"The Case of Crucifixions" in the European Court: a Postsecular Reading

Abstract

This article is devoted to the analysis of the case about the presence of crucifixions in public schools («Lautsi and others v. Italy») in European court for human rights (and the prehistory of this case). The author concentrates on the logic of participants of this case and analyses this logic in a broad cultural and ideological context. On the base of the ECHR decisions for the «Lautsi case» three positions and three corresponding groups of actors are outlined: strict secularists, representing projective ideology; soft secularists, orienting on culture and representing reactive ideology; and the followers of religious ideology. This last group in current postsecular situation, characterized by new ideological struggles, tend to form alliance with the second group. The postsecular reading of this case allows author to certify the crisis of traditional European secularism and of the sense of justice in the sphere of interaction between religion and society.