Beyond Radical Secularism

Beyond Radical Secularism: How France and the Christian West Should Respond to the Muslim Challenge by Pierre Manent, translated by Ralph C Hancock, 115 pages

In this short book, French political scientist Pierre Manent describes the latter half of the twentieth century as a long process of depoliticization, the delegitimization of the state as the embodiment of the common good of the nation.  In its place a view of the state has devolved in which it is nothing more than the - sometimes aggressive - guarantor of individual rights against other individuals - a "life without law in a world without borders".  Such a state, he avers, is too weak to overcome an assertive Islam with a strong sense of itself as a moral community.  While secularists hope vainly for an "Islamic Reformation" that shows no signs of occurring (or, more likely, is occurring, but is not what they imagine), the only option for both the survival of free societies and the peaceful integration of Muslims into the French nation is a renewed appreciation for its religious roots and a recognition of the contributions of Catholics, evangelicals, and Jews precisely as members of religious communities.  Only then can a concept of the common good be rediscovered as the basis for a national community which can include Muslims, and in which Muslims will want to be included.