Religion Is Secularized Tradition

Religion Is Secularized Tradition Presented by: Mrs. Salaymeh Date: 2 March 2021 Law & Secularism - "Decolonial Translation: Destabilizing Coloniality in Secular Translations of Islamic - Law." Journal of Islamic Ethics, forthcoming 2021. - "Traduction décoloniale: déstabilisant la colonialité dans les traductions séculières du droit islamique." Clio@Themis, forthcoming 2021. - "Comparing Islamic and International Laws of War: Orthodoxy, Heresy, and Secularization in the Category of Civilians." American Journal of Comparative Law, forthcoming 2021. - Salaymeh, Lena, and Shai Lavi. "Religion Is Secularized Tradition: Jewish and Muslim Circumcisions in Germany." Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, forthcoming 2021. - Salaymeh, Lena, and Shai Lavi. "Secularism." In Key Concepts in the Study of Antisemitism, edited by Sol Goldberg, Scott Ury and Kalman Weiser. Palgrave Critical Studies of Antisemitism and Racism, 257-71. Palgrave Macmillan, 2021. - "The eurocentrism of secularism." West Windows 26 (14 Sep 2020). Outline - - Literature review • Critical secularism studies • Religious freedom Theoretical models • Secularization triangle • Trilateral relationship - Case study on recent circumcision controversy in Germany - Historical perspective on the secularization of traditions Literature Review - Critical secularism studies • Secularism is a modern, Eurocentric ideology • Secularism is not a neutral or universalist ideology because its historical beginnings, in the Protestant Christian tradition, molded its approach to "religion" • - Religion is not a transhistorical or transcultural phenomenon Studies of religious freedom • Objective is to refine the existing legal-analytical tools for evaluating how states discriminate against minorities under the doctrine of religious freedom - Secularization triangle (a schematic diagram) • Religiosity. Individual belief, private right, autonomous choice • Religious law. Divinely ordained legal code • Religious groups public threat Trilateral Relationship - States modify historical Christian criticisms of Judaism in their construction of religion - States evaluate Islam by comparing it to Judaism - The state's secularization triangle and trilateral relationship have different consequences for Jews and Muslims - Secular State • Jewish Minority • Muslim Minority Case Study On Circumcision In Germany - 26 June 2012, German district court ruled that male circumcision of young boys is grievous bodily harm - The district court declared that 'the right of the parents to raise their child in their religious faith does not take precedence over the right of the child to bodily integrity and self- determination'. - Religiosity: choice is foreign to Jewish and Islamic traditions - Religious law: state's demand for positive law has distinct consequences for Jews and Muslims - Religious group: states view groups as sources of religious violence, especially Muslims A Historical Perspective On State Secularization Of Traditions - Jewish and Muslim communities respond to the state's secularization triangulation by reshaping Judaism and Islam within the secularization triangulation • For German Jews, this resulted in splintering; Orthodox Jews refuse to recognize uncircumcised Jews as part of their community, despite the Jewish tradition's acceptance of uncircumcised Jews • For German Muslims, this means constructing circumcision as an obligation, despite its discretionary status in the tradition Conclusion - States secularize traditions through law, including the doctrine of "religious freedom"