Political church, procedural Europe, and the creation of the Islamic other

Abstract

Taking the cue from the controversial speech of Pope Benedict XVI at the University of Re-gensburg in 2006, this paper explores the connection between the apparently divergent posi-tions taken by the Catholic Church and the European secular establishment on the question of European identity and Islam. The argument is advanced that the proceduralism of the Europe-an secular establishment contributes to breed its nemesis, a conservative politicised church, but also converges with it in identifying Islam as ‘the Other.’ It is thus asked whether a critical valorisation of Europe’s emotional attachments may not actually strengthen its capacity to embrace the ‘difference’ represented by Islam.

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