Citizenship and religion: A British perspective

Abstract

The author explains his personal development with regard to the double problematic of citizenship and religion. The references to British history and culture do not present an 'objective' assessment of this history and culture, but they explain the author's present position with regard to this double problematic, which seemed to be tending steadily towards secularisation and its widening embrace of the European Union. The Salman Rushdie Affair brutally heralded the fully unexpected irruption of fundamentalist and aggressive religion into the centre ground of global politics. Religions have their legitimate place in the public domain, as does any other social association, but within the framework of a secular state.