I begin with three fundamental features of the idea of ‘secularism.’ I will want to make something of them at…
Secularism: Its Content and Context

In “Secularism: Its Content and Context,” an SSRC Working Paper, Akeel Bilgrami addresses two questions: first, the meaning of secularism and second, its justification and implementation. Engaging Charles Taylor’s recent calls for a “radical” redefinition of secularism, he offers an alternative conceptualization of the category, while also addressing Taylor’s deep concerns about the politics of secularism for our time. According to Bilgrami, secularism has its point and meaning not in a decontextualized philosophical argument but in the historical and contextual specificities in which it is applied. In the end, secularism “needs, not replacement, but merely proper implementation, in order to get us ‘beyond toleration.’”
Secularism, belief, and truth
I want to argue that one of the deep reasons for the commonality between religion and the secular is not…
Taking a stance
Akeel Bilgrami’s “Secularism: It’s Content and Context” is both fascinating and wide-ranging... Whether or not one agrees with the notion…
The context of religious pluralism
Akeel Bilgrami's article, “Secularism: Its Content and Context,” is an important and welcome contribution on a topic that has acquired…
Religion and state secularization
In discussing secularization, it has become conventional to note that the concept refers to various processes, of which three are…
Secularism, lexical ordering, and resistance to dialogue
Akeel Bilgrami’s paper is very rich; I cannot speak to all its arguments. I focus on his principal concern: his…
There is no such thing as a monoculture
“We develop in multi-cultural and multi-religious societies. To say this is to state the obvious. There is no religiously homogeneous…
Hope, tragedy, and prophecy
It is hard not to be convinced by Akeel Bilgrami’s careful, patient, and generous exposition in “Secularism: Its Content and…
Truth and fraternity?
Akeel Bilgrami’s essay is important and ambitious. Its importance lies in part in making clear what secularism is and should…
Secularism: Some concepts and distinctions
I am very grateful to the many commentators on my essay “Secularism: It’s Content and Context” for their instructive and…