Janet R. Jakobsen

Ann Pellegrini

In this revolutionary new book, scholars Janet R. Jakobsen and Ann Pellegrini confront the issue of sexual regulation head-on by supporting the idea of having sexual freedom just as we have religious freedom in this country. In their carefully constructed argument, they fight the idea of loving the sinner but hating the sin, suggesting we should, in the case of sex, love the sin. Turning from sex to religion, the authors question why in the United States the principle of religious freedom is so rarely realized in practice. They end by providing a new way of considering freedom for both sexuality and religion, after laying out precisely how the two are intertwined. "Surprising . . . startling . . . a fresh way to argue for gay rights and sexual freedom." —Michael Bronski, Boston Phoenix "A tightly packed analysis of the fallacy of sexual tolerance in American society . . . This book serves its purpose by giving the GLBT community a new focus and even a renewed idealism." —Gayle R. Baldwin, Gay & Lesbian Review "[The authors'] powerful arguments might help feminists to explain pro-sex values to Christians who, knowing their own denominations' struggles against established churches, understand the value of religious freedom." —Gail Bederman, Women's Review of Books

Sexual Regulation and the Limits of Religious Tolerance

Love the Sin

At a time when secularism is put forward as the answer to religious fundamentalism and violence, Secularisms offers a powerful, multivoiced critique of the narrative equating secularism with modernity, reason, freedom, peace, and progress. Bringing together essays by scholars based in religious studies, gender and sexuality studies, history, science studies, anthropology, and political science, this volume challenges the binary conception of “conservative” religion versus “progressive” secularism. With essays addressing secularism in India, Iran, Turkey, Great Britain, China, and the United States, this collection crucially complicates the dominant narrative by showing that secularism is multifaceted. How secularism is lived and experienced varies with its national, regional, and religious context. The essays explore local secularisms in relation to religious traditions ranging from Islam to Judaism, Hinduism to Christianity. Several contributors explicitly take up the way feminism has been implicated in the dominant secularization story. Ultimately, by dislodging secularism’s connection to the single (and singular) progress narrative, this volume seeks to open spaces for other possible narratives about both secularism and religion—as well as for other possible ways of inhabiting the contemporary world. Contributors: Robert J. Baird, Andrew Davison, Tracy Fessenden, Janet R. Jakobsen, Laura Levitt, Molly McGarry, Afsaneh Najmabadi, Taha Parla, Geeta Patel, Ann Pellegrini, Tyler Roberts, Ranu Samantrai, Banu Subramaniam, Rajeswari Sunder Rajan, Angela Zito

Secularisms

Elizabeth Bernstein

Analyzing the complexities of the current political moment in different geographic regions, this book addresses the paradoxical persistence of neoliberal policies and practices in order to ground the pursuit of a more just world.

Sex, Gender and Possibilities for Justice

Paradoxes of Neoliberalism

A collection that challenges the binary conception of conservative religion versus progressive secularism by highlighting the existence of multiple secularisms.

Janet R. Jakobsen

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