Unity Through Separation On the Construction of Danish Secularism Dabelsteen, Hans B. Publication date: 2015 Document version Peer reviewed version Citation for published version (APA): Dabelsteen, H. B. (2015). Unity Through Separation: On the Construction of Danish Secularism. Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen . Ph.d. - serien Vol. 2015 No. 2 Download date: 30. sep.. 2021 UNITY THROUGH SEPARATION On the Construction of Danish Secularism [05-05-2015: minor text corrections] Hans Bruun Dabelsteen PhD Thesis The Faculty of Social Sciences Department of Political Science University of Copenhagen October 2014 To Maria and Hannah who animate my dreams CONTENTS Acknowledgements v Chapter 1 Introduction 1 PART I 23 Chapter 2 Theory and concepts of secularism 24 Chapter 3 Methodological considerations 75 PART II 103 Chapter 4 Political struggles over the constitution of the church 104 Chapter 5 “…the two flags suit one another!” – On establishment and same-sex marriage 164 Chapter 6 Modernizing religious governance? 217 Chapter 7 Reflections on Danish secularism 263 Chapter 8 Conclusion 285 Appendix I: Names and abbreviations of Danish political parties in parliament 295 Appendix II: Legislative work concerning homosexual living arrangements 296 Abstract 299 Opsummering 300 References 301 i DETAILED CONTENTS Acknowledgements v Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1. Jensen’s call for mercy, the headscarf case and Danish secularism 1 1.2. A framework to interpret the place of public religion in politics 8 1.3. The structure of the thesis 18 PART I 23 Chapter 2 Theory and concepts of secularism 24 2.1. Introduction 24 2.2. Whither secularism? 27 2.2.1. Separation of what? 33 2.3. Mapping concepts of secularism 35 2.3.1. First expansion: modest establishment 36 2.4 Second expansion: peoplehood 44 2.4.1. Integrating secularism and peoplehood 45 2.4.2. Religion as an ethically constituting theme 49 a) What is so ‘special’ about the people? 53 b) Pluralism and political identity 55 c) Peoplehood and the paradox of politics 59 d) The people as authors of their own identity? 61 2.5. Talal Asad's secularism and sites of belonging 64 2.6. Concluding remarks: Four ideal-types of secularism 67 Chapter 3 Methodological considerations 75 3.1. Michael Freeden and studying ideology as an expression of political thinking 75 3.2. Problem-driven interpretation 84 ii 3.3. Political reality between interpretation and critique 90 3.4. Structure of the analysis 97 PART II 103 Chapter 4 Political struggles over the constitution of the church 104 4.1. Introduction 104 4.1.1. The diachrony of Danish secularism 107 4.2. The early modern context 110 4.2.1. Political secularization: Unity challenged by early liberalism 112 a) Martin Luther's Two Kingdoms Doctrine and its interpretations 115 b) Important figures in early Danish Enlightenment 118 4.2.2. Theological secularization: Unity challenged by revivalism 122 4.2.3. Conceptualizing Danish secularization inspired by Charles Taylor 126 4.2.4. Ambiguous relations between the ancient regime and the modern order 130 4.2.5. Religion and the romantic people 136 4.3. Outlining three major positions on religion and politics 145 4.4. Concluding remarks 161 Chapter 5 “…the two flags suit one another!” – On establishment and same-sex marriage 164 5.1. Introduction 164 5.2. The context of the policy 169 5.2.1. Same-sex living arrangements getting closer to the church 170 5.2.2. A struggling minority government 174 5.3. Analysis of new same-sex marriage policy 176 5.3.1. Focusing on two positions: Who can decide on marriage? 186 5.3.2. Bishops: Leaders of the church or government officials? 193 5.4. When unity through separation creates tension 199 5.4.1. Particularistic qualities of Danish peoplehood 201 5.5. Concluding remarks: Danish secularism and symbolic recognition 212 Chapter 6 Modernizing religious governance? 217 iii 6.1. Introduction 217 6.2. Historical context of the policy 219 6.2.1. Four former proposals 219 6.2.2. Recent developments leading up to 2011 223 6.3. Analysis of the actual policy 235 6.3.1. Having ears to the ground: Discussing the policy 237 6.3.2. Counting the votes and making recommendations 244 6.4. Concluding remarks: New reforms and old ideas 254 Chapter 7 Reflections on Danish secularism 263 7.1. Introduction: ‘After you my dear, after you’ 263 7.2. Morphology of Danish secularism: Freedom, equality and the people 267 7.3. Assertive and accommodationist secularism 274 Chapter 8 Conclusion 285 8.1. Conditions of multiculturalism: A story with many narrators 288 Appendix I: Names and abbreviations of Danish political parties in parliament 295 Appendix II: Legislative work concerning homosexual living arrangements 296 Abstract 299 Opsummering 300 References 301 Books and articles 301 Official policy documents, laws and reports 329 Newspaper articles and miscellaneous public texts 344 iv Acknowledgements As I look around my office filled with piles of great books and articles, I realize that I have been so fortunate to have met and discussed my work with many of the authors whom I owe thanks for inspiration, ideas and insightful comments: Professor Lisbet Christoffersen, Professor Rogers M. Smith, Professor Ove Korsgaard, associate Professor Sune Lægaard, associate Professor Jeppe Nevers, Professor Uffe Østergård, church historian and PhD Jens Rasmussen and Professor Anne Norton. In connection with the publication of my thesis, I am grateful for the Department of Political Science for providing shelter to my ideas and thoughts on interpretation of religion and politics during three years of scholarship. Not at least I wish to extend thanks to my supervisor, associate Professor Anders Berg-Sørensen who always has provided critical and constructive comments in a time of need. Within the department I have also benefitted from sharing ideas and texts with the PhD group in political theory from the Department of Political Science (Signe Blaabjerg Christoffersen, Esben Høgh, Theresa Scavenius, Ditte Maria Brasso Sørensen, Rune Møller Stahl and Irina Papazu). A special thanks to associate Professor Lars Tønder who read large parts of the manuscript, but also to associate Professor Christian F. Rostbøll, associate Professor Noel Parker, Reader in International Relations Benno Teschke (visiting) and other fine colleagues there, who contributed with comments and ideas. A final important group at the department I wish to thank is the capable and always patient administrative and IT staff – not at least for their humor and high spirits. Also, I thank University of Pennsylvania and especially the Political Science Department for hosting me as a guest scholar for five months during 2013 and v taking so good care of me. In that connection, PhD student Osman Balkan not only turned out to be a good friend but a valuable interlocutor on my work. Furthermore, I should mention the generous financial support from Oticon Fonden, Agustinus Fonden and Dansk Tennis Fond, which made my stay abroad possible. There have been various fora, where I have found inspiration and discussed my work. The 2012 CES Summer School in Lisbon with Dr. Mathias Tahler and Professor Veit Bader. Sessions at Roskilde University with Professor Garbi Schmidt, assistant Professor Nils Valdemar Vinding, PhD student Rikke Juel Madsen, PhD student Linda Lapina, associate Professor Lise Paulsen Galal, associate Professor Sune Haugbølle. Grundtvigscenteret in Vartov, with centre director Michael Schelde including a session with Professor Hanne Sanders. The research network, Fremtidens danske religionsmodel: associate Professor Hans Raun Iversen, Professor Margit Warburg, associate Professor Marie Vejrup Nielsen, not to forget the research network, Protestantismenetværket. The ECPR conference in Bordeaux in 2013: Professor Jeffrey Haynes, associate Professor Guy Ben Porat and assistant Professor Luca Ozzano. Also the Danish Political Science Association in 2011 and 2012: associate Professor Carsten Bagge Lausten, associate Professor Søren Hviid Pedersen, associate Professor Tore Vincent Olsen, associate Professor Torben Bech Dyrberg. Most importantly, I wish to thank my family, my friends and in particular my wife, for not only providing loving support, but also critical thoughts and inspiration. Hans Bruun Dabelsteen Copenhagen, October 2014 vi Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1. Jensen’s call for mercy, the headscarf case and Danish secularism t might not be an exaggeration to claim that Danish secularism is so intimately linked to the idea of a Lutheran people (‘folket’), that debates on I politics and religion and at times revolves around disagreement as to what ‘Danishness’ truly is. Allow me give two recent examples. In a recent debate article from June 2014 the Minister of Trade and Development Mogens Jensen (S), a Social Democrat, attacked the nationalistic Danish People's Party for not being Danish enough.1 This perhaps surprising accusation was launched in the aftermath of the European Parliament elections, where the Danish People's Party broke all records with one out of four total votes. The two traditionally dominating parties, the center-left Social Democrats and the center-right liberal Venstre, suffered a large set-back. The Danish People's Party’s slogan during the election run up was ‘More Denmark – less Europe’ (see Dahl, 2014). Jensen's claim was that the Danish People's Party, which was in opposition to the government, had ignored three principal Danish values in their political agenda: mercy [‘barmhjertighed’], solidarity and openness. In the article he pointed to the sources of these values: they were Christian values, Social 1 Political party names in relation to politicians have been be abbreviated in the text unless it carries a particular meaning in the context. For a list of party names and abbreviations, see Appendix I. Democratic redistribution along with cultural and economic openness. For the purposes of this introduction, let us focus on the first point on mercy.