Idea
This claim links the return of the religious factor in the modern era to a set of crisis conditions, not to a religious impulse detached from reality. When political stability weakens, the social gap widens, and economic prospects narrow, religion becomes for many a language of meaning, protest, and protection. Its return here therefore appears as a sign of a broader dysfunction as much as an expression of spiritual need.
Concise Formulation
Return of the religious factor: tied to conditions of social and political crisis
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This claim appears in the book to explain the return of religion in historical and social terms, rather than reducing it to a single cause. It aligns with Arkoun Atlas’s effort to read phenomena within their conditions, not as mysterious eruptions. In this way, it places the reader before a reciprocal relationship between social crisis and the rise of religious discourse, rather than imagining religion as a force completely separate from its environment.
Why It Matters
The importance of this claim lies in its refusal of the simplistic reading that sees religion as an independent cause of every transformation. It helps us understand Arkoun as someone who links ideas to the structures that sustain them or push them into prominence. It also reminds us that addressing the religious phenomenon requires reforming the conditions of crisis themselves, not merely addressing their symptoms.
Brief Evidence
The text links the contemporary return of the religious factor to a set of negative conditions, not to a religious impulse detached from reality. When political stability weakens, the social gap widens, and economic prospects narrow, religion becomes for many a language of meaning, protest, and protection. Its return therefore appears as a sign of a broader dysfunction as much as an expression of spiritual need.
Reading Questions
- What kind of crises makes the religious factor more present in the public sphere?
- Is the return of religion here a solution to the crisis, or a sign of its deepening?
Documentation Level
High: the claim appears in a clear place in the book’s material.