Abstract
Despite the putative secularity of our culture, the reality is that in many contexts current church-state law is not separationist but preferentialist. Hidden preferentialism restricts political membership and participation and promotes an illusion of security, which reifies dangerous demarcations that make for an increasingly insular, fearful, unjust society. Through a consideration of monster theory and a reading of Maryse Condé’s I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, this article argues for (1) open acknowledgement of the fluid boundary between sacred and secular, (2) epistemological humility in both and (3) a revitalization of debates about the diminishing value and application of mercy.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.