“WheredoIendandyoubegin – On Secularity, seeks to stimulate public discourse on a subject of contemporary social and political significance: that of the secular. What role should secularity have in society today?”
“Based on the principle of separation between religious belief (and non-belief) from the state, Western liberal secularity strives to create the conditions that produce and protect four civic cornerstones: political and social equality, minority rights, religious freedom, and the legal separation of private and public domains. Secularity, not to be confused with atheism, has played an essential role in society, creating the conditions for regulating complex and often divisive areas of transaction, including sexual freedoms, freedom of religion, gender equality and freedom of expression. Yet in the midst of the geo-political upheaval that has continued to take place since the beginning of the 21st century, liberal secularity finds itself under acute pressure. Numerous profound questions emerge about the future. What happens to secularity during moments of crisis? How can we sustain freedoms—social, sexual, cultural or religious—in a situation of stark cultural differences? What do we mean by “belief” today? Is it the state that is best positioned for defining secularity? If not, who should? GIBCA 2017 seeks to engage with fundamental questions about Europe, the formalisation of its values, and the fine line between protection and violence.”