"Religion assumes that there are criteria for human behavior. The secularization of life and society assumes that the only criteria that exist are those imposed by convention." So states the introduction to the book Religion and Civil Society: The Changing Faces of Religion and Secularity, the new volume in the 'Religion and Civil Society' collection promoted by project 'Religion and Civil Society' of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra and published by OLMS, a house publishing house of international academic prestige that distributes in Germany, Switzerland, USA and France.

The book is edited by two ICS collaborators: Mary Ann Glendon, Professor of Law at School , and Rafael Alvira, of the University of Navarra and of the ICS. Harvard Universityand Rafael Alvira, Full Professor of Philosophy at the University of Navarra and director until his recent retirement. high school business and Humanism until his recent retirement. It is framed in the international congress that was held with the same degree scroll in June 2012 at Harvard University, organized by the project of the ICS in the American academic center.

The prologue states that "in religion there are beliefs, but in secularism, too. The conflict between a society respectful of religion and a secularist society is not a conflict between faith and reason, but between different beliefs and, at the same time, between different ways of understanding reason. Faith is inevitable and not irrational: on the contrary, it is the highest dimension of knowledge and the human will."

Papers from seven universities in four countries

It also emphasizes the superiority of the idea of religion over that of secularization, since in order to understand what a secularized society can mean, one must always start from the presence of religion in it: "From the 'secular' we cannot arrive at the concept of 'religion'. On the other hand, when someone tries to emphasize the primacy of secularity, he can hardly do so without denying the reality of religion or understanding it in a distorted way. This, by its very definition, cannot be secondary in human life."

The book includes papers from seven universities in four countries: The Changing Faces of Religion and Secularism, by Mary Ann Glendon (Harvard University, USA); Parenthood in God and the Civil Society, by Rafael Alvira (University of Navarra, Spain); Polity in Catholic Social Doctrine: Some Recent Perplexities, by Russell Hittinger (University of Tulsa, USA); Religious Civilization and Civil Religion in a Multicultural World, by Carmelo Vigna (Ca' Foscari University, Italy); Towards an Institution-Sensitive Religious Freedom Conception, by Carmelo Vigna (Ca' Foscari University, Italy); Towards an Institution-Sensitive Religious Freedom Conception, by Carmelo Vigna (Ca' Foscari University, Italy).); Religious Civilization and Civil Religion in a Multicultural World, by Carmelo Vigna (Ca' Foscari University, Italy); Towards an Institution-Sensitive Religious Freedom Conception, by Hans-Martien ten Napel and Jaco van den Brink (Leiden University, The Netherlands); Defending Civil Society: Religious Advocacy in America, by Allen D. Hertzke and Jason M. Pudlo (University of Oklahoma, USA); and Freedom of Religion or Belief in the Foreign Policy of the European Union: Much Ado about Nothing? by Pasquale Annicchino (high school European University, Italy).