Monday, January 2, 2012

The (Alleged) Limits of Secularism

The Limits of Secularism | Standpoint




My answer is simple. Religion survives because it answers three questions that every reflective person must ask. Who am I? Why am I here? How then shall I live? We will always ask those three questions because homo sapiens is the meaning-seeking animal, and religion has always been our greatest heritage of meaning. You can take science, technology, the liberal democratic state and the market economy as four institutions that characterise modernity, but none of these four will give you an answer to those questions that humans ask.
Yes, actually, they will. And the answers will be better than those derived from dogma.

"Who am I?" and "How then shall I live?" are questions for philosophy, not religion. The "then" in the question about how to live an ethical life leans on the "Why am I here?" question, which is reveals an assumption that points to reason someone might think religion has a role to play in answering these questions.

I'm not saying there isn't wisdom to be had from religious thinkers. There is. But, all of it is hamstrung by a set assumptions antithetical to reason and an honest pursuit of knowledge.
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