ABSTRACT
Secularism, in its contemporary connotations, may refer to a philosophical position, a discourse, as well as to a system of governance. Although all deriving from the notion of the saeculum – a condition pertaining to this day and age – they are not to be completely equated: the former two may be confined to a particular philosophy of morality that removes God from the affairs of life, while the third seeks to establish a system through which such morality is implemented – not necessarily at the complete exclusion of God – as a political and social norm. Insofar as secularism, in all senses, prioritizes this-worldly forces, its ambivalent – at times antagonistic and at others reconciliatory – relationship to the religious and the sacred is contingent on the context through which this relationship is created and sustained. Just as the religious/sacred possesses many different and changing meanings, even within the same system, so does the secular, in reaction to these mutations, lend itself to a set of variants that speak of a need for caution in approaching different case studies and experiences. Nowadays, wherever implemented and practiced, secularism generates constant challenges, so much so that some analysts warn that the struggle between religion and state is one of the most persisting problems in international relations nowadays (Juergensmayer 1993: 5–10). Indeed, one need not look too far to encounter such problems: from France to the USA, from India to Russia, from Iran to Great Britain, the struggle between secular values and political theologies take on many different shapes and forms.
