This paper introduces the Brazilian public to the recent debate on secularism, drawing upon two collections - Varieties of secularism in a secular age (2010) and Rethinking secularism (2011).The various authors contributing to these works intend to pursue the critique Charles Taylor makes in A Secular Age (2007), which questions the thesis of that religion can withdraw from social spheres without causing profound changes, i.e. a thesis which ignores the relational character that exists between religion and these spheres. The main argument mobilized is, accordingly, the need to reevaluate the secular / religious dichotomy, through a better understanding of the mutual constitution of both poles, as well as the effect of this dichotomy in countries outside of the "North Atlantic world" and the Judeo-Christian tradition. "Secularization", "secularism" and "secular" are thus differentiated as three related, but not homogeneous, phenomena. The underlying proposal, which calls for research into the "formation of the secular", seeks to study secular positivity, rather than the simple absence of religion.
Religion; Secularism; Talal Asad; José Casanova; Charles Taylor