The Time Has Arrived for Post-Post-Secularism

Political secularism secures the disestablishment of religion by government. Religions sense an undemocratic power grab, and hence demand the disestablishment of secularism. The obvious options for political religion are few, to either promote populist majoritarianism, and/or control one or another branch of government. The options for political secularism in an age of secularization are no less momentous. Berlinerblau’s book Secularism: The Basics should be widely read as a clarion call for post-post-secularism, where political secularism has been all along. Post-secular academics and pro-religion intellectuals are getting called to account for their erosion of republican principles and their tacit or open endorsement of religious populism. The restoration of political secularism would counteract rising tides of conservative populism threatening constitutional democracy and human rights.