Contested Secularities: Religious Minorities and Secular Progressivism in the Netherlands
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In this paper, we propose to analyze ideas, practices, institutionalizations, and public controversies related to the religious-secular divide in the Netherlands in terms of contested formations of secularity. We introduce the concept of ‘multiple secularities’ and use it as an interpretive device for an analysis of the historical emergence and transformation of Dutch secularity. After that we show how historically shaped notions of secularity operated within the parliamentary debates on blasphemy, freedom of speech, and religion that unfolded between 2004 and 2009. We argue that long-standing notions of secularity as a means for balancing religious and ideological diversity are challenged by and give way to a new preponderance of secular progressivism. By secular progressivism we mean the idea that within an ‘immanent frame’ in which the secular ontologically embodies the ‘real’ and constitutes the ground for normative universalism, religion turns into a historical vestige whose protection must be subordinated to universalistic notions of civic liberties. However, this development is still contested in the Netherlands.
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2)
Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Boston: Harvard University Press, 2007).
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6)
Willem Schinkel, “The Virtualization of Citizenship,” Critical Sociology 36/2 (2010), 265–283. See also P.J.H. Mepschen, J.W. Duyvendak, & E.H. Tonkens, “Sexual politics, Orientalism, and Multicultural Citizenship in the Netherlands DOI:dx.doi.org,” Sociology 44/5 (2010), 962–979 and J.W. Duyvendak & P.W.A. Scholten, “Beyond the Dutch Multicultural Model: The Coproduction of Integration Policy Frames in The Netherlands,” Journal of International Migration and Integration 12/3 (2011), 331–348.
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7)
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9)
Frank J. Lechner, The Netherlands: Globalization and National Identity (New York: Routledge, 2008). See also Peter van der Veer, “Pim Fortuyn, Theo van Gogh, and the Politics of Tolerance in the Netherlands,” Public Culture 18 (2006), 111–124 and Schinkel, “Virtualization.” Furthermore, see Friso van Houdt, Semin Suvarierol & Willem Schinkel, “Neoliberal Communitarian Citizenship: Current Trends Towards ‘Earned Citizenship’ in the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands,” International Sociology 26/3 (2011), 408–432, and Sipco Vellenga, “The Dutch and British Public Debate on Islam: Responses to the Killing of Theo van Gogh and the London Bombings Compared,” DOI:dx.doi.org Islam and Christian-Muslim Relation 19/4 (2008), 449–471.
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Frank J. Lechner, The Netherlands: Globalization and National Identity (New York: Routledge, 2008), 75, 79.
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31)
Tariq Modood, “Moderate Secularism, Religion as Identity, and Respect for Religion,” The Political Quarterly 81 (2010), 4–14.
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Ahmed Kuru, Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009).
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51)
Van Dam (2011) has recently criticized the concept of pillarization as a myth that paints an overly static picture of Dutch society. We partially agree but deem it justified using the concept with regard to the dominant mode of organizing diversity. Peter van Dam, Staat van verzuiling: Over een Nederlandse mythe (Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek, 2011).
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J.W. Becker & R. Vink, Secularisatie in Nederland 1966–1991: De verandering van opvattingen en enkele gedragingen (Rijswijk: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau, 1994), 49.
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70)
Gert Hekma, “Imams and Homosexuality: A Post-gay Debate in the Netherlands,” Sexualities 5/2 (2002), 237–248.
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71)
Geert Wilders, “Genoeg is Genoeg: Verbied de Koran,” Volkskrant 8.8.2007. http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2686/Binnenland/article/detail/870859/2007/08/08/Genoeg-is -genoeg-verbied-de-Koran.dhtml (accessed 27 October 2010).
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TK 22, 1289.
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TK 22, 1282.
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Contested Secularities: Religious Minorities and Secular Progressivism in the Netherlands
In: Journal of Religion in EuropeSearch for other papers by Cora Schuh in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Marian Burchardt in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Monika Wohlrab-Sahr in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
In this paper, we propose to analyze ideas, practices, institutionalizations, and public controversies related to the religious-secular divide in the Netherlands in terms of contested formations of secularity. We introduce the concept of ‘multiple secularities’ and use it as an interpretive device for an analysis of the historical emergence and transformation of Dutch secularity. After that we show how historically shaped notions of secularity operated within the parliamentary debates on blasphemy, freedom of speech, and religion that unfolded between 2004 and 2009. We argue that long-standing notions of secularity as a means for balancing religious and ideological diversity are challenged by and give way to a new preponderance of secular progressivism. By secular progressivism we mean the idea that within an ‘immanent frame’ in which the secular ontologically embodies the ‘real’ and constitutes the ground for normative universalism, religion turns into a historical vestige whose protection must be subordinated to universalistic notions of civic liberties. However, this development is still contested in the Netherlands.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 4293 | 225 | 22 |
| Full Text Views | 455 | 16 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 711 | 28 | 5 |
