secularism

Secularisation

The sociological process through which religion declines or changes in belief, participation, and social influence within a society.

Secularism

The political and normative principle that religion should not possess privileged coercive authority over the state or public institutions.

Procedural secularism (Open secularism)

An approach seeking a neutral public framework where religious and non-religious views coexist equally without granting unfair privilege to any single worldview.

Programmatic secularism (Closed secularism)

An approach seeking to actively eliminate or restrict religious symbols, practices, and arguments from public institutions, confining religion strictly to the private sphere.

Theocracy

A political system where state power and religion are directly unified, allowing religious principles to determine laws and enforce public behavior.

John Locke's argument for religious toleration

The view that true saving religion depends on internal belief rather than external force, meaning civil authorities should use persuasion rather than command and penalties.

Kant's 'religion of reason'

The proposal that historically specific religious doctrines, miracles, and rituals should be subordinate to universal moral principles discoverable by human reason.

Motto of the Enlightenment popularized by Immanuel Kant

Sapere aude! ('Dare to know!')

Secular humanism

A non-religious worldview that grounds truth in reason, evidence, and scientific inquiry, and ethics in human wellbeing, autonomy, and flourishing.

Epistemological basis of secular humanism

Knowledge must be derived from empiricism, reason, and scientific investigation rather than divine revelation or sacred texts, rendering truth claims provisional and open to revision.

Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights

An international legal provision protecting internal freedom of thought, conscience, and religion absolutely, while making its public manifestation a qualified right subject to public safety and order.

Anti-theism (Militant atheism)

The belief that religion itself is inherently harmful to society and individual well-being, and ought to be actively challenged so that it eventually disappears altogether.

The 'Four Horsemen' of New Atheism

Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett.

Meme (in Dawkins' cultural theory)

An idea, behavior, or practice that spreads between individuals through imitation and cultural transmission, analogous to a biological gene.

Dawkins' epidemiological view of religion

The theory that religious ideas spread like biological viruses, exploiting children's evolutionary vulnerability to blindly trust adult instructions.

Dawkins' rationale for calling religious indoctrination 'child abuse'

The psychological damage and lasting trauma inflicted on young, vulnerable children through literal threats of eternal hell and damnation.

Freud's view of religion

A psychological illusion arising from wish-fulfillment, designed to satisfy humanity's deep emotional needs for order, protection, and purpose against a chaotic world.

Freud's concept of the superego in a religious context

The internalised memory of authority figures, which religious socialisation intensifies through guilt, fear, and the image of an all-seeing judge.

Daniel Dennett's phrase 'believing in belief in God'

The idea that many individuals maintain religious practice not because they hold literal faith, but because they consider belief itself socially or psychologically beneficial.

Sam Harris' critique of religious faith in public discourse

The argument that faith protects unreasonable beliefs from evidence-based scrutiny, creating intellectual cover for extremism and preventing rational compromise.

Christopher Hitchens' view on religion and authoritarianism

The claim that religious belief idealises absolute submission to an unquestionable heavenly ruler, inherently inspiring totalitarian control over others' public and private lives.

Doubting Thomas biblical narrative (John 20)

A passage used by critics like Dawkins to argue that Christianity treats uncritical belief without empirical evidence as a higher moral virtue.

Alister McGrath's defence against Dawkins' view of faith

The argument that Christian belief is supported by natural theology and rational evidence (such as Aquinas' Five Ways), rather than being purely blind or anti-scientific.

Counter-evaluation to McGrath's appeal to natural theology

Natural theology at most supports a first cause or higher power, whereas specific doctrines like the Resurrection still require faith unsupported by empirical evidence.

Hume's dictum of empiricism

A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.

Dawkins' evolutionary explanation of religious tribalism

The claim that human evolution favoured in-group loyalty and out-group hostility, which religion dangerously amplifies by categorising people as believers versus non-believers.

McGrath's argument regarding Christian ethics and out-groups

The claim that Jesus commanded 'out-group affirmation' and selfless love ($\text{agape}$) across social boundaries, as illustrated by the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

No True Scotsman fallacy in religious apologetics

Dismissing violent or extremist believers as 'not real Christians', while ignoring scriptural passages that directly permit or encourage discriminatory actions.

Sam Harris' phrase on the source of religious extremism

'The problem with religious fundamentalism is the fundamentals of religion.'

Mill's description of ancient scriptural morality

Describing scriptural moral codes as 'in many respects barbarous, and intended only for a barbarous people.'

Ratzinger's (Pope Benedict XVI) critique of secularism

The warning that excluding God from the public sphere leads to moral relativism, a truncated vision of human dignity, and potential state totalitarianism.

Ratzinger's 'dependence anthropology'

The view that human flourishing and objective morality necessarily require grounding in a transcendent, divine authority beyond human preference.

Kant's 'autonomy anthropology'

The view that rational human beings possess the capacity to discover, negotiate, and obey moral duties through reason alone, without needing divine revelation.

Sam Harris' empirical argument against Ratzinger

Statistical evidence showing that highly secular democracies (e.g., Denmark, Sweden) consistently rank highest in health, literacy, and safety, proving society can flourish without religion.

Nietzsche's prediction of the 'death of God'

The collapse of Western religious belief would initially lead to a crisis of nihilism, because European culture had mistakenly tied all objective value to God.

Nietzschean response to Ratzinger's warning of nihilism

Nihilism is merely a temporary, transitional phase caused by centuries of religious conditioning, rather than an inevitable permanent consequence of secularism.

Rowan Williams' model of secularism

Procedural secularism, which separates religion from state coercion while allowing religious voices to actively participate in public debate and culture.

Mill's principle of fallibility and liberty

Because human beings are fallible and cannot be certain of absolute truth, competing opinions must remain open to public debate, criticism, and tolerance.

Conflict between revealed religion and procedural secularism

Religions claiming absolute divine revelation struggle to accept being treated as just one fallible worldview among many in a neutral public space.

1944 Education Act (UK)

Legislation that formalised state funding for Church of England and Catholic schools in Britain, provided they met national educational standards.

Proportion of British primary and secondary schools with Christian affiliation

Over one-third of primary schools and just under one-fifth of secondary schools.

Dawkins' critique of faith schools regarding science

Faith schools teach children to accept claims based on authority rather than critical evidence, thereby instilling an unscientific mindset early in life.

Statistical evidence for religious social transmission

Approximately $80\text{--}85\text{\%}$ of religious individuals share the specific faith of at least one parent, indicating transmission occurs largely through family raising rather than independent reasoning.

John Dewey's view of democracy and education

Democracy is a 'mode of associated living' requiring schools to equip children to communicate, cooperate, and reason critically across diverse worldviews.

Joel Feinberg's concept of a child's 'right to an open future'

The principle that parental and educational authority should not restrict a child's eventual capacity to choose their own beliefs and life path as an autonomous adult.

Dawkins' comparison regarding labelling children religiously

Calling a child a 'Christian child' is as inappropriate as calling them a 'Conservative child' or a 'Communist child'.

Evaluation of the claim that banning faith schools infringes religious freedom

Religious freedom protects personal belief and worship, which can be fully exercised in families and communities without requiring state-funded confessional schools.

Freud's proposed secular replacement for religious social regulation

Rational understanding of social necessity, enabling citizens to self-regulate without relying on divine guilt or fear.

J. S. Mill's critique of afterlife-based ethics

Promises of infinite reward (heaven) and punishment (hell) make moral actions instrumentally self-interested rather than truly virtuous.

Michael Sugrue's historical argument about ancient epic traditions

In ancient societies, texts like the Odyssey or Hebrew Bible interwovenly contained politics, ethics, law, physics, and religion in a single accumulated cultural tradition.