Religion and secularity as supersessionist categories

Abstract

This article argues that the Christian ambivalence towards the Jews throughout history lies at the heart of the difficulties liberal societies are having today in accommodating religious diversity, but also more broadly, in discussing issues pertaining to religion and secularity in a nuanced way. After a brief summary of the characteristics of Christian supersessionism, the article first explores the modern concept of religion as a product of Protestant Christianity and thus as a category that inherently privileges a Christian perspective. Although the specific associations to Christians versus Jews have become less pronounced, the inherited dichotomies (archaic/enlightened, material/spiritual, particular/universal, etc.) live on and continue to shape attitudes towards what is perceived as more and less desirable forms of religion in contemporary Western societies – as mirrored in the widespread political rhetoric claiming that Islam is not ‘compatible’ with Western culture. However, to understand the full dimensions of the mechanisms guiding the public discourse on religion post-9/11, it is important also to recognize the extent to which not only the modern concept of religion but also of secularity is based on a supersessionary logic. Hence the second part of the article explores how the religious and the secular today jointly serve to uphold a hierarchical cultural order, where certain practices and values gain the upper hand by being associated with terms such as ‘rational’, ‘progressive’ or ‘Human Rights’, while other practices and values are framed as incompatible with these terms.