random notes-to-self
read this appalling piece by this Pastor who strikes me as a religious fanatic, who tries to equate secularism to atheism. to equate the two and say that both are on the same in the sense that removal of God from the political/public sphere equals to the removal in life, completely, strikes me as ignorant and misinformed. the idea that there is one definition that umbrellas all types of secularism, therefore classifying it as ‘Western secularism’ is kinda funny. simply because in the Western world, the idea and notion of secularism is fragmented.
the polarity between the US and the EU is an excellent example of how different the notion of secularism is. by root definition, America may not be a secular state but considering that we are a nuanced society strict definitions need not apply. America is probably secular in terms of separation of a religious body and the governing body, yet we still see the amount of influence the Church plays towards formulating policies – most of which relate to social issues. we also see that in America, the religious view of the president is also extremely important. try getting a politician to say that he’s an Atheist – things will go really wrong for him and his campaign.
societies in the EU, on the other hand, refuse to have any hint of religious influence in their lives (thanks to their Bloody history of mishaps in the name of religion). even the slightest indication of religious influence is frowned upon (france and the headscarf, for example). unlike the American, even attending Church weekly is done in a hush hush manner.
so having established that there is no umbrella definition of secularism, i move on to his assumption which equates ‘Western secularism’ to atheism. while it is largely true that a good percentage of people who push for removal of religion in the public sphere are atheists (especially in America), why are they forgetting other bunch of people (religious people) who agree to this? not everything about secularism is about ‘God-hating’. if secularism is really about tolerance, i would not equate extreme forms of Atheism [e.g. the Chris Hitchens type] to secularism. because not all Atheists are extreme, just like how not all religious people are extreme. ya knowwwwwwwww?!?!?!
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on another note, religious people should not deny that bad things have been done in the name of religion. it is unfortunate that such things have happened in the name of something that was meant to be pure and good.
Woof!