Non-Religion, Secularity and Religious Pluralism in South Africa

“What place does a conversation about non-religion and secularity have in a Centre, focussed on the role of religion in society? While Christian privilege manifests, christonormativity remains an urgent area of inquiry for those concerned with the study of religious pluralism, and the issue of non-religion reveals an area of meaningful human experience that has hitherto been ignored.”

Dr Scharnick-Udemans offered these opening remarks, which framed the discussion for the seminar on Non-Religion, Secularity and Religious Pluralism in South Africa. The seminar was chaired by Dr Scharnick-Udemans and presented by Dr Patrick Pillay with Prof Narnia Bohler-Muller, the Executive Director of the Democracy, Governance and Service Delivery research programme at the Human Sciences Research Council, as the respondent.

The purpose of the seminar was to form relationships with conversation partners about the emerging field of academic study called Non-Religion, with a commitment to continue engaging critically on the place of religion in public life. One of the outcomes of this seminar was the appointment of Dr Patrick Pillay as a postdoc researcher in the Centre in 2019. It is expected that     Dr Pillay will continue the production of knowledge in this area through a series of publications.