Video
Twitter
RSS Feed
THE QUESTION
In his new book "Thumpin' It," Jacques Berlinerblau laments that secularism has become a taboo subject for Republicans and Democrats. Has this year's presidential campaign become too religious? Are secular ideas getting short shrift?
Politics and Secularism
In his new book "Thumpin' It," Jacques Berlinerblau laments that secularism has become a taboo subject for Republicans and Democrats. Has this year's presidential campaign become too religious? Are secular ideas getting short shrift?
» BERLINERBLAU RESPONDS
Posted by
Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on February 7, 2008 11:47 AM
FROM THE PANEL
The Need for Honest God-Talk
The real question is whether we, as citizens, can come to terms with the fact that secularism is a theory, not a practical reality.
Posted by Donna Freitas, on February 12, 2008 7:41 AM
Secularism, Properly Understood, Is Not a Bad Word
Has this year’s presidential campaign become too religious? I don’t think so. Are secular ideas getting short shrift? That depends on what your definition of “secular” is.
Posted by J. Brent Walker, on February 11, 2008 9:16 AM
Getting Secularism Right Leads to the Left
Atheists like to take credit for having invented secularism; they did – in Europe. Secularism in the U.S., on the other hand, is derivative of a high tolerance for all organized religion and a preference for no particular one.
Posted by Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo, on February 11, 2008 8:41 AM
Secuarlism is For -- Not Against -- All Faiths
For my grandfather secularism did not mean rejection of your own faith or any other faith. It meant respect of all faiths and the belief that there is only one God but people have different names and ways of identifying that one God.
Posted by Arun Gandhi, on February 11, 2008 7:18 AM
About Time Christians Are Being Heard
Being a Christian is not life enhancement that can be put on and taken off like a sweater. It is who I am. It is how I think, believe, and act. There is no separation when thoughts of politics are in question.
Posted by Mark Hall, on February 11, 2008 6:56 AM
The Two-String Lyre of American Politics
America needs a president who understands and lives the American mind as a two-string lyre, both “under God” and “under the constitution.” Bilingual, able to speak both within the limits of reason (as democratic discourse requires) and within the freedom of faith.
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on February 8, 2008 1:44 PM
A Free Market For Beliefs
Secular ideas are not getting short shrift. They are just facing serious competition from religious ideas in our free market of beliefs.
Posted by Leith Anderson, on February 8, 2008 9:40 AM
The Race for Pastor-in-Chief
I have witnessed more abuses of religion in this primary season than in any other election in recent memory.
Posted by Welton Gaddy, on February 8, 2008 5:08 AM
Candidates' Religious Hypocrisy Won't Stand
I don't want my candidates to lie, but I also don't want them to lose.
Posted by Daniel C. Dennett, on February 7, 2008 7:54 PM
Reclaiming the Center
The Christian Right sees secularism as anti-religion. It's not.
Posted by John Esposito, on February 7, 2008 5:27 PM
It's the Religion, Stupid
The overly pious rhetoric by some politicians betrays a superficial faith and a lack of respect for democracy.
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on February 7, 2008 3:11 PM
Values and Policies
I find myself at times agreeing with both sides of this debate.
Posted by Thomas J. Reese, S.J., on February 7, 2008 2:06 PM
Secularism: The New Taboo
We must find a way to rescue secularism, and the separation of church and state, from the denigration of both the religious right and the religious left.
Posted by Susan Jacoby, on February 7, 2008 1:13 PM
What Will Replace Secularism?
Both fundamentalism and secularism are of course high modernist features, and both are well capable of being deconstructed within postmodernity (thank goodness). The question is, what will replace them?
Posted by Nicholas T. Wright, on February 7, 2008 12:01 PM
FEATURED COMMENTS
Mike: Since when has secularism "become" taboo? Well, since when has "secularism," meaning, I take it, a sort of snarky elitism, been a word anyw...
Mary C.: Let me modify that: the English were able to maintain one established church and one preferred religion because they allowed (encouraged) di...
Daniel in the Lion's Den: In America, there is a fad to run down what is called "secular humanism" and to regard "secularism" in a bad light. But almost everyone in A...
