Debate: Secularism

Is a secular state superior to a religious one?

Background and context

Should the Church be involved in politics?

Pro

• Church involvement in politics violates separation from State. It is important that a separation between Church and State be maintained. This is key to the maintenance of neutral and secular society, where no particular religious view becomes endorsed by the state, at a cost to other, possibly clashing religious views. Church's should respect this principle and subsequently separate themselves from the politics of the state.

Con

• What use is a church that stands back and looks on? State laws can sometimes be anti-human. For example: the Nuremberg laws in Nazi Germany, numerous laws in Soviet Russia, or currently in North Korea Is it not the duty of major church organizations to oppose such laws?

Should governments be religiously neutral?

Pro

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Con

• Enforcing secularism creates an artificial stalemate between religions, barring any evidence that proves a religion or a popular enough irreligious worldview to be either true, false, or unethical from the mainstream media and curriculum however valid it may be, all for the sake of causing no offence. Or even worse, the government makes one scapegoat belief (usually the country's traditional historic religion) and elevates the others at its expense. It would be impossible to have a truly neutral government as this would only annoy all the religions. But picking on the national traditional religion compromises and can potentially threaten a national identity.

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Pro

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Con

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See also

External links and resources