Tag: Secularism

Free Download M. Hakan Yavuz, "Secularism and Muslim Democracy in Turkey"
English | 2009 | pages: 321 | ISBN: 0521717329 | PDF | 1,8 mb
In 2002 the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) swept to power in Turkey. Since then it has shied away from a hard-line ideological stance in favour of a more conservative and democratic approach. In this book, M. Hakan Yavuz negotiates this ambivalence asking whether it is possible for a political party with a deeply religious ideology to liberalise and entertain democracy or whether, as he contends, radical religious groups moderate their practices and ideologies when forced to negotiate a competitive and rule-based political system. The author explores the thesis through an analysis of the rise and evolution of the AKP and its more recent 2007 election victory. The book, which tackles a number of important issues including political participation, economics and internal security, provides a masterful survey of modern Turkish and Islamic politics, which will be of interest to a broad range of readers from students to professionals and policymakers.

Free Download Pierre Manent, "Beyond Radical Secularism: How France and the Christian West Should Respond to the Islamic Challenge"
English | ISBN: 1587310740 | 2016 | 160 pages | PDF | 4 MB
This is the book that took France by storm upon its publication in the fall of 2015. It was praised by some for its rare combination of tough-mindedness and moderation and attacked by others for suggesting that radical secularism could not provide the political and spiritual resources to address the Islamic challenge. The book is even more relevant after the Parisian terror attacks of November 13, 2015. It is a book that combines permanence and relevance, that addresses a pressing political and civilizational problem in a manner that will endure.

Free Download Graeme Smith, "A Short History of Secularism (I.B.Tauris Short Histories)"
English | 2007 | pages: 233 | ISBN: 1845115775, 1845115767 | PDF | 2,2 mb
What does it mean to call Western society ‘secular’? What is secularism? And how should we understand the the concept of ‘secularism’ in international relations, particularly the clash between radical Islam and the West? The word ‘secular’ has come to mean that which belongs to this life, to the here and now, in this world. It is widely used as a shorthand for the ideology which shapes contemporary society without reference to the divine. However, according to Graeme Smith, ‘secularism’ represents a great deal more. He offers a radical reappraisal of the notion of secularism and its history, beginning with the Greeks and proceeding to modernity and the contemporary period. The assumption that the West is becoming increasingly secular is often unquestioned. By contrast, Dr Smith discerns a different kind of society: one informed by a historical legacy which makes sense only when it is appreciated that it is religious. Secularism was born of Christianity. Daringly – and very originally – Smith argues that it is impossible to understand the idea of the secular without appreciating that, at root, it is Christian. A Short History of Secularism will fundamentally reshape discussions of western culture, religion and politics, and will have strong appeal to students of religion, political philosophy and the history of ideas.

Free Download Turkish Secularism: How to Raise Its Level of Protection
by Tarlan Masmaliyeva
English | 2024 | ISBN: 3031460103 | 273 Pages | True PDF | 4.76 MB

Free Download David Koussens, "Secularism(s) in Contemporary France: Law, Policy, and Religious Diversity "
English | ISBN: 3031182308 | 2023 | 187 pages | PDF | 2 MB
The increasing visibility of Islam in France and the vehemence of debates about it have often contributed to narrow public perceptions of secularism to a simplistic antireligious crusade, a misleading image disseminated by the media and politicians alike. Taking the opposite stand, this book embarks on a comprehensive effort to document the multiple areas in which French secularism plays out – in debates over "cults," places of worship, chaplaincy services in public institutions, the recognition of associations of worship, and more -, outlining and analizing the legal paths favored by the state in the regulation of religious diversity. While Islam has undoubtedly contributed to the reshaping of French secularism in the last decades, the book moves beyond what has come to be known as the "Muslim Question" to look at the multiplicity of challenges contemporary religious beliefs, practices, and organizations now pose to the state. David Koussens examines the main political and legal configurations of French secularism over the last thirty years through a sociological and juridical lens, in order to better document its diversity. Such a portrait emphasizes that French secularism is not a univocal phenomenon but one that appears in many guises.

Free Download Nivedita Menon, "Secularism as Misdirection: Critical Thought from the Global South "
English | ISBN: 1478026200 | 2024 | 496 pages | PDF | 2 MB
In Secularism as Misdirection, Nivedita Menon traces how the discourse of secularism fixes attention to and hypervisualizes women and religion while obscuring other related issues. Showing how secularism is often invoked to serve capital and antiminority politics, Menon exposes it as a strategy of governance that is compatible with both democracy and authoritarianism, capitalism and socialism. Secularism also delegitimizes the nonindividuated nonrational self, Menon argues; exploring this aspect, she tracks the journey of psychoanalysis in the global South. Menon further examines the interconnectedness of religion, caste, the state, and women, showing how the discourse of secularism can also be mobilized by Hindu supremacist politics in India. Menon puts Latin American decolonial theorists in conversation with Asian and African thinkers to examine twenty-first-century global reimaginings of selfhood, constitutionalism, citizenship, and anticapitalist existence. Through a feminist and global perspective, Menon suggests that transformative politics is better imagined by stepping out of the frame offered by secularism and focusing on substantive values such as democracy, social justice, and ecological justice.

Free Download Cinema and Secularism edited by Mark Cauchi
English | December 14, 2023 | ISBN: 1501388878 | True EPUB/PDF | 288 pages | 1.9/19.2 MB
Cinema and Secularism is the first collection to make the relationship between cinema and secularism thematic, utilizing a number of different methodological approaches to examine their identification and differentiation across film theory, film aesthetics, film history, and throughout global cinema.

Free Download Susan Jacoby, "Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism"
English | 2004 | pages: 432 | ISBN: 0805074422, 0805077766 | EPUB | 1,2 mb
An authoritative history of the vital role of secularist thinkers and activists in the United States, from a writer of "fierce intelligence and nimble, unfettered imagination" (The New York Times)

Free Download Charles McCrary, "Sincerely Held: American Secularism and Its Believers "
English | ISBN: 0226817954 | 2022 | 308 pages | PDF | 2 MB
A novel account of the relationship between sincerity, religious freedom, and the secular in the United States.

Free Download Roger McNamara, "Secularism and the Crisis of Minority Identity in Postcolonial Literature"
English | ISBN: 1498548938 | 2018 | 198 pages | EPUB | 2 MB
Secularism and the Crisis of Minority Identity in Postcolonial Literature examines how writers from religious and ethnic minority communities (Anglo-Indians, Burghers, Dalits, Muslims, and Parsis) in India and Sri Lanka engage secularism through novels, short stories, and autobiographies. Given the rise of Hindu nationalism in India and Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lanka, it would seem obvious that minorities would rally around secularism (the separation of church and state). However, this book argues that the relationship between minorities and secularism is extremely ambivalent. On the one hand, it shows how writers belonging to oppressed communities can deploy secularism as a mode of critique (secular criticism) to challenge the ideologies of dominant groups-the nation, upper-castes, and religious hierarchies. On the other hand, it examines how these writers reveal that other aspects of secularism (secularization and secular time) are responsible for creating essentialized identities that have not only exacerbated relationships between majorities and minorities and between minority groups, but have also created tension within minority groups themselves. Turing to aesthetics and religious faith, these writers attempt to undermine secular social and cultural structures that are responsible for this crisis of minority identity.