ABSTRACT
This final chapter addresses the third ‘frame’ of the Islamic veiling debate – secularism and its flipside, religion. It shows how Islamic veiling is being either demonised or ‘reinterpreted’ in order to repudiate the charge of fundamentalism and be made compatible with secular liberal rule. The chapter argues that the currently dominant modality of secularism that enables this process is problematic in various ways. Far from being universal, it represents a rather particular historical formation and political rationality, which implies a peculiarly modern counterpositioning of religion and secularism, rooted in certain versions of Christianity. This being so, Islam has become the perfect ‘other’ of the secular West. Yet – arguably more significantly – the sort of difficulty secularism is currently having with religion is not resolvable into its conflict with Islam alone. Although the latter certainly enjoys a special status in the current, post-Cold War, post-9/11 era, it is the contemporary secular understanding of religion as such which provides for a more illuminating enquiry. The chapter proceeds in much the same way as the previous two, first by outlining positions on both sides of the debate and then exposing the underlying currents. Part 1 outlines the argument, as it informs the law and surrounding public debates, that Islamic veiling is the ultimate expression of Islamic radicalism threatening secularism and associated foundational values of the West. Part 2 presents the opposite position – the argument that veiling is simply a legitimate exercise of one’s freedom of religion, a valued right in democratic societies and international human rights regimes. Part 3 then explains the structure of freedom of religion itself, which makes such constructions possible. Part 4 then explores what makes the two seemingly opposing positions possible. In brief, it is a certain ‘compartmentalisation’ of religion as something essentially private, largely irrelevant to the material world and not to be interpreted literally, which informs dominant modes of secularism across the western world. To support the point, the chapter explores secularism’s evolution, showing how the currently dominant version is not only Christian in origin, but represents certain currents within Christianity itself, in contradistinction to other forms of religiosity.
