The Power of the Sacred

18th Oct 2011; 18:00

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RSA Debate

It may be true that we live in more secular times, but the sacred still retains its power in social life. Public debate and policy is still infused with sacred discourse of the norms that must be upheld to preserve society, as well as visions of various kind of evil that threaten to profane and pollute it, whether paedophiles, tyrants or terrorists.

Attempts to find the ‘sacred centre’ of British-ness continue to pre-occupy policy-makers. As recent history, from the Presidential election victory of Barack Obama to the democratic movement in Egypt have shown, the possibility of government rests on the ability of political actors convincingly to position themselves on the sacred side on civil life, and their opponents on the profane.

If the sacred remains a potent social force, then a key challenge is to understand the nature and significance of sacred forms in modern life. This means moving beyond simplistic debates about the religious and the secular to recognise forms of the sacred that shape both religious and secular lives.

Sociologists Jeffrey C. Alexander and Gordon Lynch visit the RSA to explore the idea that modern society remains deeply influenced by visions of the sacred and the profane, using this to explore political power and the symbolic role of contemporary media.

Chair: Laurie Taylor, presenter, BBC Radio 4 Thinking Allowed.

Suggested hashtag for Twitter users: #RSAsacred

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