Secularism

(As promoted by Secular advocates)

Secularity is the state of being free from religious or spiritual qualities. This
means that religious belief should be kept in the privacy of an individual. The
belief or non belief of a person is deliberately ignored by state administration.
This does not mean any rejection or denial of religion.

Secularism has two distinct meanings:

1- It asserts the freedom of religion, and freedom from religion, within a state
that is neutral on matters of belief, and gives no state privileges or subsidies to
religions.

2- It refers to a belief that human activities and decisions should be based on

evidence and fact, and not superstitious beliefs, however devoutly held, and that
policy should be free from religious domination.

This implies that no teaching of religion (or atheist ideology) should happen in any
state owned school, or that any teaching related to this be treated equally.

In simple terms, being secular is not anti-religious. In contrary, being secular helps
nationals to be treated equally what ever are their personal belief and makes each
community respect the other no matter what religion or conception of life there
may be. Proselytism is accepted under mutual respect of the secular law (no
proselytism in public institutions). This helps to limit extremist influences on all
sides.

Secular Countries

In studies of religion, modern Western societies are generally recognized as

secular. Generally, there is near-complete freedom of religion (one may believe in
any religion or none at all, with little legal or social sanction). In the West, it is
believed that religion does not dictate political decisions, though the moral views
originating in religious traditions remain important in political debate in some
countries, such as , France and others, religious references are considered out-of-
place in mainstream politics. Religious influence is also largely minimized in the
public sphere, and religion no longer holds the same importance in people's lives
as it used to.

Modern sociology, born of a crisis of legitimation resulting from challenges to

traditional Western religious authority, has since Durkheim often been
preoccupied with the problem of authority in secularized societies and with
secularization as a sociological or historical process.

Secular state

Most major religions accept the primacy of the rules of secular, democratic
society. The majority of Christians are proponents of a secular state, and may
acknowledge that the idea has support in biblical teachings, specifically in the
book of Luke, chapter 20, verse 25. In this verse, in response to a question about
taxes, Jesus said, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
However, fundamentalism opposes secularism. The most significant forces of
religious fundamentalism in the contemporary world are fundamentalist Christians
and fundamentalist Islam.

Criticism of secularism

Proponents of secularism have long held a general rise of secularism in all the
senses enumerated above, and the corresponding general decline of religion in so
called 'secularized' countries, to be the inevitable result of Enlightenment, as
people turn towards science and rationalism and away from religion and
superstition.

Opponents think that this view is arrogant, that secular government creates more
problems than it solves, and that theological government is better. Christian
opponents contend that a Christian state can give more freedom of religion than a
secular one. For evidence, they point to Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland and
Denmark, all have a constitutional link between church and state and are far more
progressive and liberal societies than some countries without such a link. For
example, was among the first countries to legalize abortion, and the Finnish
government provides funding for the construction of Mosques. However,
proponents of secularism note that Scandinavian countries are among the most
secular countries in the world, having low percentages of individuals who hold
religious beliefs.

It is also claimed that a secular state is more representative of non-religious

people and is therefore discriminatory towards religious people. An example of
discrimination is that in European history, secularism laws were enacted in order
to take political power away from clergy, seldom in order to secure civil liberties.

Some modern commentators have tried to demonize secularism by confusing it

with anti-religious, atheistic, or even satanic belief systems.

Asia

Some people argue that Secularism has a different meaning in South Asia than it
does in other parts of the world. In South Asia, Right wing nationalists in most
parts of South Asia consider that Secularism refers to a political group of people
and think that Secularists in South Asia consist only of Communists. The right wing
nationalists in who are often critical of the secularists say that the Secularists in
often take positions that would be considered as anti-secularist in the West. They
point out that Secularism is defined through history in different ways.

Where as critics point out, people like Nehru, Gandhi and Subash Chandra Bose,
all of whom were non-communist Hindus who championed secularism, they also
point out the Dalai Lama, a Buddhist, and Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, a Muslim, as
evidence that secularism and religion are not mutually exclusive and that the idea
of secularism in India is not entirely different from the western idea of secularism.
International Secularism: How?

Secularity is far from being accepted in many countries, and there is much
discussion today on this subject. To be well applied, secularity must allow an
equality of religions, respect of beliefs and be without distinctions of race and
offer freedom of conscience. The citizen has rights but also has duties that must
be respected:

At the legislative level:

The law does not draw its legitimacy from conformity to religious precepts (the
law can contain articles which can be made to correspond with such or such
religious precept).

At the legal level:

The citizen is judged independently of his religious convictions. He must on the

other hand respect the basic rights of his country.

At the executive level:

The exercise of political power should not be conditioned by the respect of

religious regulations nor by religious membership.

The "laic" State can only recognize religious organizations, but not religions
themselves, nor to privilege members of a religion. It defends also the rights of
each citizen against any unconstitutional religious rules.

Secularism is an American alternative of French secularity. It allows cohabitation

between state and religion, without being influenced by the religious doctrine.

Contrary to the laic state, a secular state can officially recognize all religions and
beliefs and give them rights (for example: humanitarian), and obligations
(conformity to the rules of the country, respect for other beliefs).