Political Secularism and Religion

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Theologies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 November 2022) | Viewed by 46828

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Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
National School of Arts, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, VIC 3065, Australia
Interests: Middle East Politics; political Islam; state-religion relations; secularism; Iranian politics; Islamic political thought
Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
Interests: contemporary Quranic hermeneutics; Islamic law; contemporary Islamic political thought; political violence; state-religion relations; women’s rights in Islam; Middle East politics, Iranian politics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue explores the approaches of religious leaders and movements to the secular political system. The secularisation thesis was a metanarrative that provided a simple and linear explanation of historical processes that predicted the demise of religion in both private and public life. The central idea of ​​this thesis was its prediction that the elimination of religion is both inevitable and desirable. The idea of ​​secularization comprised several components, the majority of which have been discredited in recent decades. However, some components of the thesis are still valid and are normatively prescribed as positive phenomena, in particular the idea of ​​the separation of religious authorities and institutions from the leaders and institution of the state, which is referred to as political secularism. Political secularism does not necessarily mean the elimination of religion from the public and political arenas. A cursory examination of the numerous countries with secular political systems reveals that religion plays a role in the political arena of these countries in various ways. Religious leaders take diverse approaches and play a wide range of roles in politics. The most headline-generating roles are those of radical movements, especially in the Islamic world, that aim to completely overthrow the secular political system and establish a religious state. At the other end of the spectrum are religious groups and movements that have embraced secular political structures and sought to achieve their politico-religious aspirations through participation in electoral processes. Between these two extremes, a plethora of configurations of roles played by religious actors can be identified and conceptualized in countries with secular political systems. This Special Issue seeks to examine the diverse approaches of religious leaders and movements to the secular political structure. Its analyses will have both descriptive and prescriptive dimensions and will include both country case studies and theoretical explorations. The Special Issue will include some articles that examine the practical approaches of religious leaders and movements in the political arena of secular systems, while other articles will be devoted to the ideas of religious thinkers who offer prescriptions for how religion should engage with and play a role in politics within the framework of secular political systems.

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

  • religious leaders and movements’ acceptance or non-acceptance of secular political structures;
  • religious leaders and movements’ strategies towards participation in the political arena of countries with secular political systems;
  • religious thinkers and theologians’ theories about or in response to the idea of political secularism;
  • secular governments’ approaches to the role of religion in the public and political spheres;
  • comparisons between the attitudes and strategies of different religious movements towards political secularism;
  • challenges to secular political systems caused by the presence of religion in the political arena;
  • opportunities for secular political structures to benefit from the presence of religion in the public and political spheres.

Dr. Naser Ghobadzadeh
Dr. Ali Akbar
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • political secularism
  • religious movements
  • secularization thesis
  • religious thinkers
  • theologians
  • state institution
  • religious authority
  • religion-state relations

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Published Papers (12 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 312 KiB  
Article
Islam and the Politics of Secularism in Pakistan
by Zahid Shahab Ahmed
Religions 2023, 14(3), 416; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030416 - 19 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 11376
Abstract
In terms of their political and ideological success, Pakistani Islamists have had several ups and downs since Pakistan became the Islamic Republic in 1956. Islamists strive to safeguard the Islamic state’s status quo while simultaneously expanding the reach of Sharia. Despite insignificant electoral [...] Read more.
In terms of their political and ideological success, Pakistani Islamists have had several ups and downs since Pakistan became the Islamic Republic in 1956. Islamists strive to safeguard the Islamic state’s status quo while simultaneously expanding the reach of Sharia. Despite insignificant electoral victories, Islamists have largely been able to dictate national identity policies to civilian and military governments. A major hurdle to the promotion of pluralism in Pakistan is noticeable through persistent opposition to secularism by major political actors. Despite different political ideologies, major political parties refrain from promoting secularism in Pakistan; however, such views are more rigid in the case of Islamists. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to examine and compare the discourses of Islamists and other political parties in relation to Pakistan’s identity, reforms and anti-Westernism, religious minorities, and secularism. Based on the analysis, this paper argues that the views of Islamists and non-religious political parties are very similar regarding Islam and Pakistan’s identity, secularism, and minority rights in Pakistan. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Political Secularism and Religion)
13 pages, 276 KiB  
Article
Beyond Fixed Political Models of Religion–State Relations
by Azim Zahir
Religions 2023, 14(3), 384; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030384 - 13 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1668
Abstract
Some of the dominant academic approaches to Muslim politics continue to assume the centrality of Islam on the question religion’s relationship to the state and the possibility of successful democracy in Muslim-majority states. On the one hand, based on findings from large N-surveys, [...] Read more.
Some of the dominant academic approaches to Muslim politics continue to assume the centrality of Islam on the question religion’s relationship to the state and the possibility of successful democracy in Muslim-majority states. On the one hand, based on findings from large N-surveys, some scholars have argued that most Muslims in many Muslim-majority states desire a political ‘third model’ that is neither secular nor theocratic. Instead, they want democracy and a public role for shari’a and Islam. However, this literature does not fully explain what such a third model would mean for certain individual rights in practice. It also assumes a normative position that tends to favour one or another version of ‘Islamic’ democracy. On the other hand, some other scholars have argued that one or another form of a secular Muslim democracy is possible. Both views assume that the reinterpretation of religious resources is crucial to achieve the desired ends. This ‘reformist Islam approach’ to Muslim politics does not seriously consider the implications of servicing Islam, even in its more reformist forms, for political ends. Through a combination of theoretical and normative arguments and in-depth interviews conducted in the Maldives, this article argues that the plurality of viewpoints and underlying reasonings for those viewpoints among ordinary people suggest the necessity to move ‘beyond Islam’. As such, an alternative discursive democratisation approach that considers this plurality and takes discourses more neutrally without privileging religious discourses can be more capacious. Instead of fixating on a particular model of the religion–state relationship and a particular type of discourse (e.g., reformist Islamic), a discursive democratisation approach points to democratic possibilities and how the religion–politics and religion–state nexuses may be shaped and reshaped through discourse contestations within public spheres in Muslim-majority states such as the Maldives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Political Secularism and Religion)
12 pages, 541 KiB  
Article
Struggling with and against the Governance of Islam in Spain
by Johanna M. Lems and Ana I. Planet Contreras
Religions 2023, 14(3), 306; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030306 - 24 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2167
Abstract
The process of accommodation of Islam in Spain is based on the Constitution of 1978, which guarantees the freedom of religion. Regarding Islam, the Cooperation Agreement signed in 1992 between the State and the Islamic Commission of Spain brought with it a formal [...] Read more.
The process of accommodation of Islam in Spain is based on the Constitution of 1978, which guarantees the freedom of religion. Regarding Islam, the Cooperation Agreement signed in 1992 between the State and the Islamic Commission of Spain brought with it a formal recognition of the practice of the Islamic faith. Thirty years later, the sole interlocutor appointed by the State seems to be ineffective in the pursuance of compliance with Islamic religious rights. In various regions other actors have engaged in claims-making for rights that include, among others, the access to cemetery space for Islamic burials and Islamic religious education and halal food in publicly funded schools. This paper explores the governance of Islam and Muslims in Spain by presenting a case in which a number of grassroots organizations in the northern region of La Rioja have combined their efforts to achieve compliance with the religious rights they were granted decades ago. Through claims-making outside the institutionalized structure of interlocution with the State, they are contesting the external and internal top-down governance of Islam in Spain. Based on empirical data, we analyzed the nature of their claims, the varied ways of responding to specific practices of governance, as well as the spaces in which this claims-making takes place. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Political Secularism and Religion)
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15 pages, 270 KiB  
Article
Church Building as a Secular Endeavour: Three Cases from Eastern Germany
by Agnieszka Halemba
Religions 2023, 14(3), 287; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030287 - 21 Feb 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1695
Abstract
Political secularism can be defined as a kind of political philosophy that sees the secular state as setting the terms of encounter between the secular and the religious. However, religion and religious organisations are not necessarily seen as oppositional to the secular state; [...] Read more.
Political secularism can be defined as a kind of political philosophy that sees the secular state as setting the terms of encounter between the secular and the religious. However, religion and religious organisations are not necessarily seen as oppositional to the secular state; there can be myriad forms of coexistence between secular and religious authorities. The argument forwarded in this article is based on ethnographic research focussing on the presence and social significance of religious materiality in the region considered to be one of the most secularised worldwide—the north-eastern part of contemporary Germany. I investigate the strategies of actors socially recognised as either religious or secular towards each other, looking at how secular actors assign a place to religious symbols, materiality, theological concepts, organisations, and communities; on the other hand I investigate strategies that religious actors adopt in a context of political secularism. Even if political secularism presupposes supremacy of the secular state over religious actors and the right of the former to make legally binding decisions concerning the latter, those religious actors are not passive—they react to secular initiatives and they try to carve for themselves a space in a public sphere, while at the same time the secular or rather nonreligious actors mobilize religious elements for a variety of reasons. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Political Secularism and Religion)
17 pages, 329 KiB  
Article
The Pioneering Formulation of the Concepts of Secularity and Secularism in the Arab-Islamicate World(s): Butrus al-Bustani’s The Clarion of Syria
by Housamedden Darwish
Religions 2023, 14(3), 286; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030286 - 21 Feb 2023
Viewed by 2283
Abstract
This paper critically discusses the pioneering formulation of secularity and secularism in the Arab-Islamicate world(s) found in Butrus al-Bustani’s The Clarion of Syria (1860–1861). This discussion is conceptually based on the distinction between ‘secularity’ as an analytical concept, and ‘secularism’ as a normative [...] Read more.
This paper critically discusses the pioneering formulation of secularity and secularism in the Arab-Islamicate world(s) found in Butrus al-Bustani’s The Clarion of Syria (1860–1861). This discussion is conceptually based on the distinction between ‘secularity’ as an analytical concept, and ‘secularism’ as a normative and ideological concept. Here, secularity is understood to refer to (structural) distinctions, whether practical or theoretical or cognitive, between the religious and the non-religious. Secularism refers to the ideological promotion of such a differentiation and distinction between religion and, in particular, politics or the state. This paper provides a conceptual analysis of secularity, secularism, and secularization, highlighting the differences between them, as well as the epistemological and methodological requirements for drawing a distinction between them in modern and contemporary Arab thought. It also reflects on the linguistic and historical context, looking at the concepts of secularity and secularism in Arab thought prior to al-Bustani’s The Clarion of Syria. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Political Secularism and Religion)
13 pages, 266 KiB  
Article
Singapore’s Secularism and Its Pragmatic Approach to Religion
by Mohammad Alami Musa
Religions 2023, 14(2), 219; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14020219 - 6 Feb 2023
Viewed by 8559
Abstract
Singapore embraces a form of secularism that provides the state with the authority to unilaterally decide on where to draw the lines between religion, politics, and state. This paper presents examples that dominate Singapore’s approach to religion and governance. Given the centrality of [...] Read more.
Singapore embraces a form of secularism that provides the state with the authority to unilaterally decide on where to draw the lines between religion, politics, and state. This paper presents examples that dominate Singapore’s approach to religion and governance. Given the centrality of religion in the lives of Singaporeans, this article highlights how the state does not cast aside the social significance of religion but remains engaged with it. The model of secularism in Singapore affords the state the flexibility to easily switch between two broad types of secularism, namely a ‘soft secularism’, a religion-friendly variety, and a ‘hard secularism’, which the state employs as a tool for political control and management of society as it wrestles with existential challenges to ensure its continued survival. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Political Secularism and Religion)
24 pages, 3720 KiB  
Article
Secularism and Ethnic Minorities: Comparative Case Studies on Ethnic, Religious, and Political Cognitions in Pakistani-Controlled Kashmir, Central Russia, Romania, and Northern Scandinavia
by László Koppány Csáji
Religions 2023, 14(1), 117; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14010117 - 13 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3090
Abstract
According to my study, “political secularism” means the separation of political power from religious institutions, while “social secularism” is a theory and endeavor to eliminate religiosity from not only public but also private life, considering it an obsolete way of thinking. I examine [...] Read more.
According to my study, “political secularism” means the separation of political power from religious institutions, while “social secularism” is a theory and endeavor to eliminate religiosity from not only public but also private life, considering it an obsolete way of thinking. I examine four case studies based on my ethnological fieldwork in Hunza (in the Pakistani-controlled Kashmir), the Middle Ural (Russia), Transylvania (Romania), and Sápmi (northern Scandinavia). I outline and compare ethnic minorities (Hunzakuts, Tatars, Szeklers, Samis) according to their historical background, contemporary social environment, relation to the majority, their political endeavors, and the role of religion(s) among them. Based on my fieldwork notes, interviews, and sociological data, I analyze the similarities and differences of ethnic complexity, terminological confusions, problems of “lived religion,” and the impact of social and political secularism. Since their religiosity differs from the majorities’ ones, I found that secularism has a complex role and reception. Political secularism is essential for defending these minorities from assimilation, but most of these minorities reject social secularism since religion is part of their multifunctional ethnic discourse space. Religiosity is part of their survival strategy. Notwithstanding, ethnic minorities’ religious institutions participate in political activity and propagate their claims for self-governance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Political Secularism and Religion)
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13 pages, 660 KiB  
Article
Understanding Social Phenomena Linked to Religion: In Search of an Alternative Approach That Combines Science with Religious Insights
by Sergio García-Magariño, Oscar Prieto-Flores and Carmen Innerarity Grau
Religions 2023, 14(1), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14010068 - 3 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3985
Abstract
Some contemporary social phenomena, despite secularization, are still linked to religion. However, this same secularization seems to have accompanied a progressive process of religious illiteracy. Therefore, the capacity to address religious inspired issues is lower than the magnitude of the problems at work, [...] Read more.
Some contemporary social phenomena, despite secularization, are still linked to religion. However, this same secularization seems to have accompanied a progressive process of religious illiteracy. Therefore, the capacity to address religious inspired issues is lower than the magnitude of the problems at work, be violent right-wing movement and Islamist terrorism or ethical debates on the beginning and end of life, to name but a few. Hence, this paper aims to fulfil three goals: to revisit secularism and some liberal assumptions that might prevent a correct understanding of these phenomena, to assess some of the consequences of the critique of ideologies and to propose an alternative approach to address religious inspired social phenomena. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Political Secularism and Religion)
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10 pages, 381 KiB  
Article
A Critique of the Concept of Ḥākimiyya: Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd’s Approach
by Ali Akbar and Abdullah Saeed
Religions 2022, 13(11), 1100; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13111100 - 14 Nov 2022
Viewed by 1939
Abstract
This article seeks to demonstrate how the Egyptian scholar Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (d. 2010) challenges the concept of divine sovereignty (ḥākimiyya), or the rule of God, developed during the twentieth century, primarily by Sayyid Qutb and Abul Ala Mawdudi—a concept [...] Read more.
This article seeks to demonstrate how the Egyptian scholar Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (d. 2010) challenges the concept of divine sovereignty (ḥākimiyya), or the rule of God, developed during the twentieth century, primarily by Sayyid Qutb and Abul Ala Mawdudi—a concept that has inspired many Sunni Islamist movements. The article first explores key aspects of the concept of ḥākimiyya as presented by these two thinkers. Then, key components of Abu Zayd’s humanistic hermeneutics are explained briefly. The article argues that Abu Zayd uses this hermeneutic to challenge the concept of ḥākimiyya and the three main ideas associated with it: (1) the notion of divine sovereignty; (2) the associations between divine sovereignty, the Prophet, and the Qurʾān; and (3) the necessity of implementing Sharia. The article concludes that while challenging the concept of divine sovereignty, Abu Zayd argues for a political theory which seeks to de-politicize Islam—a theory which emphasizes that the state should take a neutral position toward the religious orientation of its citizens and the state law should not necessarily be derived from religious principles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Political Secularism and Religion)
20 pages, 360 KiB  
Article
Islamist Populist Nation-Building: Gradual, Ad Hoc Islamisation of the Secular Education System in Turkey
by Ihsan Yilmaz
Religions 2022, 13(9), 814; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13090814 - 31 Aug 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3181
Abstract
The founders of the secular Turkish Republic, the Kemalists used secular nationalist education to build a secular Turkish nation and to create their own version of modern pro-Western secular Turkish citizens. This paper argues that Turkey’s current ruling party, the AKP (Justice and [...] Read more.
The founders of the secular Turkish Republic, the Kemalists used secular nationalist education to build a secular Turkish nation and to create their own version of modern pro-Western secular Turkish citizens. This paper argues that Turkey’s current ruling party, the AKP (Justice and Development Party) has been using the same system of education to create its own desired citizens with Islamist Populist ideals. This has been done without changing the secular principles of the constitution and laws on national education since there are several constraints that would prevent AKP to have open and declared pro-Sharia changes to the law. Thus, unlike many other Islamists in the other parts of the world, the paper shows that the AKP has chosen to undermine the secularity of the system, constitution, and law in an ad hoc, gradual and undeclared fashion. The paper concludes by noting that no matter the change in political actors and their ideologies, education is monopolized by the state for political purposes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Political Secularism and Religion)
20 pages, 838 KiB  
Article
Religious Devotion to Political Secularism
by Naser Ghobadzadeh
Religions 2022, 13(8), 694; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13080694 - 28 Jul 2022
Viewed by 1890
Abstract
By investigating the formation of Twelver Shīʿī theology, this article seeks to show that, despite being political and despite its advocacy of pure theocracy, living in the shadow of a secular state is part of Shīʿī religious doctrine. It is argued that existential [...] Read more.
By investigating the formation of Twelver Shīʿī theology, this article seeks to show that, despite being political and despite its advocacy of pure theocracy, living in the shadow of a secular state is part of Shīʿī religious doctrine. It is argued that existential threats against Proto-Twelver Shīʿism during its formative centuries led to a messianic conception of the twelfth Imām, the only person whose direct leadership can enable a religiously legitimate state to be formed. Therefore, until his return—which is subject to the will of God—all rulers are usurpers and imposers on the right of the twelfth Imām. Shīʿī leaders are not allowed to seize the institution of government, and non-governmentalism is institutionalized as part of Shīʿī political theology. Instead of focusing on the characteristics of a legitimate ruler and how to form a legitimate government, the founding Shīʿī scholars were concerned with how to co-exist with a usurper. It will be demonstrated that these scholars had differing ideas about the scope and scale of engagement/disengagement with the institution of the state, but none of them discussed the possibility of forming a religiously legitimate government before the return of the twelfth Imām. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Political Secularism and Religion)
14 pages, 277 KiB  
Article
Ahmad Qābel, Religious Secularity and Velāyat-e Faqih in Iran
by Lloyd Ridgeon
Religions 2022, 13(5), 422; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13050422 - 6 May 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1928
Abstract
Religious secularity and Islam have not often been considered in the West as comfortable bedfellows, yet the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 questioned assumptions about the appropriateness of separate spheres for religion and politics. However, within a decade of the revolution, theoretical [...] Read more.
Religious secularity and Islam have not often been considered in the West as comfortable bedfellows, yet the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 questioned assumptions about the appropriateness of separate spheres for religion and politics. However, within a decade of the revolution, theoretical and intellectual shifts were visible in the Iranian seminaries, and alternative views about the doctrine of velāyat-e faqih (guardianship of the jurists) which twinned religion and politics together, were being discussed. Such shifts transformed the doctrine from one which had a divine mandate to one that in practice emanated from the people. This article focuses upon the ideas of a mid-ranking reformist seminarian, Ahmad Qābel (d. 2012), whose tight adherence to reason resulted in him ultimately rejecting velāyat-e faqih, and calling for a form of religious secularity in which the seminary remained divorced from state structures and institutions. For Qābel, this did not mean the creation of an irreligious society, but the establishment of a more open and pluralist one, in which religious differences could be voiced. Qābel’s short essay on velāyat-e faqih is utilised herein to outline the main arguments of those who have refuted the doctrine. Qābel’s complete rejection of velāyat-e faqih is important because it went much further than the view of his spiritual mentor, Ayatollah Montazeri, who sought reform of the idea. As such, it demonstrates that within the seminary there is much difference of opinion, although there are very few (such as Qābel) who have the courage to articulate their opposition to the “official” view. Qābel’s essay provides a straightforward entry-point into a complex topic, employing the kinds of rationalist argumentation that he learnt within the seminarian environment of Iran. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Political Secularism and Religion)
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