ABSTRACT
The article starts from the thesis that the most relevant issue in the field of religion at present is neither “secularization” nor the return of religion, but the drawing of boundaries – via differentiation and distinction – between “religious” and “non-religious” areas, spheres of practice, actors, and claims. This drawing of boundaries is labeled as secularity. This becomes relevant on the backdrop of a changed situation, which I call the disembedding of religion. This term refers to the present multiplicity of religious spokespersons, the emergence of new actors, and the variety of claims at authentic representation on the one side, as well as to the lack of institutional trust that can back up these claims on the other side. This new constellation, these new actors, and their claims go along with a new type of references. They are in a typical way different from previous references under the old confessionalized framework. Although the older references aimed at more institutional equality, the new references tend to be ‘infinite’. This ‘infinity’ may be related to a subjective, inner obligation or religious feeling, which then is presented as non-negotiable, as much as to an assumed ‘identity’ that is perceived to be under threat. Consequently, feelings play an important role in religious-secular contestations. They emerge or are provoked, when boundaries that were perceived as stable are shifted or being transgressed. In such situations, the invocation of negative totems plays a significant role. Feelings are then also used strategically as arguments in the negotiations over religious-secular boundaries.
