In his book, Faithful to Secularism, David Buckley investigates how actors become (and remain) secular yet tolerant of religion's place in public life, despite the myriad challenges that are likely to tip them over to the aggressively secular or religious governing structures. Buckley calls this institutional equilibrium “Benevolent Secularism.” The project builds on Alfred Stepan's “Twin Tolerations,” which is a condition where religious actors respect the democratic process and its results, and state authorities allow the participation of religious actors in the public sphere. Similarly, benevolent secularism entails cooperation between the secular and religious actors in public life.

Buckley defines Benevolent Secularism as “a variety of institutional relationship between religion and state that combines three dimensions” (5). These three dimensions, which Buckley uses as a framework and checklist throughout the cases, are differentiation of religious and state bodies, cooperation between religious and state actors, and state maintenance of principled distance from all religious communities. Buckley tests his argument using the cases of Ireland, Senegal, and the Philippines. He traces “secular emergence” and “secular evolution” for each case in consecutive chapters, highlighting the challenges posed to the institutions. He investigates secular emergence in the Irish case, starting with the debates over the post-Free State constitution and then moves on to the secular evolution phase, with the decline of Catholicism after 1972. In the Senegal case, secular emergence starts with the independence from French rule in 1960, and the secular evolution is observed starting in 2000, throughout Abdoulaye Wade's two terms in office. Buckley then turns to the secular emergence in the Philippines case starting with the 1934 Commonwealth Constitution Deliberations and the secular evolution with Marcos regime and its aftermath. In each case, he carefully examines the historical processes and evidence, using interviews, archival material, and surveys to highlight the institutional evolution of religious politics over time.

Buckley treats Benevolent Secularism mostly as an explanatory variable that affects preferences within religious and secular blocs, therefore increasing the likelihood of Twin Tolerations. In other words, if Twin Tolerations is regarded as an ideal state of balance between religious and secular actors, Benevolent Secularism is the institutional pathway to this ideal. Buckley argues that Benevolent Secularism shapes the preferences of secular elites, the religious majority, and religious minority communities during critical junctures. Throughout the cases, Buckley shows how the alternative explanations (rational choice, religious moderation, and secularization arguments) fall short of giving a satisfying explanation for the institutional evolution. Benevolent Secularism is a novel and promising approach with high explanatory power. Contrary to Buckley's evaluation of the rational choice models, however, one could consider this framework as a rich rational choice approach (especially when it comes to coalition building and elite behavior) that takes the existing work in the field further with a sophisticated conception of elite interests.

The case studies are well-framed and thoroughly documented. Although Senegal has a Muslim majority, it is also worth noting that each case, interestingly, has a critical Catholic dimension. As such, some questions remain for future studies. For example, how much of an effect has the evolution of Catholicism (which Buckley makes brief references to, especially in the Ireland case) had on the impact of the institutional choices? Moreover, how may the insights be extended to Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Protestant, and even other Islamic (given that Senegal has a very unique religious structure with Sufi Islam playing a major role) institutional arrangements?

Faithful to Secularism has a strong argument, in-depth case studies, and a rigorous and consistent methodology that bridges qualitative and quantitative approaches. The book does not have weaknesses, but there are parts that would benefit from further elaboration. For example, the causal direction of the Benevolent Secularism argument can be confusing at times. Buckley argues that Benevolent Secularism reduces the likelihood of institutional breakdown by promoting alliances across elite blocs (26), shapes public and elite preferences (94), and reduces support for anticlericalism (28). At the same time, he states that Benevolent Secularism “remains vulnerable to various challenges, from intensified anticlericalism to unexpected religious pluralization” (31), bringing the direction of the causality into question.

Similar to many other institutional theories, the book also raises the question of how much of a deliberate and coherent choice Benevolent Secularism is among other alternatives, and how much of it is an institutional point that is arrived at as a result of discrete decision points. In that context, it would be helpful to see which cases were expected to achieve Benevolent Secularism, and failed to do so, and why and at which critical juncture that deviation occurred.

One factor that seems to be critical in the three cases is the histories (or legacies) of the three countries, and the tradition of religious tolerance or secularism (such as the Irish history of religious tolerance, and Senegalese Sufi history of pious secularism) within the political culture; Buckley admits that preexisting conditions would have an influence on securing the twin tolerations (31). More studies on the role of these political cultures and legacies would shed light on the question of how the three constituent principles of Benevolent Secularism come about. Another fascinating question is the interaction among these three constituent principles. Buckley himself brings up the definitional question, asking to what extent “cooperation” is compatible with the “differentiation of religious and state institutions,” given that both are components of Benevolent Secularism? (152). This is an important question that needs to be answered to further explore the limits of Benevolent Secularism.

The book makes critical contributions to the literature on comparative politics and religion by untangling the complex dynamics of religious-secular competition and cooperation in party politics and policy formation. Another important contribution of the book is the study of the internal dynamics of religious communities as much as those between them. Benevolent Secularism elucidates understudied dynamics of political institutions and religion, and it raises critical questions to explore further. Faithful to Secularism is a must-read for scholars of comparative politics and religion.