Secularism and Post-Secularism: A Comparative Analysis, Exams of Religion

Download Secularism and Post-Secularism: A Comparative Analysis and more Exams Religion in PDF only on Docsity! Post-Secularism and Beyond Secularism SECULAR (ontological category) and SECULARISM (cultural values) • The secular prioritizes the material upon the spiritual. • Modern cultural values encourage social alienation and unrestricted pleasure. Secularism as • Epistemological approach • Political philosophy • Social theory • Personal identity The failure of the ‘secularization thesis’ sees SrtA CCA THE FUTURE OF RELIGION IN AMERICA IR God Dead?e FRANK NEWPORT Modernity and Secularization – tautology? In order for a society to be modern it has to be secular, and for it to be secular it has to relegate religion to nonpolitical spaces because that arrangement is essential to modern society (Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 182) Israel as a case study Beyond and Above the Religious-Secular Dichotomy Two trends within contemporary Post-Secularism - Sacralization of memory, politics, science, social and cultural values etc. Beyond Secularism – revised attitudes towards tradition Traditionalism - a hybrid notion Fewer than 20 percent of Israeli Jews define themselves as either ‘religious’ (a synonym for “orthodox” or “ultra-orthodox” in the Israeli context). The remaining Israeli Jews define themselves as ‘secular’. More than a third of Israeli Jews commonly choose the label ‘traditionalist’ (Heb. masorti) when asked to categorize their Jewish identity. Tradition as source of authority vs. Tradition as source of identity and meaning Medieval and Modern meanings of tradition naql – revealed-sacred knowledge. ‘aql – human acquired knowledge based on human reason. Modernity and Secularization Tradition Tradition vs. modernity Naql – revealed-sacred knowledge. 'Aql – human acquired knowledge based on human reason. The secularity of Western jurisprudence: • Nearly all Western modern normative jurisprudence is either secular or explicitly Christian. • Even those theories that claim universality have proceeded with only tangential reference to, and in almost complete ignorance of, the religious and moral beliefs, values and traditios of the rest of humankind.