Secularism and religious literacy

Abstract

The lack of knowledge of the signposts – religious illiteracy – renders a phenomena illegible, transforming migrants into potential terrorists and ‘radical’ faith into an excess to be feared. In 2007, Charles Taylor’s milestone work, A Secular Age, marked the beginning of a new reflection on secularization. In Taylor’s philosophical perspective, secularism is no longer a goal achieved through human progress, nor is it the only refuge of reason where human rights and globalization can leave aside national, cultural or religious boundaries. The ways in which the religious and the secular not only imagine themselves but also take on actual form through norms, customs, recognized rights, denied protections, narrated stories and recollected memories have the power to determine the degree to which religions may take part in public discourse. Educational systems, the mass media and public actors play a pivotal role in the construction of knowledge and of what we call religious literacy.