Abstract
Free speech has become a battle point between religious and secular political movements in twenty-first century European public discourse. Consider a few highly contested recent cases: the movie Submission and the murder of its director Theo van Gogh in November 2004; the twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad published in the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005 and the subsequent death threats, impassioned demonstrations, burning of flags and embassies in Muslim countries; the debate on the Qur’an critical movie Fitna released in March 2008 by Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders, founder of the Party for Freedom fighting against immigration; the debate on boycotting the UN Durban Review Conference in April 2009 because of restrictions of free speech for reasons of blasphemy and the violent reactions against the recently released YouTube movie Innocence of Muslims in September 2012. And the list goes on.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Anidjar, G. (2006). ‘Secularism.’ Critical Inquiry 33(1), 52–77.
Asad, T. (2003). Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Asad, T. (2006). ‘Trying to Understand French Secularism.’ In H. De Vries and L.E. Sullivan (eds) Political Theologies: Public Religions in a Postsecular World, 494–526. New York: Fordham University Press.
Asad, T. (2008). ‘Reflections on Blasphemy and Secular Criticism.’ In H. De Vries (ed.) Religion: Beyond a Concept, 580–609. New York: Fordham University Press.
Asad, T. (2011). ‘Thinking about the Secular Body, Pain, and Liberal Politics.’ Cultural Anthropology 26(4), 657–675.
Asad, T. (2012). ‘Fear and the Ruptured State: Reflections on Egypt after Mubarak.’ Social Research 79(2), 271–298.
Ash, T.G. (2007). ‘Better Pascal Than Bruckner.’ Online source, available at www.signandsights.com [last accessed 16 August 16 2007].
Audi, R. (2011a). Rationality and Religious Commitment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Audi, R. (2011b). Democratic Authority and the Separation of Church and State. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Berg-Sørensen, A. (2006a). ‘Politicising Religions.’ Political Theory 34(6), 800–806.
Berg-Sørensen, A. (2006b). ‘Cultural Governance, Democratic Iterations and the Question of Secularism: The French Head Scarf Affair.’ Nordic Journal of Religion and Society 19(2), 57–74.
Berg-Sørensen, A. (2010a). ‘Theology.’ In M. Bevir (ed.) Encyclopedia of Political Theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Berg-Sørensen, A. (2010b). ‘The Politics of Lutheran Secularism: Reiterating Secularism in the Wake of the Cartoon Crisis.’ In L. Christoffersen, H.R. Iversen, H. Petersen, and M. Warburg (eds) Religion in the 21st Century: Challenges and Transformations, 207–214. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
Berg-Sørensen, A. (2013). Contesting Secularism. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
Bhargava, R. (2006). ‘Political Secularism.’ In J.S. Dryzek, B. Honig, and A. Phillips (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory, 636–655. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bruckner, P. (2007). ‘Enlightenment Fundamentalism or Racism of the Anti-Racists?’ Online source, available at www.signandsights.com [last accessed 16 August 2007].
Buruma, I. (2006). Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance. New York: Penguin Press.
Buruma, I. (2007). ‘Freedom Cannot Be Decreed.’ Online source, available at www.signandsights.com [last accessed 16 August 2007].
Casanova, J. (2006). ‘Secularization Revisited: A Reply to Talal Asad.’ In D. Scott and C. Hirschkind (eds) Powers of the Secular Modern: Talal Asad and His Interlocutors, 12–30. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Connolly, W.E. (1999). Why I Am Not a Secularist. Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota Press.
Connolly, W.E. (2005). Pluralism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
De Vries, H. (2006). ‘Introduction: Before, Around, and Beyond the Theologico-Political.’ In H. De Vries and L.E. Sullivan (eds) Political Theologies: Public Religions in a Post-Secular World, 1–88. New York: Fordham University Press.
Freeden, M. (1996). Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Freeden, M. (2004). ‘Essential Contestability and Effective Contestability.’ Journal of Political Ideologies 9(1), 3–11.
Freeden, M. (2005). ‘What Should the ‘Political’ in Political Theory Explore?’ Journal of Political Philosophy 13(2), 113–134.
Freeden, M. (2008). ‘Thinking Politically and Thinking about Politics: Language, Interpretation, and Ideology.’ In D. Leopold and M. Stears (eds) Political Theory: Methods and Approaches, 196–215. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gorski, P.S., Kim, D.K., Torpey, J., and VanAntwerpen, J. (eds) (2012). The Post-Secular in Question: Religion in Contemporary Society. New York: New York University Press.
Habermas, J. (2006). ‘Religion in the Public Sphere.’ European Journal of Philosophy 14(1), 1–25.
Hurd, E.S. (2008). The Politics of Secularism in International Relations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Israel, J.I. (2001). Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity1650–1750. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Israel, J.I. (2006). Enlightenment Contested: Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation of Man1670–1752. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Israel, J.I. (2011). Democratic Enlightenment: Philosophy, Revolution, and Human Rights1750–1790. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jakobsen, J.R. and Pellegrini, A. (eds) (2008). Secularisms. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Keenan, A. (2003). Democracy in Question: Democratic Openness in a Time of Political Closure. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Laborde, C. (2008). Critical Republicanism: The Hijab Controversy and Political Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lilla, M. (2007). The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West. New York: Knopf.
Mahmood, S. (2006). ‘Secularism, Hermeneutics, and Empire: The Politics of Islamic Reformation.’ Public Culture 18(2), 323–347.
Norris, P. and Inglehart, R. (2004). Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schmitt, C. (2005). Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty, G. Schwab (trans.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Smith, R.M. (2003). Stories of Peoplehood: The Politics and Morals of Political Membership. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taylor, C. (1998). ‘Modes of Secularism.’ In R. Bhargava (ed.) Secularism and Its Critics, 31–53. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Taylor, C. (2007). A Secular Age. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2014 Anders Berg-Sørensen
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Berg-Sørensen, A. (2014). Reawakening Enlightenment? Contesting Religion and Politics in European Public Discourse. In: Braidotti, R., Blaagaard, B., de Graauw, T., Midden, E. (eds) Transformations of Religion and the Public Sphere. Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137401144_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137401144_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-48632-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-40114-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)