Religion and nationalism are modern categories co-created by the secular order, not ancient givens.

Evidence

First, we should realize that the very distinction between “religion” and “nationalism” is a cornerstone of the secular order. Secularism is not only an outlook on religion and nationalism but is also the process through which both terms were redefined as mutually exclusive terms, by the demand to privatize religion as part of the rise of the modern nation-state. Both religion and nationalism received their meanings in modern discourse at the same time as the former was being replaced with the latter. While it is widely accepted now that nationalism as a political term and as a demand for political sovereignty is a modern category, we should also emphasize that the notion of “religion” as we know it is also modern and is in fact a product of one of the main demonstrations of “the secular order.” — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 306

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the religious-secular and religion-nationalism divides as products of a specific modern historical process, not natural categories.
• XREF: connects to: The religious and secular are not essentially fixed categories. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular:…, 103; Secular and religious categories are historically constructed, not essential. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular:…, 103; The religious and secular are co-constitutive, not opposed spheres — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 501 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• The religious and secular are not essentially fixed categories. #corroborates (0.85) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 103
• Religion and nationalism mutually constitute identity and resist clean separation #corroborates (0.85) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 292
• The secular-religious categories that define modern living are constructed, not discovered #corroborates (0.85) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 66
• Secular and religious categories are historically constructed, not essential. #corroborates (0.82) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 103
• Religion is historically contingent, not a fixed essence #corroborates (0.82) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 905
• Secular and religious categories are constructed to structure how modern people must live #corroborates (0.82)
• Secularism is not a neutral doctrine but a modern construct redefining religion and politics #corroborates (0.80) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 295
• The religious and secular are co-constitutive, not opposed spheres #corroborates (0.78) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 501
• Nationalist worldliness structurally depends on the secular concept #corroborates (0.78) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 943
• Nationalisms vary in how fully religion defines them rather than merely residue #expands (0.75) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 102