Scholar's Think Tank Track Analysis

Today’s world is all about decisions. Should we get that new television? What about that new iPhone? Maybe the new Apple Watch? Notice how none of those questions had to deal with anything transcendent or in relation to God. Rather these questions focused on the material items that are available practically at the snap of one’s fingers. There is a lack of religious authority in cultural and social organizations in the modern society that we live in. Charles Taylor, in A Secular Age, focuses on showing that God is still present in our secular society, even when it seems as if He is removed. Taylor gives three separate understandings of secularization: separation between state and church with the movement of corporate practices without God, more

“Our humanity makes us each a part of something greater than ourselves.” – Sonia Sotomayor. In society, humanity is only as good as our weakest link. If we, can unite as one, the possibilities for a more just society would be endless. To form a more just society for the common good, we must put our egos aside and start thinking about how we can use good morality to make the world a better place. I will argue that as humans, we can form a more just society for the common good, by examining the texts of Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Clarity in Truth and Declaration on the relation of the church to non-Christian religions.

To be predictable with their perspective that God does not exist and that people are simple developing perfectible creatures, Secular Humanists must grasp a lawful hypothesis that is both agnostic and advancing. Their lawful framework should likewise deny any outer or extraordinary wellspring of morals, rights, or laws, including characteristic law and normal rights. Therefore, we are here strongly propose the statement by stating that our MAN MADE LAW IS THE SUPERIOR LAW RATHER THAN DIVINE LAW BECAUSE OF IT COMPATIBLE WITH IDEOLOGY OF SECULAR

Freedom of religion has been a right guaranteed to individuals in society. However, it is ultimately just an idea put in place that is disregarded as something insignificant. The workplaces of many people choose to deny employees the right to express their religion freely, for fear it may leave a bad image for the company. It is apparent that freedom of religion is not a strong right as many people may have originally thought it was. The limits of this right have been tested for decades and continue to be an issue for people today. Freedom of religion may go on to exist as a right in society, but when investigating deeper into this privilege, it is evident that it is merely an idea taken for granted.

Engraved deep in the most innate instincts of humanity is the tendency to question everything and a predisposition to look for answers for the most perplexing thoughts in some variance of a higher order being or power. Aldous Huxley’s most brave work put forth, Brave New World, presents a society or “World State” where theology as humanity knows it has been abolished and tucked away. In an ostensibly ever-increasing secular world (yes ostensibly as per studies), religion holds a most interesting role. Contrary to what one may initially think, comparing the two is not so large a task as the following words will prove.

Introducing this section are the various objections to the morals and ethics presented by the word of God.

Do all things pass with time? Can man’s purpose change? The rise of secular society made these questions central in public life. Man up to this point in time had always been oriented by faith towards something beyond the material world. Now men asked if faith is dispensable, can something in the world take the place of God? While secularism claims that man does not need faith, that belief only blinds him to real, scientific, truth in the world, this does not seem to be the case in practice. Whittaker Chambers saw the reality of a secular culture that made such claims firsthand. He rejected it himself, and saw how it would always be rejected in the end by mankind. Russell Kirk saw what would become of man should he reject the purpose handed down from his ancestors, the evil that would result from throwing away tradition.

“A Suspension of (Dis) Belief: The Secular – Religious Binary and the Study of International Relations” by Elizabeth Shakman Hurd is an intriguing chapter that questions the relations between the secular and religion. Shakman Hurd argues that most individuals have unchanging meanings of what the secular is and what religion is. Shakman Hurd states that the analysis of the secular and religion in world politics needs to be re-examined in terms of the beliefs (political and religious) that support the secular – religious binary. To clarify her argument, Shakman Hurd uses instances that have took place in world politics to address her argument. By looking at the relationships between the United States and other countries, Shakman Hurd claims that the secular-religious binary should be considered as being a concept that is

We live in a democracy and a place of religious freedom where we come to decisions as a unit and are supposed to respect an individual's rights. Democracy is respected, but the respect of an individual’s right tends to take some

Secular humanism is a worldview that continues to gain popularity in current cultural thought. For the sake of investigation, this paper will be taking a look at major understandings taught in the worldview of Secular Humanism and how it compares and contrast to the understandings of the Christian worldview. This paper will show that the tenants of Secular Humanism contain self-contradicting arguments, therefore is illogical and inferior to the Christian worldview. This will be accomplished by an investigation of the basic beliefs of the worldview. These beliefs will be evaluated through a scope which examines the coherence, factual adequacy, existential viability, and the intellectual and cultural fecundity of the worldview. In closing, I

As independent scholar Christian Dawson simply put, “The American way of life can only maintain its character within the general framework of Western Christian culture. If this relation is lost, something essential to the life of the nation will be lost. New secularist forces … would destroy the foundations on which American culture was based.” It is evident that traditionalist individuals like Dawson fear secularism and the potential threat it poses upon the conservation of the Christian faith in

In Australia and globally, secularism and its associated utopian values devoid of religious connotations failed to achieve its goals. Secularists espoused the death of religion or at the very least the disappearance of religion from the public sphere into the

New Atheism is becoming more popular every year with more people openly joining the movement. The term new atheist refers to the activist atheist organizations that are having recent growth around the world. As well as people who argue that religion is dangerous and needs to come to a halt (Cuthbertson, lecture 1, week 11). To some new atheism can be looked upon as a non-religious organization and as to others is it not. The term fundamentalist is hard to define as there are many interpretations of it but a basic one is, fundamentalist defends core principles of a particular area or subject. In this paper, the main background for the definition of what fundamentalism is will come for the work of Marty and his article Fundamentals of Fundamentalism. In Marty 's article, he goes over twelve basic principles of fundamentalism; I will draw on these to support my evidence throughout the paper. Even though that I will be drawing from Marty’s work there are other definitions and interpretations of fundamentalism that could contradict Marty’s. With these different interpretation of fundamentalism, it is up to an individual and how they interpret the different definitions and then categorizes new atheism.

Secular Humanism does not believe in the ultimate authority. Secular Humanists reject the fact that there is a God and denounce His authority over mankind. Scientific knowledge and human abilities is reverenced as the ultimate truth within the universe.

In his attempt to reconcile his conception of a universal religion of reason and particular religious beliefs, Lessing seems to discount the very nature of religion. On the one hand, he concedes that religion is rational since it plays a role in justifying human existence. On the other hand, he claims that personal beliefs must be put aside for a greater purpose which is humanity. Lessing’s commitment to a humanistic religion conflicts with the idea of a religious community. These two conceptions of religion lead to an alienation of humanity, since both claim to define what constitutes a human being. For Lessing, it is the reasonable investigation for truth that implies tolerance whereas for a particular religion it is the practice of certain rituals and the belonging to a given religious community that constitutes humanity. This conflict is observable in the current struggle between the Islamic world and the West. While one endorses the precepts of Islam as the main characteristics for one’s humanity, the other fends for secularism and tolerance.