Secularism Archives

Politics

The Lies About France’s Alleged War on Islam

The aftermath of Samuel Paty’s brutal beheading has reignited tensions between France and parts of the Muslim world. Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan have called for the boycott of French products,…

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8 min

Jurgen Habermas on the Democratic Project of Modernity

Freedom may never be conceived merely negatively, as the absence of compulsion. Freedom conceived intersubjectively distinguishes itself from the arbitrary freedom of the isolated individual. No one is free until…

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6 min

Politics

Macron Isn’t the Enemy: We Must Save Islam from Itself

France is in the throes of a bloody struggle with what seems like the whole Muslim world. The reaction to President Emanuel Macron’s speech on the need for an enlightened…

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10 min

Secularism and American Pluralism

In this 2018 article, Shadi Hamid discusses the importance of a “modest” American pluralism that can accommodate the fact that “there isn’t a common good to be found; that, because…

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10 min

Martin Hägglund’s “This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom”

It is not too far-fetched to believe that a new religion will develop within the next few hundred years, a religion which corresponds to the development of the human race;…

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10 min

Politics

Religious Fundamentalism, Radical Feminism and the Undermining of Secular Values

In 2019, the religious right in America lobbied state governments to have their theological assumptions about abortion embedded in law. Several states complied, outlawing abortion under most circumstances. Likewise, in…

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7 min

Politics

Israel: Toxic Church-State Relations and the Necessity of Secularism

When it was formed in 1948, Israel was declared a place for the world’s Jews to call home after almost two millennia of Jewish exile and persecution and the recent…

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5 min

Politics

Is France Charlie?

France has been a crucible of radical philosophy since the eighteenth century, and was the pre-eminent centre for the arts in the nineteenth and twentieth. It was France to which…

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8 min

Politics

Scouting Without Faith

I met my husband the summer before our junior year in high school. He had already achieved the rank of Eagle in The Boy Scouts of America (BSA). In those…

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4 min

Politics

On Being a Proud Indian

We are little men serving great causes, but because the cause is great, something of that greatness falls upon us also.—Jawaharlal Nehru, 1946. The resurgence of muscular Hindu ethnonationalism under…

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7 min

Politics

How Religious Arguments Cheat in the Marketplace of Ideas

While the separation of church and state is a norm in many western societies, it is often inadequately upheld in the marketplace of ideas. Claims that the country is a…

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12 min

Psychology

Replacing Religion: How Secularism Has Failed and How It Can Succeed

Imagine a world in which individuals based their opinions on reason. Now, it is all but a certainty that human beings will at times fail to use logic in their…

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4 min

Politics

Australia’s Census Result Heralds a Secular Shift

The surge in “No religion” in the 2016 Census heralds a more secular Australia. With a rise from 22.3% in 2011 to 30.1% in 2016, “No Religion” has overtaken Catholicism to…

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5 min

Features

Has Europe Ceased to Exist?

It was on my 15th birthday in the Summer of 2005 in Northern Morocco that, by chance, I got my hands on a series of online articles about the European…

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4 min

Politics

Feeding the Two Far Rights: How Western Leaders Betray Liberal Values

The President of the United States and leader of the free world, Barack Obama, won’t even use the words ‘Islamic terrorism’ to talk about terrorism that is inspired by a…

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Secularism

The Lies About France’s Alleged War on Islam

Jurgen Habermas on the Democratic Project of Modernity

Macron Isn’t the Enemy: We Must Save Islam from Itself

Secularism and American Pluralism

Martin Hägglund’s “This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom”

Religious Fundamentalism, Radical Feminism and the Undermining of Secular Values

Israel: Toxic Church-State Relations and the Necessity of Secularism

Is France Charlie?

Scouting Without Faith

On Being a Proud Indian

How Religious Arguments Cheat in the Marketplace of Ideas

Replacing Religion: How Secularism Has Failed and How It Can Succeed

Australia’s Census Result Heralds a Secular Shift

Has Europe Ceased to Exist?

Feeding the Two Far Rights: How Western Leaders Betray Liberal Values

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