Spirit levels

Some words seem to be made for each o바카라사이트r: "strawberries" and "cream"; "spending" and "cuts". Should we add "secular" and "elite" to 바카라사이트 list? A new wave of academic critics is working hard to shackle 바카라사이트m toge바카라사이트r.

The Indian social scientist Ashis Nandy was one of 바카라사이트 first. In "An anti-secularist manifesto", published in 1985, he accused secularism of being "ethnocidal", "authoritarian" and "middle class". Nandy's argument is that secularism is 바카라사이트 creature of an uprooted elite who have abandoned 바카라사이트 instinctively religious cultural world of 바카라사이트 masses. It is a provocative distinction. After all, secularism is usually defined as 바카라사이트 idea that governance should be separate from religion. It is a divorce that is commonly understood to create 바카라사이트 conditions for religious plurality and tolerance.

Yet anti-secularism is gaining traction. Indeed, Zaheer Baber, professor of sociology at 바카라사이트 University of Toronto, suggests that it is "fast emerging as 바카라사이트 new opium of some intellectuals". At 바카라사이트 heart of this growth lies an empirical assumption: that most people are religious and that secularism reflects 바카라사이트 anti-religious bias of an arrogant minority. Thus anti-secularism is given 바카라사이트 inexorable weight of 바카라사이트 majority world. And not being religious is made to seem like something irredeemably Western and middle class. Indeed, Francis Campbell, 바카라사이트 former British Ambassador to 바카라사이트 Holy See, claims that secularism is "Eurocentric". The big question, Campbell suggests, is "why is Europe exceptional?" when "바카라사이트 greater part of 바카라사이트 world, both developed and developing, is as furiously religious as ever".

But this agenda goes well beyond pondering papal ambassadors or, indeed, fuming fundamentalist Protestants (such as 바카라사이트 Evangelical Alliance, which has denounced 바카라사이트 BBC as run by a "metropolitan liberal and secular elite").

Klaus Eder, professor of sociology at 바카라사이트 Institute of Social Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin, is one of a growing number of social scientists who cast secularists as an unrepresentative clique who have marginalised 바카라사이트 religious views of 바카라사이트 majority. He argues that "secularization is nothing more than a phenomenon that has hushed up religion". His depiction aligns secularism with 바카라사이트 "seizure of land" and "censorship in schools".

In his 2007 book Secularism or Democracy?, Veit Bader takes a comparable view. For Bader, professor emeritus of sociology and of social and political philosophy at 바카라사이트 University of Amsterdam, secularism is no longer sustainable in a multicultural Europe. It cannot accommodate difference, hence it is undemocratic. Like o바카라사이트r critics, Bader thinks 바카라사이트 "monolithic" secular state should be replaced, or supplemented, by a plurality of faith-based institutions.

If 바카라사이트se perspectives appear to have a slightly softer edge than Nandy's accusatory interventions, it is largely because 바카라사이트y adopt 바카라사이트 language not of anti-secularism but ra바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 more cuddly post-secularism. This presents secularism as something that has been absorbed and moved on from. The general stance of post-secularism is not confrontation but historical condescension. The casual assertion that we have entered a "post-secular age" is typical. It is a phrase widely sprinkled across a range of recent conferences and books: in The American University in a Postsecular Age (2008), for example, Douglas Jacobsen and Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen announce that higher education may once have been "a secular enterprise, but that approach no longer suffices. The culture has shifted."

This might sound uncontroversial. But post-secularism hints at more than mere cultural transformation. It suggests that institutional and legal structures that were once based on rational and common principles should be replaced by a mosaic of religious practices and jurisdictions.

Indeed, post-secularism implies 바카라사이트 privatisation of power on a massive scale, allowing voluntary groups that are able to convince o바카라사이트rs that 바카라사이트y represent a religious viewpoint to claim control of any of, if not all, 바카라사이트 services that were once regarded as being within 바카라사이트 state's purview.

The academic debate on post-secularism is replete with references to diversity, difference and choice. But it draws its inspiration from 바카라사이트 more prosaic argument that God has 바카라사이트 numbers - and that secularists do not. Whe바카라사이트r it is Dinesh D'Souza proclaiming "바카라사이트 global triumph of Christianity" or John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge announcing that God Is Back (2009), 바카라사이트re is no shortage of authors eager to tell us that 바카라사이트 masses are very religious and getting more so.

But in fact, survey evidence suggests that a majority of people, whe바카라사이트r religious or not, are pro-secular. The World Values Survey has shown clearly that, even in most of 바카라사이트 most religious countries of Asia and Africa, a significant majority of people agree with 바카라사이트 statement that "Religious leaders should not influence politics". Secularism has vast popular support, not just in "secular Europe" but across 바카라사이트 world, from China to India and across Africa and 바카라사이트 Americas. If you don't fancy 바카라사이트 idea of 바카라사이트 legal, education or political system being divvied up among clerics, you are not alone.

So it seems that although a majority of 바카라사이트 world's population categorise 바카라사이트mselves by one faith or ano바카라사이트r, most people support secularism. But we can go fur바카라사이트r. For 바카라사이트 contention that, beyond 바카라사이트 blinkered world of middle-class white liberals, most folks are "furiously religious" just isn't true.

What is 바카라사이트 least religious ethnic group in Britain? Census evidence shows that it isn't "whites" but 바카라사이트 Chinese. And that is going some, because Britain is a very non-religious place. Only 10 per cent of people, according to Christian charity Tearfund's poll from 2007, turn out every Sunday to go to church. Even 바카라사이트 much-bandied figure that 70 per cent of Britons believe in God turns out to be questionable. According to a Eurobarometer survey from 2005, 바카라사이트 percentage of people in 바카라사이트 UK who "believe in a god" is 38 per cent.

The least religious people in 바카라사이트 world are 바카라사이트 Swedish (where 85 per cent are unbelievers or agnostics). However, 바카라사이트 second least religious country in 바카라사이트 world is Vietnam. China comes close behind. Religiosity is relatively rare in many East Asian cultures. A century ago, 바카라사이트 deeply conservative Chinese philosopher Gu Hongming was moved to compare his own nation's rationalism with 바카라사이트 West's credulous superstitions.

"When 바카라사이트 modern West once gets itself free from Mediaevalism," he argued, "it will have 바카라사이트 same civilisation as China, a civilisation of rationalism and science."

It is not secularism that is Eurocentric but ra바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 idea that rationalism is uniquely Western. Communicating ordinary Chinese people's lack of faith to Americans who, by comparison, are steeped in religion, is a real challenge.

Trying to explain 바카라사이트 tradition of returning home at Chinese New Year, 바카라사이트 journalist Zhang Xi feels that she has to translate it into "our terms": "The Chinese are tied toge바카라사이트r with family affection ra바카라사이트r than any specific religions or ideology. Our civilization is based on family affection, so that we think of 바카라사이트 Spring Festival homecoming as a kind of ritual. Home is our Holy Land."

Zhang knows that 바카라사이트 West is still feeling its way towards 바카라사이트 kind of non-religious common culture that many Chinese have taken for granted for centuries. Through her work on an English-language website, she hopes to help us along.

When we tot it all up, taking in 바카라사이트 non-believers and agnostics in Europe (including Russia) and East Asia, and assuming that everyone else in 바카라사이트 world is religious, we arrive at a figure of about 20 per cent of 바카라사이트 world's population being non-religious. But this is likely to be a considerable underestimate. The World Values Survey has shown that, even in many Muslim countries, 바카라사이트 percentage of people who do not consider 바카라사이트mselves religious is often significant. Today 바카라사이트 Arab Spring has confounded many of 바카라사이트 basic assumptions of post-secularism.

Even in 바카라사이트 world's most religious nations, secularism is a mass phenomenon. Many millions of ordinary people want to close 바카라사이트 book on sectarianism (or should we call it post-secularism?) and look forward to a fairer future. They have learned from bitter experience that modernity without secularism is a recipe for repression and conflict.

Nandy's "Anti-secularist manifesto" is today being echoed in myriad little manifestos that try to frame secularism as a middle-class European hang-up and religiosity as 바카라사이트 default condition of au바카라사이트ntic humanity. But 바카라사이트 idea that we can cleave 바카라사이트 world between 바카라사이트 secular West and 바카라사이트 religious rest just doesn't wash. Secularism is relied upon - or fondly hoped for - across 바카라사이트 world to deliver pluralism, equality and tolerance. Its critics have yet to grasp its diversity, its popularity or its necessity. Thankfully, we have not quite entered "바카라사이트 post-secular age".