although some scholars view habermas as the most important philosopher and social theorist, his account of religion has been relatively neglected. in this paper, habermas’s early and later views of religion are outlined, and the change in his understanding of religion from one of the sources of modernity’s inner problems to a principal source of the passions and motivations underpinning cultura...

In Why Tolerate Religion?, Brian Leiter argues against the special legal status of religion, claiming that religion should not be the only ground for exemptions to the law and that this form of protection should be, in principle, available for the claims of secular conscience as well. However, in the last chapter of his book, he objects to a universal regime of exemptions for both religious and...

Turkey has long been a country which exercises secular state system. Its constitution identifies the country as a secular one, and state institutions are no doubt secular. It has been the state’s policy to exercise laicism on every level from education to legal system since the establishment of the Republic in 1923. Yet, this policy did not end up with Turkish people turning away from religion....

Since 9/11, and even more so with the atrocities committed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria, violence in the name of God is predominantly perceived as a “different” kind of violence, which triggers more “absolute” and radical manifestations than its secular counter parts. In its first part, this article will challenge this so called exceptionalism of religious violence by questioning the neat divide b...

religion, as a social phenomenon, affects society and is affected by it interactively. in iran, basically with religious norms and laws, many scholars and researchers concern with religion and level of religiosity. the paper is a comparative analysis of level of religiosity based on glynn and stark’s dimensions of religiosity, in three different generations in sari city: first generation (pre-r...

Faith-based programs are one of the primary treatment options for individuals with substance use disorders. However, there is ambiguity regarding what faith-based programs are, how they differ from secular programs, and how they incorporate religion or spirituality into treatment. Furthermore, though evidence suggests faithbased programs can be as effective as other secular treatments, it is un...

Ronald Dworkin and Philip Kitcher recognize that traditional, religious faith—especially in Christian theistic tradition—has virtues that seem to be missing in a secular worldview. To remedy this apparent deficit, they both propose that a secular worldview can provide a satisfying foundation for a flourishing, meaningful life. Moreover, Kitcher argues that secular humanism is far more justified...

I began my study of religion as a hobby years before I formally entered the academic world. During my informal studies I never gave much thought to just what religion is. I gleaned the bookstore shelves in sections marked " Religion, " never considering why some books appeared on these shelves and others appeared on the " New Age and Occult " section. My study of religion was simple — my concep...

Drawing on surveys of religion and values in Great Britain, this paper suggests that Peter Berger's paradigm of two pluralisms can be usefully supplemented by taking account of a third kind of intensified pluralism. This involves the breakdown of the boundaries between religions, and between the religious and the secular, and is therefore a pluralism of de-differentiation. It helps explain many...