What Is Secularism?

It is the abolishment of theism as a tool for social segregation. Similarly, a secular institution will not respect the establishment of any belief system for this reason. However, it's popularly understood as a "wall of separation between Church and State".¹ In the Constitution of the United States, the First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion".²

This is interpreted by some to mean that no national Church (as is the case with the Church of England in England) is to be established. It's more broadly construed by others still to mean that the government has no business pushing religious beliefs on its people (see: teaching creationism in public schools et. al). This is the view taken by some leftists. It also seems to be the view of proclaimed atheist Jessica Ahlquist, who was asked to serve as a plaintiff in the lawsuit against her school by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).³

What was the issue at hand? Ahlquist's school, Cranston West, had a prayer banner displayed on its walls. Since Cranston West is a public school, it follows that it shouldn't be allowed to display religious messages because it would be non-secular, right? Wrong. The display of a religious banner inside a public school does not qualify as non-secularism. Let us refer to a 1984 Supreme Court case on which the judge of this case used as a partial basis for his decision. The issue in this case was whether or not the inclusion of a Nativity scene violated the Establishment clause.⁴ In its decision, the Court ruled:

[T]he crèche is a passive representation of religion and there was "insufficient evidence to establish that the inclusion of the crèche is a purposeful or surreptitious effort to express some kind of subtle governmental advocacy of a particular religious" view. 

If there was lacking evidence proving that the local government was espousing a certain religious view, the claim that the display violates the Establishment clause is not so easily forwarded. On this basis, Judge Lageux, the justice presiding over Ahlquist v. Cranston, ruled that the school violated the Establishment clause  because there was evidence of direct government promotion of religion involved. But hold on! He partially based his decision on Lynch v. Donnelly (1984). In a Judge's concurring opinion on the case, she stated:

[G]overnment endorsement [of religion] ... sends a message to non-adherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community.

Referring back to the prayer banner displayed in Cranston West, I ask you to consider how the banner could have signified a political divide if there was little to no active segregation of the student body concerning individual participation in the school community.  If there is necessarily a community to be excluded from, the only relevant body to consider is the student body, of which the exclusion from such a cohesive constitutes the promotion of religion.

The usage of the term "political community" suggests a realm of constituents who possess exclusive access to means with which they can affect the political process of the wider school community. That means that their participation has greater weight than a non-adherent. But if individual participation in the school community is equal, then what power is conferred to the individual who happens to be 'favored'? What is 'favoritism' if there is no community to be favored into? Further, if there is no favoritism, how can the promotion of religion be justified in this case?


There is no 'political' community because the display of such a banner has not warranted the creation of such a political divide. The banner has played no significant role in determining who may or may not participate as full members of the school community. To even bring politics into an educational setting in this case is absurd.

This is not about the balance of power between individuals in the decision making process affecting the school community or the principles which lend weight to that power and hence shape subsequent relations ... there is no politics involved in this case. The only community that could be considered 'political' by this definition is the student council or some equivalent, and in most schools, it's merely a figure-head with no real influence in deciding how the school is ran. 


I am aware that the above is not a commentary on this case but it certainly seemed to lend weight to the judge's decision. I'm not aware of the exact specifics here, but I imagine that this was a missed opportunity for the Constitution to be re-interpreted in its stipulations. Let us consider for a moment the definition of endorsement: "to give value to something". This something can be a cause or a commodity, for example. "I endorse Ron Paul for 2012!" "I endorse the iPod touch!" It's possible to refrain from endorsing something yet still recognize that it possesses value in some form. However, endorsing it necessarily elevates its status over other causes or commodities.

Consider then, that the promotion of religion isn't 'promotion' merely by the passive display of a prayer banner in a school. It thus does not qualify government endorsement or the establishment of religion. This has already been explained. It cannot be endorsement if there is no political community from which an individual can be excluded from as a consequence. If an individual is excluded from a subgroup which they do not identify with (like Christianity), then their non-participation is of no consequence.

The core of my argument rests on the definition of "endorsement", in relation to the Constitutional amendment which states that no law shall be passed respecting the establishment of religion. This is where it gets technical.

To set religious preconditions for participation in school activities implies that religion (in particular, deism) is inherently superior to other positions that may be taken, which are not useful in gauging an individual's ability to participate in the community. For example, just because you are Muslim doesn't mean you cannot play soccer. These preconditions imply that religion possesses an inherent quality which makes it favorable as a reliable measure of individual worth in this vein.

Thus, those who are not eligible to participate due to this single pre-condition do not have sufficient worth to fulfill their roles as members of the community, regardless of other qualifications they may possess.

To elevate the status of deism to the point where it is used an instrument of segregation based on this presupposition of inherent worth necessarily promotes (increases the value of) that brand of deism, since it otherwise has no use (and thus no value) in determining who or who may not participate in the school community.

It follows since that no religion has necessarily been promoted at this school (that we know of in this vein), that no part of the Constitution has necessarily been violated. Hence, the girl has no case in compelling the school to take down the poster, since it has not been used as an instrument of segregation.

I'll note that citing the Constitution when defending the decision is an appeal to authority. That the court decision sought to toe in line with the Constitution does not automatically justify it. There are several instances where the Constitution was struck down for the better. One example is the institution of slavery; that was abolished via a Constitutional amendment. The Constitution is not an infallible document, and care should be taken to realize opportunities for improvements to be made to it when they arise in the interests of better serving the people whom are subject to its stipulations.

Considering the above, what is secularism? It is the abolishment of theism as a tool for social stratification -- the only area in which theism's value can be promoted. It's perceived 'promotion' elsewhere, where it is closer to passive exclusion rather than active segregation, is not grounds for 'secularism'.

Bibliography

1. Tom Head. "Establishment Clause". About.com. Accessed February 12, 2012.

2. "Establishment Clause". Wikipedia. Accessed February 12, 2012.

3. "Ahlquist v. Cranston". Wikipedia. Accessed February 12, 2012. 

4. "Lynch v. Donnelly". Wikipedia. Accessed February 12, 2012. 

Blog Refutals # 1: "Bad Christian, Good Atheist"

The author of the referenced post identifies himself as "a Christian ... confronting atheism with logic and reason".

From The God Lowdown:

Atheists love to point out various evil deeds done by "Christians" or religious folk. So as much as possible, they cite examples of terrible things done in the name of God. "Look how dangerous religion is!" they say. "Imagine how much better off we'd be without religion!"

The point is fairly made. Refer to Sam Harris as a prominent example of this type of anti-religious argumentation. Though, we must be careful not to generalize. There are many atheists who don't concern themselves in religious matters, or who don't consider themselves qualified to take positions on or make judgments about theism. This goes toward painting Christians as the only victims and atheism as the principal perpetrator of anti-religious prejudice.

The author goes on to state (emphasis mine):

The basic concept of God¹ has done wonders for humanity.² The good far outweighs the bad.³ Eliminate God completely, and you eliminate several key underlying assumptions that greatly enhance and support human rights, liberty, and purpose.⁴ For instance, the basic assumption that each human is a special creation.⁵ The opposite⁶ assumption, which is promoted by evolution, is that each human is a random accident.⁷ Think about that, and analyze the implications of both viewpoints.⁸

It's nearly impossible to criticize the above paragraph without taking note of the underlying assumptions rooted in argument. We notice in the first sentence that the author links the beneficence of the mere notion of a deity¹ with the self-centered vision that His existence necessarily relates to humans and their affairs.² I admit it's rash for me to describe how the author framed his argument as self-centered, but excuse this for a lack of better word at the moment.

The author goes on to list the benefits of the belief in a Christian deity intertwined with a political-legal system (the State): human rights, liberty and purpose. In other words, the author submits that these three concepts necessarily follow from the existence of, not merely the belief in, a Christian deity. This interpretation is validated when the author later implies in the same paragraph that the "opposite assumption" necessarily invalidates the logical inference of these three concepts.⁸ By now I hope you can see a problem here.

The first problem is with logical inconsistencies in the author's usage of language. The argument unwittingly supposes that God is merely the product of a belief structure and not a reality independent of conscious human experience. In other words, it concerns itself with the idea of God, but does not necessarily assert that God exists, as we understand the term in its conventional usage. You can imagine then, why I'm confused as to how God's existence necessarily arises from the idea of itself. Even if we allow a charitable interpretation and grant that the author meant to be talking about the existence of God as his premise, it still does not follow that 'liberty' and 'purpose' extend from a belief in the Christian God.⁴

If you have even skimmed over the United States Declaration of Independence, you will notice that the document declares "these truths to be self-evident". In other words, the natural rights prescribed to all natural persons under the Constitution are classified as truisms. Here we will start delving a bit into philosophy. The term "truism" denotes a claim with such a degree of self-evidence^a that "it is hardly worth mentioning". A truism need not rely on particular conditions, as within a syllogism, to assert its truth-value; it's true by virtue of its logical form alone.

My contention is as follows, then. If the natural right of 'liberty', for example, has value self-evident in its nature (i.e. it's inherently valuable for humankind to pursue), it follows that it need not rely on external suppositions to assert its existential value. It has value in of itself. Therefore I argue that appending God as a necessary formulation is superfluous because it supposes that liberty derives its value from God ... but this supposes His existence in the first place. It also further supposes that liberty does not have value of itself because God's existence is a necessary precondition for its pursuit.

This is why these concepts are called natural rights. They exist by virtue of you existing alone. Therefore, it's self-evident that because you exist, you are free to pursue your own goals. The existence of a deity does not factor anywhere into this. It's worth noting that secularism, logic and reason arose in the eighteenth century in a period known as "The Enlightenment". The humanist notions of individual rights and liberty were not tied to any specific religious thought at the time; instead rooted in movements opposed to theism as a tool for social stratification and as a justification behind power. It's thus hard to argue that 'liberty' follows from the basic concept of God, let alone His existence. 

Confusion is bound to occur when we deal with logical inconsistencies in language. In the course of the author's argumentation, he first implied that the existence of God necessarily arises from the idea of God. He then asserted that the concept of God, and therefore his existence entails liberty without providing adequate logical proof of how this was so.

The second assumption in the argument seems to concern morality, or "good vs. bad".³ Considering the author is a Christian, is it likely that he's referring to some objective brand of morality that can be delineated by Scripture? Or is he passing judgment based on his own internal values? Further, while he is eager to list what he considers to be "good", he does not enlighten us to the "bad". I am confused as to how he can consider setbacks seeing as God is supposed to be wholly beneficent. So what is he referring to when he mentions the "bad"? I am most intrigued.

Let us tackle the next underlying assumption in the author's argument. He stated that each human is a special creation as a condition of God's existence.⁵ There are two assumptions here. The first is that this argument is anthropocentric: it assumes that human existence is relevant to the existence of God. It can be the case that God exists but has not assigned any meaningful objective for humans to achieve. The second assumption is that the "opposite" conclusion -- that God does not exist -- necessarily invalidates any human pursuit to fulfilling a life of meaning.⁶

Note that evolution is not the opposite of creationism. Rather, abiogenesis would be the opposite of creationism, since the former posits that life originated from inorganic matter as opposed to a deity.

The author's contention is false, of course. Atheists can easily create their own value systems without resorting to even a loose pursuit of 'purpose'. This flexibility confers many benefits upon the atheist. He may adopt a public set of values to conform in society whilst suppressing his internal values in cases where a conflict between his private and societal values may occur. I daresay the theist has a relative value system as well, considering many pick and choose what rules they wish to adhere to from their sacred scripture whilst rejecting others they deem anathema to a life of meaningful pursuit.

Notice that the author leaves the reader to speculate on the supposedly disastrous implications to unfold if society accepts the legitimacy of evolution as a credible scientific doctrine: that each human being is a 'random accident'.^7,8 There is a glaring problem with this assertion. The usage of the word 'accident' implies an unintended consequence. In other words, an unexpected outcome arose from the actions of an intelligent agent. Evolution, whilst unfolding in conscious organisms of varying degrees of intelligence apart, is indeed random, but not conscious of itself and thus cannot possess the minimum threshold required to formulate an intelligent action.

Unfortunately, the author takes a steeper turn into idiocy:

Likewise, there are tons of "Atheists" who don't apply Atheism properly.⁹ If you properly follow Atheism to its ultimate logical conclusion (that we are all here by accident and right/wrong is completely subjective), the sky is the limit for how selfish you can be. Why be honest? Why not cheat on your spouse? Why not neglect your kids? Why not murder, as long as you can avoid getting caught? Why not slaughter millions of Jews like Hitler did.¹⁰

First he proposes that there are many atheists who don't ... follow its doctrines properly?⁹ What? What is there to fail at atheism? It's simply the disbelief or lack of belief in a deity. Further there are degrees of atheism -- from weak atheist to strong atheism. It lacks a dogma which defines itself so strictly as Christianity does. That is, if you accept this set of beliefs, you are a Christian. You can vary on many other issues, hence why there are so many denominations of Christianity. Knowing this, it's a bit presumptuous to state that someone can practice Christianity incorrectly considering there are many ways of practicing it, yes? What makes your interpretation more valid over someone else's?

Secondly, he suggests that atheism can be 'properly' practiced, than fails to actually provide an example. Instead he says that true atheism entails selfishness which entails infidelity, familial neglect and cold-blooded murder.¹⁰  How do those actions even follow from a disbelief in God? The only point relevant to atheism is the disbelief itself! That's the one thing atheists have in common! Every other point is irrelevant!

The author's last point:

Hitler had ties to the Catholic church, yes. But was he a Christian? Of course not.¹¹ He did not apply any principles of Christianity whatsoever. 

We will not have to expend much energy refuting this point. The only requirement for one to be considered a Christian is a belief in a personal God according to the tenets of Christianity.¹¹ If you have faith that Jesus was the son of God, you are a Christian. What Hitler did or did not do after that is irrelevant -- the Bible even states^b you will be forgiven of your sins if you believe in God. No room for argument there.

That's it for the first post in my series of blog refutals. This post may be updated in the future for clarity.

Next Time: TBD

Bibliography

1-11. Dan Atkinson. July 14, 2010. Bad Christian, Good Atheist. The God Lowdown. Accessed February 4, 2012.

a. Truism. Wikipedia. Accessed February 4, 2012.

b. Mike Doe. God Will Forgive All of Your Sins. Bible Knowledge. Accessed February 4, 2012.