SECULARISM
TABLE OF CONTENTSReaction of Christians to Secularism |
INTRODUCTION
"Part of the mix in views is due to a fundamental underlying difference in perception between believers and non–believers on the whole concept of religion, faith and God."
—Polster Angus Reid on "multi-faceted" religion in Canada
Vancouver Sun, July 1, 2017 (NP4)
The above statement is found at the top of the page in white capital letters on black background. In other words, this is important! But the Reformed have been saying this all along. It's just that the media do not want to give this space. But Angus Reid is regarded as part of the respected "establishment" and its statements are therefore given ears.
After wavering a long time, it was decided to add a page on secularism and postmodernism. However, for convenience I refer to all of it as "secularism." Much of this website is one vast expose of that worldview and a presentation of its Christian alternative, but it really had no room for needed expressions and explanations of secularism itself by its own adherents.
This page is not a recommendation of secularism, but it allows its adherents to expose their irrational, blind and intolerant tunnel vision to life. If you wonder what I mean by this characterization, well, you are kindly invited to explore the entire website. If I had started this page earlier, some of the items on the other pages, especially the GUEST ARTICLES page, might have been placed here. Well, we do the best we can.
So, though there is a section for Christian writers on this page, most of the writers are secularists themselves. Here they can spout off all they want, though I do not give them as much space as I give to Christians by any means. Actually, the materials on this page are sparse and random. There is an ocean of secular material on the internet that we leave for you to discover on your own.
For the secularist among my readers, enjoy—but.... THINK! SERIOUSLY! For the Christian, try to restrain your annoyance at secular narrow mindedness and free yourself from that feeling of being despised. You have so much more to offer.
GENERAL
Adrian Kuzminski, “The secular redux: Humanists and materialists, ancient and modern.” Academia Letters, Article 1610, July 2021. https://doi.org/....
The Epoch Times, “Hijacking the media,” The ET special series, “How the spectre of Communism is ruling our world.” March 26-April 1, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/watch/.... To read the full series online, go to <theepochtimes.com>
Dwight Newman, “On The Trinity Western University Controversy: An Argument for a Christian Law School in Canada” Constitutional Forum, Vol. 22, Number 3, 2013, endnote 6.
Domenic Marbaniang, Perspectives on Indian secularism. 2011, < Marbaniang >
Unknown author, title, publisher and date, “Indian Christians under secularism,” partial article.
This partial article surfaced from an unknown source, but we judge it worthwhile for placement on this page.
Domenic Marbaniang, Secularism in India: A historical analysis. Master’s thesis submitted to the Asian Institute of Theology, Bangalore, May 2005.
Ernest Poser, “Why study Humanism?” A paper delivered at a meeting of Worldview Collaborative, Vancouver BC, 2006.[1]
Jan H. Boer and Muhammad T. Ladan, “The Voice of Islam.” The Pen, Kano, Nigeria: Bureau for Islamic Propagation, February 27, 1989. voice-of-islam-cc-112601.pdf (socialtheology.com)
REACTION OF CHRISTIANS TO SECULARISM
Todd C. Ream, “Searching for the soul of the university: An interview with George M. Marsden.” Christian Scholar’s Review, May 12, 2021.
Bruce Pardy, “At university, ideological dissent is not welcome.” Epoch Times, May 29, 2021.
James K. A. Smith, editor of Cardus' Comment, speaking of secularism, asked what stands in the way of societal peace or shalom, answered that it is
a creeping—indeed, increasingly aggressive—secularism at work in our society that, in the name of tolerance, is less and less tolerant of public religious expression. I think secularism is most aggressive precisely when it's in its last gasps. Behind this bluster—which might actually come from a place of cultural insecurity—is perhaps a still small voice that haunts secular culture.... I think we're beginning to see some cracks in the secular, and sometimes even the most aggressive lashing out could be a kind of veiled call for help. (with apologies, the source of this quote got lost.)
Bruce Pardy, “At university, ideological dissent is not welcome.” Epoch Times, May 29, 2021.
Natasha Moore, “Secularism doesn’t have to be bad: Understood rightly, it offers the best hope of keeping pluralistic societies peaceful and free.” Christianity Today, April 18, 2022.
Paul Marshall, “Secular myopia warps the West's view of Nigeria.” Providence Magazine, November 23, 2020.
Melanie Phillips, “The war against the West, and its defender.” melaniephillips.com, July 7, 2020.
Winston Dykeman, “The corruption of medicine by Secularism.” Christian Medical and Dental Association of Canada, January 31, 2020.
Ray Pennings, “Secularism's anti-Charter ugliness.” Convivium, December 12, 2019. Main point is the superior generosity of the religious and its effect on the common public good.
“Open-minded secularism can bring social benefits, but when it seeks to close out religious freedom it injures us all.” —Ray Pennings, Cardus' Convivium.
Nathan Timmerman, “Thought Bubbles: Leftist Intolerance.” CC, January 22, 2018 , p. 5.
Jonathan Chaplin, “The Right Kind of 'Secular State' – A Christian Perspective.” KLICE Comment, January 2017.
Alex Deagon, “Secularism as a religion: Questioning the future of the 'secular' state.” The Western Australian Jurist, 2017.
Peter Stockland with Andrew Bennett, “Beneath the summer job controversy.” Convivium, December 6, 2018.
Jack Taylor, “Secularization and the church in Canada.” Light Magazine, October 2018.
Brandon Showalter, “Tim Keller ‘makes sense of God’ for Skeptics, Argues Secularism Is Declining.” The Christian Post, September 20, 2016. A slightly edited version is at CC, November 28, 2016.
“…most people who…are more thoughtful…, admit that they actually didn’t lose their faith, they just adopted a new faith. They adopted a new community, a new set of beliefs, a new set of moral values, none of which can be proven….”
The original can be accessed at: http://www.christianpost.com/news/....
James K. A. Smith, "Revolutionism and our secular age: What if unbelief is a social ill?" Cardus' Comment, September 1, 2016.
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, "Where religious freedom is made stronger, not weaker." A letter to donours, February 2015.
Bruce Clemenger, Open letter to Supporters – Secularism is a belief. Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, February 2015.
Jim Harries, “Secularism and Africa in the light of the intercultural Christ.” Eugene OR: Wipf and Stock, 2015.
Klaas van der Zwaag, transl. Jan H. Boer, “The New Atheism.” Sophie, 2/2014, pp. 48-49.
Elaine Graham, Between a rock and a hard place: Public theology in a post-secular age. London: SCM Press, 2013.
For publisher's description and editorial review:
https://www.christianbook.com/....
Abstract: https://www.worldcat.org/title/....
Darren Cronshaw, Review of above, JMP—Journal of Missional Practice, Spring 2016.
Jeffrey W. Bailey, partial review of above, Fellow, Centre for Social Justice, UK, February 4, 2015.
https://journals.sagepub.com/... AND https://doi.org/10.1177/...
Michael Wagner, Leaving God Behind: The Charter of Rights and Canada’s Official Rejection of Christianity.
The adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 amounted to a wholesale change in Canada’s constitutional and legal foundation. There is no such thing as neutrality. With the Charter, Christianity was cast aside and secular humanism became the ultimate basis of Canada’s constitution. http://www.ezrainstitute.ca/resource-library/books/leaving-god-behind AND https://christianrootscanada.org/product/fleaving-god-behind-the-charter-of-rights-and-canadas-official-rejection-of-christianity/
NOTE: The above links seem to be off and on. However, the root link IS valid: < https://christianrootscanada >
Iain T. Benson, “Seeing through the Secular Delusion.” NGTT Deel 54 Supplementum 4, 2013 (18 pp.). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/... and at: https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/...
Wayne Hankey and Nicholas Hatt, eds., Changing our Mind on Secularization The contemporary debate about sacred and secular in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Papers delivered at the Twenty–Ninth Annual Atlantic Theological Conference June 23rd to 26th, 2009. Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island: Saint Peter Publication, 2009.
Terry Hunter Baker, Jr., Christianity, Secularism, and America: An Exploration and Critique of the Historical, Legal, Social, and Philosophical Implications of Secularism from an American Perspective. PhD dissertation for Baylor University, December 2007.
John Witte, “Religion, Secularism, and Human Rights.” Annual Hill Lecture, Cardus' Convivium, May 13, 2003.
Michael W. Goheen, “The Gospel and the idolatrous spirit of the university.” Keynote address at the International Association for the promotion of Christian scholarship conference, Budapest: Karoli Gaspar University, July 3, 2002.
Iain T. Benson, “Notes towards a (Re)Definition of the ‘Secular’.” University of British Columbia Law Review, vol. 33, 2000, p. 520 (31 pp.). Abstract can be accessed at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1654455
--------, “The Confusions of “Secularism” and the “Secular’.” (Pp. 7). This article can be accessed at: https://www.iclrs.org/content/blurb/files/Benson,%20Canada.pdf AND https://www.google.ca/webhp?...
Herman Dooyeweerd, The Secularization of Science (1954, 1966).
This essay was presented at the first congress of the International Association for Reformed Faith and Action, Montpellier, France, in 1953. The original French version, "La secularization de la science," was published in La Revue Reformee, V (1954), 138-157. This translation, with notes, was made by Dr. Robert D. Knudsen of Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, and first appeared in print in the International Reformed Bulletin, No. 26 (9th year), July 1966, pp. 2-17. The Knudsen Introduction, along with the Dooyeweerd article was also published in Memphis, USA: Christian Studies Center, 1954. The brief Boer Introduction is original on this website.
Jan H. Boer, "Introduction (1)"
Robert K. Knudsen, "Introduction (2)"
REACTION OF SECULARISTS TO RELIGION
Tristin Hopper, “Woman’s court battle to ban indigenous rituals denied” Vancouver Sun, December 15, 2022, p. NP5.
This story clearly illustrates the confusion that plagues Canadian secular courts about the nature of religion, worldview and culture, a confusion that is characteristic of the secular mindset in general. To equate “strictly secular” with “non-sectarian principles” as does the B.C. School Act according to Tristin Hopper’s article, is as doctrinal a statement as you find in any religious creed. It is a general blindness to their own convictions and beliefs common to secularists.
Douglas Todd, “Let's stop stereotyping Catholics and Sikhs.” VS, January 18, 2020. For an alternative, go to https://theworldnews.net/ca-news/doug....
Brittany Jones, “Even Kanye Can't Escape the Ire of Anti-Christian Group.” Family Policy Alliance, Dec. 6, 2019.
Hemant Mehta, “Dear Democrats: Four religion requests from non-religious Americans.” RNS, December 17, 2019.
Jennifer Saltman, “Prayers, reflection get OK in chamber.” VS November 30, 2019.
“...we ultimately want to see prayers removed from the standing orders altogether,” said Ranil Prasad, a board member of the BC Humanist Association. “Government prayers are not inclusive of the overwhelming majority of British Columbians who are not religious, they violate the principle of separation of church and state, and, frankly, they are a waste of both taxpayer money and time in the chamber.”
Piers Shepherd, “The Spanish Civil War and the Battle for Western Civilization.” Chronicles, A Magazine of American Culture, October 1, 2019.
Christian Student Group Harassed by Harvard Authorities. Student Union, Spring 2018
Tom Campisi, “Accusations and Probation: Harvard College Faith and Action Punished for Adhering to Christian Standards,” Spring 2018, p. 20.
Scott Ely and Molly Richmond, “A Statement: Winsome, but Firm, Voices Are Needed from across the Political and Religious Spectrums,” Spring 2018, p. 21.
Mahtob Mahmoody, My Name is Mahtob: A daring escape, a life of fear, and the forgiveness that set me free. A few selected excerpts. Nashville: Nelson Books, 2015.
Peter Schuurman, “CBS polices new police chief.” CC, December 10, 2012, pp. 3-4.
FREEDOM
Caitlin Flanagan, “Private Schools Have Become Truly Obscene.” The Atlantic, April 2021. Private Schools Are Indefensible - The Atlantic.
Lee Harding, “How cowardice kills free speech.” ET, September 4, 2019, p. B3.
Ezra Levant, “EMERGENCY: We were banned from reporting on the leader's debate.” Rebel News, October 4, 2019.
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
Simon Fraser University (SFU), “Religious accommodation at universities.” Circulated by SFU, n.d.
Shane Miller, “'Heckler's Veto': UBC threatened with legal action for cancelling talk on Antifa.” ET, January 9-15, 2020, p. A4.
Jennifer Saltman, “'Safety and security' concerns cause UBC to nix speaking event': Cub mulls legal action over cancellation as debates rage on about free expression.” VS, January 3, 2020, p. A3.
Lisa Bero, “When companies fund research, the truth often comes last: Researchers are being forced into a job market where their findings get buried if they expose dangers or problems.” ET, Nov. 7-13, 2019, p. C3.
Nicholas Wolterstorff, Religion in the University. Yale University Press, 2019.
“From one of the world's leading philosophers, this is a powerful defense of religion's role within the modern university.”
“What is religion's place within the academy today? Are the perspectives of religious believers acceptable in an academic setting? In this lucid and penetrating essay, Nicholas Wolterstorff ranges from Max Weber and John Locke to Ludwig Wittgenstein and Charles Taylor to argue that religious orientations and voices do have a home in the modern university, and he offers a sketch of what that home should be like.” Religion in the University by Nicholas Wolterstorff (goodreads.com)
Craig G. Bartholomew, “Religion in the (public) university.” Review of Nicholas Wolterstorff's Religion in the University. Cambridge: The Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology, July 2020.
Douglas Todd, “Top moral thinkers defend free speech in UBC clash.” VS, Sept 9, 2017.
Todd Pettigrew, “Irredeemable: Redeemer University College, according to its published statements, promotes religion over knowledge.” Macleans, February 15, 2011.
Leftism, Liberalism
Mark Hendrickson, “Ominous signs of Hatred in Politics.” Epoch Times, October17-23, p. B1. "Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times."
ATHEISM
Joseph Breen, “Church of Atheism not a religion, court decides.” VS, December 6, 2019. P. NP3.
Keith Ward and Arif Ahmed, “(Un)Believable?: An Atheist and a Theist Philosopher share their world-views - Cambridge University.” The Veritas Forum, April 6, 2013.[1]
Taner Edis, “An Atheist defends religion,” review of An Atheist defends religion: Why humanity is better off with religion than without by Bruce Sheiman, The Secular Outpost blog, October 21, 2010.
Russell Blackford and Udo Schuklenk, eds., 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why we are Atheists. Chichester, West Sussex, UK, 2009.
Matthew Parris, “As an Atheist, I ruly believe Africa needs God.” The Times of London, December 27, 2008.
Johnboy53, “Court rules atheism a religion.” Christian Forums, Aug 20 2005.
Sex, Gender, Education
Stephanie Ip, “Trustee loses suit in free speech statute test.” VS, November 28, 2019, p. A14.
Barry Neufeld: “At the risk of being labeled a bigoted homophobe, I have to say that I support traditional family values and I agree with the College of Paediatricians that allowing little children to choose to change gender is nothing short of child abuse...”
Harley Price, The Absurdity of the Wynne-Ford Sex-Ed Curriculum. The Epoch Times, September 4, 2019, p. B2. “Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.”