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THE CHALLENGE OF SECULARISM - Coggle Diagram
THE CHALLENGE OF SECULARISM
Terminology
Secularisation - religion plays a smaller role in today's society
Theocracy - the ultra-conservative view that a particular religion should have total political power
Secularism - government and religion should be completely separate
Militant atheism - all religion is harmful, even privately therefore we are better off without it
Freud & Dawkins
Freud
Religion is cause by the psychological fear of a chaotic, unpredictable world and a fear of adult life & its responsibilities. During childhood, order is represented through the Father & therefore religious people find comfort in an eternal father, producing wish-fulfilment
This childish state of mind should be replaced w/ a scientifc one
If there was an 11th commandment, it would be 'thou shalt not question'
Dawkins
An irrational mind will believe what it wants to hear, not the truth. Therefore the mind wants to know that life doesn't end in death, that there is order and there is purpose
He also believes this to be infantile, as believers forgo their responsibility onto another being (God)
Religion encourages irrational thinking. it encourages belief on faith instead of evidence
Belief is rational, the 5 ways show consistency in God, yet do not prove him. Tehrefore displaying rationale behind belief in God
JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING IS CONSISTENT DOES NOT MEAN IT JUSTIFIES BELIEF IN IT
PEOPLE CONVERT AFTER CHILDHOOD, so it cannot be an irrational belief based on the indoctrination of chidlren
God of the gaps
Many atheists believe that religion is irrational due to scientific ignorance. Science is slowly replacing religion and will one day fully replace it. People used to attribute natural phenomena to God which can now be explained by modern science
Mcgrath responds by saying that contemporary christian philosophers make much mroe cohesive arguemnts for the time period we are currently in by saying the science is limted and cannot answer everything
"WHat is the colour of JEalousy?"
questions of purpose make assumptions that purpose even exists, just like assuming jealousy has a colour
Harmfulness of religion
Religion is unable to remain private due to the command of evangelisation, therefore displaying a threat to freedom
Liberalists do not believe in following all the rules tho.... it unfairly judges fundamentalists and generalises their actions
A large figure of believers are fundamentalists, soi it is not an overgeneralisation to claim this...
MILITANT ATHEISM IS FUNDAMENTALIST
There is a 'lunatic fringe' on both sides of the debate
Much of Dawkins argument was using misinterpereted quotations and misattributed quotes, showing that Dawkins just picks what sounds best to him, not empiricallyy verified
Chriostians ignorre polytheism, and misinterperet quotes in orderto push teheir discriminatory idealogies
Secularists will set their own Dogma on CHildren too, therefore going too far in the debate, and wiping religion alltogether
Religion causes prejudice & violencde
“My point is not that religion itself is the motivation for wars, murders, and terrorist attacks, but that religion is the principal label, and the most dangerous one, by which a “they” as opposed to a “we” can be identified at all.” – Dawkins
Humans have an 'us vs them' mentality that labels attacks as either religious or non-religious, fostering harmful stereotypes amongst both parties
Jesus suffered from violence yet never perpetuated it, nor encouraged it. It is Christians themselves that have fallen from Jesus' example, and renewal may be the way over eradication
Secularism can be just as violent
Whilst religion harms, so does atheism - soviet unuion destroyed churches and priests during their time period in power
HOwever we cannot define atheism as a whole, as it exists as nothingness. we do not ccarry out 'in the name of atheism'. Nazism was also not artheistuc as the words 'God is on our side' was on their belt buckles
The source of morality & values
Freud
Maintaining social order relies on people repressing their own anti-social instincts. Religion encourages this and has done great benefit for civilisation, however it has now passed its pooint of usefulness and secularism may be more suited
He argues that Autonomy is now the better way, as we now live in a more civilised way of understanding that repression is good for society
Christianity can adopt liberal theologies in order to adapt to Freud's critiques, we do not tneed to erase relgion to promote morality
The death of God
Nietzsche once said 'God is dead', by which he meant to show that God had once been alive in our world but the rise of secularism has killed our ultimate purpose, resulting in a nihilistic void in our culture
We should therefore define our own pur[pose, seperate from the bllodsucking parasite that is relgion, we just need to find our purpose free from cosmic influence