Strange Bedfellows? Attitudes toward Minority and Majority Religious Symbols in the Public Sphere

AbstractIn this study, we contend that distinguishing individuals who support bans onminorityreligious symbols from those who want to banallreligious symbols improves our understanding of the roots of opposition to minority religious symbols in the public sphere. We hypothesize that both groups are likely driven by markedly different motivations and that opposition to the presence of minority religious symbols in the public sphere may be the result of an alliance between “strange bedfellows,” clusters of individuals whose political outlooks usually bring them to opposite sides of political debates. Drawing on a survey conducted in the province of Quebec (Canada), we find that while holding liberal values and low religiosity are key characteristics of those who would ban all religious symbols, feelings of cultural threat and generalized prejudice are central characteristics of those who would only restrict minority religious symbols. Negative attitudes specifically toward Muslims, however, also appear to motivate both groups.

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Multicultural differences in the public sphere

Phänomenologische Forschungen ◽

10.28937/1000107786 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2014 (1) ◽

pp. 285-300

Author(s):

Rudi Visker

Keyword(s):

Public Sphere ◽

Academic Question ◽

Present Article ◽

Private Sphere ◽

Great Length ◽

The Public ◽

Religious Symbols ◽

Private Realm ◽

The Public Sphere

The present article plays off two conceptions of the public sphere against one another. The first one sees in it a sign of what is already present in the private sphere, whereas the second regards it as a symbol that has to inscribe its own symbolic force into the private realm. That this is by no means a mere academic question becomes obvious by way of several examples analyzed at great length: the institution of mourning and the discussion about the presence of religious symbols in the public sphere. An argument for considering the Muslim veil as a protection against the divine is put forward in an attempt to clarify the presuppositions of our current predisposal against it. Ultimately, pluralism should perhaps not just be taken to refer only to the presence of others outside of us who we are able to numerically count, but might be the more difficult plight of having to cope with an otherness within each of us. Should the latter be the case, then we are in need of a public sphere where we can leave behind and thus honor what is not only differentiating us from others but also from ourselves.

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The Hijab Debate in the Norwegian Press: Secular or Religious Arguments?

Journal of Religion in Europe ◽

10.1163/187489212x639208 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 223-243 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Cora Alexa Døving

Keyword(s):

Public Sphere ◽

John Rawls ◽

Jürgen Habermas ◽

Translation Process ◽

Empirical Examination ◽

Religious Motivation ◽

The Public ◽

Religious Symbols ◽

Jurgen Habermas ◽

The Public Sphere

Do religious debaters challenge the secular public sphere? This article is an analysis of the largest religion related debate in Norway: the debate about the hijab and the use of religious symbols in the public sphere. The article is empirically founded on the debates in 2009 that began with the question about to which degree the hijab could become part of the Norwegian police uniform for those who would wish to use it. The analysis is mainly centred on the arguments of the hijab wearers: to what degree is their religious motivation translated into a secular language? The empirical examination will show that Muslim debaters arguments can be characterized by a striking absence of references to religious concepts, and a just as striking use of secular ones. The article suggests that the lack of religious argumentation is an expression of an Islamic secularism rather than a result of a translation process. The hijab wearer's arguments are presented in the light of John Rawls’ and Jürgen Habermas’ thoughts about the need for translation—and its price.

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