Religion the Secular and the Politics of Sexual Difference Global struggles over womens roles rights and dress have taken center stage in a drama that casts the secular and the religious in tense if not violent opposition. Advocates for equality speak of the issue in terms of rights and modern progress while reactionaries ground their authority in religious and scriptural appeals. Both sides presume womens emancipation is tied to secularization. This volume upsets these certainties by blending diverse voices and traditions both secular and religious in studies historicizing questioning and testing the implicit links between secularism