Description
Book SynopsisThe concept of a secular state is important in many parts of Asia and how this is resolved has important implications for the social, economic and political development of various Asian countries. Unfortunately, problems of the secular state have all along been studied based on the historical experience of state formation in Europe, with little (or no) input from the Asian perspective. This book will for the very first time, present mainly Asian perspectives, while drawing on Western experience as well. Conceptual issues are discussed together with detailed accounts on how different countries and traditions understand and seek to implement the ideas of a secular state.
Table of ContentsAn East Asian Perspective on Religion and Secularism (P Duara); Secularism and Its Limits (C L Ten); Secular State and Its Challenges (M Heng); Rawlsian Liberalism, Secularism, and the Call for Cosmopolitanism (S Tagore); The Machiavellian Problem and Liberal Secularism (B Wong); Krisis Points: Secularism, Critical Conviction and the 21st-Century Project of the European Union (B Turner); Secular Religiosity in Chinese Politics: a Confucian Perspective (S H Tan); State and Secularism: the French Laicite System (A-C Robert & H Pena-Ruiz); Secularism and the Constitution: Striking the Right Balance (K Y L Tan); Secularism and Vaidic Worldview (S Agnivesh); Secularism in India - A Minority Perspective (A A Engineer); The Pakistan State Project: A Secular Critique (I Ahmed); State and Secularism in Bangladesh (H H Khondker); State, Secularism, and Religion in Egypt (M Abaza); Democratic Paradox, Pancasila, and the Future of Secular Culture in Indonesia (R Robet); Malaysia: Multicultural Society, Islamic State, or What? (J Saravanamuttu); Religious Revival and the Emerging Secularism in China (L Zhao); Religion in Turkey: Which Secularism? (R Senturk); Pragmatic Secularism, Civil Religion, and Political Legitimacy in Singapore (K P Tan).
