Editing Secularism (section)

== History ==
[[File:Holyoake2.JPG|thumb|upright|The [[British people|British]] writer [[George Holyoake]] (1817–1906) employed the term "secularism" in 1851.<ref name="Holyoake" >{{cite book |last=Holyoake |first=G. J. |author-link=George Holyoake |year=1896 |title=English Secularism: A Confession of Belief |publisher=Library of Alexandria |isbn=978-1-4655-1332-8}}</ref>]]

Secularism in practice has existed since ancient times. In societies such as [[Ancient Greece]], a limited secularism was practised in which religion was not involved in governance, though it was still prevalent in public life.<ref>{{harvnb|Copson|2019|ps=: Although they had public temples and their festivals were important civic occasions, in the city states of classical Greece gods and goddesses were not involved in 'politics'...This is a sort of secularism, in which the aims of the state are separate from religious aims, but it is not secularism in the full modern sense.}}</ref>

Secularism's origins can be traced to the Bible itself and fleshed out throughout Christian history into the modern era.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Berlinerblau |first1=Jacques |title=Secularism: The Basics |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780367691585 |page= 4|quote=In the first part of this book we will chart the slow, unsteady development of political secularism (Set 2) across time and space. You might be surprised to see that we'll trace its origins to the Bible. From there we will watch how secularism's core principles emerged, in dribs and drabs, during the Christian Middle Ages, the Protestant Reformation, and the Enlightenment. Secularism, some might be surprised to learn, has a religious genealogy.}}</ref> "[[Secular]]" is a part of the Christian church's history, which even has ''secular clergy'' since the medieval period.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Hugh M. |title=The Secular Clergy in England, 1066-1216 |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198702566}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Eller |first1=Jack David |title=Introducing Anthropology of Religion : Culture to the Ultimate |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781032023045 |page=282 |edition=Third}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Secular Priest |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/religion-past-and-present/secular-priest-SIM_124156 |website=Religion Past and Present Online |date=April 2011 |publisher=Brill}}</ref> Furthermore, secular and religious entities were not separated in the medieval period, but coexisted and interacted naturally.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tierney |first1=Brian |title=The Crisis of Church and State, 1050-1300 : With Selected Documents |date=1988 |publisher=Published by University of Toronto Press in association with the Medieval Academy of America |location=Toronto |isbn=9780802067012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Strayer |first1=Joseph R. |title=On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State |date=2016 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=9780691169330}}</ref> Significant contributions to principles used in modern secularism came from prominent theologians and Christian writers such as [[St. Augustine]], [[William of Ockham]], [[Marsilius of Padua]], [[Martin Luther]], [[Roger Williams]], [[John Locke]] and [[Talleyrand]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Berlinerblau |first1=Jacques |title=Secularism: The Basics |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780367691585 |page= 35}}</ref> 

In Europe, secularism emerged in the [[early modern period]]. Due to [[Differentiation (sociology)#Functional differentiation|functional differentiation]], religion changed from being the predominant lens through which reality was interpreted to providing only an alternative explanatory approach.<ref>Bizeul, Yves (2013)."Secularism in Europe", European Liberal Forum</ref>

In 1636, [[Roger Williams]] founded the [[Providence Plantations]] as a settlement with total freedom of religion, in present-day [[Rhode Island]].{{sfn|Copson|2019|loc=Secularism in Western Societies}} Secular ideas were strongly challenged by religious leaders and the [[Catholic Church]] in particular, causing a religious [[culture war]]. During the [[American Revolution]], [[Thomas Jefferson]] and [[James Madison]] incorporated the ideas of [[John Locke]] into the government of the United States, including his secularism, though a true secular state was not achieved until the 20th century.{{Sfn|Berlinerblau|2021|pp=51–54}} French secularism in the [[Age of Enlightenment]] was based on [[Gallicanism]], which emphasised state supremacy, as well as [[anti-clericalism]] and [[materialism]].{{Sfn|Berlinerblau|2021|pp=65–66}} Revolutionary France opposed Catholic influence in the country, and it briefly replaced Christianity with the deistic [[Cult of Reason]].{{sfn|Copson|2019|loc=Secularism in Western Societies}}

The first to use the already-extant word "secularism" in a modern sense, was the British [[Agnosticism|agnostic]] writer [[George Holyoake]], in 1851. Finding "[[atheism]]" too aggravating, he sought a term that would describe a stance advocating to conduct life based on naturalistic (secular) considerations only, but without necessarily rejecting religion, thus enabling cooperation with believers.<ref>Shook, Zuckerman, pp. 3–4.</ref> Holyoake's definition of secularism differs from its usage by later writers. As the Humanist Heritage website notes, Holyoake provides a definition of secularism "much akin to modern definitions of [[humanism]]... broader than just atheism."<ref>{{cite news |title=George Jacob Holyoake (1817–1906) |work=Humanist Heritage |publisher=[[Humanists UK]] |url=https://heritage.humanists.uk/george-jacob-holyoake/ |accessdate=8 October 2021 |archive-date=8 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008111734/https://heritage.humanists.uk/george-jacob-holyoake/ |url-status=live }}</ref> More modern definitions of secularism are likely to pertain to [[separation of church and state]] rather than personal beliefs.

Many Christian countries began to undergo societal [[secularisation]] during the 20th century, with levels of belief and practice declining. Sociologists disagree as to whether this represents a periodic fluctuation or a larger trend toward long-term adoption of secularism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gorski |first=Philip S. |title=Handbook of the Sociology of Religion |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780521000789 |editor-last=Dillon |editor-first=Michele |pages=110–122 |chapter=Historicizing the Secularization Debate: An Agenda for Research}}</ref> The principle of ''[[Laïcité]]'', the French notion of strict separation, was enshrined into law in 1905.{{sfn|Copson|2019|loc=Secularism in Western Societies}} After the rise to power of [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]] in 1923, Turkish secularism, or ''[[laiklik]]'', became a state ideology under [[Kemalism]], aiming to modernise the country. [[Turkey]]'s secular tradition prior to Atatürk's reforms was limited, and 20th century Turkish secularism was initially modelled after French ''laïcité''. Turkey remains virtually the only Muslim-majority nation with an effective secular government, though secularism remains a controversial ideology in Turkey, and the country's ruling party [[Justice and Development Party (Turkey)|AKP]] is more anti-Kemalist than anti-secularist.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sevinc |first1=Kenan |url=http://oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199988457.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199988457-e-10 |title=Secularism in Turkey |last2=Hood |first2=Ralph W. |last3=Coleman |first3=Thomas |date=2017-01-10 |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor-last=Zuckerman |editor-first=Phil |volume=1 |language=en |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199988457.013.10 |isbn=978-0-19-998845-7 |editor-last2=Shook |editor-first2=John R. |access-date=2022-08-01 |archive-date=2021-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129021449/https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199988457.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199988457-e-10 |url-status=live }}</ref> India became a secular state after it achieved independence in 1947; [[Mahatma Gandhi]] supported pluralist secularism as a means to curb tensions in the religiously diverse nation. The Indian model of secularism stressed equality of citizens regardless of faith before the law, along with some separation. The [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] was proclaimed in 1948, protecting freedom of religion in international law.{{sfn|Copson|2019|loc=Secularism diversifies}}