What is secularism
Secularism is a theory where religion and society should be sepereated
Who believes that religion harms society
The ‘New Athiests’
What are the 3 ways in which people talk about secularism according to Jose Casanova
- To the decline of religious belief and practice in modern society
- The privatisation of religion
- Secular seperation of spheres of state, economy, science
Example of why secularism is good (survey)
2014 British social attitudes survey- more people claimed to be non Christian than Christian
What examples of events are there that are not secular
Remembrance day and national holidays like Christmas
How is Britain not secular when it comes to government
Royale family and law of the UK based on religion
Examples of the new athiests
Stephen fry
Richard Dawkins
Christopher Hitchens
What does Sigmund Freud argue about secularism
Religion is entirely in the human mind. Man created God because of the fear we have of certain things (death, exams) and God is a coping mechanism. It is childish
What does Dawkins say when talking about science and Religion
Religion was good at the time but now its old fashioned and science should be prioritised now
What does Charles Taylor say about why society is becoming secular
Its becoming secular not because of less belief but instead belief is not assumed on the public.
What does Shmuel Eisenstadt argue about society
He says there are ‘multiple modernities’ and not all of the worlds society will modernise the same way western Europe has
Sigmund Freud beliefs on mind
- Religion is childlike, comforts people instead of telling the truth. Due to this, many wont outgrow religion
- religion should be classed as a mass delusion
- Religion is a product of ‘wish fulfilment’
-Religion represses human desires like (murder or rape) which makes religion appear good
What does ‘wish fulfilment mean’
Humans create beliefs that they want to be true but arent
Counter to Freud
- His sample size of experiment was 12 people
- many of his case studies were people who are woman and mentally ill (not fair)
What does Dawkins argue criticisng religion in war
Religion caused war e.g crusades
What does Dawkins criticise about religion as a whole
- conflict- believes religion caused conflict
- childish- gives false sense of security snd comfort
- Repressive- like with woman e.g Burka making woman submissive
- Abuse for children that are brought up- gives them unnecessary fear
Dawkins example of child abuse
A child was kidnapped from Jewish parents, raised up catholic and got baptised. Dawkins calls this the ‘religious mind’
He says that woman who have been SA’d have more fear of going to hell then the actual harm being done
The ‘religious mind’ explained
Dawkins said that people believed in religious rituals as changing them permanently.
Baptism for a religious person is more importsnt than family, parental right and childs lack of consent which is wrong
What did Jo Marchant find out
Evidence to suggests that there is positive medican and psychological benefits to beliefs.
What example from Jo Marchant can be used to support this
She cited a person who studied loneliness and found social connection and transcendent belied was important in living happier lives.
Marchant wrote “feeling part of something bigger may help us not only with our daily life but to defuse our deepesr source of worry; death.”
Whats an example of a country who separated church and state
France
What did France do that separates Church and State
- Removed funding from Christian schools
- Banned religious symbols in public spaces
Why should religion be intertwined with state (Education)
Churches are big sponsors of education with 1.8 million people educated in catholic schools.
Christian churches supplied schools longer than government meaning this is deep rooted this is called the ‘heritage argument’
Christian schools are also more diverse than non religious schools
Whats the heritage argument
Its the idea that Church and education is so deep rooted that removing them would almost be an act of robbery.
