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(2014) Transformations of religion and the public sphere, Dordrecht, Springer.
Reawakening enlightenment?
contesting religion and politics in European public discourse
Anders Berg-Sørensen
pp. 35-52
Free speech has become a battle point between religious and secular political movements in twenty-first century European public discourse. Consider a few highly contested recent cases: the movie Submission and the murder of its director Theo van Gogh in November 2004; the twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad published in the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005 and the subsequent death threats, impassioned demonstrations, burning of flags and embassies in Muslim countries; the debate on the Qur'an critical movie Fitna released in March 2008 by Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders, founder of the Party for Freedom fighting against immigration; the debate on boycotting the UN Durban Review Conference in April 2009 because of restrictions of free speech for reasons of blasphemy and the violent reactions against the recently released YouTube movie Innocence of Muslims in September 2012. And the list goes on.
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Full citation:
Berg-Sørensen, A. (2014)., Reawakening enlightenment?: contesting religion and politics in European public discourse, in R. Braidotti, B. Blaagaard, T. De Graauw & E. Midden (eds.), Transformations of religion and the public sphere, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 35-52.
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