Secularism is a political idea that focuses on the separation of state institutions and authorities from religious ones. It aims to ensure equality, freedom and fairness in politics, law, education and other aspects of society.
Jacques Berlinerblau's book on political secularism is one of many to come out recently that focus on the growing number of Americans who say they have no religion.
During the Renaissance
During the Renaissance, philosophers like Erasmus and Machiavelli started questioning established religious norms. Their ideas paved the way for the Enlightenment's emphasis on reason as opposed to divine authority, and helped to promote modern concepts such as freedom of speech and separation of church and state.
A more practical impact of the Renaissance was a growing focus on secular values in education, which encouraged students to study classical texts and humanist philosophy instead of religious doctrine. This influenced the development of university education, which promoted curriculums that stressed critical thinking and the ability to examine empirical evidence and philosophical inquiry.
This trend also contributed to the rise of art and literature without overt religious themes, as well as a greater interest in history and science, as opposed to mystical mythological subjects. Renaissance painters created portraits, historical paintings, and even war scenes that were largely devoid of religious content. This is often viewed as the first true push towards secularism.
While the Renaissance is considered a significant milestone for secularism, it was not an immediate shift in the way most people think of the term today. Many modern secularists seek a state that is neutral in regards to religion, and which does not endorse any specific faith or belief system. They seek to avoid the type of coercion that can be seen in repressive states, and support a society where religious freedom is paramount.
Despite the fact that this kind of secularism is not a particularly new idea, it remains relatively new in most parts of the world. While many secularists believe that this shift is inevitable, others disagree and see the movement as a potentially dangerous threat to democracy.
When some commentators use the word secularism, they generally refer to a particular ideology that seeks to exclude all aspects of religion from the realm of public life. However, the term has a much broader meaning. It can also be used to describe a process of secularization, which refers to the growth of state separation from religion and a general shift away from religious influence in areas such as culture, morality, and education.
The Growing Emphasis on Secular Values
Secular values have gained more of a foothold in recent decades, as the social changes of modernization and the rise of science and technology have opened up new vistas for people to explore worldviews other than traditional religious beliefs. Advances in communication have made it easier for individuals to find each other online and connect with like-minded people from different backgrounds. Fostering open dialogue on moral issues, even religion-related ones, promotes critical thinking and empathy development.
The secularism of today began taking shape during the European Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries, with philosophers such as John Locke advocating for separation of church and state and the concept of freedom to choose one’s own beliefs. The American experience was also an important influence, as the country’s founders strove to create an impartial government that respected individual rights.
A large segment of the population is now secular, and it’s expected to grow significantly in the near future. Increasing numbers of people are disaffiliating from religion and gravitating towards the liberal ideals of the Democratic Party. The potential of this group to become a powerful force within the near future is not lost on many political observers, who believe that it should be engaged more actively by the Democratic leadership.
However, the road to secularism is not likely to be easy. There are a number of factors that may impede its progress, including the fact that religious groups have strong cultural ties. Also, non-Western countries that attempt to establish secularism by diktat, without popular support, will face serious challenges and may risk triggering a religious backlash.
For example, the public exposure of numerous scandals, crimes, abuses, rapes, and murders in the Catholic Church in Ireland has contributed to a major increase in distinctly anti-religious secularism there. Furthermore, the despotic rule of Islamic dictatorships in Iran and other parts of the world have fueled a growing movement away from religious belief there. The secular surge will have to deal with these factors in order to become a powerful political force. In addition to forming a political coalition, it must organize around liberal priorities, such as climate change, environmental protection, and immigration policy, in order to gain the attention of Democratic leaders.
The Questioning of Absolute Religious Authority
The world's experience of secularization has been uneven, and the idea that religion and religious beliefs and values are no longer central to society is by no means a global fait accompli. Even in Western countries that are largely secular, religious traditions persist, and there is no guarantee that a government can push religion out of public life without some kind of backlash or countermobilization. For example, in the Middle East today, secularists face some of the same kinds of difficulties that they did a century ago. Secularists in France and Italy were hesitant to grant women suffrage for fear that women would vote with the Catholic Church; secularists in Arab countries today worry that an elected government will favor religious parties.
Some of the defenders of secularism argue that it is not neutral, but rather advocates a European Enlightenment notion of separating private faith from community and public life and imposing a solely rationalist worldview on society. But that view ignores two important facts: first, diversity. There is a huge variety of religious identities, beliefs and practices in the world today, from splinter sects of Islam to Hinduism to Mormonism to agnosticism. There is also a growing number of people who identify as "nones," and they represent a significant, if not yet majority, segment of the population in many countries.
Furthermore, the goal of secularism is not to promote atheism or undermine religious belief, but to allow people to pursue a spiritual life free of coercion from the state, while guaranteeing that no religion or non-religious worldview will be discriminated against in public life and that people have freedom to change their beliefs, practice or manifest their religious or nonreligious identity at all. The Humanist Philosophers Group and the National Secular Society define secularism in this way, as do other organizations such as the Center for Inquiry, which publishes this magazine and whose programs include Secular Rescue, an emergency assistance fund to protect writers, bloggers, journalists and activists who are threatened with violence or imprisonment because of their advocacy of secularism.
Some observers have raised doubts about the wisdom of unmitigated secularism, especially in light of the destruction of the world wars and subsequent regional bloodbaths that have accompanied them. Moreover, the mixed performance of economic systems that have been promoted as a replacement for traditional religious beliefs has prompted pessimism about the promise of human progress.
The Challenge to Church Authority
In some ways, secularism challenges church authority because it is a powerful force that seems to have swept away the traditional beliefs of many people. In the 1960s and earlier, it was widely expected that the forces of modernism – urbanisation, rationalisation, professionalisation and secularisation – would sweep religion aside, along with its taboos and superstitions. Certainly, the religions of the West have suffered in the face of secularism, which has largely succeeded in marginalising them. But in many parts of the world, especially outside the West, religion is on the rise again.
One way of understanding secularism is that it aims to create a level playing field in which religious and non-religious entities have equal status in the public sphere. This has often been misinterpreted, however, as a belief that religion should be excluded from political debate. Moreover, the term secularism has also been used as an instrument of ideological warfare, with some commentators calling for the elimination of religion from society altogether.
A more useful way to understand secularism is as a set of cultural conditions that allow individuals to make choices between different faiths or no faith at all. It allows people to feel that they have a right to be themselves and pursue personal authenticity. It enables concepts like same-sex marriage to be seen as a legitimate expression of human desire, in contrast with religious perspectives that prioritize marriage and procreation.
It has also contributed to the upswing in identity politics, in which religion is becoming a key component of political solidarity alongside ethnicity and gender, replacing older identities based on class and patriotism, or universalist worldviews such as socialism or liberalism.
Finally, it has sometimes been used as a tool for aggressive state control over religious institutions and their leaders. This was the case in Pahlavi Iran, Bourguiba’s Tunisia and other secularized regimes, as well as in communist Eastern Europe. In other cases, it has been the justification for imposing secularism on a people that has already been religiously influenced or formed, for example through the colonization of Africa by European powers.
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