Discussion Q&A: "Secularism and Religious and Spiritual Forms of Belonging" (4 of 4)

Secularization has meant not mainly the decline of religion (although in many countries this has been a consequence )—but, rather, the pluralization of religious, or spiritual positions, and the creation of a culture of ecumenical exchange, which is very different from what obtained half a century ago. Professor Taylor examines this development and contrasts it to another religious development, viz., the use of religion as a marker of political identity and mobilization, frequently accompanied by conflict and violence. This bifurcation of religious belonging into two utterly opposed tendencies is a crucial feature of our times. Professor Charles Taylor is one of the most important thinkers of the last half-century and is the recipient of the Templeton Prize, the Kyoto Prize, the John W. Kluge Prize (the Nobel Prize for scholars in the humanities and the social sciences), and the first ever Berggruen prize. A philosopher and public intellectual of enormous range and depth, Taylor has achieved a very large and diverse readership through the huge impact of such books as Sources of the Self (1989), Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition (1994), and his magnum opus, A Secular Age (2007), hailed by the New York Times as “a work of stupendous breath and erudition.” Professor Rajeev Bhargava joined the Institute for Social Justice (ACU) as a Professorial Fellow in 2014 and is currently Professor at the Center for the Study of Developing societies. He has an MPhil and DPhil in Oxford University. He is Honorary Fellow, Balliol College, Oxford. He has been a Fellow at Harvard University, University of Bristol, Institute of Advanced Studies, Jerusalem, Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin, and the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna. He has also been a Distinguished Resident Scholar, Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life at Columbia University, and Asia Chair at Sciences Po, Paris. (more here: https://isj.acu.edu.au/people/profess...) José Casanova is one of the world's top scholars in the sociology of religion. He is a professor at the Department of Sociology at Georgetown University, and heads the Berkley Center's Program on Globalization, Religion and the Secular. He has published works in a broad range of subjects, including religion and globalization, migration and religious pluralism, transnational religions, and sociological theory. His best-known work, Public Religions in the Modern World (1994), has become a modern classic in the field and has been translated into five languages, including Arabic and Indonesian. In 2012, Casanova was awarded the Theology Prize from the Salzburger Hochschulwochen in recognition of life-long achievement in the field of theology. (more here: http://explore.georgetown.edu/people/...) This discussion was held at ACU North Sydney Campus on 29 April 2016. Part 1:    • Charles Taylor: "Secularism and Religious ...   Part 2:    • José Casanova: "Secularism and Religious a...   Part 3:    • Rajeev Bhargava: "Secularism and Religious...   Part 4:    • Discussion Q&A: "Secularism and Religious ...   https://isj.acu.edu.au/