Deprivatized religion cannot differ from secular vote-seeking politics

Evidence

In a modern society such agreement does not extend to all values. The only option religious spokespersons have in that situation is to act as secular politicians do in liberal democracy. Where the latter cannot persuade others to negotiate, they seek to manipulate the conditions in which others act or refrain from acting. And in order to win the votes of constituents they employ a variety of communicative devices to target their desires and anxieties. I will return to the idea that deprivatized religion in a secularized society cannot be any different. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 908

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: an essay on how supposedly ‘non-political’ religious moral appeals in the public square necessarily become the same targeted manipulation secular campaigns use — dissolving the liberal distinction that gives religion a bounded role.
• XREF: connects to: Religion as political legitimation functions regardless of actors’ actual religiosity — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 103