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http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=377
Is Secularism a Religion
9/30/2003 - 7:20 AM PST
Recently, the ACLU and other organizations who are allegedly supposed to
protect our civil liberties have been attacking monuments that contain the 10
commandments all over the United States. They say that these monuments are in
violation of the first amendment whereby “Congress shall make no law respecting
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
Besides the fact that our country was founded on biblical principles, that
Congress has never made a law that promotes a particular religion, and that
their actions clearly violate the precept that free exercise of religion
shouldn’t be prohibited, I would like to make a case for the idea that promoting
secularism is no different than promoting any other religion.
Loosely defined, ‘religion’ is nothing more than a belief system that moves its
members to action or to support a cause with fervent devotion. For us Catholics
and most belief systems, it is based on the idea that there is some sort of
higher power. Atheism or secularism (the differences between the two are
inconsequential for this argument) is not the absence of a belief system, rather
it is the belief that there is no God and that other belief systems should be
rejected or ignored. To an atheist the highest power is humankind or perhaps the
environment (or an aspect based on both such as science).
As Catholics, our belief system certainly compels us to act in a certain way.
There are specific guidelines that we try to follow and there are more general
aspects of being Catholic that causes us to behave in a certain way or make a
decision differently than a non Catholic would. The same criterion applies to
the secular belief system. There are guidelines that a secularist would follow
that a Catholic would not based on the atheist’s idea that other belief systems
should be rejected or ignored. These guidelines influence behaviors and
decisions – such as ‘protecting’ people from established religion.
Both groups too pursue their beliefs with fervent devotion. The word ‘fervent’
is open to debate because there are people whom we would call “cultural
Catholics” and not all secularists are up in arms about the Decalogue. But there
certainly is devotion amongst members of both belief groups. At some level there
is a reason why an individual would call themselves ‘Catholic’ or ‘atheist’.
This is the same place where we see the devotion that an individual has to his
or her belief system.
I certainly do not want to undermine the beauty and Truth of our Catholic faith
by claiming there is a straight up comparison between our faith and the
secularist belief system. And I don't believe the government should force people
into a belief system. However, it seems that this is what is happening today.
Secularism is just as much of a religion in the legal sense as Catholicism,
Hinduism, Buddhism, Protestantism, and Judaism. By repressing our belief system
in favor of another, Congress (or the courts) has made a law that respects an
establishment of religion and it has violated our right to exercise it without
prohibition.
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