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Secularization and States of Modernity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2011

Terrance G. Carroll
Affiliation:
Brock University
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Abstract

Extensive secularization is frequently held to be a necessary condition for political modernity. The author argues that the relationship between religion and the modern state is considerably more complex than this general proposition suggests. It is necessary to specify particular ideological models of the modern state, since these differ significantly from one another; and it is necessary to specify particular religions in their contemporary manifestations, since these also differ in important ways. A detailed analysis of this type suggests that there is no general incompatibility between the main religions of the third world and widely shared, nonideological features of political modernity. Specific religions are shown to be incompatible with some specific forms of the modern state, while presenting no significant obstacle to other models of political modernity.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1984

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References

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