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Is 'no religion' a new religion?

By Spencer Gear - posted Tuesday, 19 July 2016


Kirby and the RSA promote secularism as the be all and end all of ultimate values for such a task. It should be obvious that such values come out of the minds of finite human beings. This is far removed from any recognition of the Lord God's giving the absolutes of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) that were affirmed by Jesus Christ himself in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). I don't expect secularists to accept such an assessment as God-given human rights but they have no foundation on which to reject such if I choose to accept and promote them. These Christian values have as much clout as those of secularists if human beings are the ones who create secular values. They are not the values I espouse, but the secularist has no fundamental right to oppose my Christian absolutes as inauthentic if I promote them.

· The ethical values and behaviour towards others includes promotion of overt secularism that is made evident in its active presence on the Internet, writings of Hugh Harris in the mass media, opposition to religious instruction (RI) in the state schools, support of those who oppose such RI, and opposition to school chaplaincy.

· Regarding the fostering of community of true believers in secularism, the Rationalist community includes a monthly Think Tank meeting in Melbourne. It has created a hub of rational secularists designed to attract rationalists to its website.

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· What hope does it offer? In a discussion of rationality vs emotionality, a psychotherapist, philosopher and journalist dialogue on the 'road to the good life' and the comment section on the RSA website is open for involvement. So, for the rational secularist, the hope is the good life, without God. But it is just as religious as any theistic view because of the ingredients of its religion.

What is truth?

Pontius Pilate in condemning Jesus Christ to be crucified, asked, 'What is truth' (John 18:38)? The answer to this question profoundly influences the content of religion. Philosopher of religion, Anthony Thiselton, considered that the claims of truth, rationality and coherence are among the ingredients of religion.

If it's true, does it match the reality around and in us? This applies to the external world as much as to internal conscience. As for rationality, reason allows us to use critical thinking of knowledge to discern if secularism is a religion or if we need to be a theist or non-theist to be religious. Rationality helps to address some of the false assumptions behind, say, secularism where its attack on Christianity is seen to be self-defeating. This is not because Christianity is not a religion, but because secularism does not see its own secular values as religious. Christianity is open to the same kind of critical assessment through reason.

When a worldview is said to cohere, we refer to what Indian-Canadian Christian apologist, Ravi Zacharias, has stated: Any worldview must answer four questions as they relate to origins, the condition of human beings, how to be saved from that condition, and the destiny of people. What is the truth about these four major areas of discussion? This will answer questions about God, reality, knowledge, morality and human beings. This is an assessment from one who was born in Chennai, India and migrated to Canada as a 20-year-old.

Confronting the facts of the Australian constitution

According to the Australian Constitution, Section 116,

'The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth'.

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Therefore, to establish secularism as a religion of Australia with its practical ramifications would violate the Australian Constitution. To insist that secularism be imposed on the school system or parliament would violate Section 116 of the Constitution just as much as imposing Christianity on it.

The issue points to this rationale: Those who are opposing religion in the schools and government are as religious in their views as any theist or non-theistic religion. It is time for the atheists, agnostics, secularists, rationalists and environmentalists to own up to the nature of their religion or worldview. It is every bit as religious as Christianity or Buddhism.

It is an example of one-eyed intolerance to see Christianity as religion and not see secularism as religion.

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About the Author

Spencer Gear PhD (University of Pretoria, South Africa) is a retired counselling manager, independent researcher, retired minister of the The Christian & Missionary Alliance of Australia, and freelance writer living in Brisbane Qld, Australia.

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