Religion rather than secular society is often blamed for using violence to achieve its aims. Professor Howard in Broken Altars: Secularist violence in modern history, in contrast, demonstrates convincingly how violence has been used more often by secular regimes against religion. He seeks in this book to “bring needed nuance and perspective to a complex, often fraught topic”.
He sets out three definitions of secularism: passive secularism, combative secularism, and eliminationist secularism, and focuses in his book on the latter two, describing as passive secularism what we in the West would consider to be characteristic of a tolerant political regime with liberal principles — church-state separation, freedom of conscience, and freedom of the press — all vital ingredients of a democratic system.
He presents, as examples of combative secularism, three case studies of early 20th-century modernisation: Mexico, Spain, and Turkey.
Xenia Dennen reviews a study of #secularism in its aggressive forms 📚 #books #bookreviews https://t.co/o2xDU7RWds
— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 11, 2026
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