The categories of religion and secular are socially constructed through definitional acts.

Evidence

But there are questions that need to be systematically addressed beyond this obvious fact. How, when, and by whom are the categories of religion and the secular defined? What assumptions are presupposed in the acts that define them? Does the shift from a religious political order to one that is governed by a secular state simply involve the setting aside of divine authority in favor of human law? — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 976

Categorization

• QUESTION: These are the productive questions to carry into the Cooper read: who gets to define what counts as religion vs. secular, and to what effect?