Wuthnow Frames Secularism

Author Richard Wurmbrand grew up in Romania under the influence of a religion-absent home. This lack of religion and period of poverty caused by World War I led to his bitter heart towards religion, especially that which spoke of God (Wurmbrand, 11). Wurmbrand admitted to feelings of emptiness and longing for a God of love. Spiritual conflict within himself led him to enter a catholic church where he prayed to a God he did not believe in, asking for a God to be revealed to him. After stumbling across a village that he was immediately drawn to, he met a carpenter who had been praying for the opportunity to witness to a nonbeliever (Wurmbrand, 12). This miraculous connection, sharing of the gospel, and fervent prayer led to the conversion of

Aronson. R. (2009). Religion Dispatches. 40 Million Nonbelievers in America? The Secret Is Almost Out Secularists have very quietly become one of America’s largest minorities -- how long before they use their power?

The Bible was inspired by God and given to people in order to give guidance and clarity on how to view the world. A biblical worldview can be established by looking at the Bible, specifically at certain passages such as Romans 1-8. These chapters in Romans explain a biblical worldview in four categories: the natural world, human identity, human relationships, and culture. The secular worldview has immense differences in these same categories. The biggest difference between the secular worldview and the biblical worldview is that the biblical worldview is founded on the truth of scripture.

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

The only power the secular government should have are matters of “actions only, & not opinions.” These words echo that of Luther who believed that “... need no ruler ought to prevent anyone from teaching or believing what he pleases, whether Gospel or lies. It is enough if he prevents the teaching of sedition and rebellion (Luther, 22).” Two hundred years later, the influence of Luther’s theology and concept of the separation of Church and state influenced those who founded of the United States of America. This would then lead them to make the separation of Church and state the cornerstone of modern

For the entirety of the United States’ existence, freedom of religion has been a guiding principle for the nation. Despite, or perhaps because of, the deep, varied religious heritage of many Americans, America was the first country in history to abolish religious qualifications for civic engagement. However, paradoxically, the United States also has a history of discrimination based on religion, as seen in historical bigotry towards Catholics, some Protestant sects, Jews, Atheists, Mormons, Muslims, and other marginalized groups. Indeed, a common theme in American history, continuing to this day, is the conflict between America’s secular ideal and its often faith-dominated reality. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, religious

Assess the arguments and evidence for the view that Britain is becoming a secular society

Removal of religion implies secular humanism and establishes the religion of secularism. The removal of religion is minority rule. Why should an irreligious minority dictate what the majority can do?

Religion has its shares of promoting violence. Many will argue that a cause of religion wars is for economic and political reasons, but others argue that those who start wars are, by definition, not religious. In reality, separating religion out of economic and political motives can be involved in such a way finding religious motives innocent of much. Excuses for Christianity responsibilities cannot be accepted whether the person has misappropriated the message of Christ. The primarily set of doctrines is not Christianity, but by living through past background it personified the visible actions of Christians. In other words, Christianity, Islam or any other religion has no intention of excusing from survey. Given certain conditions,

The term "secular humanism" is used today to castigate a wide spectrum of our populous. The derision with which the term is used suggests images of horrid, grotesque monsters. In reality, however, the term merely consists of two sorely misunderstood words. In combination they suggest a virus, though singly they are innocuous, if not healthy.

We are not speaking here of the secularist idea that the state should marginalize religion and discourage people from voting their consciences as Christians. We are talking about the idea that church and state are not the same thing and that they have different spheres of activity.

America wastes a lot of time trying to create a democracy completely absent of the moral expectations that our ancestors have put into place. Our founding fathers’ dream of establishing a country in which all people would be accepted has begun to fall. In our attempt to rid our country of a democracy contaminated with any belief in a supreme power, we have rid ourselves of many of our values and morals. Perhaps it is impossible for religion to dominate our political country, but we have misinterpreted the original intent of “separation of church and state” and taken this concept too far.

As Peter Berger (1967) explained religion, it is a sacred canopy under which the entirety of life is explained and regulated. Secularization theory as explained by Weber holds that modernity challenges this sacred canopy through two major ways: increased cultural and structural pluralism and increased primacy of economic pursuits (Emerson and Hartman, 2006:129). With globalisation accelerating in the post Cold War era, causing mass migration across borders, increased interstate interaction and huge growth in the global financial market, it was predicted that religious influence would be relegated to the private sectors of social life by ripping the sacred canopy, and leaving people with, at best, sacred umbrellas (Smith 1998). Despite this, what secularization theory did not anticipate is that the demystification of the world provided within it the seeds both for the re-mystification of the world and resistance to the demystification (Berger, 1992:1). Hence the world today, with some exceptions, is as furiously religious as it ever was, in some places more so than ever (Berger, 1999:8). Since the 1970s there has been a particular rise in religious fundamentalist movements, as signalled by the Iranian Revolution in 1979 led by Ayatollah Khomeini, which led to the establishment of the first Islamic State. As Almond et al note, fundamentalist movements have risen to the highest levels of power in Sudan in 1993, Afghanistan and India in 1996, and in India again

However, there is another side to religion, one that is quite contrary to idea of unification and acceptance. When looking through the scope of history, we can also see religion as an exclusionary tool, often used to differentiate groups of people on an innate level. As many of these idealogies attempt to assert

We need to pay close attention to the effects of secularism: confining the role of religion to the private domain of the individual and creating a dichotomy between "religious" and "worldly," between "private" and "public." It denies religion and its mediating institutions any public function and influence in shaping matters of public policy.