Secular Rhetorical Criticism

In this essay, I argue that a secular perspective can act as a “road map” for rhetorical scholars engaging in secular rhetorical criticism, a form of criticism that examines how rhetorical artifacts create, reinforce, or resist aspects of religious hegemony, including religious nationalism, supremacy, and normativity. I outline what secular rhetorical criticism is while offering three commitments that drive such acts of criticism: unmasking religious hegemonies, complicating secularism, and centering the voices and rhetorical strategies of the ir/religiously marginalized. I provide guiding questions on which scholars utilizing the secular perspective can draw to analyze rhetorical artifacts and address how the secular perspective directs scholars toward theories that build understanding of meaning-making processes in relation to religious hegemony. The secular perspective helps scholars navigate the challenges of studying how religion influences culture and national identity while prompting scholars to resist reinforcing religious hegemonies and normative assumptions when engaging in rhetorical criticism.