Making the Case for Secularism
Posted on December 31st, 2007 by armineh
The British Humanist Association has published “The Case for Secularism: a neutral state in an open society,” to make the case that a secular state can provide the common framework required for public life in an open society. The pamphlet is edited by Professor Richard Norman, emeritus professor of moral philosophy at the University of Kent.
I will try to get a couple of copies for sharing.
See article.
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wish they had that document online somewhere.
at 22:05 of this clip (http://richarddawkins.net/article,2088,n,n), Jonathan Morris..wow…this guy is _awesome_.
he was supposed to be a Fox News reporter, but somehow ended up at the Vatican. crazy. i guess they thought he looked good on tv or something? in any case, i’m glad he’s on their side.
Morris tries to link ’secular humanism’ with Hitler. apparently the word ‘atheist’ is not odious-sounding enough for them these days.
all that said, i’m still not crazy about the word ’secular’.
that’s part of why i like the word ‘Humanism’, though - it’s almost impossible to tar. i mean, the right-wing noise machine could tar just about any word on the planet, but ‘Humanism’, alone, might be above reproach. that is why i think we continue to hear the right-wingers say ’secular humanism’, never just ‘humanism’ alone.
can’t we find another word for ‘Secularism’? like ‘Rationalism’ or something? and what is the opposite of ‘Secularism’? is it ‘Faith’? i like that word a lot better.
i don’t know exactly how much difference a single particular word can make, but i suspect it’s more than is believed by the general public.
Dawkins is really good.
On the word secular: From the dictionary it means means not specifically relating to religion or to a religious body or not religious or spiritual in nature.
So, in other words, it is ‘religion neutral’. Perhaps another word for it might be civil, which is the synonym for secular.
We can talk about a civil government, as opposed to a secular one. What do you think?
wow - i was just kidding about that guy, Morris, being a Fox News reporter - i was just kidding in saying, “this guy should be a Fox News reporter” - he played the part so well.
turns out, he _is_ a Fox News reporter!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316363,00.html
too funny.
here’s a list of definitions of ’secular’ from google:
http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3A+secular&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
not sure if ‘civil’ works - just because it has so many other meanings.
i’d be happier with ‘non-religious’. actually, i just want a different word.
the word has meaning - i just don’t like the sound of it.
that’s kinda weird - i’m starting to wonder if i’m the only one. i doubt it, but i don’t know for sure.
reminds of this _great_ song I heard a few months ago. it’s just totally awesome - _except_ it has this one line that says:
“love like water”
and the singer says it and it sounds like:
“luv lie qwater”
and I _hate_ the sound of that phrase. ‘qwater’. it’s like ‘quarter’, but where ‘quarter’ sounds normal and harmless, ‘qwater’ sounds….evil.
i’m serious - there’s something wrong with those words. or me.