Secularism: Definition Help! (1 Viewer)

[mecramarathon]

My teachers say secularism is when people believe in no religion but in the excel textbook it says secularism is the belief that the state and religion should be seperated

Which is correct?

 

[moll.]

Your teacher's an idiot. The second one is true.
The first one is an atheist or irreligious society. Not secular.
Secular means that religion doesn't directly influence the public sphere, but it is still there in teh background.

 

[snapperhead]

I would say that secularism is more that religion isnt important or has an overall influence or impact on general society with regards to politics etc (as opposed to *complete* separation of 'church and state' ala America which doesnt really work!)

eg Australia is (supposedly) a secular society as people dont feel or think that religion is really relevant in todays 'hectic'/'educated' etc etc etc world

Whilst I wouldnt call your teacher an idiot (a bit slanderous really), they dont appear to know their basic terminolgy well (whilst I can kind of see why they got them mixed up, I have no sympathy for them for making such a basic mistake!!!)

HTH

 

[Prashant Sallan]

hmm i would go with the dictionary-- or just to make the teacher feel wrong take the dictionary up to her and say "this says this but you said that... " whats right miss... but thats would be mega slack .

 

[tacogym27101990]

hmm i would go with the dictionary-- or just to make the teacher feel wrong take the dictionary up to her and say "this says this but you said that... " whats right miss... but thats would be mega slack .

haha i used to do that all the time
but my teacher was heaps stuck up so she deserved it

 

[alcalder]

According to Dictionary.com
sec⋅u⋅lar

   /ˈsɛk

yə

lər/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [sek-yuh-ler] Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective 1. of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal: secular interests. 2. not pertaining to or connected with religion (opposed to sacred ): secular music. 3. (of education, a school, etc.) concerned with nonreligious subjects. 4. (of members of the clergy) not belonging to a religious order; not bound by monastic vows (opposed to regular ). 5. occurring or celebrated once in an age or century: the secular games of Rome. 6. going on from age to age; continuing through long ages. –noun 7. a layperson. 8. one of the secular clergy.
So, your teacher is not 100% wrong. But probably needed to further clarify. It is when people do not believe that religious activities or beliefs have any bearing on something. So, in some respects, and in some interpretations of what your teacher said, they were correct.