Thursday, June 02, 2005

Sullivan on Secularism:

Affirms my sentiments exactly.

Christianism - politicized Christianity - argues for the imposition of one religion's values over the entire society. So, in this context, it would forbid gay couples from getting civil marriages or unions and prevent pregnant women from seeking an abortion. Secularism is not the polar opposite. Secularism allows Christians, and any other religious faith, to affirm religious values, live exactly as they see fit, and avoid such moral outrages as abortion and gay civil unions in their own lives, if they so wish. All secularism does is say that as a political matter, there will be as much government neutrality as possible because the government should represent all citizens; that the Church and the state shall coexist, but independently of each other. Secularism is not only compatible with aggressive and proud Christian faith; in practice, secularism has fostered that faith. The polar opposite of Christianism, in contrast, would be a government that actively suppresses religious faith, discriminates against Christianity and forbids Christians from practising their way of life. No one is proposing that. I'm really concerned that secularism is slowly becoming tainted with the same brush as "liberalism." But secularism is the great modern achievement of Christianity and of Western freedom. It is an honorable tradition, integral to the entire concept of Western liberty. The difference between secularism and Christianism, to put it bluntly, is that one side is happy to let people make their own moral choices; and one side isn't. So who exactly is imposing on whom?

1 comment:

Marty said...

What a crock. Practically just yesterday no one would have given a second thought to "same-sex marriage" -- the whole idea was simply absurd -- and it's not because Christians have been imposing man+woman marriage from time immemorial.

The whole idea is ridiculous, and anti-christian to boot(what did we do to earn the new label anyway, but act as christians always have), and a smokescreen: it's perfectly clear who is imposing whose will here -- gay activists are imposing it on an unwilling society, which includes far more that just christians. The vast majority (regardless of religious stripe) of whom still consider SSM an absurd idea.

Sorry Sully, your reverse psychology falls flat.