Secularism

Secularism is not an anti-religious choice. It marks a powerful cultural drift, an intentional buying-in to a way of living. If you were to lay the template of religion over it you would find a sobering match. Secularism has a deity. It is a gathering sense that if we follow this route together we will find “salvation”, that is, personal fulfillment and social belonging. The deity is the promise of “success” and the realization of dreams.

Secularism has its places of worship. If you’ve stood in the hum of great office towers or been dazzled by the sheen of vast shopping malls then you have visited its shrines. Wealth, vision and dedication have been poured into their design and function. They are built to impress and convert. They are meant to perform to the honour of their god and its visions.

Secularism has it saints. The wealthy and powerful are among them, the stars, the heroes, the political elite, the magnates, and the flashy “children of light” as they arise in their one, brief hour upon the stage. It has its angels too; a lottery-win, an extra week of holidays, and sexual conquest, a wild weekend lived away outside the lines, anything that come wrapped just for you.

The theology, or “god-talk”, of secularism begins with the fact of our morality. We are here but once, and are always at risk, so make the most of it. It claims that getting and keeping power is essential. We must do whatever is necessary to gather our own around us and hold off others who may threaten us by any means, the more weaponry and tactics of intimidation, the better. We must never weaken or allow other people and their messy worlds to break our concentration.

The rewards of the secular god are seen in moments of blessing; fleeting feelings of winning and success, occasion days of prideful strutting, a good episode of patting oneself on the back. The punishments of the god are severe. Never get old, or sick. Never falter in the workplace. Never admit to addictions. Watch your political allegiances. Rarely dress down. If you make it pour everything you have into playing the big game. Do not make prolonged eye-contact with the mighty and powerful.

Their minions and minder are at work at every level and the axe can fall without warning.

Weak and rebellious people are always expendable.

The word “secularism” comes from a root meaning, “age, or time”. In other words, secularism is only one of the choices we can make, only one possible way of proceeding in a much larger story. Just because the vast majority of people in the developed world buy into it that is no reason to presume it is good for us. To regard secularism as a non-religion gives it unchallenged access to us. To see it as just one more humanly-created religious framework by which we organize our lives and express our deepest selves allows us to ask its value, and to choose to stay in or opt out.