Laura Miller reviews Lilla on religion and politics in the West
September 24, 2007 7:53 pm Religion and Politics, Religion and ViolenceDivine politics | Salon, September 24, 2007
Westerners now talk blithely about the need for a “reformation” in Islam, apparently oblivious to how bloody and traumatic the Christian Reformation actually was. Lilla finds this situation perilous. As long as we refuse to acknowledge the madness of the religious wars and persecutions of the 16th century, he argues, we remain in danger of loosening our grip on “the Great Separation” (of church and state) that resulted from it. By not understanding how easily any politics infused with any religion can drift in the direction of fanaticism and terror, we put ourselves at risk of drifting that way ourselves.