Abstract
This chapter aims at shedding a comparative light between Afro-Cuban religiosity, secularism as a theory, and also Cuban revolutionary practice. The apparent paradox of how religious traditions can exhibit secular-friendly attitudes that may equal or, even, surpass those of the political regime it is surrounded by is the most immediate point of departure. I propose a broad distinction between “secularism-as-substance” and “secularity-as-a-relation” and argue that a “secular-friendly” environment is not necessarily the sole outcome of its most immediate actor, the state, and with overt ideological claims of sorts but may derive from other interacting agents, even religious ones. More crucially than “secularism-as-substance,” within the “space” of “secularity-as-a-relation,” a vital room of “indifference” is also necessary, and this may refer to both political and religious actors.
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Notes
- 1.
My usage of the term “anti-religious” (or “atheist”) as one not to be conflated with the “secular” acknowledges the fact that these might more than often be convergent projects. Yet, I insist on the analytical distinction of them, especially in the way they go about to materialize their otherwise common “convictions.” While both might depart from the same premises and cosmological views, on the ground, an “anti-religious” stance goes explicitly against religion, while a “secular” one, as I understand it through the prism of “indifference,” separates religion from the immediate political domain but does not, for that matter, eradicate it or ban it completely from the public domain. Seen as such, my usage of the “secular” draws inspiration from the way George Holyoake (2016) has framed it, even if, for many, this may sound a slightly outdated or romantic vision. Apart from departing from a common worldview, both “anti-religious” and “secular” stances put an effort to define “politics” and “religion” (along with other categories, such as “economy,” “culture,” “private,” and “public,” among others) as separate categories. Thus, and due to these important convergences, on an empirical level, a state may well adopt both “anti-religious” and “secular” stances, just as much as it can be “secularist” and “pro-religious” (with the further implication that, almost by definition, favoring a specific religion explicitly or implicitly leads to disfavoring the rest. In at least that sense, a state can even be “anti-religious” and “pro-religious” at the same time). If seen as tendencies or “forces,” rather than pure substances, then the distinction between them becomes less problematic because it does not preclude their various contextual(-ized) interconnections. I also understand that my discussion responds to how others have made similar classifications. For instance, it may bring to mind Kuru’s (2007) distinction between “passive” and “assertive” secularism, or Hurd’s (2008) distinction between “laicism” and “Judeo-Christian” secularism, or Philpott’s (2009) distinction between “positive or neutral” and “negative” secularism. While I acknowledge the affinities, I sense that the distinctions I make, heuristically at least, do more justice to the notion of “indifference” (which is not though necessarily passive, neutral, or Judeo-Christian) I am trying to convey. I wish to express my profound gratitude to Erin Wilson, for pointing out such affinities and, perhaps, ambiguities of my terms. A more detailed discussion should definitely engage more with such nuances.
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Panagiotopoulos, A. (2017). A Secular Religion within an Atheist State: The Case of Afro-Cuban Religiosity and the Cuban State. In: Mapril, J., Blanes, R., Giumbelli, E., Wilson, E. (eds) Secularisms in a Postsecular Age?. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43726-2_3
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