Secular democracy and its critics

[cleanhippie]

“Secularism” and “secular”are very much maligned words. Partly because they are not really understood by some people. But also because some religious people feel threatened by the words.

But they shouldn’t. Despite some attempts to equate the words with atheism and oppose them to religion they really don’t mean either of these. Unfortunately, though, some people insist on using the words that way.

Consulting dictionaries is not always helpful either because they usually list several different meanings.
What does “secular” mean?

When we use words like “secular” and “secularism” to describe our modern society definitions equating them with atheism or opposition to religion are completely inappropriate. When applied to society the meaning is more aligned with neutrality towards religion and other beliefs. As the cartoon implies.

So proper dictionary definitions of “secular” include:

“Not controlled by a religious body or concerned with religious or spiritual matters;”
“Worldly rather than spiritual;”
“Not specifically relating to religion or to a religious body: eg secular music;”
“Of or relating to the worldly or temporal;”
“Of or relating to worldly things as distinguished from things relating to church and religion; not sacred or religious; temporal; worldly.”

And so on. You get my point.

http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2011/08/24/secular-democracy-and-its-critics/

[laconicsax]

1. Wonderful graphic:

[cleanhippie]

2. .

Never mind, I just fixed it.

[laconicsax]

3. Obviously, I have supernatural powers.

:rofl:

[cleanhippie]

4. Hahaha!

[usregimechange]

5. Reason why: Insecurity.

[rug]

6. Is that your website?

[cleanhippie]

7. No