Topic 11 - Secularism Flashcards
what is secularism?
The belief that religion should play no role in the running of the state, the affairs of government and of public life?
what is procedural secularism?
the role of the state is to take into account the interests of all its citizens and their institutions. This means that it should not give priority or preference to religion but treat it equally.
what is programmatic secularism?
the role of the state is to be purely secular, excluding religious belief from society
what is the secularisation thesis?
a term used by sociologists to describe the process of secularisation. It is defined as the growing number of people who profess no religious affiliation
can be hard to measure e.g. between 1900 - 2000 the number who had no religious affiliation doubled but the number who pray increased
secular positivism comte?
auguste comte
held the view civilised society develops from the theological (religious view of the world) to the metaphysical (abstract view of world)
said this would give way to secular positivism that scientific reasoning will take over from religion. Liberal idea that later influenced Freud and Dawkins
secular positivism freud?
said religion caused ‘neuroses’ (functional mental disorders such as severe anxiety) as religion belongs to an ‘infantile’ era of human development
freud used his psychoanalysis as evidence, in “the future of an illusion” freud invented an imaginary opponent for debate and concluded in every instant that in the end it would be science that would prevail
secular positivism hume?
said religion is mainly childish and practiced by uneducated people
“according to the natural progress of human thought, the ignorant must first entertain some grovelling and familiar notion of superior powers”
hume had no particular evidence to support this
what did freud mean by religion as the result of wish fulfilment?
freud received letter from a doctor in 1928 saying how he had became a christian after seeing a certain body that made him think of his mother.
from this freud said this was simply a case of the oedipus complex, and the experiene roused the doctor due to his longing for a mother, following his mothers death the doctor became angry against god who freud said resembled his own father and this later hallucionary event was just the doctor realising his own guilt
what did freud mean by religion as an infantile illusion?
in “the future of an illusion”
freud says religion is simply ‘a universal obsessional neurosis’ so it does some good for society as a child for society to grow up it should be abolished
how does keith ward critique freud?
freud is a reductionist, he wants to explain everything in material and technical terms.
ward doesn’t like this ‘the reduction of all this (million of people’s belief in religion) to blind purposeless blunderings of bits of matter seems desperately inadequate and superficial”
richard dawkins quote on religion?
“I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.”
how does dawkins reject stephen jay gould ?
golds idea is of non-overlapping magisterial (basically religion cannot be subject to human understand) link to hares bliks
dawkins rejects this as he says all things must be subject to rational enquiry
how does alister mcgrath criticise dawkins?
“The dawkins delusion” (2007)
reason and faith, mcgrath separates out reason and faith saying that reason is necessary in order to test true and false beliefs but ultimately faith makes a leap to the transcendent and sometimes making such a leap is simply un explainable
how does charles taylor object to the secularisation thesis?
taylor says we’ve developed ‘subtraction stories’ these are stories we now use to demonstrate the truth of secularisation by removing religion. Taylor calls these subtraction stories as ‘self-sufficient humanism’ but says they’re unsatisfactory as it gives too much importance to the individual and their private experiences but breaks down the idea of society
says that this human era is not experiencing god we shouldn’t abandon history
how does terry eagleton object to the secularisation thesis?
“i say ‘largely doomed’ because religion is an exceedingly hard act to follow”
says nothing other than religion has let us develop such deep understanding and that capitalism (through privatisation) has caused a number of these issues.
faith schools better than non faith ?
faith schools achieved 58% pass rate (gcse scores from 2007-2017 telegraph) compared to 43% non religious
ESSAY PLAN - CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETAL VALUES, CAUSE OF PROBLEMS
“Is there evidence that Xnity is a major cause of personal and social problems?”
POINT 1
psychological criticisms, religion as wish fulfilment (feuerbach)
- Feuerbach, 19th century German philosopher arguably paved the way for a psychological rejection of religion: In his major work, ‘The Essence of Christianity’, 1841, argued that belief in God is a projection of the human mind, “religion is the dream of the human mind” – “what you wish to be, you make your God”, omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent
- Feuerbach developed the idea that God is projection of the unconscious mind; Freud added to this a psychological foundation. Freud adds the explanation that the adoption of religion is a reversion to childish patterns of thought in response to feelings of helplessness and guilt We feel a need for security and forgiveness, and so invent a source of security and forgiveness: God, quite literally as a Father figure
- Religion is thus seen as a childish delusion/ infantile illusion, and atheism as a grown-up realism.
ESSAY PLAN - CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETAL VALUES, CAUSE OF PROBLEMS
“Is there evidence that Xnity is a major cause of personal and social problems?”
POINT 1 - counter argument
reductionist, religious experiences can be positive (william james)
• Religious experiences William James: What matters about religious experience is its capacity for change in an individual value not truth. Higher power brings about transformation in a person, noetic quality. Pragmatism – the value of belief Williams James: Beliefs had to work for a living – pragmatists were interested in the value of a belief. Beliefs can be dangerous, but also positive. Religion may not correlate to an empirical reality, but it can ease peoples’ feelings of insecurity in the world and bring them a positive, transformed outlook transforms in a positive light, ones interaction with the world
ESSAY PLAN - CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETAL VALUES, CAUSE OF PROBLEMS
“Is there evidence that Xnity is a major cause of personal and social problems?”
POINT 1 - counter response
guilt and suffering (Freud)
• Freud saw Christianity’s obsession with sacrifice, sin and guilt at ultimately damaging – unconscious desires of the id are repressed by the ego and superego due to religious morality, resulting in unhappiness and even neurosis “universal, obsessional, neurosis”
ESSAY PLAN - CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETAL VALUES, CAUSE OF PROBLEMS
“Is there evidence that Xnity is a major cause of personal and social problems?”
POINT 1 - conclusive response
joy and liberation (augustine, feuerbach and freud)
- Positive – Focus on Jesus’ resurrection and atonement are often a source of joy rather than deep-seated guilt / Liberating and uplifting – as human beings are made in the image of God human life is sacred and valuable.
- Christians are committed to living a life of agape – Desmond Tutu overcame the evils of racial apartheid in South Africa. St. Augustine “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God” – perhaps because we are made in the image of God, perhaps we have a natural desire to believe in God
- If one focuses on Jesus’ portrayal in the New Testament (as a liberator and one who seeks equality for all) and the positive impacts of this throughout history (civil right movements, educating the poor, food banks) one can see the moral goods Christianity has contributed to society are these not just human values? No need for irrational beliefs in the divine… Feuerbach and Freud
ESSAY PLAN - CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETAL VALUES, CAUSE OF PROBLEMS
“Is there evidence that Xnity is a major cause of personal and social problems?”
POINT 2
societal criticisms, science over religion (dawkins)
- In a letter to his daughter, ‘Good and Bad Reasons for Believing’ he outlines three poor reasons for belief, of which religion is founded upon tradition, authority, revelation
- As a programmatic secularist his aim is to persuade all right-thinking people that God is a delusion and atheistic secularism is the only plausible alternative polemicist
- Attacks monotheistic religion by questioning why anyone would believe in something for which there is no evidence; Dawkins argue things must be subject to rational enquiry else one could believe anything When reason is applied to God’s existence it demonstrates at very best his existence is inconclusive
- Teaching inaccurate accounts about the way in which the world was created and works, such as Creationism, prevents children from true knowledge as they are unable to understand the wider context of the religious belief
ESSAY PLAN - CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETAL VALUES, CAUSE OF PROBLEMS
“Is there evidence that Xnity is a major cause of personal and social problems?”
POINT 2 - counter argument
freedom/democracy (alister mcgrath)
- Programmatic secularism threatens freedom of expression and speech – French government passed law in 2004 that banned the wearing of any symbols in state schools, as a result of la laicite principle that only programmatic secularism enables democratic nation
- Alister McGrath, ‘The Dawkins Delusion?’ (2007): Science and Religion: Complimentary as they reflect different aspects of human experience, the material and the spiritual. Dawkins as a positivist argues metaphysical answers are meaningless are they are outside of scientific investigation – limited viewpoint; philosophy and theology provide insight into these important questions also
ESSAY PLAN - CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETAL VALUES, CAUSE OF PROBLEMS
“Is there evidence that Xnity is a major cause of personal and social problems?”
POINT 1 - counter response
backward morality
- Instead of integrating children, faith schools isolate them from secular society in the UK and could give way to radicalisation or at least negative attitudes towards non-believers
- Many argue for freedom and diversity but faith schools only teach one religion and instead of critical evaluation the religion is taught as fact – children left with no ability to question and think
- Prejudice and bigotry attitudes towards gay marriage, contraception etc. may be internalised by children, not only leading to immoral treatment of others but also restricting their own welfare and prosperity which would be gained through embracing scientific and social developments
ESSAY PLAN - CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETAL VALUES, CAUSE OF PROBLEMS
“Is there evidence that Xnity is a major cause of personal and social problems?”
POINT 2 - conclusive response
secular societies become materialistic (charles taylor)
- Charles Taylor “Subtraction stories” – outgrown religion and explanations we now use to explain the world are designed to show that we can live full and complete lives without the need for God lead to “self-sufficing humanism”.
- Failure of humanism is that it gives too much emphasis on the individual but this is undesirable as it breaks down communal aspects of society. This secular phase of history denies fullness of life which religion provides
- SPIRITUAL SERVICE: Many citizens, regardless of their faith, make use of CoE parish churchs for marriages/ funerals etc – Church providing a spiritual service to all, part of the community
