ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses secularism as a form of social struggle over various forms of economic, social, cultural, symbolic, and political capital under the conditions of global Cold War dynamics. To some members of the Catholic clergy, communism's secularism had long been perceived to be the greatest threat to religion and the Catholic Church. An important aspect of the violent social struggle between religious actors and the Left was the control of public space, which constitutes an important arena in the struggles over secularism. In the case of the anti-communist mass murders, Christian and Islamic groups seized the Cold War as an opportunity to pursue their own interests, destroy the Left's secularism project, and thereby transform their own role in society. The role of religious conservatives can only be estimated in reference to the armed forces and the global Cold War.
