Academic Discussion
"On Religion, Politics, and Secularism after Charlie Hebdo"
17 February 2015

On 17 February 2015, the CSR conducted, together with the Cultural Center of Sofia University, an academic discussion "On Religion, Politics and Secularism after Charlie Hebdo", which took place in the New Conference Room of Sofia University.

With this event, the Center for the Study of Religions initiated a larger academic debate on a circle of increasingly important questions, such as: What actually happened in Paris on 7 January 2015? What does religion, particularly Islam, have to do with these events? How should the tension between certain religious identities, on the one hand, and liberal-democratic secularism, on the other, be treated? Is it necessary to reconsider the present liberal-democratic social models in Europe, as well as certain aspects of multiculturalism? What should "the Bulgarian model" of treating religious differences in public life be?

The discussion was moderated by CSR Director Assoc. Prof. Dr Simeon Evstatiev from the Department of Arabic and Semitic Studies.

Participants:

• Prof. Dr. A. Kiossev – Department of Cultural Studies, Director of the Cultural Center of Sofia University
• Dr. Sefer Hassanov – The Higher Islamic Institute
• Prof. Dr. Habil. Vladimir Gradev, Department of Cultural Studies
• Prof. Dr. Habil. Stilian Yotov, Department of the History of Philosophy
• Prof. Dr. Habil. Georgi Kapriev, Department of the History of Philosophy
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ognian Minchev, Department of Political Studies
• Prof. Dr. Habil. Plamen Makariev, Department of Philosophy

The discussion was also joined by other scholars, journalists, and members of various religious communities. The event aroused great academic and public interest, e.g. it was covered by the University’s Alma Mater Television, as well as presented in a publication in the academic journal Sociological Problems (2015 – 1,2).