Post-secularism in multiple modernities

Abstract

'Post-secularism' is a term that has emerged in various disciplines, including sociology, to reflect religion's move back into the public sphere and the need to take into account the voice of religious actors in any contemporary analysis of society. This article argues that post-secularism is, in fact, a specific type of secularism that deals with the neoliberal management of religion in the public sphere. To unpack this argument, the article will first explore what is meant by postsecularism, and then, via a case study of Shari'a in Australia, it will move to the theory of multiple modernities in order to underline the relativeness of such a term. It will then be proposed that what is meant by post-secularism is, in fact, a type of secularism (perhaps 'late' rather than 'post') in neoliberal societies.

Proposing Publicity Leaving Church Apolitical Piety

“…The secular post is intended to strengthen religion's role in the public sphere. If in the secular era religion is considered to have left the public sphere and only lives in private space, then in post-secular era, religion has re-entered the public sphere (Possamai, 2017). This is in line with Talal Asad's findings that religion cannot be separated from politics (State).…”

Religion in Coalition: Balancing Moderate and Progressive Politics in the Sydney Alliance

“…Scholars of Australian post-secularism have pointed out that rather than better accommodating diverse religious voices in public life, particular kinds of (Christian) religion continue to dominate in Australia (Possamai 2017). The campaign team in which I undertook my pilot fieldwork, the People Seeking Asylum team, was dominated by members of Christian organisations (and most religious partner organisations in the Alliance are Christian).…”

“…Despite the continued influence and public visibility of Christian groups in Australian political life, Australia is (and always has been) a religiously diverse country (Bouma 2015, p. 214). However, even though supposedly 'post-secular' (i.e., a qualified acceptance of religion in public life and debate (Habermas 2006) attitudes towards religion in Australia may be evident, it is still the case that only certain kinds of religious expression are acceptable (Possamai 2017).…”

Freedom of Religion in post-secular Australia

“…With this example, we do have here the type of theological dialogue in the public sphere as suggested by Trigg (2007) and Taylor (2007), but one that does not always enter in a dialogue of tolerance and recognition. Putting aside the argument by Possamai (2017) that 'post-secularism' is a misnomer and is simply the type of secularism in affinity with late capitalism, and instead of arguing about the failure of post-secularism as stated above, this article is pushing the theory in a new direction, by arguing that with the Australian case and its recent public debate about religious freedom, we are today witnessing a shift further away from post-secularism. This observation, it must be stated, is a descriptive understanding of the theory of post-secularism which is based on current socio-political changes in the Australian landscape, and not a normative understanding as to how a society such as Australia should be.…”

“…From a sociological point of view, this leads to a radical requestioning of the notion of post-secularism in Australia by stating that we are no longer in a phase of postsecularism (e.g. Possamai, 2017;Possamai-Inesedy and Turner, 2016), as today, we can observe salient signs that we might have moved beyond it in the Australian case. This puts into question current research on post-secularism.…”