CONFLICT OF LIGHT SOCIETY AND RELIGION: FROM 11 SEPTEMBER OF NEW YORK TO THE BLACK FRIDAY OF PARIS

Abstract

The proposed article highlights the secular and religious conflict in the context of modern Western society in the concept of Jurgen Habermas and Daniele Hervieu-Leger. An assessment is given of the problem of the integration of Muslim communities in the French society of the late 20th century, and examples are given. Particular attention is paid to the crisis of secular regulation of religion in modern society. The German sociologist and philosopher Jurgen Habermas notes the complex intertwining of the secular and religious in the events and reactions of September 11, 2001. If the religious motivations of the actions and beliefs of terrorists that have made a lethal weapon civilian airliners with passengers, sending them to the symbol of the international global business system – the twin towers of the World Trade Center, leaves no doubt. All the more surprising was the reaction to this extraordinary event, which contained a significant religious component in the official events and reactions of the civil society. In this context, the opinion of the French sociologist Daniele Hervieu-Leger is close, which analyzes the problem of the regulation of religious organizations by secular French society and sees the reason for its dysfunction in the disparity between the model of “religious organization” adopted by the secular state. Islam is the first religion in France 1990–2000, which does not fit in with the traditional for French domestic politics, and the problems of interaction of believers in a secular society (administration, school, etc.) are only growing. In the fifteen years that have elapsed since the time when Jurgen Habermas delivered his speech, the situation, on the one hand, has changed and worsened, on the other, fully confirms the conclusions made by the philosopher. In light of the problem of “invasion” of refugees, the predicted, but occurred with the complete unpreparedness of the French authorities and law enforcement agencies to react to it promptly, the terrorist act of “Black Friday November 13, 2015” – once again demonstrated the clash of religious and secular discourses. The European symbolism of the “bad name” of Friday the thirteenth, which does not have direct symbolism in the Muslim and Jewish world, used by the developers of the terrorist act, was designed to fuel panic in the European thinking ordinary citizen – a potential victim of the terrorist attack. The material is provided useful for comparative studies of the religious situation in Russia and Western Europe.