The Challenge of Secularism

Need to know what secularism means and explore arguments that claim state religion should have no place in public life (e.g. government)

Give three ways that religion and public life are linked

1. King is the head of the Church of England

2. 26 bishops have seats in the House of Lords (Lords Spiritual)

3. All schools by laws are required to fulfil a daily act of worship

What did Freud believe about religion?

• The result of wish fulfillment

• Religion as an illusion/mass delusion

• ‘Universal obsessional neurosis’

Wish fulfillment/infantile

Religious faith only reasonable before a person has fully developed the ability to reason.

• Humans invent belief in an ultimate purpose because it makes life more tolerable

• Stems from helplessness experienced as children

• God invented to give the illusion of control over life, when it’s incontrollable

Religion as an illusion

Religion = ‘mass delusion’ used to help humans overcome their fear of death/suffering

• A form of comfort against the ‘terrors of nature’

• People love structure - another example of being infantile

• Ritual worship gives a sense of security, just like when we were children

‘Universal obsessional neurosis’

Humans use religion as a way to repress basic human urges (e.g. sex and food)

• Believe this is a form of justice as we do not see it on earth

• All just part of an illusion - religion should be abolished

• Once religion is abolished everyone can live authentically and happily

Keith Ward

Freud is a reductionist

• Wants to explain everything in mechanical terms

• Does not give credit to religious experiences that many people have of different faiths

Give 3 general criticisms of Freud’s approach to religion

1. Communities can share values - does not cause the division between communities that Freud believed it did

2. Provides spiritual fulfillment and give meaning to life - not the controlling force fuelled by guilt that Freud believed it was

3. Religion is not infantile - can give rise to creativity and intellectual thought

What did Dawkins believe about religion?

• Need for God is infantile

• Lack of evidence for God

• Religion causes conflict (e.g. Israel/Palestine)

• Religion is repressive

• Religion is a form of indoctrination and abuse

Religion is repressive

Repressive specifically towards women

• Uses the burkha as an example: represses women with regard to submission and control

What is Dawkins’ argument for religion being a form of actual abuse

Actual abuse - Priests who sexually abused children, nuns in Magdalene Laundries, kidnapping of Jewish children by Catholic nannies in the 19th century

• e.g. Justin Welby

What is Dawkins’ argument for religion being a form of abuse via indoctrination

Indoctrination as abuse - giving a child a religious upbringing is abusive as they are being indoctrinated/forced to believe their beliefs are correct

• Raising a child as a Catholic is a form of long-term psychological abuse

• Use of hell as a form of scare tactic to get people to obey

Nicholas Humphrey

‘Children have the right to not have their minds crippled by exposure to other people’s bad ideas…children have the right to not have their minds addled by nonsense’

Give 3 challenges to Dawkins’ views on religion

Alistair McGrath: ‘The Dawkins Delusion’

1. Faith is not irrational - many highly intellectual people have deep faith (Darwin)

2. Science and religion are not in conflict with each other - God created science, therefore humans discovering science are discovering God

3. Dawkins draws heavily on violence and abuse but religion teaches against these things

Jonathan Sacks

Dawkins misses the point by believing that ‘the cure for bad religion is no religion, as opposed to good religion’

Secular humanism

• Religion should not be taught or practiced within a publicly funded system

• Faith is person, not public

• Humans can live morally without following religion

Give 3 arguments to challenge state funded schools with a religious character

1. British Humanist Association (BHA): We can have human values without any higher authority or God

   • Actively campaign against religion being involved in state affairs

2. Dawkins: religious fundamentalism subverts science

   • Concerned that teaching evolution with creationism gives less credit to evidence supporting evolution

3. Recruiting pupils on the basis of religion segregates and increases intolerance + is damaging to social cohesion

Give 3 arguments to support state funded schools with a religious character

1. Supports social cohesion: young Christians are more open to others from religious backgrounds

   • more positive attitude towards religious diversity in church schools

2. Plural and diverse societies should have plural and diverse schools - helping to nurture cultural diversity

3. They are part of our heritage: English school system established by the Church before national government ensured education for all

   • Deeply rooted relationship

Final conclusions: the Church and the State SHOULD be separate

• Freud: universal obsessional neurosis, infantile, wish fulfillment, mass delusion

• Dawkins: religion causes conflict, subverts science, faith as private not public

• Secular Humanists: a secular state shouldn’t fund schools w religious character, shouldn’t give schools permission to recruit pupils on the basis of religion

Final conclusions: the Church and the State SHOULD NOT be separate (David Ford)

• Christians’ faith should inform their political beliefs as God is ruler of everything

• Must stop thinking about development of the world in linear terms

Final conclusions: the Church and the State SHOULD NOT be separate (Peter Berger)

• A secular state isn’t necessarily atheistic - may be filled with believers

• Assumption that we live in a secularised world is incorrect

• With some exceptions, the world is as religious as it has ever been

Final conclusions: the Church and the State SHOULD NOT be separate (Jose Casanova)

• Critical of idea that secular atheism is unquestionably good

• Atheist ideologies (facism, communism, capitalism) have written religion out of history (using brutal methods of eradication)

Final conclusions: the Church and the State SHOULD NOT be separate (Charles Taylor)

• Questions why modern society finds it easy to not believe in God when it’s been the norm throughout history

• Every person should be recognised for their individual identity

Final conclusions: the Church and the State SHOULD NOT be separate (Jo Marchant)

• Criticises the assumption that religion is declining

• Points out that the modern world is a muti faith/cultural society

• Emphasises positive psychological effects of religious practices such as social gatherings and the belief in something greater than oneself