Key Terms

Question 1

Secularism?

Answer 1

A term used in different ways. It may mean a belief that religion shouldn’t be involved in government or public life. It may be a principle that no one religion should have a superior position in the state. It often entails a belief in a public space and a private space, and that religion should be restrained from public power.

Question 2

Secularisation?

Answer 2

A theory developed in the 50s and 60s, developed from Enlightenment thinking, that religious belief would progressively decline as democracy and technology advanced. Sociologists now doubt such a linear decline.

Question 3

Secular?

Answer 3

Not connected or associated with religious or spiritual matters. Used colloquially in widely differing ways by atheists, pluralists and those who are anti-religion. Historically, the term was used to distinguish priests who worked in the world (secular priests) from those who belonged to religious communities, such as monasteries.

Question 4

Wish fulfilment?

Answer 4

According to Freud, wish fulfilment is the satisfaction of a desire through a dream or other exercise of the imagination.