Secular thought reduces human condition to a stark agent-versus-victim binary

Evidence

There is a secular viewpoint held by many (including anthropologists) that would have one accept that in the final analysis there are only two mutually exclusive options available: either an agent (representing and asserting himself or herself ) or a victim (the passive object of chance or cruelty). — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 384

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the violence-and-agency theme in The Reluctant Fundamentalist and to victimhood rhetorics in moral-panic literature.