The New Enlightenment [30min]

The role of religion in society has emerged as one of the key political issues of the beginning of the 21st century. From Islamist terror attacks to religious hatred laws in the UK, from the increased visibility of the Christian right in the US to the riots in Paris this summer, the question of the changing relationship between the secular state and faith has become central to political debate. Laurie Taylor is joined by Stephen Bronner, Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University, and Jonathan Ree, Visiting Professor of Roehampton University and Royal College of Art, to discuss whether the secularists got it wrong and the appropriate relationship between, religion, politics and the state. Bronner is author of Reclaiming the Enlightenment: Toward a Politics of Radical Engagement (Columbia University Press). Ree is author of Proletarian Philosophers: Problems in Socialist Culture in Britain, 1900-40 (Oxford University Press) and Philosophy and Its Past (Humanities Press).