In my newly released short film, I had the wonderful actor Richard McNally reenact this relatively unknown Ingersoll essay written in 1887. The 'great agnostic,' as Ingersoll has come to be known, suggested that 'secularism is the religion of humanity'. That phrase, and the final words of the piece 'Secularism is a religion, a religion that is understood,' has made some atheists neck hair go up on end; they do not like that word in any form, not even taking into consideration the historical context of when it was written. It has also had some religious people react and comment "Ha! I told you so! Theirs is a theology too!" For both atheist and religious groups it seems that my film has blown a dog whistle and now they are barking.
To be honest I am also uncomfortable with the 'R' word to describe our secular system of government, but it would have been unconscionable to edit it from the piece (as at one point I almost did); that is tantamount to censorship. The rest of the piece is so eloquent, so profound and so humanistic that I couldn't just discard it in its entirety just because of a controversial word. I figured this would be a sticking point for some; but I am not embarrassed by it. On the contrary, I embrace the controversy as it looks like it is getting people to talk about what secularism is, and is not. Secularism has been demonised by the hard right for the last 40 years, with the likes of Gingrich shouting that there is a "crisis of secularism""a government-favored culture to replace Christianity." It's time to bring back the idea of the secular as a positive for all people, religious or not.
As a side note, in my opinion secularism can only be a religion if corresponds to a sub-meaning of that word, "a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance." (attributed to dictionary.com). In that case, music is my religion.
It is of supreme importance to keep religion out of government. I do not want one groups interpretation of Biblical law used to create laws for our country any more than I want Sharia law. Also, government should have little interest in the personal beliefs of individuals or groups as long as those beliefs do not interfere with another groups beliefs. A secular government is a government that does not side with Christians, Muslims or even atheists. It should have no doctrine or dogma; it should only take the facts, the evidence, and experiences as we have observed and make policy accordingly. Although it would be naive to think that our government is a rational and reasonable entity; after all, it is run by human beings for goodness sake. As Thomas Jefferson said "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance".
Is a important question. And yes, my neck hair also went up on end. However, I thought it was obvious from the context that the issue is to get people to talk about what secularism is. Perhaps, it's just an issue of the R-word being to narrow: what you really mean is "lifestance" or similar which would encompass both religion and secularism?
ReplyDeleteI had a similar issue when I tried to formulate what I'm "looking for" in my blog posts (as an atheist trying to come to grip with "life, universe and everything...).
Another point is that we in Sweden already have this secular government your looking for. Both in practice and formally -as we separated church from state. Furthermore, agnostics and atheist are dominating all respects of society (check Sweden’s position in World Value Survey). And good news for America: it works decently, at least its better than religion was (like in the 19:th century). :-)
David,
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about the title of your blog, or I guess what many people refer to themselves as, and wondered if the non-religious should use a term put upon them by the religious establishment. As best I can tell, secular, or saeculum was used by the early Romans to define time or ages, but I believe the church co-opted it and used it to describe anything non-religious. Growing up in the church, I have a very negative connotation of the word secular, and it is sad to know that religious people will see those who consider themselves secular to be ignorant, bad, or the antithesis of what they have been taught to believe. Ironic as well. This is clearly not the case.
So in the spirit of thinking outside the box and keeping an open mind I thought maybe a discussion of a different term may be worthy. Something not cast upon the collective you by the religious establishment, but willfully chosen and celebrated. I could be completely off base, as I have not spent a lot of time seeking the word origin of secular, but just a thought. I like the title, Temporal Being. Not as catchy sounding, but it celebrates life, in the span of time we are here, without the negative aspersions of the church. I understand that Temporal Being is basically a synonym of Secular Human when using the definition of secular that speaks of time, but I know so many people who use the more common meaning of secular; non-religious, material or worldly. Temporal Being would also fly in the face of the religious a bit since they promote the idea of being "alien," or "not of this world." Not that I would promote antagonizing them, but it would be a subtle jab lets say. You could also go with Materialist, but then Madonna would clamor on the bandwagon, and then it becomes a populist movement, and well, that would be the end of that.
Dave
Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately I cannot change the nomenclature of secular, and I like the term. I am going to lose the 'A' on my logo because it stands for atheist; that term doesn't mean anything except non-belief and I don't want to scare off the progressive religious.
ReplyDeleteTemporal Being sounds cool, perhaps I might use the term in a blog.
I really appreciate your interest, Dave.
Looking to remove the "A" from your logo?...NOOOOOOO your logo is great, I love it. Non-belief in itself says a lot about a persons outlook on life and death.
DeleteI'm curious what "Progressive Religions" you are referring to?
Thanks,
Bob
Bob,
DeleteThanks for your comment. Actually I decided agains losing the atheist 'a'. Atheism is really not a description of personal beliefs and understanding of the world. It is just a rejection of the supernatural. My beliefs are closest to Humanism.
I love your sticker idea. I might just get some printed up, if I do I can send some your way.
Progressive religion is also known as liberal/moderate Christianity, Islam etc etc. They are out their and are more interested in living a moral life and helping others than in doctrine and dogma. We only hear from the extreme right-wing. Liberal Christians tend to not be as vitriolic.