Rethinking the Concept of the “Secular State”
The concept of the „secular state“ is the classic response of Western political thinking to religious diversity as a challenge to modern societies. The actual meaning of this general formula, however, has become the subject of a controversial debate in political theory. The book addresses the question about the implications of secularism as a state principle for the role of religious arguments in the public sphere. Liberal theories of public reason, which take an exclusionary stance towards religion, are discussed critically with regard to their premises and the whole background understanding of modernity from which they spring. Closely considering Charles Taylor’s writings on secularism and modernity, the book discusses what the notion of the “secular state” implies for the handling of religious arguments (and symbols) in the public sphere.