The Religious-Secular Cleavage Revisited: Actors, Strategies, and Contested Issues

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?

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