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영어

Since the end of the Cold War, debate about the grand struggle between capitalism and communism has been largely replaced by debate about religious sectarianism. Some have even referred to a "clash of civilizations" in the wake of the spread of Islamic fundamentalism. This is in fact an old debate, but it has been given new life by arguments about globalization and economic development as envisioned by the West, and especially by the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001. While the political right has had little difficulty treating religious belief as a fundamental human and social interest, much of the political left has remained committed to secular Enlightenment, even when it criticizes the hegemony of the West. The dispute depends upon competing notions of history, secularism, and progress, and ultimately on the possibility or desirability of universal solidarity. While for many a world unified by one religion may no longer make sense, the old Enlightenment dream that a single version of secular and universal reason will eventually prevail over religious difference may also need to be reconsidered. The process that we call secularization is neither as singular, nor as transparent, as we might think.