Secularism is an enacted political mediation that transcends particularized identities

Evidence

In an important sense, this transcendent mediation is secularism. Secularism is not simply an intellectual answer to a question about enduring social peace and toleration. It is an enactment by which a political medium (representation of citizenship) redefines and transcends particular and differentiating practices of the self that are articulated through class, gender, and religion. In contrast, the process of mediation enacted in “premodern” societies includes ways in which the state mediates local identities without aiming at transcendence. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 30

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines secularism not as an intellectual doctrine but as an enactment — a political medium that redefines and transcends class, gender, and religious identities via citizenship representation.
• XREF: Echoes the reader’s interest in how abstract institutions (law merchant, trust) transform social relations; contrasts with premodern state mediation of local identity. — connects to: Secularism is not a neutral doctrine but a modern construct redefining religion and politics — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 295