Secularism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Andrew Copson (PDF)

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Until the modern period the integration of church (or other religion) and state (or political life) had been taken for granted. The political order was always tied to an official religion in Christian Europe, pre-Christian Europe, and in the Arabic world. But from the eighteenth century onwards, some European states began to set up their political order on a different basis. Not religion, but the rule of law through non-religious values embedded in constitutionsbecame the foundation of some states – a movement we now call secularism. In others, a de facto secularism emerged as political values and civil and criminal law altered their professed foundation from a shared religion to a non-religious basis.Today secularism is an increasingly hot topic in public, political, and religious debate across the globe. It is embodied in the conflict between secular republics – from the US to India – and the challenges they face from resurgent religious identity politics; in the challenges faced by religious states like those of the Arab world from insurgent secularists; and in states like China where calls for freedom of belief are challenging a state imposed non-religious worldview. In this VeryShort Introduction Andrew Copson tells the story of secularism, taking in momentous episodes in world history, such as the great transition of Europe from religious orthodoxy to pluralism, the global struggle for human rights and democracy, and the origins of modernity. He also considers the role ofsecularism when engaging with some of the most contentious political and legal issues of our time: ‘blasphemy’, ‘apostasy’, religious persecution, religious discrimination, religious schools, and freedom of belief and freedom of thought in a divided world.Previously published in hardback as Secularism: Politics, Religion, and FreedomABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐There are many ways to understand secularism. In Secularism, Andrew Copson notes that secularism can be understood as a catchall term for “non-religious philosophies, morals, and personal world views” and is thus akin to atheism or humanism (1). It can also be understood as a “political settlement” (xvii) or “approach to the ordering of communities, nations, and states” (1). Though Copson himself is a secularist in the first sense, his book is about secularism in the second sense.In chapter 1, Copson derives a working definition of secularism from the French scholar Jean Baubérot, who identifies three components:• separation of religious institutions from the institutions of the state and no domination of the political sphere by religious institutions;• freedom of thought, conscience, and religion for all, with everyone free to change their beliefs and manifest their beliefs within the limits of public order and the rights or others;• no state discrimination against anyone on grounds of their religion or non-religious world view, with everyone receiving equal treatment on these grounds (2).Chapters 2 and 3 provide a thumbnail sketch of the history of secularism in Western and non-Western societies (Turkey and India), respectively.Chapters 4 and 5 outline the cases for and against secularism, respectively. The case for focuses on secularism as “the best religion-state arrangement to provide freedom, equality, peace, and democracy in a modern society” (47).The case against notes Christian, Islamist, Hindu, and Communist pushback against the secularist political settlement. If the first three are examples of theocracy, loosely defined, the latter is perhaps an example of a-theocracy. The common types of argument advanced against secularism are (1) “romantic conservatism,” whereby “each person is rooted in a particular society and tradition and is bound to their fellow members of that society by culture” (70); (2) “the myth of neutrality,” which points out that secularism “explicitly favors non-religious ways of reasoning, living, and thinking over religious ones” (73); and (3) “a community of communities,” according to which “it is the group rather than the individual member of society that needs to be treated impartially by the state” (76).Chapter 6 goes beyond Baubérot’s working definition to limn the conceptual boundaries of secularism by contrasting, among other things, “two types of Western secularism”: (1) “laicism,” which is inherently anticlerical and exemplified by France; and (2) “Judeo-Christian secularism,” which draws on both Christianity and the Enlightenment and is exemplified by the United States (80–81).And chapter 7 identifies “hard questions” and “conflicts”: the relationship between secularism and democracy, education, blasphemy laws, religious expression (in terms of religious garb and symbols, as well as of conscience), religious diversity, and the challenge of political religion (e.g., Islamism and Hindutva, among others).An Afterword looks at the future of secularism, concluding that it is “the best way of organizing our common life in a way that is fair to all in the context of diversity” (125).As a Christian in America, which has no living memory of an established church, I resonated with Copson’s working definition of secularism. What he later calls “Judeo-Christian secularism” is simply the way we have done things for over two centuries. By the same token, I can understand the criticisms of secularism he outlines in chapter 5, insofar as many secularists—including Copson?—seem to argue that secularism as a political settlement ultimately depends on secularism as an ideology. I disagree with that argument because I think it’s false, because I doubt it’s neutral, and because in effect it tends to accord more and more power to the state to the detriment of other forms of power in society.Regardless, however, Copson’s Secularism is a brief and helpful overview of the subject and well worth reading by the nonreligious and religious alike.

⭐This is one of the best of the AVSI series.

⭐It was educational.

⭐According to the author, secularism refers to an approach to the ordering of communities, nations and states. A secular state is expected to abide by the following political principles. First and foremost, there is a separation of religious institutions from the institutions of the state. On the other hand, political authority does not rest on religious authority and the latter does not dominate the political sphere. This should be the default position of religion-state relation. Furthermore, there is no state discrimination against anyone on grounds of their religion or non-religious world view so that freedom of thought, conscience, and religion for all is guaranteed within the limits of public order and the rights of others.What is the case for a secular state? Arguments have been used to advance secularism as the best religion-state arrangement to safeguard freedom, equality, peaceful coexistence of all and democratic rule in a modern society. Where the state has a religious character, unshared by many citizens, this will lead to their feelings of despair and alienation. In reality, a neutral state which will resolve irreconcilable differences and social diversity by a fair and equal democratic participation of all citizens, replacing violence with debate, is very likely to produce the best possible political outcome acceptable to the majority of its citizens.However, state neutrality central to a secular state is seen by some as self-defeating. ‘Secularism pretends to be neutral, but in separating religion from politics it is not neutral. It implicitly favours non-religious ways of reasoning, living and thinking over religious ones. Even worse, because of its Western origins, the non-religious ways it privileges are those of a secularized Christianity – doubly incompatible with non-Christian religions.’ (P.73) At any rate, neutrality is a value-laden commitment cherishing the belief that all people are free to pursue their own ways of life, religious or non-religious; and no one religion should be made compulsory to everyone. Although religion is important to some people, it is far from the only important aspect of someone’s identity. As a citizen, one’s national identity is as important as, and sometimes more important than his religious identity.

⭐This is a book about political secularism, not a book about declining religiosity (which is what theists often mean by ‘secularism’). Many religious people are political secularists, and will agree with the central theses of the book: that church and state should be separate, that the state should be neutral re religious belief (favouring neither religion nor atheism), and that the state should guarantee religious freedoms, including the freedom of individuals to engage in religious practice or to criticise and reject religion. It is a well-written and researched book typical of the series. Very accessible written by someone expert on the subject, as you’d expect from the VSI series. Copson makes the formidable case for secularism while attempting to do justice to the various criticisms leveled at it by critics.

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