Formulation of the Claim
The conflation of the religious and the political leads to a stalling of the construction of the rule of law and civil society.
Explanation
Arkoun sees the problem as not merely the presence of religion in the public sphere, but its fusion with the political in a way that impedes the establishment of an orderly legal field. The rule of law requires clear boundaries that regulate the relationship between authority and religious reference without abolishing either of them.
In this context, civil society appears as a space that cannot function so long as it remains subject to this overlap, which weakens its autonomy. The text therefore links the relative separation of the two spheres to the possibility of forming a more orderly public sphere.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This atom falls within the theses that criticize the persistence of traditional structures in managing the relationship between religion and politics, and it clarifies the effect of this persistence in obstructing the transition toward a modern state. It is close to other passages in the book concerned with the question of humanism, the conditions for the formation of the public sphere, and the limits of political action when it remains tied to religious reference as an encompassing authority.
Limits of the Claim
This atom does not mean the exclusion of religion from society, nor does it reduce the crisis of the state to a single factor. It also does not offer a final judgment on all political experiences; rather, it points to a specific obstacle that recurs whenever the religious and the political become confused.