[MD] "Conservapedia" defines Secularism

[Horse]

  Brilliant - Conservapedia - a Hicktionary!

On 13/08/2010 00:59, david buchanan wrote:
> In the "Theocracy, Secularism, and Democracy" thread, Steve said:
> ...Simply letting conservatives pursue such a flawed strategy is no skin off our backs. Instead it seems that Rorty and many others must have some other problem with religion in political discourse besides that it is unconvincing. Freedom of religion which is consistent with 1st amendment secularism is taken by the militant secularist to an extreme of freedom _from_ religion. We ought not have to listen to religious talk in politics. We have a right not to have to hear it. A couple of years ago I would have agreed. Now I am not so sure.
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> dmb says:
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> The problem is that it's just not a matter of which side is giving the better reasons. It's also about who is better at giving their reasons, regardless of how good or bad those reasons actually are. It's about cash. The more you have, the louder your voice. This is what the right does so well. As Crawford put it with respect to the right-wing think tank that paid him to come up with reasons to love oil, these well-funded think tanks produce the best ideas money can buy. Somehow, climate science is divided along the same lines. Gee, I wonder how much that "science" cost them?
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> And if you're losing the debate, what could be better than changing the meaning of the terms used in that debate. There is a new encyclopedia on the web for those who think the dictionary has a liberal bias. Welcome to the world of "conservapedia", where right-wingers get their own definition of everything. I heard a news report about their hilarious article on Einstein's theory of "relativity", which is apparently needed because liberals have used it to promote relativism. Just for fun, I checked to see if they had an article on "secularism".
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> Secular(Redirected from Secularism)The term secular is generally used to mean "worldly, as differentiated from ecclesiastical." The term has changed meaning dramatically over time. Its original definition preserved its Latin meaning - "of an age" - as evinced in the Secular Games, or the Carmen Secularae ("Song of the Augustan Age") by Horace.The term may be a euphemism used by atheists, since atheism generally has negative associations in the United States. Atheism actually isn't secular (common mistake) because in a secular society everyone is considered to be legally equal no matter what they believe in or don't believe in. Atheism is a religious point of view that God(s) do not exist and is therefore not all inclusive.The United States was founded as a secular republic, where religious freedom is affirmed in the Constitution and where no special religion is established. However, 'secular' here is not a synonym for 'atheistic' as secular society includes both Atheists and
>   believers. Moreover, it is impossible to fully separate a legislative or educations system from moral beliefs and its sources, and the Bible overall was the primary foundational single source for America's principles and precepts.Hunter Baker in The End of Secularism, distinguishes between pluralism and secularism, and argues that while the latter has rejected religious foundations of traditional morality, yet secularism itself is an ideology based upon certain philosophical foundations, with its own presuppositions. Rather than being the impartial referee it is promoted to be, when this becomes the orthodox ideology of a nation, it works toward censoring that which opposes it, stifling religious life and discourse.
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> See also
> Opposition to Christianity
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> That's right, this is the more trustworthy and unbiased encyclopedia because, unlike those partisans over at Wiki, Conservapedia says:
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> Moreover, it is impossible to fully separate a legislative or educations system from moral beliefs and its sources, and the Bible overall was the primary foundational single source for America's principles and precepts. ...secularism itself is an ideology based upon certain philosophical foundations, with its own presuppositions. Rather than being the impartial referee it is promoted to be, when this becomes the orthodox ideology of a nation, it works toward censoring that which opposes it, stifling religious life and discourse.
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> I wonder if Steve or his man at Princeton are working from this definition. It does characterize secularism as "orthodox" if not militant and they all say secularist are censors of religious speech whose goal is to stifle religious life as such. They all point out that secularism is not an impartial referee but just another perspective no different from believers.
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