here & there

Rethinking secularism

By |

From an article by Craig Calhoun in the fall 2008 issue of The Hedgehog Review:

<br />Rethinking the implicit secularism in conceptions of citizenship is important for a variety of reasons from academic soundness to practical fairness. It is all the more important because continuing to articulate norms of citizen participation that seem biased against religious views will needlessly drive a wedge between religious and nonreligious citizens. This would be most unfortunate at a time when religious engagement in public life is particularly active, and when globalization, migration, economic stresses and insecurity all make strengthening commitments to citizenship and participation in shared public discourse vital.

Rethinking secularism need not mean abandoning norms of fairness or state neutrality among religions. It does mean working through the debates of the public sphere to find common ground for citizenship, rather than trying to mandate the common ground by limiting the kinds of reason citizens can bring to their public discussions with each other.

Find the full issue here.

Publics & Public Sphere Secularism & Modernity

Jonathan VanAntwerpen is program director for theology at the Henry Luce Foundation. Originally trained as a philosopher, he received his doctorate in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. He is co-editor of a series of books on secularism, religion, and public life, including Habermas and Religion (Polity, 2013), Rethinking Secularism (Oxford University Press, 2011), The Post-Secular in Question (NYU Press, 2012), The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere (Columbia University Press, 2011), and Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age (Harvard University Press, 2010). VanAntwerpen was the founding director of the SSRC's program on religion and the public sphere, and in 2007 he worked with others to launch The Immanent Frame, serving for several years as editor-in-chief.

Henry Luce Foundation

Social Science Research Council

300 Cadman Plaza West, 15th Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA

212-377-2700

Mobilizing social science for the public good.

The Social Science Research Council, an independent, international nonprofit, mobilizes necessary knowledge for the public good by supporting scholars worldwide, generating new research across disciplines, and linking researchers with policymakers and citizens.

Sign up for updates from The Immanent Frame

By subscribing, you agree that the SSRC may process your information in accordance with our privacy policy.

Scroll to Top