If the state is going to enforce any principle from Islamic sources, according to Abdullahi An-Na‘im, then it should implement…
church and state
A man with a mission
Abdullahi An-Na'im is a man with a mission. As the expatriate Sudanese law professor told The New Yorker writer George…
Islam and authority
In his new book, Abdullahi an-Na`im argues that Muslims need a secular state to live their religious lives. Alongside his…
Bush, Benedict, and freedom as God’s gift
"During their meeting, the Holy Father and the President discussed a number of topics of common interest to the Holy…
Secularism and the paradoxes of Muslim politics
Few books in Islamic studies have been as eagerly awaited or intensely debated prior to publication as Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na`im's…
Cosmopolitanism and the ideal of postsecular public reason
Cosmopolitanism is not realistically imaginable as the transcendence of all forms of belonging. To propose a leap into traditionless secular…
Two books, oddly yoked together
Mark Lilla's The Stillborn God feels like two books, oddly yoked together. One is a fascinating study, which traces a…
Political theology & liberal democracy
The idea of modern liberalism depends decisively on a jettisoning of theology as a source for arguing about politics: If…
Liberal Protestantism the key
Lilla alludes to the fact that “in the Anglo-American orbit, a liberal theological outlook could grow up alongside a liberal…
Marriage plots
Despite the putative separation of church and state, one of the major places in the U.S. where religion and the…