e-Claire

Recovering Secularists

Well, At least it’s not just me. (See "Unease" below) David Brooks, editor and political analyst, thinks so too.

The theory of Secularization “…holds that as history moves forward, science displaces dogma and reason replaces unthinking obedience. …It's now clear that the secularization theory is untrue. The human race does not necessarily get less religious as it grows richer and better educated. We are living through one of the great periods of scientific progress and the creation of wealth. At the same time, we are in the midst of a religious boom. …Moreover, it is the denominations that refuse to adapt to secularism that are growing the fastest, while those that try to be "modern" and "relevant" are withering. Ecstatic forms of Christianity and "anti-modern" Islam are thriving. …A great Niagara of religious fervor is cascading down around them [secularists] while they stand obtuse and dry in the little cave of their own parochialism…

It appears I am in need of a primer on spelunking. Mr. Brooks goes on to describe a six step program for “recovering secularists” including taking religious fervor seriously, not attempting to quantify it with sociological and economic theories, and actually allowing ourselves to feel the fear such fervor merits.

Many Americans have always sensed that we have a transcendent mission, although, fortunately, it is not a theological one. We instinctively feel, in ways that people from other places do not, that history is unfulfilled as long as there are nations in which people are not free. …Many Americans see history as ending in the triumph of freedom and constitutionalism, with religion not abandoned or suppressed but enriching democratic life.

Ya gots me there, boss. To me, one’s religion has always seemed a personal, nay a private arena. It seems more than impolitic, quite impolite to go around criticizing another’s religious tenets. One’s character is to be judged on the basis of one’s actions. Is she kind to animals? Does he take time to help those less fortunate? Is she honest - with herself, and others? What one does is the measure of one’s caliber, not where one might go to worship of a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

But to view things this way presupposes each individual's situational ability to make his own choices free of restriction or direction by state or *other outside entity*. Without the right of self determination provided and protected by a constitutional democracy that enables the individual to make up her own mind - we're not talking about choices. We're talking about coercion.

Which brings right back ‘round to the zealot’s position that all nations must be forced to be free.

What is the emoticon for little springs coming out of one's ears?

Methinks I must think on…

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