EU475      Half Unit
Europe and the Politics of Secularism

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

This module aims to introduce students to the contemporary resurgence of religion as a starting ground to think critically about the role of religion and secularism in the formation of European self-understanding. To make progress with this the module will generally be grounded into a theoretical component that looks at theories and interpretations of religion and secularism on the one hand. And secondly, an empirical and case study component that tries to apply the understanding gained from the theoretical component to areas of religious conflict in France to live issues like clash perspectives on Free speech. Methodologically the module is not anchored in one disciplinary framework and thus encourages students to reflect and think critically on the disciplinary frameworks they have been trained in as well as encouraging them to reflect critically on the methods used by thinkers and texts discussed in the readings throughout the module. It is hoped that students will be enthused to learn about one of the most important phenomena of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. Religion promises not to wither away on the vine as so many secularisation theorists predicted during the middle of the twentieth century. Engaging with religion and secularism offers the opportunity to navigate the theoretical and practical questions that confront modern Europe.     

20 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.
2 hours of seminars in the Spring Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

A review session will be held at the start of the Spring Term to prepare for the online assessment.

Presentation

Essay (1200 words)

• Taylor Charles. A Secular Age, 2007
• Smith Graeme. A Short History of Secularism, 2007
• Calhoun Craig, Juergensmeyer Mark, VanAntwerpen Jonathan. Rethinking Secularism 2011;
• Casanova José. Copson Andrew, Secularism: A Very Short Introduction, 2019; Public Religions in the Modern World 1994
• Asad Talal, Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity, 2003
• Asad Talal, Genealogies of Religion: Disciplines and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam 1993
• Zuckerman Phil and Shook John. The Oxford Handbook of Secularism, 2017
• Rawls John, Political Liberalism 1993
• Habermas Jurgen, Religion in the Public Sphere, 2006
• Brahm Levey Geoffrey and Tariq Madood, Secularism, Religion and Multicultural Citzenship 2008
• Bowen John, Can Islam be French? Pluralism and Pragmatism in a Secularist State
• D’Costa Gavin, Evans Malcom, Madood Tariq, Rivers Julian. Religion in a Liberal State, 2014
• www.secularism.org.uk
• www.humanists.uk

Written test (100%)

The written test for this course will be administered via Moodle. Questions will be made available at a set date/time and students will be given a set period in the ST to complete the answers to questions and upload their responses back into Moodle.