Deprivatized religion in liberal society must behave like secular politicians

Evidence

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

• XREF: Connects to the earlier claim (from this same book’s lineage on secularism) that religious persuasion reduces to political manipulation; also parallels the ‘immodesty’ moral panics framing where religious signaling does political work.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular:…, 908