ABSTRACT
This article explores the contested character of the public presence of religions, questioning the self-evidence of the phenomenon and wondering about the scene it establishes. This scene disturbs a solidly constituted political imaginary, revealing not only the latter’s fractures, but also the multiplicity (and therefore the contingency) of paths through which such an imaginary (the modern Western one) was constituted. A limited, but hopefully convincing set of analytical elements is offered, which can move from scene description to its explanation and critical appraisal.
KEYWORDS:
public religion; contingency and plurality; dispersal of religion