stef Aupers,Rudi Laermans
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 242 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2021-05-12
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9783030696498

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Science under Siege by Dick Houtman,Stef Aupers,Rudi Laermans Pdf

Identifying scientism as religion’s secular counterpart, this collection studies contemporary contestations of the authority of science. These controversies suggest that what we are witnessing today is not an increase in the authority of science at the cost of religion, but a dual decline in the authorities of religion and science alike. This entails an erosion of the legitimacy of universally binding truth claims, be they religiously or scientifically informed. Approaching the issue from a cultural-sociological perspective and building on theories from the sociology of religion, the volume unearths the cultural mechanisms that account for the headwind faced by contemporary science. The empirical contributions highlight how the field of academic science has lost much of its former authority vis-à-vis competing social realms; how political and religious worldviews define particular research findings as favorites while dismissing others; and how much of today’s distrust of science is directed against scientific institutions and academic scientists rather than against science per se.

Author : Don Hutchinson
Publisher : Word Alive Press
Page : 306 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2017-02-21
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781486614530

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Under Siege by Don Hutchinson Pdf

Writing from the perspective of a student of life, history, law, politics, and theology, Don Hutchinson draws on all of these areas in Under Siege to offer perceptive insight into the Christian Church of today’s Canada. The reader will receive the benefit of his thirty years of church leadership, Christian witness, constitutional law, and public policy experience to gain a practical understanding of how we, the Church, may cast the deciding votes on the future of Christianity in our constitutionally guaranteed “free and democratic society.” How did we get here? What happened to “Christian” Canada? Do we not have Charter rights like everyone else? What does the Bible say? Many Christians sense that an advancing secularism is trying to force upon Canadians a culture in which faith is meant to be private. Hutchinson presents historic, legal, and theological grounds for us not to hide our faith in stained-glass closets, but instead to enter Canada’s contested public space with confidence. Together as individual Christians, congregations, denominations, and para-congregational ministries, we are the Church in Canada. And together we have the capacity to impact the nation for God’s good, the good of our neighbours, and the good of ourselves. Will we?

Author : Christian Joppke
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2015-04-22
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780745691428

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The Secular State Under Siege by Christian Joppke Pdf

Throughout human history, religion and politics have entertained the most intimate of connections as systems of authority regulating individuals and society. While the two have come apart through the process of secularization, secularism is challenged today by the return of public religion. This cogent analysis unravels the nature of the connection, disconnection, and attempted reconnection between religion and politics in the West. In a comparison of Western Europe and North America, Christianity and Islam, Joppke advances far-reaching theoretical, historical, and comparative-political arguments. With respect to theory, it is argued that only a “substantive” concept of religion, as pertaining to the existence of supra-human powers, opens up the possibility of a historical-comparative perspective on religion. At the level of history, secularization is shown to be the distinct outcome of Latin Christianity itself. And at the level of comparative politics, the Christian Right in America which has attacked the “wall of separation” between religion and state and Islam in Europe with the controversial insistence on sharia law and other “illiberal” claims from some quarters are taken to be counterpart incarnations of public religion and challenges to the secular state. This clearly argued, sweeping book will provide an invaluable framework for approaching an array of critical issues at the intersection of religion, law and politics for advanced students and researchers across the social sciences and legal studies, as well as for the interested public.

Author : Damon Linker
Publisher : Anchor
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2007-09-04
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780307387653

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The Theocons by Damon Linker Pdf

An essential history of the influential men who have spearheaded the movement to erode the wall separating church and state.Beginning as far-left radicals during the 1960s, the theocons in Damon Linker’s book (including Richard John Neuhaus, Michael Novak, and George Weigel) gradually transitioned to conservatism when they grew frustrated with the failures of the decade’s revolutionary goals. Linker shows how, starting during the Reagan administration, they worked to forge a Christian alliance between Evangelical Protestants and Conservative Catholics. By injecting the language of faith into political life, this movement appealed to a wide swath of voters and ultimately played a central role in the election of George W. Bush. The Theocons is an absorbing and revelatory look at an ideological crusade that every American needs to know about.

Author : Madiha Afzal
Publisher : Brookings Institution Press
Page : 159 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2018-01-02
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780815729464

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Pakistan Under Siege by Madiha Afzal Pdf

Over the last fifteen years, Pakistan has come to be defined exclusively in terms of its struggle with terror. But are ordinary Pakistanis extremists? And what explains how Pakistanis think? Much of the current work on extremism in Pakistan tends to study extremist trends in the country from a detached position—a top-down security perspective, that renders a one-dimensional picture of what is at its heart a complex, richly textured country of 200 million people. In this book, using rigorous analysis of survey data, in-depth interviews in schools and universities in Pakistan, historical narrative reporting, and her own intuitive understanding of the country, Madiha Afzal gives the full picture of Pakistan’s relationship with extremism. The author lays out Pakistanis’ own views on terrorist groups, on jihad, on religious minorities and non-Muslims, on America, and on their place in the world. The views are not radical at first glance, but are riddled with conspiracy theories. Afzal explains how the two pillars that define the Pakistani state—Islam and a paranoia about India—have led to a regressive form of Islamization in Pakistan’s narratives, laws, and curricula. These, in turn, have shaped its citizens’ attitudes. Afzal traces this outlook to Pakistan’s unique and tortured birth. She examines the rhetoric and the strategic actions of three actors in Pakistani politics—the military, the civilian governments, and the Islamist parties—and their relationships with militant groups. She shows how regressive Pakistani laws instituted in the 1980s worsened citizen attitudes and led to vigilante and mob violence. The author also explains that the educational regime has become a vital element in shaping citizens’ thinking. How many years one attends school, whether the school is public, private, or a madrassa, and what curricula is followed all affect Pakistanis’ attitudes about terrorism and the rest of the world. In the end, Afzal suggests how this beleaguered nation—one with seemingly insurmountable problems in governance and education—can change course.

Author : Eric Ambler
Publisher : Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2011-10-19
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780307949998

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State of Siege by Eric Ambler Pdf

All in all Steve Fraser had enjoyed his three-year stint in the former Dutch Southeast Asian colony of Sunda, and he’d been well compensated. But now he was looking forward to a last weekend in the capital before heading home. But Sunda was newly independent, and not entirely stable. An opposition faction with fundamentalist Islamic leanings was set on overthrowing the provisional government. And instead of enjoying a sybaritic weekend with the Eurasian beauty Rosalie, Fraser finds himself trapped with her by a fanatical group who’ve taken over the country’s radio station and made their headquarters in his friend Jebb’s apartment. As the government launches a counterattack, the couple’s survival depends on their ability to dodge bullets and the shifting loyalties of the coup’s lieutenants.

Author : Zaheer Ali
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 318 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2023-12-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781003830962

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Secularism Under Siege by Zaheer Ali Pdf

This anthology makes a discerning attempt to bring into focus myriad dimensions of secularism and the foremost impediments to its attainment. The scholars who contributed to this volume have underscored that the disconnect between a modern-secular state and a conservative society is detrimental to recognizing an ideal secular-democratic polity. Then there is the burden of the past centuries that independent India has to carry on its young shoulders. The political factions in India invent their own historical narratives to advance their political agenda coupled with political and economic arguments leading to social dissensions and communal hatred, the ugliest manifestation of which is communal violence that occasionally takes on the form of anti-minority pogroms. The academic critiques of the concept of secularism and its correlated premises belted in this volume shall be of assistance not only to the scholars but also to the students of social sciences and the conscientious readers interested in knowing about the current socio-political milieu. This title is co-published with Aakar Books. Print editions not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan)

Author : Saba Mahmood
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 254 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2015-11-03
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780691153285

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Religious Difference in a Secular Age by Saba Mahmood Pdf

How secular governance in the Middle East is making life worse—not better—for religious minorities The plight of religious minorities in the Middle East is often attributed to the failure of secularism to take root in the region. Religious Difference in a Secular Age challenges this assessment by examining four cornerstones of secularism—political and civil equality, minority rights, religious freedom, and the legal separation of private and public domains. Drawing on her extensive fieldwork in Egypt with Coptic Orthodox Christians and Bahais—religious minorities in a predominantly Muslim country—Saba Mahmood shows how modern secular governance has exacerbated religious tensions and inequalities rather than reduced them. Tracing the historical career of secular legal concepts in the colonial and postcolonial Middle East, she explores how contradictions at the very heart of political secularism have aggravated and amplified existing forms of Islamic hierarchy, bringing minority relations in Egypt to a new historical impasse. Through a close examination of Egyptian court cases and constitutional debates about minority rights, conflicts around family law, and controversies over freedom of expression, Mahmood invites us to reflect on the entwined histories of secularism in the Middle East and Europe. A provocative work of scholarship, Religious Difference in a Secular Age challenges us to rethink the promise and limits of the secular ideal of religious equality.

Author : Robert A. Orsi
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 443 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2012
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780521883917

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The Cambridge Companion to Religious Studies by Robert A. Orsi Pdf

Informative and provocative, this book introduces readers to debates in the contemporary study of religion and suggests future research possibilities.

Author : Subramanian Swamy
Publisher : Har-Anand Publications
Page : 152 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Religion
ISBN : 812411207X

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Hindus Under Siege by Subramanian Swamy Pdf

Suggests that the siege against Hinduism today is visible in 4 dimensions - religious, psychological, physical and Cultural.

Author : Don Hutchinson
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 306 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2017-02-21
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1486614523

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Under Siege by Don Hutchinson Pdf

Writing from the perspective of a student of life, history, law, politics, and theology, Don Hutchinson draws on all of these areas in Under Siege to offer perceptive insight into the Christian Church of today's Canada.

Author : Martha C. Nussbaum
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 424 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2009-01-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9780674266285

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The Clash Within by Martha C. Nussbaum Pdf

While America is focused on religious militancy and terrorism in the Middle East, democracy has been under siege from religious extremism in another critical part of the world. As Martha Nussbaum reveals in this penetrating look at India today, the forces of the Hindu right pose a disturbing threat to its democratic traditions and secular state. Since long before the 2002 Gujarat riots--in which nearly two thousand Muslims were killed by Hindu extremists--the power of the Hindu right has been growing, threatening India's hard-won constitutional practices of democracy, tolerance, and religious pluralism. Led politically by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Hindu right has sought the subordination of other religious groups and has directed particular vitriol against Muslims, who are cast as devils in need of purging. The Hindu right seeks to return to a "pure" India, unsullied by alien polluters of other faiths, yet the BJP's defeat in recent elections demonstrates the power that India's pluralism continues to wield. The future, however, is far from secure, and Hindu extremism and exclusivity remain a troubling obstacle to harmony in South Asia. Nussbaum's long-standing professional relationship with India makes her an excellent guide to its recent history. Ultimately she argues that the greatest threat comes not from a clash between civilizations, as some believe, but from a clash within each of us, as we oscillate between self-protective aggression and the ability to live in the world with others. India's story is a cautionary political tale for all democratic states striving to act responsibly in an increasingly dangerous world.