Word Finder - secularism

definition

Neutrality towards all religions.

example

state secularism

definition

The political belief in the separation of church and state, i.e. the position that religious belief should not influence public and governmental decisions.

Lecky and Creighton are almost as dispassionate as Gardiner, but are more definitely committed to particular points of views, while democratic fervour pervades the fascinating pages of J.R.Green, and an intellectual secularism, which is almost religious in its intensity and idealism, inspired the genius of Maitland.

It is sufficient to recall the well-known names of Joachim of Floris, of all the numerous Franciscan spiritualists, of the leading sectaries from the 13th to the 15th century who assailed the papacy and the secularism of the church - above all, the name of Occam.

But the growing secularism of the Church led to a revival of the former method in the beginning of the 13th century amongst the Franciscans.

The writings of Tertullian afford the clearest demonstration that what is called Montanism was, at any rate in Africa, a reaction against secularism in the Church.

As the word implies, secularism is based solely on considerations of practical morality with a view to the physical, social and moral improvement of society.

I heard her say she was against imperialism and for social justice, but she did not say that secularism is necessary for democracy.

Under Kemal's presidency, Turkey dispensed with the feudal caliphate structure and embraced secularism as a basic tenet of state policy.

Even Pope Benedict XVI yesterday warned of the dangers of growing secularism while in Germany.

Maintaining The Ulster Sunday This article expresses concern at increasing secularism.

However, the strong version of secularism as an ideology does seem to be itself in decline.

Under Kemal 's presidency, Turkey dispensed with the feudal caliphate structure and embraced secularism as a basic tenet of state policy.

The debate on threat posed by the Islamic headscarf, to the concept of secularism in French society.

And many Western liberals have seen the promotion of secularism in the Muslim world as a form of Western cultural imperialism.

To what extent is it possible to introduce secularism in these countries?

They must have done something significant to progress the cause of secularism in the past year.

Militant secularism of the old kind is not the answer.

In fact, Western secularism, in the sense of de jure authority, is a more recent innovation than the Bible would suggest.

The answer to dogmatic atheism, that it implies infinite knowledge, has been well stated in John Foster's Essays, and restated by Chalmers in his Natural Theology, and its force is recognized in Holyoake's careful qualification of the sense in which secularism accepts atheism, " always explaining the term atheist to mean `not seeing God' visually or inferentially, never suffering it to be taken for anti-theism, that is, hating God, denying God - as hating implies personal knowledge as the ground of dislike, and denying implies infinite knowledge as the ground of disproof."

Charron is thus the founder of modern secularism.

Its profound contempt for international law, science, secularism, and any concern for minimal social welfare at home or abroad is unprecedented.

Today secularism is ' far from being an unstoppable Juggernaut '; indeed its future appears less certain than that of religion.

On the contrary, we should champion free expression, fight to roll back state power and promote secularism.

French institutions and authorities usually claim that the scarf violates French secularism.

In fact, western secularism, in the sense of de jure authority, is a more recent innovation than the Bible would suggest.

They know that the real battle they face is with the aggressive secularism that surrounds them every day.

There are some who claim that September 11th is the end of liberal secularism.

And yet, state secularism still poses a real threat to genuine pluralism.

What they will find more troublesome is the claim that they should be more open to secularism.

The need for an Islamic response to an increasingly pervasive secularism is all too clear.