Secular State Research Articles

An Idea of a Secular State through Its Traits in Context of India

Any state in this world is called a happy and a peaceful state if it is a secular state. Secular state is a community where differences of things like religion, sect, clan, caste, belief and class are not taken into consideration. Because these things underestimate the human existence and divide people in unacceptable ways if they are categorised. When people give less importance to such things or treat these things respectfully, they lead a better life full of peace, compassion, empathy, sympathy and understanding. A state where people happily reside together despite having different backgrounds can be called a secular state. Any state always operates at the hands of people through a social machinery calles politics. Politics can be responsible for upliftment as well as deterioration of a state. When it is used on the basis of religion and things like it, a state gets limited to certain aspects and experiences less flourishment. But a state where governments equal importance to all religions and other such things, it emerges as an ideal abode of humanity. The idea of a secular state and its traits can be understood through this article. India is lately experiencing religious intolerance and deterioration of human and moral values. There have been a significant rise in instances involving communal violence, inhuman activities and other such things done on the basis of caste, class and religion. So it is very much mandatory to throw light on the idea of a secular state and get to know its traits.

The Heralds of the Gospel: Catholic anti-modernity as new right utopia in Brazil

ABSTRACT The ‘Heralds of the Gospel’ are a Brazilian ultra-Catholic group with a long history of far-right lobbying and activism. Recognized in 2001 by the Vatican as ‘International Private Association of Christ’s Faithfull’, they are also ‘of Pontifical right’ and since 2005 allowed to ordinate their own priests. As ”soldiers of Christ” they are inspired by the Templars and pursue a utopian mission to subvert, transform and ultimately overturn the modern, secular state through their apostolate. The Heralds have also created an international education network and media imperium, underpinned by a robust business model, and are starting to reach out to the US and Europe. The article argues that this kind of exotic, Catholic far-right utopianism matters if we are to understand the diversity of the global new right today, in particular because the Brazilian tradition, which the Heralds refer to, anticipated some of the by now recurrent elements of this strand of the right such as metapolitics and antimodernism. The article explores the century long (neo)integrist tradition that the Heralds grow out of and through their own publications, PR and leaked evidence, show how this tradition is brought to life in the 21st century as communitarian practices and material artifacts.

Religious citizens, secular states: why do states in sub-Saharan Africa provide minimal support to religion?

Religious citizens, secular states: why do states in sub-Saharan Africa provide minimal support to religion?

Mosque Construction as Nation-Building: The case of Turkey

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the question of mosque construction and its interrelationship vis-à-vis nation-building in contemporary Turkey. The dynamics of a secular state ruling over a conservative society have always been conflictual in republican Turkey, and this ever since the modern state began initiating a number of radical secular reforms in the 1920s and the 1930s. Among those reforms, disruptive in a previously conservative society, were the dissolution of the caliphate and dismemberment of religious institutions, coupled with widespread Westernizing policies including the adoption of Western sartorial habits, emphasis on science and technology, and changing the alphabet from the traditional Arabic to the current modern (romanized) Turkish script. On the other hand, the advent of democracy and changeover of government in 1950 brought with it the emergence of a renewed religious discourse and a desire for more mosque construction in order to accentuate the Islamic facet of Turkish culture. Therefore, the religious dimension of Turkish identity has increasingly been buttressed by mosque construction by right-wing governments, reaching its zenith with the current Justice and Development Party (JDP) government (beginning in 2002). Coupled with the emergence of an illiberal democracy bolstered by Turkish populism, this article proposes to analyze the linkage between mosque construction and the building of an Islamic conservative Turkish nation contrasting the secular Turkish identity of the ancien régime.

Sweden: multiculturalism and specifics of religious freedom’s realization in secular state

Sweden has a long history of being a monoconfessional state. However, in the 20th – 21st centuries the composition of Swedish society has changed, leading the country into a crisis caused by the policy of ignoring the needs of ethnic and religious minorities. In recent years, multidisciplinary research works have been focused on finding a ground of the current social and political destabilization in this country caused by on-going religion- and ethic-based conflicts between its nationals. Some of them suggest that Sweden is not a secular but a clerical state, others – that there is a gap in its legislation.The author of the article offers another point of view, according to which, the Swedish law enforcer distorts the constitutional and legal meaning of the provisions on religious freedom that occurs under the influence of historical specifics of the development of Swedish law, hence the lack of uniformity in law enforcement practice for the implementation of this fundamental human right.The subject of the study is the norms of the legislation of Sweden, including historical legal acts and documents, as well as relevant court cases and key findings of domestic and foreign research works.Objective: to prove the influence of historical specifics of the development of Swedish law on the current legal enforcement practice under which the distortion of the constitutional and legal meaning by the Swedish law enforcement takes place.Methods: the author employs a combination of general (content-analysis, case-study, formal logical method, generalization etc.) and private scientific methods (formal judicial methods, concrete sociological method of studying state and legal phenomena etc).Results: The obtained results demonstrate that Swedish law enforcement has been given an opportunity for a broad interpretation of constitutional norms. The author identifies the distortion of the constitutional and legal meaning in provisions that provide a special status to followers of the evangelical faith, on the one hand, and a partial ban on religious and ethnic minorities from expressing their confessional affiliation, on the other. The analysis of specifics of the development of Swedish law demonstrates the possible ground of the existing constitutional inequality is the historically discriminatory nature of the legislation in relation to followers of other religious cults. These results can be used as a foundation for future research in the field of realization of religious liberty in multicultural states.

Transformation of the Model of State-Confessional Relations in Belarus at the End of the 19th Century – 1917

Introduction. The article describes the process of transformation of state-confessional relations in the Belarusian lands as part of the Russian Empire from the end of the 19th century to 1917. Methods and materials. To obtain verified results, the study is based on the analysis of administrative and regulatory materials, office documents of the Mogilev diocese, and domestic and foreign historiography. The study was conducted using an interdisciplinary methodology: historical-typological and historical-comparative methods, formal-legal, and the method of interpretation of legal norms were used. In addition, to identify the features of the socio-political discourse on the issue of changes in state-church relations, discourse analysis was used. Analysis. The historically established model of a religious state with the dominance of the Orthodox Church in the Russian Empire was established in the 19th century on Belarusian lands with a different confessional structure and traditions of state-church relations. The author noted a tendency to transition from the model of a religious state to the model of a secular state – in the period March – October 1917, the Provisional Government tried to establish an identification model of a secular state. This model corresponded to the religious system of Belarusian society with the dominance of the Orthodox Church and the expectations of socio-political actors and also ensured the implementation of religious rights and freedoms of adherents of other religions but was not fully implemented due to the transfer of power to the Bolshevik Party in October 1917. Results. Transformational processes in state-confessional relations in the Belarusian provinces took place in the direction from the model of a religious state to the model of a secular state as accompanying changes in the political system of the Russian Empire. Internal factors in the development of the state-confessional system of the Russian Empire, as well as the peculiarities of the confessional environment of the Belarusian provinces (diversification of the religious structure of Belarusian society, limitation of the rights of traditional actors rooted in the Belarusian religious environment, confessional dualism “Orthodoxy-Catholicism”), did not play a significant role in the transformation processes.

Evolving heritage in modern China: transforming religious sites for preservation and development

This paper explores the intricate interactions between heritage and religion in modern China, as well as the broader social and political implications of these interactions in relation to national heritage policies and local developmental practices. By conducting a longitudinal analysis of the social history of Baosheng Temple, this research traces its transformations over the past hundred years from a historically religious site to a local built heritage dedicated to preserving and displaying religious relics. This transformation highlights a shift in the role of religious relics from carriers of practice and thought to focal points for heritage preservation, aimed at supporting nation-building and, more recently, promoting local development through the tourism industry. These changes reflect continuous local responses to broader social transformations towards a modern nation-state as well as the influence of Western ideas and practices. The findings of this research illuminate the evolving values associated with religious heritage and the corresponding implications for Chinese modernity within a secular state context.

Accounting for <i>Hijab</i>: Interrogating the Post-Secular

This article questions the idea of the ‘post-secular’ as a category for understanding Indian women’s experience of religion as an existential practice in neocolonised capitalist patriarchy. The majoritarian state’s manipulation of an identitarian regime of signification to use and control women’s lives is located in a plural, democratic society that is currently riven by the violent politics of conflicting religious and secular constructions of <i>hijab</i>, a head covering worn by Muslim women. From an engaged ideological perspective that seeks radical transformation, feminist struggle includes the right to practice and profess one’s faith, against a majoritarian norm that bulldozes difference and imposes its prescriptions as ideal. This article aims to show, from a feminist perspective, the manipulation of significatory practices in India, linking women’s ‘dress’ with progress to essentialise and politicise identity. It questions whether redressal against violence wrought on women by religious fundamentalism can be found in a secular state policy, based on the norm of equality of difference. Feminist practice would actively use the guarantees given to the citizen by a pluralist secular constitution to challenge the violence of interlinked discriminations, necessary for the survival of a plural society in which diversities co-exist.

The significance and role of the Local Council of 1917–1918 for the development of the Institute of Higher Church Administration

This article is devoted to the Local Council held in Russia in 1917–1918. The article describes the results of the Council's work that influenced the subsequent development of the Church and remain relevant today. Special attention is paid to the administrative management of the Church and the powers of its authorities. In general, the system of balancing the powers of church administrative institutions, which was adopted at the Council, is still in force today. In the context of socio-political instability in the country (in the context of two revolutions in 1917), the adoption of a course for the development of Russia as a secular state, the decisions of this Local Council are timely and constructive. The restoration of the patriarchate is of particular importance, and the authority of the Patriarch is not absolute, moreover, if necessary, the Bishops' Council has the right to judge the Patriarch. The main authority in the Russian Orthodox Church is the Local Council.

Personhood Begins at Birth: The Rational Foundation for Abortion Policyin a Secular State.

The struggle over legal abortion access in the United States is a religious controversy, not a scientific debate. Religious activists who believe that meaningful individual life (i.e., "personhood") begins at a specific "moment-of-conception" are attempting to pass laws that force this view upon all pregnant persons, irrespective of their medical circumstances, individual preferences, or personal religious beliefs. This paper argues that such actions promote a constitutionally prohibited "establishment of religion." Abortion policy in a secular state must be based upon scientifically accurate biology, not unprovable theological presuppositions. The scientific facts regarding human pregnancy do not support the position that personhood begins with fertilization-at which point a pregnancy does not yet even exist. Abortion policy should regard the embryo/fetus as part of the pregnant individual's body until delivery. We argue that individual "personhood" only begins when the latent potentialities of the fetal nervous system are actualized in the newborn after delivery. The paper argues that instantiating non-scientific beliefs concerning embryonic/fetal "personhood" into the law as the basis for abortion policy establishes a state-sponsored religion. The protection of religious liberty requires that abortion be decriminalized. Abortion should be treated like any other medical procedure and regulated similarly. To protect both religious freedom and sound medical practice, individual legal personhood should be recognized as beginning only at birth.

Bringing Back God: Goldenberg and the Vestigial State in American Religion

Naomi Goldenberg’s model of religion as a “vestigial state” is an excellent interrogation of how religion interacts with the state. To Goldenberg, religions traditionally functioned in the same manner as nation-states before being conquered and delineated as semi-autonomous institutions under the larger secular apparatus. However, I argue in this paper that Goldenberg’s “vestigial state” fails to account for the dynamism that religions have in their relationships to the state. I propose seeing religions as “alternative authorities”, which can be subordinate, cooperative, or hostile to the secular state. These perspectives as an alternative authority are seen best in the evolution of American fundamentalism and Christian nationalism, whose adherents have historically distinguished themselves from the state while simultaneously engaging in the effort to reshape it. In looking at how these movements develop, we understand that religions are constantly evolving in how to achieve and maintain power.

African Socialism and Secular State Formation

Abstract In order to trace pathways of secularisation and secularity in Africa this paper highlights a particular movement that carried great ideological weight at the time of most countries’ independence in the 1950s and 60s, namely African socialism. The development toward state secularism was structurally very similar throughout the continent independently of whether political leaders opted for the ‘West’ or the ‘East’ in the cold war. However, in opposition to Soviet ideology, African Socialism was famously antiatheist. With the wish to fend off Marxist atheism as a supposedly necessary aspect of socialism, ideologues in African socialism were among the few politicians in Africa even to address the place of religion in a secular state at all. The roots of African socialism can be traced to US-American Pan-Africanism as well as the interconnected colonial opposition movement grounded in Marxist anti-imperialism. Another argument focusses on the education of some prominent state leaders, such as Nyerere, Nkrumah, Touré and Senghor, to explain the importance of Christian mission schools and Islamic madrasahs as points of access to social, intellectual, and institutional participation in global anti-colonial movements. In the framework of one-party politics, state leaders called on (Pan-)African traditions, but ‘de-mystified’ them (Touré) in order to enhance African Socialism ‘as belief’ (Nyerere). In conclusion it is argued that state secularism in Africa at the time of independence, as demonstrated most visibly in African Socialism, is more about suppressing and/or balancing the traditional powers of religious leaders than about a fundamental critique of a religious way of life. In turn, the implicit association of socialism and Marxism with atheism needs further scrutiny in a global perspective.

Sufism And Religious Politics In Secular Democracy : The Case of Turky

This paper examines the case of secularism in a Muslim country, focusing on Turkey. It seeks to answer the question of why the sufism and politics of religion can flourish in Turkey, a country where secularism is strictly enforced. Since 1924, the Muslim-majority country has established itself as a secular state, which separates religion from state politics. The policy initiated by Mustafa Kemal Atat?rk (also known as Ataturk) represented a rejection of the Islamic caliphate system that had been implemented by the Uthmaniyah dynasty since the 13th century. Ataturk sought to modernize Turkey based on democratic and secular principles. Although secularism has been a long-standing feature of Turkish society, the influence of Islam remains evident in the socio-cultural fabric of the country. Indeed, the passion for Islam has been visible in the political landscape since the early 1990s, particularly in sufism movement and political party. This paper is based on a qualitative study conducted through a literature search, supported by observation of events based on information from the mass media. The result of this study is an important finding about the reality of the dilemma in the implementation of secularism in the Muslim country of Turkey. That is, there is a paradox between the politics of religion and secularism in the Turkish state.

The State, Religion, and Violence in Colonial and Postcolonial Malawi

In the histories of both colonial and postcolonial Malawi, there have been cases of religious-related violence, both in its physical and non-physical forms. Such cases have led to the deaths of the “perpetrators” of violence and ‘innocent’ believers, destruction of property, prison detentions, and even the forced removal of citizens from the country. This paper analyzes two case studies, one in which private citizens perpetrated the violence, led by a preacher called John Chilembwe, of the Providence Industrial Mission (PIM), challenging British colonial authorities during the second decade of the twentieth century. In the second case, the focus is on the independent Malawi government, which used violence against members of the Jehovah’s Witness (JW) religious sect from the early 1960s to the early 1990s, owing to the Witnesses’ disassociation from the demands of the secular state. Using data primarily drawn from various archives and other published studies, this paper argues that the use of ‘religious-based violence’ is not just a domain ‘reserved’ for those experiencing oppression, exclusion, and marginalization. Rather, authoritarian governments, like the one that emerged in postcolonial Malawi and other parts of Africa, also resorted to using ‘religious-based violence’ to serve as a tool for eliminating ‘non-conforming’ religious sects and organizations. In doing so, this paper contributes to the various fields of scholarship, including the relationship between religion and violence in modern Africa and the dynamics and operations of the state in both colonial and postcolonial Africa.

Authority of the International Court of Justice in Islamic Jurisprudence

This article explores how the authority of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is perceived in fatwas on genocide and war crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992-1995 war. Sources include the ICJ’s judgement in Bosnia and Herzegovina v. the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro); verdicts of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia; two fatwas from the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Council of Muftis on war crimes against the Bosniak populations of Srebrenica, Žepa, Prijedor and the Sana Valley; and preparatory materials written by expert groups that preceded the fatwas’ issuance. Despite initial criticism of the localisation of genocide in the ICJ’s judgement, the fatwas recognise its authority in cases that apply the Genocide Convention. The argumentation of these fatwas is based on the higher objectives of Islamic law (maqasid al-Sharia), in accordance with the role of Islamic normativity in a secular state.

Populism and Religion: Freedom of Self-Expression, State, modernity

Populismo e religione: Libertà di autoespressione, politica, modernità, caratteristiche procedurali ABSTRACT: The article is devoted to the topic of populism in religion in modern conditions. The article explains the correlation between freedom of expression and populism. The authors consider the phenomenon of populism in various aspects, including: populism as an instrument of politicization of a religious organization, populism as a latent component of internally sacralized (though outwardly neutral) politics. For many centuries, the ruling regimes of various states have sought and tried to put the Church at the service of their political interests, trying to use the churches in their own domestic and even foreign policy games, related attempts to manipulate religious identities and engage in artificial "church-building", to turn churches into handy ideological tools in the service of power - all this was a hybridization of political populism and religious populism tailored to it. But under such conditions, religious populism is always a forced imposition of tendencies destructive to the Church, it is always a profanation of the religious, the destruction of the most fundamental foundations of religion. But equally, the Church must be protected on the other side - from populist attempts to infringe on the Church's corpus of values, on relics and names honored by the rhetoric of freedom of expression. The authors conclude that populism (as a socio-legal tool, which is based on the paradigm of populism) should be used very cautiously - in the sphere of religion in a secular state. SUMMARY: 1. Introduction - 2. Populism. General concept, characteristic features, ontology - 2.1. The concept of populism - 2.2. Populism as a concept - 2.3. Populism as ideology - 2.4. Characteristic features and elements of populism - 2.5. Taxonomic diversity of populism - 2.6. Populism and democracy - 3. Religion and populism - 3.1. Religious populism as subtype of populism - 3.2. Freedom of expression and populism - 3.3. Populism as a tool of politicization of a religious organization - 3.4. Populism as a latent component of implicitly sacralized (albeit explicitly neutral) politics - 4. Conclusion.

Religious orientations on attitude toward a secular state: Case of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in north regions of Kazakhstan

The main objective of this study was to explore the connections between orientations (Quest, Intrinsic, and Extrinsic) and peoples' attitudes towards a secular state among members of the Evangelical Lutheran Churches in the northern regions of Kazakhstan. To achieve this, established scales were used to assess participants' perspectives on secularism and their religious orientations. The article analyses the opinion on the separation of church and state using measures of tendency. There were also calculated Pearson correlation coefficients to understand how religious beliefs interacted with views on governance. The findings indicated that there was an inclination towards secularism among the participants. While some respondents valued the guidance provided by the Church in decisions, others preferred a separation between religious institutions and legislative affairs. However, when examining orientations, none showed a significant influence on attitudes towards a secular state. This highlights the relationship between religious beliefs and societal views on governance. Overall, this study emphasises that while religious orientation provides insights into beliefs, it does not solely determine attitudes towards secularism. It underscores that belief systems are multifaceted and interact intricately with governance perspectives. Future research should focus on uncovering factors that influence these perspectives within and beyond the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Right to Freedom of Religion: Dynamics of Conceptual Evolution

This article analyzes the dynamics of the content of the freedom of religion aiming to reflect the transformation of the right to freedom of religion in historical perspective and forming generalized models of such content, as well as prognosing the prospects for further dynamics of these changes. The relevance of the study is justified by several factors. Firstly, the issue of exercising the right to freedom of religion is urgent in the context of the growing number of followers of various religions, as well as the use of religious narratives for political purposes. Secondly, contemporary factors shaping post-secular society (diversification of attitudes towards religion and types of religiosity) contribute to the erosion of the classical definition of the subject of freedom of religion. Thirdly, forecasting the further development of freedom of religion requires an analysis of its formation and historical transformations, which remains insufficiently studied in domestic doctrine. The article argues that the content (subject) of freedom of religion (especially within the European tradition of understanding it) has undergone significant changes, influencing the concepts and scope of state-confessional interaction, as well as the principles of defining relevant norms. Therefore, it is necessary, having examined individual epochs of the formation of freedom of religion, to identify its general meaning and development trends. Such research is conducted based on historical-legal sources and doctrinal knowledge. It is argued that the historical development of freedom of religion demonstrates its dynamic evolution and the acquisition of an increasingly broader scope. The ancient vision of freedom of religion is characterized by the assertion of adherence to one of the alternative cults (territorially defined) as a legal duty. However, the common background (principle) of all cults does not allow for choice and thus leads to the implicit leveling of the significance of freedom of religion. In medieval law, freedom of religion is explicitly leveled; adherence to a single cult is affirmed as a legal duty (reception of obligation with denial of alternative compared to antiquity). Actual freedom of religion emerges in modern times as the ability of individuals to choose and change beliefs freely and to freely practice their religion. This process is accompanied by the formation of a secular state. Partial freedom of religion, based on limited state-sanctioned choice, later transforms into full freedom with unrestricted free choice. Such a concept prevails in international law and national legislation currently. Further development of freedom of religion is possible in the context of challenges of post-secular society, including diversification of attitudes towards religion and types of religiosity, as well as the spread of a worldview based on non-religious faith. This concept has now seen the most development in the practice of interpretation and application of the European Convention on Human Rights, as set out in the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. This practice requires detailed study in further research.

Cui Bono? Cow Slaughter ban and its impact on business and society in India

This research investigates the impact of the cow slaughter ban on different stakeholders in India. The cow is considered a sacred animal in Hinduism, and prohibition of its slaughter prevails in several states in India. India is also a secular state, as its written constitution prescribes. However, the recent ban on cow slaughter in certain states raises several interesting and important ethical questions. We use Aristotle’s Cui Bono moral framing and stakeholder theory to investigate the causes and consequences of the cow slaughter ban on business and society. To this end, our study argues that political and religious affiliations affect stakeholders’ actions and decisions and that they comply with their actions. This has implications for businesses (such as the beef business in India) and society. Based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with key stakeholders such as beef business owners, religious leaders and opposition politicians, our findings indicate that although these stakeholders have their interests, religious and political affiliations play a significant role in shaping such decision-making.

The Challenge of Defining the Secular

Judges have long wrestled with the gigantean task of defining religion, with some describing the task as being ‘called upon to ponder the imponderable’, an impossible task, and even misguided. Despite these sentiments, and comments in almost every legal definition expressing the impossibility of the task, judges have, in fact, been able to come up with numerous legal definitions for religion. These have been applied in myriad circumstances to define the outer limits of the rights and responsibilities of states, religious communities, organisations, and individuals. By contrast, the term secular has rarely been judicially defined. However, it is no-less important in defining the rights and responsibilities of states and their citizens and residents, particularly in light of the number of states that claim, implicitly or explicitly, to be secular. This paper, therefore, (re)examines the definition of the secular as it pertains to the concept of the secular state. It considers the need for a legal definition of the secular with particular reference to constitutional and other legal instruments that include the term. It then examines the difference between the terms secular, secularisation and secularism, noting the often erroneous conflation as well as the inevitable interaction and overlap between these key concepts. Finally, drawing on existing classifications of legal definitions of religion, the paper classifies definitions of the secular into three overarching classifications, namely ‘historical’, ‘substantive’ and ‘characteristic’.