Culture, Secularization, and Democracy (ICLARS Series on Law and Religion)

by: Sophie van Bijsterveld (Editor),Hans-Martien ten Napel (Editor)

Publisher:

Edition: 1st

Publication Date: 2024/6/25

Language: English

Print Length: 180 pages

ISBN-10: 1032618558

ISBN-13: 9781032618555

Book Description

Following the approach developed by Alexis de Tocqueville, this volume views democracy as a cultural phenomenon. It starts from the assumption that if we are to adequately address conces about the current state and future of mode Weste democracies, we need first to tackle the cultural preconditions necessary for the functioning of a democracy.Since Tocqueville’s time, the book takes the most crucial change in the West to be ‘double secularisation’. Here, this conces, first, the diminished influence of organised Christianity. Even though secularity was partly a product of Christianity, secularisation is highly significant in terms of the cultural underpinnings of Weste democracy. Second, it involves a decreased interest in and knowledge of classical philosophy.Chapters on secularity, family life, civic life, and public spirit focus on central elements of the changed cultural foundation of democracy, exploring issues such as identity politics, the public space, and the role of human rights and natural law in a pluralistic and resilient democracy. The volume concludes with a closer look at the implications of current presentism, that is, the view that only the present counts for the legitimacy and effectiveness of democratic systems. Finally, it asks if double secularisation can also offer fresh opportunities for promoting the conditions of a viable democracy.The book will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the areas of law and religion, constitutional law, political science, history, and philosophy.Chapter 4 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

About the Author

Following the approach developed by Alexis de Tocqueville, this volume views democracy as a cultural phenomenon. It starts from the assumption that if we are to adequately address conces about the current state and future of mode Weste democracies, we need first to tackle the cultural preconditions necessary for the functioning of a democracy.Since Tocqueville’s time, the book takes the most crucial change in the West to be ‘double secularisation’. Here, this conces, first, the diminished influence of organised Christianity. Even though secularity was partly a product of Christianity, secularisation is highly significant in terms of the cultural underpinnings of Weste democracy. Second, it involves a decreased interest in and knowledge of classical philosophy.Chapters on secularity, family life, civic life, and public spirit focus on central elements of the changed cultural foundation of democracy, exploring issues such as identity politics, the public space, and the role of human rights and natural law in a pluralistic and resilient democracy. The volume concludes with a closer look at the implications of current presentism, that is, the view that only the present counts for the legitimacy and effectiveness of democratic systems. Finally, it asks if double secularisation can also offer fresh opportunities for promoting the conditions of a viable democracy.The book will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the areas of law and religion, constitutional law, political science, history, and philosophy.Chapter 4 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.