Taylor holds Western-origin secularism universally applicable to modern societies

Evidence

Many people have sensed this novelty and reacted to it in a variety of ways. Thus the opponents of secularism in the Middle East and elsewhere have rejected it as specific to the West, while its advocates have insisted that its particular origin does not detract from its contemporary global relevance. The eminent philosopher Charles Taylor is among those who insist that although secularism emerged in response to the political problems of Western Christian society in early modernity—beginning with its devastating wars of religion—it is applicable to non-Christian societies everywhere that have become modern. This elegant and attractive argument by a highly influential social philosopher demands the attention of everyone interested in this queston. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 19

Categorization

• XREF: This is the position Asad will argue against; but the acknowledgment that secularism emerged from response to Western Christianity’s wars of religion is the crux Asad and Cooper share — a secularism rooted in a Christian history exported globally.