Secularism

This paper will now proceed to the societal comparative analysis between the levels of secularism between Italy and France. Two cases will be analyzed in this section of the essay, the French hijab bullshit and the Italian crucifix being displayed in public buildings bullshit. The law allowing for the crucifixes to be displayed inside the classrooms, the Italian courts, and hospitals was passed in 1924 by Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini (Thomas, R. Murray, 2007). After the Second World War in 1948, Italy passed a new constitution, which officially made the state a secular one (Thomas, R. Murray, 2007). This did not entirely change the role of the Catholic Church in Italy as it continued to experience special privileges such as the…

Secularism does not exist in a vacuum in France it builds upon the negotiation between the religious and secular and has done since 1905. The Muslim headscarf has been a matter of ongoing debate and controversy in the secular state that is France, this continually leads to an ostile image being constructed for Islam, despite the promotion of universality that is allegedly key to the French Republic. This essay discusses the Hijab in France in regard to Jeffrey Stout’s ‘The Folly of Secularism’…

First, secularism was defined by George Jacob Holyoake as “A form of opinion which concerns itself only with questions, the issues of which can be tested by the experience of this life” (A Brief History of Secularism, 2017). After studying this week’s material, each cultural of has their own belief of culture that they believe to be true. These beliefs are influenced by peers, family members, and life experiences which help individuals shape their belief system. The Bible says in Matthew…

hat the world would be a better place if only secularist politics, were comprehensively instituted within political institutions. I will discuss this argument by looking at the issues that arise from theocracy in Iran, specifically the incompatibility of theocracy and democracy, and the issue of entrenching political policies in religious doctrines and what that means for change. I will then examine the different forms that secularism can take. Firstly, by examining the forced atheism of Soviet…

Though many may consider the politics of secularism as separate from other state affairs, this essay suggests that in the context of France with its separationist, secular narrative, the two are one and the same. Secularism is not isolated, it builds itself in relation to religious and overseas contexts and it seems that at present the ‘veil’ has become an icon of Islam’s alleged deficits regarding French and wider European modernity. Despite France’s coercive, ‘top-down’ form of secularism,…

Ataturk, it appears that secularisation is a tool for dealing with diversity, in that it replaces several ideologies with one key ideology Kemal argues this was achieved with peaceful intent. Murat Somer’s chapter is similar due to its focus on this idea of ‘civilisation’, however, he discusses it in terms of the relationship between democracy, modernisation and secularisation. Peter Berger argues a distinctly linear trajectory of secularism, however, Somer puts forth the idea that…

towards faith and religion. As the Catholic faith of the old regime crumbled, the revolutionary spirit of the time promised to do away with orthodoxy and create a new egalitarian society based on freedom. Ideas like these were fueled by the French philosophes, with thinkers like Voltaire referring to orthodox religion as “the mother of fanaticism and civil discord” and “the enemy of mankind” (Gliozzo, 1971, p. 274). However, later critics of the Revolution recognized that, in fact, the secular…

relationship between secularity and this schism between “reality” and “meaning”? (The quotations are hers, not mine, and are in reference to these time distinctions.”) Are there other temporal spheres besides what she seems to describe as the transcendent and the immanent? Likewise, what exact frame of time is categorized as transcendent and immanent, for it appears as though at different moments these two descriptions are used to define both terms? I have heard similar discussions regarding…

As European scholar Jytte Klausen notes, “In the coming decade religion will become an increasingly salient issue in European politics. This prediction runs counter to conventional wisdom that Europeans are ‘Post-Christian’” (Klausen, 2005, pp. 554). Secularism is still at the forefront of European politics, but there is not enough evidence to suggest that religion does not play an important role in Europe. For example, only two countries have a majority of non-believers, Sweden, and what used…

Why do Secularists deny God’s existence? The word secularism comes from the Latin word "saecularis" meaning worldly or earthly. The belief in Secularism is that most secularists have the view that the mind is more powerful than God. Since secularism is without God, it leaves man with no purpose of personal guilt before the existence of God. The only concern is man-made laws dealing with evil and selfishness of fallen human nature. Many Secularists believe that they don’t need God in their lives…