Secularism

Secularism takes different forms with varying stances on where and how religion should be separate from other aspects of society.[6] People of any religious denomination can support a secular society, but the adoption of secularism as an identity is typically associated with non-religious individuals, including atheists.[7] Political secularism encompasses the schools of thought in secularism that consider the regulation of religion by a secular state.[8] Religious minorities and non-religious citizens in a country tend to support political secularism while members of the majority religion tend to oppose it.[9] Secular nationalists are people that support political secularism within their own state.[10]

Scholars identify at least four variations of political secularism in society. The fundamentalist form is antagonistic against religion and openly opposes it. The humanistic form is indifferent towards religion and political states "adhering to the principles of materialism, naturalism, humanism" follow this approach.[11][12] The liberal form is regarded to be more sympathetic towards religious sentiments in general but neither opposed nor biased towards any particular one.[12] Some scholars also regard pseudo-secularism, though the term is used in a pejorative sense, as a variant form of political secularism apparent in instances where the state claims to be secular and indifferent or impartial towards religions but its policies favor a particular religion over others.[11]

There are many principles that are associated with political secularism. It typically promotes legal equality between people of different religions, opposing a legal hierarchy on the basis of religious belief or lack of religious belief. It is also associated with a separation of church and state, considering these to be two distinct entities that should be treated separately. State supremacy is a secular principle that supports obedience to governmental law over religious law, while internal constraint is a secular principle that opposes governmental control over one's personal life. Under political secularism, the government can enforce how people act but not what they believe. Similarly, freedom of thought is supported by secularism. Order is supported by secularists, specifically in that one's beliefs should not be permitted to disturb the civil peace. Religious tolerance is supported both for people of other religions and a lack of piety demonstrated by members of one's own religion. Political secularism also supports reason as a virtue.[13] Secularists also support freedom from religion as an extension to freedom of religion.[14]

The British writer George Holyoake (1817–1906) employed the term "secularism" in 1851.[15]

Secularism in practice has existed since ancient times. In societies such as Ancient Greece, a limited secularism was practiced in which religion was not involved in governance, though it was still prevalent in public life.[16] Muslim-majority secular states existed during the Islamic Golden Age.[17]

In 1636, Roger Williams founded the Providence Plantations as a settlement with total freedom of religion, in present-day Rhode Island.[18] Secular ideas were strongly challenged by religious leaders and the Catholic Church in particular, causing a religious culture war. During the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison incorporated the ideas of John Locke into the government of the United States, including his secularism, though a true secular state was not achieved until the 20th century.[19] French secularism in the Age of Enlightenment was based on Gallicanism, which emphasised state supremacy, as well as anti-clericalism and materialism.[20] Revolutionary France opposed Catholic influence in the country, and it briefly replaced Christianity with the deistic Cult of Reason.[18]

The first to use the already-extant word "secularism" in a modern sense, was the British agnostic writer George Holyoake, in 1851. Finding "atheism" too aggravating, he sought a term that would describe a stance advocating to conduct life based on naturalistic (secular) considerations only, but without necessarily rejecting religion, thus enabling cooperation with believers.[21] Holyoake's definition of secularism differs from its usage by later writers. As the Humanist Heritage website notes, Holyoake provides a definition of secularism "much akin to modern definitions of humanism... broader than just atheism."[22] More modern definitions of secularism are likely to pertain to separation of church and state rather than personal beliefs.

Many Christian countries began to undergo societal secularisation during the 20th century, with levels of belief and practice declining. Sociologists disagree as to whether this represents a periodic fluctuation or a larger trend toward long-term adoption of secularism.[23] The principle of Laïcité, the French notion of strict separation, was enshrined into law in 1905.[18] After the rise to power of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1923, Turkish secularism, or laiklik, became a state ideology under Kemalism, aiming to modernise the country. Turkey's secular tradition prior to Atatürk's reforms was limited, and 20th century Turkish secularism was initially modelled after French laïcité. Turkey remains virtually the only Muslim-majority nation with an effective secular government, though secularism remains a controversial ideology in Turkey, and anti-Kemalism is a prominent ideology in the country.[24] India became a secular state after it achieved independence in 1947; Mahatma Gandhi supported pluralist secularism as a means to curb tensions in the religiously diverse nation. The Indian model of secularism stressed equality of faiths before the law, more than separation from the state. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed in 1948, protecting freedom of religion in international law.[25]

Countries with a state religion

In political terms, secularism is a movement towards the separation of religion and government, often termed the separation of church and state. This can refer to reducing ties between a government and a state religion, replacing laws based on scripture (such as Halakha, Manusmriti, and Sharia) with civil laws, and eliminating discrimination on the basis of religion. This is said to add to democracy by protecting the rights of religious minorities.[26] Separation of church and state is one possible strategy to be deployed by secular governments. From the democratic to the authoritarian, such governments share a concern to limit the religious side in the relationship. Each state may find its own unique policy prescriptions. These may include separation, careful monitoring and regulation of organised religion such as in France, Turkey, and others.[27]

In accord with the belief in the separation of church and state, secularists tend to prefer that politicians make decisions for secular rather than religious reasons.[28] In this respect, policy decisions pertaining to topics like abortion, contraception, embryonic stem cell research, same-sex marriage, and sex education are prominently focused upon by American secularist organisations such as the Center for Inquiry.[29][30] Religious fundamentalists often oppose a secular form of government, arguing that it contradicts the character of historically religious nations, or infringes on their rights to express themselves in the public sphere. In the United States, for example, the word "secularism" became equivalent to "anti-religion" due to such efforts.[31] Religious minorities, however, often support secularism as a means of defending their rights against the majority.[32]

State secularism is most often associated with the Age of Enlightenment in Europe and it plays a major role in Western society. Some of the most well known examples for states considered "constitutionally secular" are the United States, France,[33] Turkey, India, Mexico,[34] and South Korea, though none of these nations have identical forms of governance with respect to religion. For example, in India, secularism includes state involvement in religion, while in France, secularism precludes such involvement.[35][36]

In studies of religion, modern democracies are generally recognised as secular. This is due to the near-complete freedom of religion (religious beliefs generally are not subject to legal or social sanctions), and the lack of authority of religious leaders over political decisions. Nevertheless, it has been claimed that surveys done by Pew Research Center show Americans as generally being more comfortable with religion playing a major role in public life, while in Europe the impact of the church on public life is declining.[42]

Most societies become increasingly secular as the result of social, economic development and progress, rather than through the actions of a dedicated secular movement.[43] Modern sociology has, since Max Weber, often been preoccupied with the problem of authority in secularised societies and with secularisation as a sociological or historical process.[44] Contemporary ethical debate in the West is often described as "secular", as it is detached from religious considerations. Twentieth-century scholars, whose work has contributed to the understanding of these matters, include Carl L. Becker, Karl Löwith, Hans Blumenberg, M. H. Abrams, Peter L. Berger, Paul Bénichou and D. L. Munby, among others.

There is not one singular secular culture, as different people identify as secularists for different reasons and under different belief systems. Secularism is typically associated with progressivism and social liberalism. In democratic countries, middle and upper class white urban males with high education are more likely to identify as secularist than any other demographic group. In societies where secularism is more common, such as in Western Europe, demographics of secularists are closer to even. How a society considers what is secular may also change, where nominally spiritual beliefs become part of public or private life without being recognised as religious. As secularists are a minority in most communities, secularism is often stigmatised. Proponents of religious society challenge secular society on the basis of morality, saying that secularism lacks a meaningful way to incentivise moral behaviour among its members.[45]

Secularism is considered in political philosophy and philosophy of religion. As a philosophy, secularism is closely associated with naturalism and materialism, rejecting consideration of immaterial or supernatural substances, such as a soul, in favour of a material universe.[46] This secular materialism and rationalism forms the basis of most modern empirical science.[47] During the Age of Enlightenment, liberal European philosophers such as Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, David Hume, Adam Smith, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau all proposed various forms of separation of church and state.[18] The work of well known moral philosophers such as Derek Parfit and Peter Singer, and even the whole field of contemporary bioethics, have been described as explicitly secular or non-religious.[48][49][50][51]

A major issue considered by secular philosophy is the nature of morality in a material universe. Secular ethics and secular morality describe systems of right and wrong that do not depend on religious or supernatural concepts. Much of the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche is developed in response to this issue. Under secular ethics, good is typically defined as that which contributes to "human flourishing and justice" rather than an abstract or idealised conception of good. Secular ethics are often considered within the frame of humanism.[52]

• Desecularization
• Freethought
• Postsecularism
• Pseudo-secularism

• Berlinerblau, Jacques (2021). Secularism: The Basics (1st ed.). Routledge. ISBN 9780367691578.
• Copson, Andrew (2019). Secularism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198747222.

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• Iain Benson "Considering Secularism"
• Steven Kettell, Secularism and Religion, Oxford Research Encyclopedias.