Modern Democracy as the Cult of the Individual: Durkheim on religious coexistence and conflict

Paul Carls

doi:10.1177/2050303218823069

Modern Democracy as the Cult of the Individual: Durkheim on religious coexistence and conflict

Paul Carls

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

After the demise of Christianity, Western society did not become secular, according to Emile Durkheim, but located foundations in a new religion he calls the “cult of the individual.” This religion holds the rational individual person as sacred, and corresponds to a multi-faceted, complex, and diverse society united around individual democratic rights and modern science. Different traditional religions can co-exist in the cult of the individual, but only if they accept a subordinate status in relation to it. Durkheim maintains, however, that all religions construct authoritative regimes of truth and moral obligations, setting the stage for conflict. How then should modern democracies respond to challenges to their authority from traditional religions? This article argues that a Durkheimian response would be to assert the values of the cult of the individual, as this is the only way to maintain the integrity and viability of Western democratic society.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	292-311
Number of pages	20
Journal	Critical Research on Religion
Volume	7
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/2050303218823069
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2019
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
I would like to especially thank Tom McGowan and Mark Cladis for their attentive comments and encouragement in the writing of this article. I would equally like to thank Marcel Fournier, Charles Blattberg, Alan Patten, Corey Dolgon, Laurence McFalls, and my mother Alice-Catherine Carls for their helpful suggestions and insight, without which this article would not have been published.

Keywords

death of god
democratic theory
morality
multiculturalism
political liberalism
Religious pluralism

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10.1177/2050303218823069

Cite this

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title = "Modern Democracy as the Cult of the Individual: Durkheim on religious coexistence and conflict",

abstract = "After the demise of Christianity, Western society did not become secular, according to Emile Durkheim, but located foundations in a new religion he calls the “cult of the individual.” This religion holds the rational individual person as sacred, and corresponds to a multi-faceted, complex, and diverse society united around individual democratic rights and modern science. Different traditional religions can co-exist in the cult of the individual, but only if they accept a subordinate status in relation to it. Durkheim maintains, however, that all religions construct authoritative regimes of truth and moral obligations, setting the stage for conflict. How then should modern democracies respond to challenges to their authority from traditional religions? This article argues that a Durkheimian response would be to assert the values of the cult of the individual, as this is the only way to maintain the integrity and viability of Western democratic society.",

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Modern Democracy as the Cult of the Individual: Durkheim on religious coexistence and conflict

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this