Secularism on the Edge

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

   PDF

2. Introduction: Secularism and Its Confusions

   1. Introduction: Secularism and Its Confusions

      • Jacques Berlinerblau

      Pages 1-16

3. Contemporary Challenges to American Secularism

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-17

      PDF

   2. America: A Christian Nation or a Secular Nation?

      • John Fea, Jacques Berlinerblau

      Pages 19-33

   3. The Vitality of Soft Secularism in the United States and the Challenge Posed by the Growth of the Nones

      • Barry A. Kosmin

      Pages 35-49

   4. Secular America: Nones, Atheists, and the Unaffiliated

      • Phil Zuckerman, Jacques Berlinerblau

      Pages 51-70

   5. The Dangers of Conflating Secular People and Secularism: A Response to Fea, Kosmin, Zuckerman, and Berlinerblau

      • Erika B. Seamon

      Pages 71-81

4. Laïcité in a Multicultural France

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 83-83

      PDF

   2. French Laïcité: What Does It Stand for?

      • Jean Baubérot, Sarah Fainberg

      Pages 85-94

   3. Laïcité and the Idea of the Republic: The Principles of Universal Emancipation

      • Henri Peña-Ruiz

      Pages 95-102

   4. Laïcité and Freedom of Conscience in Pluricultural France

      • Jean Baubérot

      Pages 103-111

   5. Postwar French Jewry Facing Laïcité in a Multicultural France

      • Régine Azria

      Pages 113-123

   6. Is Laïcité Lost in Translation?

      • Delphine Horvilleur

      Pages 125-131

5. Hiloniyut: Israel and the Challenge of Ultra-Orthodoxy

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 133-133

      PDF

   2. Ben-Gurion’s Status Quo and Moving the Frontlines Between Hilonim (Secularists) and Datiim (Religious)

      • Ilan Greilsammer

      Pages 135-144

   3. Israel’s “Religious Secularism”

      • Anita Shapira

      Pages 145-155

   4. Israel’s Self-Restrained Secularism from the 1947 Status Quo Letter to the Present

      • Denis Charbit

      Pages 157-171

   5. “Everything Is Jewish”

      • Avraham B. Yehoshua, Sarah Fainberg

      Pages 173-187

6. Women and Secularism: Problems and Possibilities

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 189-189

      PDF

   2. In the Eyes of Patriarchal Religion, All Women Are Secular: Gender in Religion and Secularism

      • Susan Thistlethwaite

      Pages 191-197

In this dynamic and wide-ranging collection of essays, prominent scholars examine the condition of church-state relations in the United States, France, and Israel. Their analyses are rooted in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ethnography and demography to political science, gender studies, theology, and the law.

• Secularism
• separation of church and state
• laïcité
• Nones
• hiloniyut
• religion
• religion and politics
• gender
• Status Quo Agreement
• 1905 law
• postmodernism
• postcolonialism
• postsecularism
• Parti Québécois
• Jewish divorce
• Islamic divorce
• reasonable accommodation
• headscarf
• niqab
• burqa
• Israel
• political science

"Anybody who has ever thought critically about secularism should pick up Secularism on the Edge, a brutally frank and illuminating collection of essays by erudite writers who dissect a complex subject and still manage to be the life of the party, writing with humor, cheekiness and pluck. This isn't your talking head's monologue on secularism. It's a Feminine Mystique for suffragettes in secularism. It's a sassy read!" - Asra Nomani, author of Standing Alone: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam (2006), and visiting scholar in the practice of journalism at Georgetown University, USA

"The very word 'secularism' is an invitation to argument. This fascinating collection of essays embodies a wide range contemporary arguments within and outside secularism - about its contested meanings, its disputed values, and its multiple contradictory directions worldwide. It will be fascinating to anyone who cares about religion and public life and keeps an open mind about how these should interact." - Noah Feldman, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Harvard University, USA, and author of Divided by God (2006)

Régine Azria, École des hautes etudes en sciences sociales (EHESS), France Jean Baubérot, École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), France Denis Charbit, Open University of Israel Caroline Mala Corbin, University of Miami School of Law, USA John Fea, Messiah College, USA Pascale Fournier, University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, Canada Ilan Greilsammer, Bar-Ilan University, Israel Ariela Keysar, Trinity College, USA Barry Kosmin, Trinity College, USA Henri Peña-Ruiz, Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), France Anita Shapira, Tel Aviv University, Israel Susan Thistlethwaite, Chicago Theological Seminary, USA Phil Zuckerman, Pitzer College, USA

Policies and ethics