Secularization, Liberalism and the Problematic Role of Religion in Modern Societies

  • Sergio García CEDEU Centro de Estudios Universitarios
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18543/ced-59-2018pp63-73
Keywords: secularism, liberalism, right-wing populism, political Islam

Abstract

This paper argues that there is a defective understanding of the sociological secularization process and a liberal tradition that takes for granted many problematic notions and subtly determines the logic of the debate on religion in modern societies. While the two issues are not causal factors for the rise of radical right-wing populist movements, they constitute the framework within which the debates on ethno-religious pluralism and its relationship with politics take place. These two unresolved questions hinder a good understanding of the complexity of social phenomena related to religion in contemporary Western societies such as fundamentalism, terrorism, political Islam or the claims of other religious groups to participate in the public sphere. In order to achieve the above goals, the article focuses on four interconnected points. The first briefly reviews secularization theory and secularism as an ideology. The second constitutes a questioning of the liberal framework. The third proposes a particular way of approaching those social phenomena linked to religion. The paper concludes broadly examining the factors related to religion that feed right-wing populist movements.

Received: 2 January 2018
Accepted: 9 May 2018
Published online: 31 October 2018

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Author Biography

Sergio García, CEDEU Centro de Estudios Universitarios

Sergio García is a PhD in Sociology (international mention) at the Public University of Navarra (UPNA), Advanced Diploma on Advanced Studies in Sociology (UPNA), equivalent to the master in pedagogy at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), Postgraduate course in Education and Social Development (CUB, Colombia) and BA in Physical Activity Sciences and Sport (UPV-EHU). Teaching-researcher at the Camilo José Cela University and the CEDEU / Rey Juan Carlos and associated researcher at the Institute of Democratic Governance (Globernance). He has been a visiting fellow at several universities, including the University of Essex. His main work-lines cover areas such as collective security mechanisms, international conflicts, the Salafist radicalisation process, the new forms of governance, as well as other topics linked with the philosophy and sociology of science and religion. His last works are Desafíos del sistema de seguridad colectiva de la ONU: análisis sociológico de las amenazas globales (CIS, 2016), La gobernanza y sus enfoques (DELTA, 2016), Gobernanza y religión (DELTA, 2016), and Introducción a la sociología del crimen (DELTA, 2017) and El desarrollo social y económico: una aproximación holística, (DELTA, 2017). He collaborates with the education and development programmes of the Global Prosperity Studies Institute in Israel, the Rural University of the FUNDAEC (Colombia), the Nur University (Bolivia), the Lazos Learning Foundation in Canada. He is also an analyst collaborator at the Spanish Institute of Strategic Studies at the Spanish Defense Ministry. He is currently directing the Public Affairs Office of the Spanish bahá’í community.

Published
2018-10-31
How to Cite
García, Sergio. 2018. “Secularization, Liberalism and the Problematic Role of Religion in Modern Societies”. Deusto Journal of European Studies, no. 59 (October), 63-73. https://doi.org/10.18543/ced-59-2018pp63-73.
Issue
No. 59 (2018): The European Crisis of Politics: Ethnoreligious Pluralism and the Rise of Radical Populism and Far-Right in Europe
Section
Monographic Articles

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