Secularism and Religion

Secularism and Religion

Thesis Statement

'To determine the role and impact of secularism in the modern world, and how it affects various religious beliefs and values.”

Introduction

The contemporary world is facing a disengagement of religious from the secular, which causes to weigh down a thorough discussion in this issue. The religious was once being put in the shades by the secular during the times of Western world. The secular realm paved the way for setting free the legal, political and also the educational dimensions of the life people were required to live with. This realm of secular completely overshadowed the dimensions of the religious thoughts and beliefs. The religious dominance came to a drastic end due to the rise of secular realm. Today, we live in the society where the religious freedom is being guaranteed by that of the secular constitutions.

This drastic divergence from the old school thoughts has been largely seen during the times of World War II. This was the time when the secularization progressed in the entire West region of the world, especially in Europe. The change was so drastic that it was called as axiomatic. The secularization though had some rival systems including economic systems of communism and capitalism, and political systems of totalitarianism and liberal democracy (Hakan, 2012). However, the beliefs of secularization was also being supported and shared by these rival economic and political systems. Liberal democracy was even seeing the religion as the private affair, because it was turning into more towards the appreciation of music and arts rather than the actual norms and beliefs that it carried for so long. The general intellectual environment, during the mid of the last century, was also seeing the religion getting out of the way from the society.

This paper will be discussing about both the realms from the modern perspective. It will also highlight about how the religion was different from that of secularism. In addition to that, it will also draw attention towards the evolution of secularism in the modern age and also how it affects the various civilizations of this contemporary world. Lastly, the paper will also include the annotated bibliography of at least six scholarly journal articles to be based on the topic of secularism and religion.

Secularism and the Modern Era

The actual meaning of the term secular is 'without religion'. Non-religious people are most commonly known for living their life with this phenomenon. The secular governments act on the humanistic and rational approaches towards running the system. All of the democratic countries are considered to have secular as their norm, since they belief in the freedom of speech and expression of one's feelings (Asad, 1999). The individuals which are involved in making the government have their own right to choose between religion and secular. This multicultural world has become much more dependent on the secular thoughts and beliefs rather than the religious one.

Secularism is the belief which is being promoted by secularists. They have a belief that religion must be a personal, private, and voluntary ...