The secular state - an idea whose time has passed?
Thursday 28 June 2007 21:45-22:30 (Radio 3)
In light of a religious resurgence around the world, Philip Dodd and guests discuss whether the secular state is an idea whose time has past. Thousands of protestors in Istanbul believe not, having recently poured onto the streets of Istanbul to defend the principle of a government that is neutral in matters of religion. Similar questions have been raised, albeit less vehemently, in officially secular capitals from Washington to New Delhi.
Playlist
Philip Dodd explores a question that would have seemed irrelevant ten years ago - but is now back with a vengeance.
Is the secular state still viable?
Faith groups are staking their claim to a role in the public sphere with newly competitive vigour.
The government is actively supporting faith schools and city academies run by religious groups.
Church leaders have intervened in debates over abortion and gay adoption, advising believers to withhold votes, and asking for exemptions from new laws.
Meanwhile, in America, the model of church-state separation seems under pressure as never before.
In Turkey, the possibility of a Muslim President being elected has raised the prospect of a military intervention to protect the avowedly secular Turkish state.
What does all this mean for the notion that states should keep religion separate from power, and as just one of many players in civil society?
To find out, Philip talks to the philosopher John Gray, who argues that secularism is a repressed version of Christianity - and is joined in the studio by the philosopher AC Grayling and the writer Ziauddin Sardar.
