Concept
Secularism
Overview
Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened to a similar position seeking to remove or to minimize the role of religion in any public sphere. Secularism may encapsulate anti-clericalism, atheism, agnosticism, naturalism, non-sectarianism, neutrality on topics of religion, or antireligion. Although often conflated with opposition to religion, secularism is concerned with minimizing its role rather than disproving it, and may be either hostile, neutral or hospitable to religion. When presented as a philosophy, secularism is another term for naturalism, seeking to interpret life based on principles derived solely from the material world and focusing only on "temporal" and material concerns.
There are distinct traditions of secularism like the French, Turkish, American and Indian models. These differ greatly, from the American emphasis on avoiding an established religion and freedom of belief, to the French interventionist model, and more. The purposes and arguments in support of secularism vary widely, ranging from assertions that it is a crucial element of modernization, or that religion and traditional values are backward and divisive, to the claim that it is the only guarantor of free religious exercise.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
All general rules are commonly denominated laws: thus the general rules which bodies observe in the communication of motion, are called the laws of motion. But those general rules which our moral faculties observe in approving or condemning whatever sentiment or action is subjected to their examination, may much more justly be denominated such. They have a much greater resemblance to what are properly called laws…
Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments
States what Secularism is; the author is tied to Secularism in the knowledge graph.
We lay upon our said son Alexis our paternal curse, if ever at any time he pretends to, or reclaims, the said succession; and we desire our faithful subjects, whether ecclesiastics or seculars, of all ranks and conditions, and the whole Russian nation, in conformity to this constitution and our will, to acknowledge and consider our said son Peter, appointed by our constitution, to confirm the whole by oath, before…
Voltaire, The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia
The author is tied to Secularism in the knowledge graph.
The privileges of the clergy in those ancient times (which to us, who live in the present times, appear the most absurd), their total exemption from the secular jurisdiction, for example, or what in England was called the benefit of clergy, were the natural, or rather the necessary, consequences of this state of things. How dangerous must it have been for the sovereign to attempt to punish a clergyman for any crime…
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
The author is tied to Secularism in the knowledge graph.
Philosophers who discussed Secularism
- Mircea Eliade
- Jürgen Habermas
- Julian Baggini
- Tibor Machan
- A. C. Grayling
- Jews
- Johann Gottfried Herder
- Muhammad Iqbal
- Patricia Churchland
- Islam
- Constantin Rădulescu-Motru
- Giovanni Gentile
- Daniel Dennett
- Al-Ma'arri
- Akeel Bilgrami
Related ideas
- Friedrich Nietzsche
- Turkey
- John Rawls
- Halakha
- George Holyoake
- Atheism
- Cult of Reason
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- James Madison
- John Locke
- Separation of church and state
- Authority
- Adam Smith
- Sociology
- Metaphysics
- Marxism
- Materialism
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Max Weber
- American Revolution
- Augustine of Hippo
- Western culture
- Communist state
- Nihilism
Opposing perspectives
Place in the tradition
Part of A. C. Grayling.