ABSTRACT
The presence and accommodation of post-immigration religious communities, especially Muslims in Western Europe, has made what seemed like a settled issue, namely political secularism, reemerge with a new vitality. While for some it is about a hardening of political secularism (most notably in France), for others it is about how to make secularism more religion-friendly, especially in relation to the newly present non-Christian groups. Either way, it is crucially to do with the reality of multiculturalism. By which is meant not just the fact of new ethno-religious diversity but the presence of a multiculturalist approach to this diversity. The chapter offers its own conception of political secularism, distinguishing it from more prevalent views. It then explains the concept of ‘moderate secularism’ to analyze the current form of political secularism in Western Europe, and a concept of multiculturalism. It concludes by considering what West European moderate secularism might look like if it was to be multiculturalized. The presentation of such a prospect is the normative purpose of this chapter.
