**2. Deep Postsecularism and the Politics of Becoming**

Jürgen Habermas began to speak about a postsecular society only weeks after 9/11 (Habermas 2006, pp. 101–15). Instead of nourishing the secular–religious divide by lumping all kinds of believers together, the philosopher and social scientist presented another option: dividing self-reflexive postsecularists, religious, and agnostics from ideologists who insist on their religious or secularist world views. One of the most important encounters in which he discussed this approach was the debate with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who became shortly afterwards Pope Benedict XVI (Habermas et al. 2006). Habermas discussed and developed his approach in various contexts and debates over a period of almost two decades (Butler et al. 2011; Calhoun et al. 2013; Habermas 2008, 2010). William Connolly conceptualized his postsecular approach of deep pluralism and politics of becoming before Habermas (Barbato and Kratochwil 2009; Connolly 1999; Kaltsas 2019). Here is not the place to elaborate the whole debate, but a recall of the basic components and a brief look on the latest developments seem to be in order to discuss the adaption to the situation in the Middle East.
