Introduction

When sociologists refer to ‘the management of religion’ or the crisis of multiculturalism or the problems of secularism, they are essentially talking about how modern liberal states respond to the radicalisation of modern religions, that is, to the alleged ‘depersonalisation’ of religion (Casanova, 1994) or, more crudely, to ‘fundamentalism’. In this context, the particular issues surrounding Muslim minorities in non-Muslim secular states can be seen as simply one instance of the more general problem of state and religion in modern multicultural societies. There is some agreement that virtually all modern societies are multicultural. Because in practice it is difficult to separate ‘religion’ from ‘culture’, all multicultural societies are by definition multi-faith societies. Therefore any policy relating to multiculturalism is automatically a policy about religion. Despite the separation of church and state in liberal constitutions, modern governments find themselves dragged into forming religious policies, however implicit or covert, in order to manage the resulting tensions between competing religious traditions. This development is one reason for the growth of political interest in religion, not necessarily because of ‘re-sacralisation’ but simply because ‘identity politics’ means ‘religion and politics’. Much of the literature has been concentrated on religion in Western liberal societies, where Islam, as a result of large-scale migration and settlement, has been seen as a threat to democratic cultures. In addition, there is the argument that societies that have experienced very rapid waves of migration, and as a result have become diverse ethnic societies, have experienced a decline in public commitment to taxation to support welfare states (Freeman, 1986).