Editing Secularism (section)

== Secular philosophy ==
Secularism is considered in [[political philosophy]] and [[philosophy of religion]]. As a philosophy, secularism is closely associated with naturalism and materialism, rejecting consideration of immaterial or supernatural substances, such as a soul, in favour of a material universe.<ref>Yaniv Roznai citing Domenic Marbaniang in "Negotiating the Eternal: The Paradox of Entrenching Secularism in Constitutions", ''[[Michigan State Law Review]]'' 253, 2017, p. 324</ref> This secular materialism and rationalism forms the basis of most modern empirical science.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Farman |first=Abou |date=2013 |title=Speculative Matter: Secular Bodies, Minds, and Persons |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cuan.12035 |journal=Cultural Anthropology |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=737–759 |doi=10.1111/cuan.12035}}</ref> During the Age of Enlightenment, liberal European philosophers such as [[Baruch Spinoza]], [[John Locke]], [[Montesquieu]], [[Voltaire]], [[David Hume]], [[Adam Smith]], and [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] all proposed various forms of separation of church and state.{{sfn|Copson|2019|loc=Secularism in Western Societies}} The work of well known moral philosophers such as [[Derek Parfit]] and [[Peter Singer]], and even the whole field of contemporary bioethics, have been described as explicitly secular or non-religious.<ref>{{Cite book |author-link=Derek Parfit |last=Parfit |first=Derek |title=Reasons and persons |date=1984 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-824615-2 |location=Oxford [Oxfordshire] |ol=3172889M |id=0198246153}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author-link=Brian Leiter |last=Leiter |first=Brian |url=http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2009/06/is-secular-moral-theory-really-relatively-young.html |title=Is "Secular Moral Theory" Really Relatively Young? |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405141814/http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2009/06/is-secular-moral-theory-really-relatively-young.html|archive-date=2018-04-05 |work=Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog |date=June 28, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author-link=Richard Dawkins |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |url=http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=dawkins_18_2 |url-status=dead |title=When Religion Steps on Science's Turf: The Alleged Separation Between the Two Is Not So Tidy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061225041316/http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library|archive-date=2006-12-25 |journal=Free Inquiry |volume=18 |number=2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Solomon |first1=D. |year=2005 |title=Christian Bioethics, Secular Bioethics, and the Claim to Cultural Authority |journal=Christian Bioethics |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=349–59 |doi=10.1080/13803600500501571 |pmid=16423736}}</ref>

A major issue considered by secular philosophy is the nature of morality in a material universe. [[Secular ethics]] and [[secular morality]] describe systems of right and wrong that do not depend on religious or supernatural concepts. Much of the philosophy of [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] is developed in response to this issue. Under secular ethics, good is typically defined as that which contributes to "human flourishing and justice" rather than an abstract or idealized conception of good. Secular ethics are often considered within the frame of humanism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Teehan |first=John |title=The Oxford Handbook of Secularism |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |editor-last=Zuckerman |editor-first=Phil |chapter=Ethics, Secular and Religious: An Evolved-Cognitive Analysis |editor-last2=Shook |editor-first2=John R.}}</ref>

=== Secularism in late 20th century political philosophy ===
It can be seen by many of the organizations (NGOs) for secularism that they prefer to define ''secularism'' as the common ground for all [[life stance]] groups, religious or atheistic, to thrive in a society that honours freedom of speech and conscience. An example of that is the [[National Secular Society]] in the UK. This is a common understanding of what secularism stands for among many of its activists throughout the world. However, many scholars of Christianity and conservative politicians will often interpret secularism as an antithesis of religion and an attempt to push religion out of society and replace it with atheism or a void of values, [[nihilism]]. This dual aspect (as noted above in "Secular ethics") has created difficulties in political discourse on the subject. Most political theorists in philosophy following the landmark work of [[John Rawls]]' ''[[A Theory of Justice]]'' in 1971 and its following book, ''[[Political Liberalism]]'' (1993),<ref name="Rawls2011">{{Cite book|last=Rawls |first=John |author-link=John Rawls |title=Political Liberalism: Expanded Edition|date=2011-01-01|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-52753-8|pages=457|oclc=948824118}}</ref> will use the conjoined concept ''[[overlapping consensus]]'' rather than secularism. In the latter Rawls holds the idea of an overlapping consensus as one of three main ideas of [[Classical liberalism|political liberalism]]. He argues that the term ''secularism'' cannot apply; <blockquote> But what is a secular argument? Some think of any argument that is reflective and critical, publicly intelligible and rational, as a secular argument; [...], Nevertheless, a central feature of political liberalism is that it views all such arguments the same way it views religious ones, and therefore these secular philosophical doctrines do not provide public reasons. Secular concepts and reasoning of this kind belong to [[Metaphysics|first philosophy]] and [[Ethics|moral doctrine]], and fall outside the domain of the political.<ref name="Rawls2011" /></blockquote>Still, Rawl's theory is akin to Holyoake's vision of a tolerant democracy that treats all [[life stance]] groups alike. Rawl's idea is that it is in everybody's own interest to endorse "a reasonable constitutional democracy" with "principles of toleration". His work has been highly influential on scholars in political philosophy and his term, ''overlapping consensus'', seems to have for many parts replaced ''secularism'' among them. In textbooks on modern political philosophy, like Colin Farrelly's, ''An Introduction to Contemporary Political Theory'',<ref>{{Cite book|title=Contemporary political theory: a reader|last=Farrelly |first=Colin Patrick |date=2004-01-01|publisher=Sage|isbn=978-0-7619-4908-4|oclc=290530058}}</ref> and Will Kymlicka's, ''Contemporary Political Philosophy'',<ref>{{Cite book|title=Contemporary political philosophy: an introduction |first=Will|last=Kymlicka|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-878274-2|oclc=611694157|year=2002}}</ref> the term secularism is not even indexed and in the former it can be seen only in one footnote. However, there is no shortage of discussion and coverage of the topic it involves. It is just called ''overlapping consensus, [[Pluralism (philosophy)|pluralism]]'', ''[[multiculturalism]]'' or expressed in some other way. In The ''Oxford Handbook of Political Theory'',<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Oxford handbook of political theory|last1=Dryzek |first1=John S.|first2=Bonnie|last2=Honig|date=2009-01-01|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-927003-3|pages=636|oclc=474737332}}</ref> there is one chapter called "Political secularism", by [[Rajeev Bhargava]]. It covers secularism in a global context, and starts with this sentence: "Secularism is a beleaguered doctrine."