Article
Does Political Islam Conflict With Secular Democracy? Philosophical Reflections on Religion and Politics
Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2014
Disciplines
- Civil Rights and Discrimination,
- Comparative and Foreign Law,
- Comparative Methodologies and Theories,
- Constitutional Law,
- Ethics and Political Philosophy,
- First Amendment,
- Fourteenth Amendment,
- Human Rights Law,
- International Law,
- Jurisprudence,
- Law,
- Law and Politics,
- Philosophy,
- Political Science,
- Religion,
- Religion Law and
- Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
Abstract: This paper rebuts the thesis that political Islam conflicts with secular democracy. More precisely, it examines three sorts of claims that ostensibly support this thesis:
(a) The Muslim religion is incompatible with secular democracy;
(b) No Muslim country has instituted secular democracy; and
(c) No movement seeking to advance its agenda as aggressively as political Islam does can do so with the degree of moderation required of a political party that is committed to secular democracy.
Theologians, philosophers, and political scientists have debated (a) through (c) within the jurisdiction of their respective fields. I propose to combine these debates in developing what I hope will be a novel interdisciplinary examination of the relevant issues. The paper compares different types of Muslim regimes, different models of secular democracy, and different conceptions of public reason, and concludes with a comparison between Catholicism and Islam regarding the relevant question.
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
Copyright Statement
© 2013 David Ingram.
Citation Information
David Ingram. "Does Political Islam Conflict With Secular Democracy? Philosophical Reflections on Religion and Politics" (2014) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/david_ingram/3/
Under review at The Review of Politics.