Many analyses of religion and politics focus on the evolution of their relations, debating which notion can best account for the contemporary political-religion nexus. Among some useful concepts are secularisation (Berger, 1967; Bruce, 2002), desecularisation (Berger, 1999), polarization (Campbell, 2016), and counter-secularisation (Fabri, 2013; Steinmann, 2024). Their meanings remain under-researched. Likewise, a genre of studies explores the collective action of religious groups asking questions like what minorities demand and how they use religious ideas by pitting the religious against the secular (Haynes, 2023), and how they organise to advance their agenda, party politics (Kortmann, 2024) or discrete negotiations (Strack, 2024).
This workshop seeks to accomplish three interrelated goals: (i) It links two disconnected genres of studies, namely the genre that centres on the overall transformation of religion and majorities and the genre that delves into the political use of religion focusing on minorities (ii) It contributes to empirical and conceptual analyses by exploring how religious groups perceive secular or 'unacceptable' others such as LGBTQ+ communities, how their understanding of religion influences interactions with secular public institutions, and how secular groups view and respond to religious actors and policies. To this end our inquiries will tackle why and how, despite their frequent use, the concepts of 'secular' and 'secularism' remain vague. (iii) Instead of presuming an inevitable conflict in the relationship between secular and religious groups, the workshop will also explore interactions that are not necessarily confrontational.
We explore the specific strategies, terms, and discourses secular and religious groups adopt when they engage, confront, and collaborate with others. Our analyses will shed light on efforts such as those of interfaith groups (Orton, 2016) or some initiatives that try to develop common ground between secular and religious groups.
Berger, P. (1967), The Sacred Canopy: elements of a sociological theory of religion, New-York, Doubleday
Berger, P. (1999), The Desecularization of the World, Resurgent Religion and World Politics, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans
Campbell, J. (2016), Polarized. Making Sense of a Divided America, Princeton, Princeton University Press
Fabbri, R. (2013), Political Theology and the Dialectics of (Counter) Secularization. Politics and Religion, 6(4), 730-752
Orton, A. (2016), Interfaith dialogue: seven key questions for theory, policy and practice, Religion, State & Society, 44:4, 349-365,
Strack, F. (2024), Laïcité, Public Governance of Religion, and the Orthodox Jews in France, in Veković, M., & Jevtić, M. (Eds.). (2024). When Politics Meets Religion: Navigating Old Challenges and New Perspectives. Taylor & Francis.
Steinmann, J. P. (2024), Has Immigration Slowed Down Secularization in Germany? Empirical Evidence From 2014 to 2021. Socius, 10
1: What are the set of issues that capture secular and religious conflict in different countries?
2: How do religious groups depict the secular? Which groups and ideas represent the secular and the scapegoated "other"?
3: Can we identify a distinct secular identity or ideology?
1: Non-affiliated people and the concept of "no-religion"
2: Religion in parties politics
3: Religious groups in connection with secular institutions
4: Collective action of religious minorities
5: Female believers and their relation to secularism
6: LGBTQ+ believers and thei relation to secularism
7: A cross-national perspective on the previous issues
8: A Global South perspective on the previous issues
