Religion and Secularization: Perspectives from Political Science and Social Thought

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite submissions to this Special Issue of Religions devoted to the relationship between religion and secularization from the perspective of religion. How does religion itself perceive the phenomenon of secularization? This interdisciplinary reflection will be conducted within the framework of social sciences, particularly in the field of political science.

Secularization has had a lasting impact on the understanding of society, culture, and politics in the 20th and 21st centuries, but is defined and evaluated in very different ways. However, secularization is not a primary concept, but a secondary one, dependent on the understanding of religion. Just as we are dealing with a dispute, i.e., a dual understanding of religion and its corresponding evaluation, the same applies to the understanding of secularization and the axiological significance attributed to it. Religion as a phenomenon and its significance in human life precedes secularization in terms of time and meaning. Therefore, we must start with religion and then move onto secularization; we must start with what is religious in order to move on to what is secularized. Religion in its fundamental orientation can be seen either as a manifestation of the essential activity of human condition as homo religious, or as a manifestation of our alienation, escape from reality, or escape into a state of false consciousness or collective narcotic intoxication called “opium for the people.” The dispute is entangled in a fundamental understanding of reality. Does God exist, the Absolute, the First cause, the Creator and a person? Does there exist only the unconscious and impersonal primordial matter of the world and humankind? Its nature, spiritual or purely material, is already a secondary issue. Is there a personal meaning at the beginning, the highest reason, which is love, or is there only meaninglessness at the beginning?

A proper understanding of religion already contains its axiology. Either religion is thoroughly positive, or, conversely, something completely negative. Is openness to transcendence, the search for God, a good thing that belongs to humans, or, conversely, an evil from which we should free ourselves with all our might? It is that the more religion and religiousness there is, the better it is for humankind, or, conversely, the less religion there is, the better?

Secularization, as a secondary phenomenon understandable only in the light of religion, is understood in two ways. First, as the disappearance and, at the same time, the opposite of religion. The evaluation of secularization understood in this way depends on the significance attributed to religion. If religion is evaluated positively, then secularization, as its disappearance, will be evaluated negatively. On the other hand, if religion is perceived as a negative social/political phenomenon, then it is conceivable that limiting religion's public presence is understood as a necessary curtailment. This dichotomy simply exists, and it poses a challenge for scholarship.

The second directional understanding of secularization concerns the relationship between religion and the world. If religion remains separate from the world, remaining within its specific boundaries, as Christianity proclaims, then secularization as separateness, autonomy from religion in worldly, social, cultural, and political matters, is treated as thoroughly positive. In that case, separateness, autonomy, but also cooperation between the state and religion, between state authorities and the Church, should be the subject of in-depth research. In the second case, the absorption of the religious sphere by the secular sphere is favored. Religion is left with only a place in the private sphere.

This Special Issue aims to reflect the mutual relations between religion and secularization as considered from a religious perspective. This is cognitively fascinating. With regard to social and political action, religion emphasizes the need to take natural law into account. How do great religious thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas or Pope Benedict XVI, representatives of the Catholic Church, interpret this relationship from the standpoint of natural law? How is it perceived in the confrontation between democracy and certain forms of Islamism? How does it manifest itself in values-based political leadership? How can this relationship influence international regulations on artificial intelligence? The subject area of the relationship between religion and secularization is very broad. The interest it arouses invites interdisciplinary reflection.

For this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Methodology for studying the relationship between religion and secularism;
• The relationship between Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Secularization: theoretical perspectives;
• The relationship between Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Secularization in Individual Countries: empirical analyses;
• Great religious thinkers on religion and secularism;
• Democracy and Islamic thought in the context of religion and secularism;
• Political leadership and the relationship between religion and secularism;
• International relations and AI on religion and secularism.

We anticipate that this Special Issue will stimulate research in the emerging subdiscipline of the political science of religion.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor or to the Assistant Editor of Religions, Ms. Jaya Liu (jaya.liu@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Janusz Węgrzecki
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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