Religion, violence, and the secular state / John C. Caiazza.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Caiazza, John, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Violence--Religious aspects.

Violence.

Religious fundamentalism.

Secularism.

Religion and state.

Religion and politics.

Christianity--Influence.

Christianity.

Islam--Influence.

Islam.

Religious ethics.

Physical Description:

xvi, 140 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Routledge, 2018.

Summary:

Religion, Violence, and the secular State assesses contemporary religious violence in the context of tensions between state secularism and religious ethics, and ultimately concludes that the West must reemphasize its own religious tradition in order to successfully combat the rise of a violent fundamentalism. The book presents an argument in three parts: first, an examination of the nature of religious violence; second, the effects of the present secularism of the American state on our ineffective ethical framework; and third, an advocacy for both the reasonableness of religious belief and the value of religiously based ethics (i.e., Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) as an influence within the modern state. The conclusion in that, with the arrival of violent Islam in the West, the presence of (traditional) religious influence in the United States needs to be reemphasized to combat religious terrorism. Islam represents a challenge to America and the West as a religious ideal that can only be successfully met by an energetic renewal of our own religious resources. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The Garden Image of Religion 1

2 General Comments on Religious and Political Violence, With Special Reference to Islam 7

The Use of Violence Is Often Not Irrational 8

Religious Violence as Political: The Case of Northern Ireland 10

An Analysis Based on Five General Principles 14

Principle 1: Religions and Political States Are the Largest and Longest Lasting Human Social Entities 14

Principle 2: Religious and Political Entities Act to Protect Themselves 15

Principle 3: Intentionality Is at Its Most Extensive in Religious and Political Entities 15

Principle 4: Religions and Political Social Entities Perceive Threats Most Readily 16

Principle 5: tReligious and Political Social Entities Are Prone to War 17

Conclusion: War Is an Intended Activity, Best Decided on by a Cost/Benefit Analysis 17

Is Islamic Violence Unique? 18

3 Radical Simplification and the Fate of Violent Islam 25

A Radical Simplification 26

Islam and the Nature of Allah 26

Daily Life 27

Basic Texts 28

Islam Versus Other Civilizations 29

On the Treatment of Women 30

Radical Simplification and Governance 31

Islamic Terrorism, the Last Throw of the Dice? 33

The Fate of Violent Islam 36

Chances of Assimilation in America: The Catholic Example 39

4 Contours of the Secular State 43

Secularization Is Not an Inevitable Process 43

Secularism and State Centralization Evolve Together 46

Economic Aspects of "Disenchantment" 48

Distraction, Identity, and Self Created Value Systems 50

Technology Enables the Secular Ideal of Personal Freedom 53

Techno-Ethics, Sex, and the Secular State 55

5 Theories of Secular Ethics: A Comment and a Brief Survey 60

Social Ethics in the Modem Age 61

A Critical Survey of Theories of Secular Ethics 62

Moral Relativism 62

Utilitarianism and the Welfare State 64

Deontology 66

Contract Theory 67

Autonomous Individualism and Libertarianism 69

Evolution and Nature Theory 71

Neo-Stoicism 74

Virtue Ethics 76

6 Techno-Secularism Is the Ethics of the Secular State 80

Technological Basis of Secular Ethics 80

Negative Consequences 84

Disregard for Human Life 84

Demographic Failure 84

Rise of a New Class and Class Conflict 85

Decline of Intermediate Political Structures 86

Unable to Confront Islam as a Religious Ideal 87

7 The Logic of Propositions and Religious Belief 89

Religious Propositions Exist in a Range of Plausibility 90

A Set of Propositions 92

Religions and Axiom Systems 94

The Architecture of Religious Belief Systems 96

The Functional Hypothesis of the Existence of God 99

Justification by Change of Life 102

True Belief in Religious Propositions Impels Action 104

Religious Sources of Prejudice and Persecution 105

8 Religious Ethics in the Modern State 108

Confessional State/Secular State 108

Meaning of Belief in God 110

The Moral Universe 110

Spiritual Universe 111

The Scientific Law-Like Universe 112

How Religion Implies Ethics: Natural Law 113

The Nature of Religious Ethics 117

Reasons for Religious Ethics 120

The Confusion and Contradiction Arising From Erection of a Rational Theory of Ethics 121

Religious Ethics Resolves the Prescriptive Inexactitude of Virtue Ethics 121

Religious Ethics Is Social as Opposed to the Individualistic Ethics Current Throughout Society Today 122

Religious Ethics Provides a Bright-Line Standard, Not Subject to Human "Easing" 123

Religious Btliics Provokes a Useful and Appropriate Sense of Humility 123

Religious Ethics Generally Has a Positive Effect Upon Society 124

Religious Ethics Is Progenerative 125

Religious Ethics Implies a Knowledge of History 125

Conclusions 128

The Persistent Necessity of Religion 128

What About Expansionist Islam? 129

Why Does Islam Succeed? 131

Muslims in America 132

The Secular State Is Gambling on Sexual Identity 133

Is There a "Mora! Arc" to History? 134.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781138068995

1138068993

9781138106925

1138106925

OCLC:

988377313