Western secularism claims universality while resisting genuine multicultural inclusion

Evidence

It should be clarified that the issue is not the principles of pluralism, freedom of belief, and so on that are often attributed to secularism, but whether historical Western secularism advances these principles or rather prevents their realization. In the words of Etienne Balibar (2004, 205), “the dominant form of European secularism (this is particularly the case with French laı¨cite´) is also a form of resistance to real multiculturalism, since many cultures are deemed to be too ‘religious’ to become acceptable to the picture.” It may be wrong to reduce secularism to Orientalism and colonialism, but as Gil Anidjar (2007) has strongly demonstrated, the very attempt to analyze secularism as an autonomous domain is one of the ways in which secularism disguises its concrete attributes and represents itself as a universal doctrine of freedom of speech, without drawing attention to its implications on other people (see also King 1999). — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 296

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s ongoing critique of how professed egalitarian or universalist doctrines diverge from measured exclusionary practice — same conviction-versus-behavior divergence theme at the level of state ideology rather than individual bias. — connects to: Orthodox liberals reject multiculturalism as threatening universal citizenship and personal autonomy — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 878; Muslim inclusion-exclusion in Europe stems from European concepts of culture and secular state; Multicultural minority claims clash with citizenship’s universalist individualist ideals (+7 more)
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: does the reader’s conviction-vs-bias framework apply to state secularism as a professed creed the way it applies to religious piety? Anidjar’s point suggests European secularism functions as a threat-hardened belief system of its own.

Broader Connections

• Western modernity is a hegemonic particularism disguised as universalism #corroborates (0.92) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 153
• Multicultural minority claims clash with citizenship’s universalist individualist ideals #corroborates (0.85)
• The West promotes a universal culture it is increasingly unable to impose. #corroborates (0.85)
• Orthodox liberals reject multiculturalism as threatening universal citizenship and personal autonomy #corroborates (0.82) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 878
• Western universalism persists even as Western relative power and cultural appeal decline #corroborates (0.80) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 488
• Belief in Western cultural universality is false, immoral, and dangerous #expands (0.78)
• Muslim inclusion-exclusion in Europe stems from European concepts of culture and secular state #expands (0.75)
• Secularism produces the unconnected citizen against racialized others #expands (0.75)
• Anti-multiculturalism arguments frame European identity as white and Christian #expands (0.72) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 576
• Assimilation into secular states constitutes a subtler coercion than exclusion #expands (0.72) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 333