Introduction

Abstract

How do different constitutional and political systems manage religious diversity? Given shifting patterns of personal and group piety, does the concept of secularism have meaning across space and time? How have different states and political arrangements coped with religions and religious traditions that have challenged liberal or secular principles? Are certain constitutional and political traditions – whether formally committed to secularism, such as France, Turkey, and India, or one combining high levels of religiosity with great religious diversity, such as in the U.S. – better or worse at accommodating religious believers and treating fairly majority and minority faiths? The scholars who examine Comparative Secularisms in this book confront these questions in historical perspective, considering critically the normative ideas and alternative political arrangements that govern religion’s relation to politics – as Michael Walzer discusses in the foreword – and to the public and private spheres.