15.4 Secularism and Non-Religious Worldviews

New religious movements and alternative spirituality often challenge traditional beliefs. Secularism and non-religious worldviews take this further, rejecting supernatural explanations entirely. These perspectives emphasize human reason, empirical evidence, and skepticism towards religious claims.

Secular worldviews like humanism and rationalism focus on human potential without invoking deities. Atheism and agnosticism directly question or reject the existence of gods. These perspectives shape modern debates about religion's role in society and individual lives.

Secular Worldviews

Philosophical Perspectives Emphasizing Human Reason and Empiricism

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• Secularism holds that religious considerations should be excluded from civil affairs or public education, emphasizing the separation of church and state
• Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that affirms the ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment, aspiring to the greater good of humanity without theism or other supernatural beliefs
• Rationalism relies on reason as the main source and test of knowledge, emphasizing the power of human reasoning and empirical observation to understand reality (Enlightenment)
• Freethought refers to holding opinions formed on the basis of reason, logic, and empiricism rather than authority, tradition, or dogma, often leading to the conclusion that there is insufficient evidence to justify the existence of deities or the supernatural (Bertrand Russell)

Perspectives Challenging or Rejecting Traditional Religious Beliefs

• Atheism is the absence of belief in the existence of deities, often accompanied by the positive assertion that deities do not exist (Richard Dawkins)
• Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable, emphasizing that claims regarding such matters cannot be proven either true or false
• Skepticism questions the possibility of certainty in knowledge, maintaining a doubting attitude towards beliefs or claims, especially those considered unlikely based on current evidence (scientific skepticism)

Non-Belief in Deities

Viewpoints Rejecting the Existence of Gods or Divine Beings

• Atheism, at its core, is the lack of belief in gods or deities, often based on arguments such as the lack of empirical evidence, logical inconsistencies in religious doctrines, or the problem of evil
• Strong atheism, also known as positive atheism, explicitly affirms the non-existence of gods, stating "there are no deities" as opposed to simply lacking belief (Christopher Hitchens)
• Weak atheism, also referred to as negative atheism, is the absence of belief in deities without the positive assertion that deities do not exist, often due to a lack of compelling evidence

Perspectives Emphasizing Uncertainty Regarding the Existence of Deities

• Agnosticism maintains that the existence or non-existence of deities is currently unknown or inherently unknowable, often emphasizing the limitations of human knowledge (Thomas Huxley)
• Agnostic atheism combines atheism and agnosticism, holding that while the existence of deities is unknown, there is no compelling reason to believe in their existence based on currently available evidence
• Agnostic theism posits that the existence of deities is unknown or inherently unknowable but chooses to believe in their existence based on faith, personal experience, or philosophical arguments (Søren Kierkegaard)
• Skepticism, in the context of religious belief, questions the veracity of claims about the existence of deities, often citing a lack of empirical evidence or the unreliability of personal religious experiences (David Hume)