The Religious Benefits of Secularism

I think Sam Harris argues in The End of Faith that people who are religious should be in favor of a secular civil society, because it protects freedom of religion, as well as freedom from religion.

Yet Harris and other New Atheists argue that religion itself is destructive. Currently, my own guess is the problem is extremism, not religion, per se, as some of us might be inclined to over-generalize about Islam in light of the heinous attack on Charlie Hebdo and the heinous acts of Boko Haram.

Some of those arguing that extremism is the problem, and not religion itself include Chris Hedges (I Don’t Believe in Atheists), as well as Karen Armstrong (The Battle for God) and Reza Aslan (Beyond Fundamentalism). That position contrasts with that of the New Atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and others who claim religion, per se, is the problem, not just extremism.

It’s extremism** and not the pluralistic accommodation of religion in public life that threatens to violate the separation of church and state. In a pluralistic society, people can still legitimately take political action based on their religious beliefs. In fact, in such a society, religion is more in tune with its best principles, according to evangelical Christian writer and social justice activist Jim Wallis.

In his book, The Great Awakening, he writes as follows. “Does anybody really want to say that America has behaved in the world as a ‘Christian nation’? For the sake of Christian integrity, I hope not. It is far better to regard faith communities as essentially countercultural, calling us to higher ground and challenging political and economic power when it becomes abusive of the religious values of compassion and justice. Only through independence and separation from any state can religion exercise its vital prophetic role in every society.”

**(EDIT : In addition to the problem of extremism may be the problem of religion being too organized and/or too entwined, as an institution, with political power, for lack of a better way of saying it. For example, folk seem to have plenty of legitimate complaints about the damage policies of the Catholic Church cause around the world.)