Secular Forms Research Articles

Dying for What? Secular Transformations of Martyrdom

This article studies different forms of martyrdom in secular contexts, tracing their roots back to Western European Christian traditions. The article argues that distinct trajectories of martyrdom have emerged: (a) the more passive martyr, who refuses to acknowledge sovereign power and dies for a transcendent truth, and (b) the more assertive martyr, who sacrifices their life fighting for God and the sovereign. In secular contexts, this assertive martyr fights for secular ideals such as ‘freedom’ or ‘nation’ and represents the symbolic body of the sovereign. The historical distinction between divine truth and state falsehood has been turned into differentiations between democratic rule and threats like terrorism. To further study this transition, this article studies discourses following the deaths of Pim Fortuyn and Jaques Hamel, as both were strongly labeled as martyrs. This results in the final part of the article that examines the cult of commemoration surrounding soldiers in the US and the Netherlands. It argues that the assertive martyr has reached its fully secularized form in these contexts. The transcendent imagery of state sovereignty is evident in the sacrificial discourses around fallen soldiers. At this point of death, the state’s power is reinforced as a transcendent norm and reveals itself in those who ‘sacrifice’ their lives for the freedom of many.

Comparative Study of Essential Religious Practices under Secularism in India, France, and the USA

This paper compares and contrasts the idea of fundamental religious practices under secularism in France, India, and the US, examining how each nation strikes a balance between religious liberty and official impartiality. A positive secularism approach exists in India, where the state interacts with religion to guarantee equality while courts decide what "essential religious practices" are worthy of constitutional protection. France adheres to a more rigorous form of secularism called laïcité, which emphasizes a clear separation between religion and state, frequently limiting religious expression in the sake of maintaining governmental neutrality, particularly with regard to Islam. Under the First Amendment, the United States employs a separationist approach that guarantees both the free exercise of religion and its non-establishment. However, there are obstacles in balancing religious liberty with public policy and anti-discrimination laws. The study comes to the conclusion that although all three nations strive to maintain secularism, there are differences in how different historical, cultural, and legal settings are interpreted, making it difficult to accommodate religious practices.

AFTER ATHEISM: A SOCIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION

The fall of communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the processes of nation building in five Central Asian states have changed the status of religion in these post-soviet countries. The religious freedom is recognized as one of the fundamental humans right in the Republic of Kazakhstan. This essay aims to highlight a unique form of secularism in Kazakhstan, one that is based on the low level of everyday religiosity and evidence that the eventual expansion of Islam in the physical and spiritual spaces does not negate the influence of established secular cultural attitudes. This study examines Kazakh religiosity through a comparative examination of World Values Survey data from 2011 and 2018. The examination of the features of religiosity and the proposition of the distinction between a believer and a religious person define this paper’s subject. The empirical data indicates that Islam has the capacity to transcend moral norms, despite the fact that the majority of Kazakhs' national attitude does not align with Islamic religion in the twenty-first century. Finally, the study draws the conclusion that since most people in post-atheistic Kazakhstan continue to keep secular attitudes, state policy must preserve the secular character of the state while adjusting state-confessional relations to changing Kazakhstan's religious landscape.

Philosophical Interpretation of “God Is Dead”: Retreat, Disruption, and Judgment

Nietzsche’s declaration of “God is dead” signifies not only the collapse of classical metaphysical systems in philosophy but also shifts in the psychological structure of individuals and society after the secularization of Christianity. A philosophical reading is crucial to understanding its whole process and real-world ramifications. We first delineate the fundamental meanings and historical context of the term “God” or “Absolute” and expound upon the mechanisms of spiritual functioning under it, highlighting the significance of God, or the Absolute, as the highest object of spiritual operation. Next, we analyze the death of God, i.e., the retreat of the Absolute, in the realms of reason and faith, exploring its causes and repercussions, particularly the disruption of the operation of the spirit. Then, building upon this analysis, we conclude that the metaphysical life supported by Kant and Hegel faces failure in the present age, because the Absolute has ceased to be the foundation. The roots of spiritual operation are no longer secure; the return to the Absolute points to emptiness, and exit without return creates disruptive division between subject and substance, essence and phenomenon, reason and reality. Meanwhile, the departure of God and the development of capitalism are intertwined, calling for a resurgence in the form of secularization, heralding a renewed human judgment of God.

Nexus between Faith and Therapeutic Interventions in the Rehabilitation of Offenders: A Case Study of the Muslim Minority Community in South Africa

Throughout history, religion has been known to play an important role in regulating behaviour contributing to social order. It provides a moral foundation based on religious values and norms that prescribe and proscribe behaviour. Despite such a role, religion has been subjected to secular forms of social control through enacted rules for appropriate behaviour in society. Deviations from such rules are subject to prosecution and, in many instances, incarceration in correctional centres. In an attempt to rehabilitate the offender, both faith-based and secular therapeutic programmes are important aspects of rehabilitation. While this article briefly addresses secular intervention programmes, it focuses on how faith-based approaches can support and collaborate with other helping professions in promoting prosocial behaviour of offenders. The study draws on the experiences of other minority Muslims communities in the northern hemisphere, who have engaged with faith-based programmes in correctional centres. The case of the South Africa Muslim chaplaincy is presented to examine its nature, scope, and programmes offered to offenders in South African correctional centres. The study concludes that there is a space for faith-based approaches to be interfaced with and integrated in therapeutic programmes.

Postcolonial imaginaries in the West: secular state-building and cultural defence in Québec since the Quiet Revolution

ABSTRACT This article addresses an understudied aspect of public secularity in the Canadian province of Québec, namely how its self-perception as a postcolonial nation vis-à-vis English Canada has shaped its secular state-building since the 1960s. In so doing, it shows that postcolonial legacies and imaginaries, a key theme for studying secularity in non-Western cases, may also prove productive for the North Atlantic world. The historical account proceeds in two parts. In the first period (1960-1980), the Quiet Revolution’s disestablishment of Catholicism was intimately linked to its anticolonial spirit, where the Church was identified as impeding development and self-determination. In the subsequent period (post-1980), the consolidation of Canadian multiculturalism and the rising accommodation demands of minority religions led to a contradictory form of ‘cultural defence’: an increased emphasis on Catholic heritage as well as on laïcité (state secularism), both deployed to underscore Québec’s unique society in distinction from English Canada. Exhibiting the consistent yet evolving effect of (post)colonial identity and memory in a North Atlantic example, and nuancing the concept of cultural defence by identifying its religious and secular forms, the article contributes to building a common vocabulary for the comparative analysis of secularities in Western and non-Western contexts.

Between West and Non-West - Turkey at a Crossroad of Geostrategic Choice

Historically, the Republic of Turkey is one of the few states in the Middle East, in a civilizational sense, located between East and West. As time has passed since a number of unsuccessful attempts to integrate into Western institutions and with the beginning of geopolitical changes in the international arena, Turkey has made a “pivot to the East”. Considering the increasing role of the Non-West within the framework of the formation of a polycentric system of international relations, the study of Turkey as one of the key centers of forces of our time, as well as the identification of its characteristics, eastern and western features, is of particular relevance. The purpose of the study is to examine the civilizational characteristics of modern Turkey. By applying civilizational approach, Turkey’s position of a “middle state” was revealed, which has both Western and Eastern features, but is increasingly gravitating towards the non-Western world. At the same time, amid the ideology of “neo-Ottomanism” implemented by the current leadership and the increasing role of the ideological and value factor, Western features are gradually fading away, remaining only in the form of official secularism and stable ties with Western institutions. While the Turkish orientality, along with unofficial islamization, have a clearer image. Turkey develops in progressive-regressive cycles, where the Western cycle is replaced by the Eastern and vice versa. However, the West is systematically ceasing to be a symbol of progress. The authors conclude that the non-Western path of development is the most promising for modern Turkey, however, with the condition that eastern development will not be moderated by Islamist circles and supporters of political Islam.

Sociology and the Vagrant: Beggars, Welfare and Tradition in Writing about the New Citizen in 1950s India

Exploring the work of M.S. Gore and the Delhi School of Social Work on Delhi’s ‘Beggar Problem’, which was published in 1959, this article shows how the ostensibly ‘secular’ solutions to the phenomenon were premised on a series of assumptions about caste-oriented mores and traditions of religious gifting, suggesting normative categories of citizenship based around these forms of identity. The article explores, in depth, the sociological approaches of Gore’s (and others’) study of beggary and argues that the emergent social policy on vagrancy connected to emergent concepts of social citizenship and rights to welfare. In the body of the reformable beggar receiving indiscriminate religious charity lay one of the core symbols of India’s drive towards a modern citizenry. This position on the sociology of beggars was also the product of two larger processes at work in mid twentieth century social sciences: firstly, the development of interdisciplinary approaches by anthropologists and sociologists as they came to terms with new research challenges in democratic India, and secondly, the move to consider new forms of direct social policy applications for research, via government sponsorship. Using Gore’s study, the article looks in detail at researchers’ concerns with labour productivity, religious charity and the possible secular forms of beggar rehabilitation. But ultimately, the School of Social Work’s study, in its apparent critique of draconian colonial controls, did not overturn the continued application of Indian anti-beggary laws in subsequent decades. This article argues that this was a product too of its configuration of social welfare as an outcome of longer-term societal change rather than state policy.

The Power of Gospel in the Black Arts Movement: A Conversation with Claudrena N. Harold

ABSTRACT This interview focuses on gospel music, which is a foundational element of soul music. Combining insights, at times, from her family background, but mostly from research in her book When Sunday Comes: Gospel Music in the Soul and Hip Hop Eras (2020), which borrows its title from Donald Lawrence and the Tri-City Singers hit recording “When Sunday Comes” (1995), Claudrena N. Harold offers an historian’s perspective on gospel music in the late 1960s. Harold discusses gospel artists who appear in Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s film Summer of Soul, contextualizes gospel artists in Questlove’s film within the history of gospel music itself, and draws connections between sacred and secular forms of Black music, that is, gospel, soul, and funk. Of particular significance, Harold argues that gospel music was part of the Black Arts Movement. Harold therefore offers a unique perspective on gospel, Summer of Soul, and the Black Arts Movement.

Nalar Sufisme dalam Pengarustamaan Moderasi Beragama di Indonesia

The mainstreaming of religious moderation in Indonesian is not welcomed positively by all elements of society. This is because there are some views that consider the mainstreaming of religious moderation as a form of liberalization or secularization of religion in state life. Through a normative-philosophical approach, this qualitative study aims to identify and explore the content of Sufism values on the four indicators of religious moderation formulated by the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia. Data collection of this study through documentation. Data analysis includes the stages of reduction, presentation, and verification. The results of this study show the dimensions of Sufism values in indicators of religious moderation in Indonesia, including the value of mahabbah in indicators of tolerance and anti-radicalism, namely in the formation of Islamic religion full of compassion, love, and peace. Then, the value of itsar on the indicator of national commitment, namely in the formation of Islamic religion that maintains mutual benefit for the integration of social life. Furthermore, the value of futuwwah on indicators accommodating to local culture, namely in the formation of Islamic religion that is fair and non-discriminatory against cultural plurality. The theoretical implications of this study emphasize that there is a meeting point related to the manifestation of the value of Sufism teachings with indicators of religious moderation in Indonesia. The limitation of this study is that it has not examined the program of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia in socializing the integration of Sufism values with various indicators of religious moderation that it formulated.

How secular and religiously free are Europe’s “secular” states?

This study uses data from the Religion and State (RAS) project to examine the extent to which 43 European states are, in fact, secular and religiously free. I find that these European states engage in substantial levels of support for religion, regulation, restriction, and control (RRC) of the majority religion, and government-based discrimination (GRD) against religious minorities. This is true of both countries in Europe with official religions and those which declare separation of religion and state (SRAS) in their constitutions. This demonstrates a distinctly European pattern of state-religion relations that is influenced in no small part by anti-religious forms of secularism.

A modern theodicy: John Rawls and ‘The Law of Peoples’

John Rawls’ The Law of Peoples has typically been read as an intervention in the field of ‘global justice’. In this paper, I offer a different and widely overlooked interpretation. I argue that The Law of Peoples is a secular theodicy. Rawls wants to show that the 'great evils' of history do not condemn humankind by using a secularised form of moral faith to search for signs that the social world allows for the possibility of perfect justice. There are, I show, striking homologies between this argument and the Christian theodicy that Rawls wrote in 1942, A Brief Inquiry into the Meaning of Sin and Faith. Perhaps more significantly, I draw out how there is, as Rawls himself appears to acknowledge, an intimate relationship between this redemptive project and Rawls' idealistic and moralistic approach to political philosophy.

Failed secular revolutions: religious belief, competition, and extremism

All advanced economies have undergone secular revolutions in which religious belief and institutions have been subordinated to secular forms of authority. There are, however, numerous examples of failed secular transitions. To understand these failures, we present a religious club model with endogenous entry and cultural transmission of religious beliefs. A spike in the demand for religious belief, due for example to a negative economic shock, induces a new and more extreme organization to enter the religious market and exploit the dissatisfaction of highly religious types with the religious incumbent. The effect is larger where institutional secularization is more advanced, for example where the religious establishment has moderated itself or has been moderated by the political authority. The greater the moderation of the religious incumbent, the more extreme is the position chosen by the religious entrant, and the larger is the rise in religious participation. Hence, unanticipated shifts in religious demand can lead to the emergence of new and more extreme religious organizations and reverse previous trends toward secularization. Our model sheds light on the causes and consequences of failed secular revolutions and religious revivals in Latin America and Egypt.

Two Models of Political Secularism and Religious Freedom in Italy and Croatia: Findings from a Survey among Youth

Interest in political secularism is growing, due to its proven relevant role in affecting people’s political behaviours and attitudes toward human rights. However, until now, only a few studies have analysed its influence on religious freedom and those which exist do so mostly from a governmental-policy perspective. Drawing upon the sociology of religious freedom, this article seeks to address this gap. Comparing two Catholic EU countries, Italy and Croatia, and adopting an empirical perspective, it aims to understand whether the endorsement of political secularism enhances or limits support for religious freedom. More specifically, the study draws a key distinction between two models of secularism, ‘institutional’ and ‘ideological’, whose impacts on different aspects of religious freedom are assessed. In doing so, this research presents the results of a cross-national survey on Social Perception of Religious Freedom (SPRF) that was carried out among university students in Italy (=714) and Croatia (=603). The results show the strong positive influence of moderate forms of political secularism in shaping a positive culture of religious freedom. At the same time, they validate the hypothesis that it is necessary to consider political secularism’s multiple facets to fully understand its influence on support for religious freedom in different countries.

Freedom of Religion and Secularism: India and France - A Comparative Study

Secularism, as a guiding principle in the governance of nations, manifests differently in diverse cultural and historical contexts. This abstract provides a comparative overview of secularism in India and France, shedding light on their distinctive approaches and challenges. In India, secularism is enshrined in its Constitution, emphasizing religious neutrality and the coexistence of diverse faiths. The Indian model of secularism leans towards a policy of "equal respect for all religions," ensuring the government's non-interference in religious matters. However, this approach has faced criticism for its perceived appeasement of religious groups and communal tensions. On the other hand, France boasts a staunch form of secularism known as laïcité. Rooted in the French Revolution, laïcité separates religion and state with absolute rigor. Public institutions, including schools, are strictly secular, prohibiting religious symbols and practices. While laïcité aims to protect individual liberties and maintain social cohesion, it has been critiqued for potential discrimination against religious minorities, particularly Muslims. This aspect is under constant attack in India thus needs careful consideration. The paper shall be discussing this aspect in detail and provide a probable solution.

Play, Defiance and Imagination As Forms Of Knowledge Production : Examining Bidesiya As Folk Theatre and Its Pedagogical Implications in Classrooms Of Literature

India houses a number of folk theatrical forms that are simple and closer to the rural milieu. After the decline of Sanskrit classical drama in India, from the 14th to the 19th century, folk theatre emerged in myriads of rural languages. These theatrical forms can be categorised under two broad genres, viz., "Ritual Theatre" that was religious in nature, and the "Theatre of Entertainment," which was more secular in mood. One such example of the secular form is Bidesiya, the dynamic and popular theatre of Bihar. Bidesiya, like the name suggests, revolves around the "bides" / "pardes," i. e., foreign land / homeland dichotomy. Bidesiya emerged and was given shape by Bhikhari Thakur, the highly-acclaimed poet, playwright, and actor, and aimed at disseminating some kind of social message through the plays. Bidesiya also makes use of a plethora of folk songs that are rooted in Bihar's soil, and these plays were primarily performed by actors belonging to lower-caste communities. The most crucial aspect of Bidesiya is that this folk theatrical form is fundamentally radical and fluid in terms of how it deals with gender. Bidesiya showcases Launda naach — or the dance native to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar that is performed by female impersonators — as a powerful theatrical technique. The present paper seeks to scrutinise Bidesiya as a gender-fluid folk theatrical form of India, and further explores the manner in which Bidesiya problematises the essentialist notion of fixed gender identity. The paper, therefore, begins with an elaborate discussion on the origin of Bidesiya, and moves on to study its various aspects, including the structure of the plays and the performers' troupes, the "men's" and "women's" folk songs which are associated with the genre, and the underpinnings of the staged performances. The paper then investigates the obfuscation of gender by the actors, visible in Launda Naach — the central element of Bidesiya plays — and the presentation of the songs, written from feminine perspective, by men. The concluding section of the paper highlights the pedagogical implications of Bidesiya and its relevance in classrooms, with a special emphasis on how gender is revealed as performative in the plays. Introducing Bidesiya in classroom education resists didacticism by promoting hands-on learning, creates a space for the students to locate themselves within the broad spectrum of gender identities, and also indulges imaginative voyages, as this paper will show.

‘A Walking Study in Demonology’: Postfeminism and Popular Misogyny in Jennifer’s Body (2009)

This article analyses the 2009 horror-comedy directed by Karyn Kusama, Jennifer’s Body. I describe how this female-centred horror film critiques the postfeminist or neoliberal feminine subject from an angle that aligns most comfortably with antifeminist sentiments and arguments from the centre-right and right. I discuss how a gendered neoliberal discourse of individualism, and the idea that the individual must be ultimately bear responsibility for their own biography, renders the titular character as an illegible subject of sexualised violence. I argue that the film naturalises threats of sexual violence, attributes blame to the violated female body, and renders her illegible as a victim or as person worthy of sympathy and support. I demonstrate how the film is prescient of secular forms of exclusion, specifically popular misogyny and conforms to some of popular misogyny’s circulated myths and philosophies regarding female sexuality.

Religious education in a secular state system

The secular model in the Federal Republic of Germany is considered a model regulated by law in a manner particularly favourable for cooperation between state and religious communities. Religious communities act as legally recognised institutions that enjoy the maximum degree of freedom as far as their activities and tasks are concerned. That also includes the shaping of religious education represented in state-run educational institutions, whose organisation and implementation is, however, the responsibility of religious communities. For those Muslims living in Germany, this creates the opportunity to reflect on answers to such a form of secularism and, as a consequence thereof, to consider educational reforms and new concepts of religious education.

‘PLAY AND PLAYING’- CROSS-READING THE EAST-COAST BAJAU’S RITUAL PERFORMANCES AS A TRADITIONAL THEATER PERFORMANCE

The East-Coast Bajau ethnic group is clustered into the Bajau Laut ethnic division. Having a sea centered belief, the spirits of ancestor (Keombo’an) and the spirits of nature - these formerly pagan ethnic groups have achieved a syncretism of beliefs since the emergence of Islam. These changes in beliefs have been a factor in the occurrence of liminal processes; in their practice and beliefs of the sacred traditional healing ritual performances to the more secular form of traditional theater. The terms of 'play and playing' is a familiar term and a common practice of the traditional theater performances in which instead of acting, the performers play the role in accordance with its spontaneous and improvisational features. The playing skills of the traditional theater players (instead of performers) are always tested with their ability to develop performances based only on a given storyline. The elements of ‘play and playing’ are also an important part to the performance structure of the Bajau Laut’s healing ritual, most of which consist of secular elements in the ritual performances. The ‘play and playing’ element in the ritual performance is seen as the aesthetic potential of the Sabah’s indigenous traditional theater. This paper aims to synthesize the liminal performance of the Bajau’s traditional ritual as a traditional theater performance text. Through the cross-reading towards ‘Victor Turner’s-ritual theory’ and ‘Richard Schechner-performance theory’, the discourse analysis on the elements of ‘play and playing’ was carried out to obtain and to unfold the traditional theatrical features of the Bajau.

From separation between state and religion to religion-freeing state: the changing faces of secularism in Turkey

From the very beginning, the establishment of modern Turkey adhered to thesecularisation process, namely to separate the state from religious influence.Although religion has been marginalised, Islam remained a major societal force inTurkey. This scenario raises some questions: What is the idea of Turkish secularism?How can religion possess influence in the context of Turkey as a secular state?What is the form and orientation of secularism in Turkey? Therefore, this studyaims to answer these questions by scrutinising the idea, history, and orientation ofsecularism in Turkey. To fulfil this objective, we scrutinised documents and previousstudies related to Turkish secularism. Then, the idea of Turkish secularism was critically and chronologically analysed from the early time it was implemented upto the present time to assume its orientation. In the early time, Turkish secularismdid not solely separate the state from religion, but perceived that the state shouldcontrol religion as well. Its assertive nature has forced the emergence of a moreliberal version of secularism, which treats the idea of separation between the state and religion according to the notion of democracy, and hence, freed religion from the strict, tutelary state. Secularism in Turkey under the present regime is differentfrom before, as religious (Islamic) manifestation is increasingly visible in publicspaces even though the state remains secular. We argue that the present Turkishsecularism can become a “model” for other Muslim countries that are still dealingwith the conflict regarding the religion-state relationship.