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Secularism

Secularism is to be distinguished from secularisation. The latter is a process postulated by sociologists and other social theorists, including most famously Karl Marx and Max Weber, according to which as a society becomes more affluent, develops science and technology, and engages in rational discussion so it moves away from religious belief. This cultural transition is particularly associated with the rise of modernity in the 16th century, and hence is more generally identified with modernisation. In brief as science and technology rise so religious belief declines and with that the sense of cosmic meaning and purpose gives way to mundane disenchantment. This theory is cited in explanation of various phenomena from the abandonment of religious practice to the rise of social anxiety. The main question then is whether it is true. Some critics argue that there are examples of scientific and technological advancement and material enrichment without decline in religion, as in sections of US society, in many Muslim countries and in south east Asia. Others insist that it is necessary to distinguish social and cultural phases from unidirectional long-term movements and that it is impossible to say which ‘modernisation’ really is. Yet others argue that the thesis of secularisation is in fact the expression of a wish that it be so and part of an attempt to persuade people to abandon religious belief and practice. Secularism itself stands for two related but distinct ideas. First, that there is a distinction between the roles of the state and the church, or more generally between political and religious functions, and that this should be observed by granting each autonomy. It is not for religious leader to dictate politics nor for politicians to control religion. Many religious believers themselves hold to secularism in this sense. Second, that there is no place for religion in the public sphere. Secularists in this sense are generally agnostics or atheists, sometimes appropriating the term ‘humanists’ hence secular humanism. Unsurprisingly, secularists of the second sort tend also to favour and promote the thesis of secularisation.

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