Editing Secularity

{{Short description|State of being separate from religion}}
{{About|secularity in the sense of being unrelated to religion|clergy who are not monks|Secular clergy|the legal status of countries in relation to religion|Secular state}}

'''Secularity''', also '''the secular''' or '''secularness''' (from [[Latin]] {{Lang|la|saeculum}}, {{Gloss|worldly}} or {{Gloss|of a generation}} or {{Gloss|century}}), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to [[religion]]. The origins of secularity can be traced to the [[Bible]] itself. The concept was fleshed out through [[Christian history]] into the [[modern era]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Berlinerblau |first1=Jacques |title=Secularism: The Basics |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780367691585 |quote=In the first part of this book we will chart the slow, unsteady development of political secularism (Set 2) across time and space. You might be surprised to see that we'll trace its origins to the Bible. From there we will watch how secularism's core principles emerged, in dribs and drabs, during the Christian Middle Ages, the Protestant Reformation, and the Enlightenment. Secularism, some might be surprised to learn, has a religious genealogy.}}</ref> Since the [[Middle Ages]], there have been clergy not pertaining to a religious order called "secular clergy".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Hugh M. |title=The Secular Clergy in England, 1066-1216 |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198702566}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Eller |first1=Jack David |title=Introducing Anthropology of Religion : Culture to the Ultimate |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781032023045 |page=282 |edition=Third}}</ref><ref name="brillRPP124156">{{cite journal |title=Secular Priest |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/religion-past-and-present/secular-priest-SIM_124156 |website=Religion Past and Present Online |date=April 2011 |publisher=Brill |doi=10.1163/1877-5888_rpp_SIM_124156|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228214048/http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/religion-past-and-present/secular-priest-SIM_124156|archive-date=December 28, 2019|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Furthermore, secular and religious entities were not separated in the medieval period, but coexisted and interacted naturally.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tierney |first1=Brian |title=The Crisis of Church and State, 1050-1300 : With Selected Documents |date=1988 |publisher=Published by University of Toronto Press in association with the Medieval Academy of America |location=Toronto |isbn=9780802067012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Strayer |first1=Joseph R. |title=On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State |date=2016 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=9780691169330}}</ref> The word ''secular'' has a meaning very similar to [[Profane (religion)|profane]] as used in a religious context.

Today, anything that is not directly connected with religion may be considered secular, in other words, neutral to religion.{{sfn|Lee|2015|pp=31–37}} Secularity does not mean {{Gloss|anti-religious}}, but {{Gloss|unrelated to religion}}. Many activities in religious bodies are secular, and though there are multiple types of secularity or secularization, most do not lead to irreligiosity.<ref name="Eller">{{cite book |last1=Eller |first1=Jack |editor1-last=Zuckerman |editor1-first=Phil |title=Atheism and Secularity |date=2010 |publisher=Praeger |location=Santa Barbara, Calif. |isbn=9780313351839 |pages=12–13 |chapter=What is Atheism? |quote=The point is that the sacred/secular dichotomy is, like most dichotomies, false. "Secular" certainly does not mean "atheistic" or without religion, definitely not anti-religion; in fact, as I illustrate in a chapter in the second volume of this collection, there is a proud tradition of "Islamic secularism." Despite the predictions of the "secularization theorists" like Marx and Weber, "modern" or secular processes have not meant the demise of religion and have actually proved to be quite compatible with religion—have even led, at least in the short term, to a surprising revival of religion. The problem with earlier secularization theories is that they presumed that secularization was a single, all-encompassing, and unidirectional phenomenon. However, as Peter Glasner has more recently shown, "secular" and "secularization" embrace a variety of diverse processes and responses, not all of which—indeed, few of which—are inherently antithetical to religion, Glasner identifies ten different versions of secularization, organized in terms of whether their thrust is primarily institutional, nonnative, or cognitive... The upshot of this analysis is that secularism most assuredly does not translate simply and directly into atheism. Many good theists support the secularization of the American government in the form of the "separation of church and state," and all of them go about at least part of their day without doing religion.}}</ref> Linguistically, a process by which anything becomes secular is named ''secularization'', though the term is mainly reserved for the [[secularization|secularization of society]]; and any concept or ideology promoting the secular may be termed ''[[secularism]]'', a term generally applied to the ideology dictating [[secularism|no religious influence on the public sphere]]. Scholars recognize that secularity is structured by Protestant models of Christianity, shares a parallel language to religion, and intensifies Protestant features such as iconoclasm, skepticism towards rituals, and emphasizes beliefs.<ref name="sec para" /> In doing so, secularism perpetuates Christian traits under a different name.<ref name="sec para">{{cite book |last1=Blankholm |first1=Joseph |title=The Secular Paradox : On the Religiosity of the Not Religious |date=2022 |publisher=New York University Press |location=New York |isbn=9781479809509 |page=8}}</ref> 

Most cultures around the world do not have tension or dichotomous views of religion and secularity.{{sfn|Zuckerman|Galen|Pasquale|2016|p=31}} Since ''religion'' and ''secular'' are both Western concepts that were formed under the influence of Christian theology, other cultures do not necessarily have words or concepts that resemble or are equivalent to them.{{sfnm |1a1=Juergensmeyer |1y=2017 |2a1=Zuckerman |2a2=Galen |2a3=Pasquale |2y=2016 |2loc=ch.&nbsp;2|pp=78-79}}

==Definitions==

Historically, the word ''secular'' was not related or linked to religion, but was a freestanding term in Latin that would relate to any mundane endeavour.{{sfn|Zuckerman|Shook|2017|pp=4–5}} However, the term, {{Lang|la|[[In saecula saeculorum|saecula saeculorum]]}} ([[wiktionary:saeculorum|''saeculōrum'']] being the genitive plural of {{Lang|la|saeculum}}) as found in the [[New Testament]] in the [[Vulgate]] translation ({{Circa|410}}) of the [[Koine Greek|original Koine Greek]] phrase {{lang|grc|εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων}} ({{Lang|grc-latn|eis toùs aionas ton aiṓnōn}}), e.g. at [http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/vul/gal001.htm Galatians 1:5], was used in the early Christian church (and is still used today), in the [[Doxology#Gloria Patri|doxologies]], to denote the coming and going of the ages, the grant of eternal life, and the long duration of created things from their beginning to ''forever and ever''.<ref>{{cite web |title=CHURCH FATHERS: Against Heresies, II.34.3 (St. Irenaeus) |url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103234.htm |date=1885 |website=New Advent, Fathers of the Church |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240403041851/https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103234.htm |archive-date= Apr 3, 2024 }}</ref>  ''Secular'' and ''secularity'' derive from the [[Latin]] word ''{{Lang|la|saeculum}}'' which meant {{Gloss|of a generation, belonging to an age}} or denoted a period of about one hundred years.{{sfn|Zuckerman|Shook|2017|pp=4–5}} The [[Christianity|Christian]] doctrine that God exists [[eternity|outside time]] led [[Middle Ages|medieval]] [[Western culture]] to use ''secular'' to indicate separation from specifically religious affairs and involvement in temporal ones.{{Cn|date=December 2022}}

==Modern and historical understandings of the term==

''Secular'' does not necessarily imply hostility or rejection of God or religion, though some use the term this way (see "[[secularism]]", below); Martin Luther used to speak of "secular work" as a vocation from God for most Christians.{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}} ''Secular'' has been a part of the Christian church's history, which even developed in the medieval period ''[[secular clergy]]'', priests who were defined as the Church's geographically-delimited diocesan clergy and not a part of the diasporal monastic orders. This arrangement continues today.<ref name="sec cler">{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Hugh M. |title=The Secular Clergy in England, 1066–1216 |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198702566}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Eller |first1=Jack David |title=Introducing Anthropology of Religion : Culture to the Ultimate |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781032023045 |page=282 |edition=Third}}</ref><ref name="brillRPP124156"/> The [[Waldensians]] advocated for secularity by separation of church and state.<ref name="Garnier 2022 p. 51">{{cite book | last=Garnier | first=T. | title=From God to Climate Change: The journey of Albert Garnier's 30-year mission in China to scientist son Ben's fight with the riddle of the world | publisher=Paragon Publishing | year=2022 | isbn=978-1-78222-969-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7--hEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 | access-date=2023-04-27 | page=51}}</ref> According to [[cultural anthropology|cultural anthropologists]] such as Jack David Eller, secularity is best understood not as being "anti-religious", but as being "religiously neutral" since many activities in religious bodies are secular themselves, and most versions of secularity do not lead to irreligiosity.<ref name="Eller" /> 

The idea of a dichotomy between religion and the secular originated in the [[Age of Enlightenment|European Enlightenment]].{{sfn|Juergensmeyer|2017|pp=74–79}} Furthermore, since ''religion'' and ''secular'' are both Western concepts that were formed under the influence of Christian theology, other cultures do not necessarily have words or concepts that resemble or are equivalent to them.{{sfnm |1a1=Juergensmeyer |1y=2017 |2a1=Zuckerman |2a2=Galen |2a3=Pasquale |2y=2016 |2loc=ch.&nbsp;2|pp=78-79}}

One can regard eating and bathing as examples of secular activities, because there may not be anything inherently religious about them. Nevertheless, some religious traditions see both eating and bathing as [[sacraments]], therefore making them religious activities within those [[world view]]s. Saying a [[prayer]] derived from religious text or doctrine, [[worship]]ping through the context of a religion, performing corporal and spiritual [[works of mercy]], and attending a [[Seminary|religious seminary school or monastery]] are examples of religious (non-secular) activities.

In many cultures, there is little dichotomy between "natural" and "supernatural", "religious" and "not-religious", especially since people have beliefs in other supernatural or spiritual things irrespective of belief in God or gods. Other cultures stress practice of ritual rather than belief.{{sfn|Zuckerman|Galen|Pasquale|2016|p=31}} Conceptions of both "secular" and "religious", while sometimes having some parallels in local cultures, were generally imported along with Western worldviews, often in the context of [[colonialism]]. Attempts to define either the "secular" or the "religious" in non-Western societies, accompanying local modernization and Westernization processes, were often and still are fraught with tension.<ref>See {{harvnb|Asad|2003|loc=esp. pp.&nbsp;205–210}}; {{harvnb|Walzer|2015|loc=esp. pp.&nbsp;ix–xiv, 65, 76}}.</ref> Due to all these factors, ''secular'' as a general term of reference was much deprecated in social sciences, and is used carefully and with qualifications.{{sfn|Zuckerman|Galen|Pasquale|2016|pp=19, 51}}

===Taylorian secularity===

Philosopher [[Charles Taylor (philosopher)|Charles Taylor]] in his 2007 book ''[[A Secular Age]]'' understands and discusses the secularity of Western societies less in terms of how much of a role religion plays in public life (''secularity 1''), or how religious a society's individual members are (''secularity 2''), than as a "backdrop" or social context in which religious belief is no longer taken as a given (''secularity 3''). For Taylor, this third sense of secularity is the unique historical condition in which virtually all individuals – religious or not – have to contend with the fact that their [[Value (ethics and social sciences)|values]], [[morality]], or [[meaning of life|sense of life's meaning]] are no longer underpinned by communally-accepted religious facts. All religious beliefs or irreligious philosophical positions are, in a secular society, held with an awareness that there are a wide range of other contradictory positions available to any individual; belief in general becomes a different type of experience when all particular beliefs are optional. A plethora of competing religious and irreligious worldviews open up, each rendering the other more "fragile". This condition in turn entails for Taylor that even clearly religious beliefs and practices are experienced in a qualitatively different way when they occur in a secular social context. In Taylor's sense of the term, a society could in theory be highly "secular" even if nearly all of its members believed in a deity or even subscribed to a particular religious creed; secularity here has to do with the conditions, not the prevalence, of belief, and these conditions are understood to be shared across a given society, irrespective of belief or lack thereof.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Charles |title=A Secular Age |date=2007 |publisher=Belknap Press |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=1–24}}</ref>

Taylor's thorough account of secularity as a socio-historical condition, rather than the absence or diminished importance of religion, has been highly influential in subsequent [[philosophy of religion]] and [[sociology of religion]], particularly as older sociological narratives about [[secularisation]], [[desecularisation]], and [[disenchantment]] have come under increased criticism.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Calhoun |first1=Craig |last2=Jeurgensmeyer |first2=Mark |last3=Van Antwerpen |first3=Jonathan |title=Rethinking Secularism |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford UP |location=Oxford |page=21}}</ref>

==References==
===Footnotes===
{{reflist|22em}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin|35em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book
|last=Asad
|first=Talal
|author-link=Talal Asad
|year=2003
|title=Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity
|publisher=Stanford University Press
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Eller
|first=Jack David
|year=2010
|chapter=What Is Atheism?
|editor-last=Zuckerman
|editor-first=Phil
|editor-link=Phil Zuckerman
|title=Atheism and Secularity. Volume 1: Issues, Concepts, Definitions
|location=Santa Barbara, California
|publisher=Praeger
|isbn=978-0-313-35183-9
|pages=1–18
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Eller
|first=Jack David
|author-mask={{long dash}}
|year=2017
|chapter=Varieties of Secular Experience
|editor1-last=Zuckerman
|editor1-first=Phil
|editor1-link=Phil Zuckerman
|editor2-last=Shook
|editor2-first=John R.
|title=The Oxford Handbook of Secularism
|location=New York
|publisher=Oxford University Press
|pages=499ff
|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199988457.013.31
|isbn=978-0-19-998845-7
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Lee
|first=Lois
|year=2015
|title=Recognizing the Non-religious: Reimagining the Secular
|publisher=Oxford University Press
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Juergensmeyer
|first=Mark
|author-link=Mark Juergensmeyer
|year=2017
|chapter=The Imagined War Between Secularism and Religion
|editor1-last=Zuckerman
|editor1-first=Phil
|editor1-link=Phil Zuckerman
|editor2-last=Shook
|editor2-first=John R.
|title=The Oxford Handbook of Secularism
|location=New York
|publisher=Oxford University Press
|pages=71–84
|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199988457.013.5
|isbn=978-0-19-998845-7
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Taylor
|first=Charles
|author-link=Charles Taylor (philosopher)
|year=2007
|title=A Secular Age
|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts
|publisher=Belknap Press
|isbn=978-0-674-02676-6
|title-link=A Secular Age
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Walzer
|first=Michael
|author-link=Michael Walzer
|year=2015
|title=The Paradox of Liberation
|publisher=Yale University Press
}}
* {{cite book
|last1=Zuckerman
|first1=Phil
|author1-link=Phil Zuckerman
|last2=Galen
|first2=Luke W.
|last3=Pasquale
|first3=Frank L.
|year=2016
|chapter=Secularity Around the World
|title=The Nonreligious: Understanding Secular People and Societies
|location=New York
|publisher=Oxford University Press
|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199924950.001.0001
|isbn=978-0-19-992494-3
}}
* {{cite book
|last1=Zuckerman
|first1=Phil
|author1-link=Phil Zuckerman
|last2=Shook
|first2=John R.
|year=2017
|chapter=Introduction: The Study of Secularism
|editor1-last=Zuckerman
|editor1-first=Phil
|editor1-link=Phil Zuckerman
|editor2-last=Shook
|editor2-first=John R.
|title=The Oxford Handbook of Secularism
|location=New York
|publisher=Oxford University Press
|pages=1–17
|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199988457.013.1
|isbn=978-0-19-998845-7
}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|35em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite encyclopedia
|last=Iversen
|first=Hans Raun
|year=2013
|chapter=Secularization, Secularity, Secularism
|editor1-last=Runehov
|editor1-first=Anne L.&nbsp;C.
|editor2-last=Oviedo
|editor2-first=Lluis
|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions
|location=Dordrecht, Netherlands
|publisher=Springer
|pages=2116–2121
|doi=10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8_1024
|isbn=978-1-4020-8265-8
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Smith
|first=James K.&nbsp;A.
|author-link=James K. A. Smith
|year=2014
|title=How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Tayor
|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan
|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
|isbn=978-0-8028-6761-2
}}
* {{cite journal
|last=Taylor
|first=Charles
|author-link=Charles Taylor (philosopher)
|year=2009
|title=The Polysemy of the Secular
|journal=Social Research
|volume=76
|issue=4
|pages=1143–1166
|doi=10.1353/sor.2009.0046
|issn=1944-768X
|jstor=40972206
|s2cid=140869368
}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{Wiktionary inline|secular}}

{{Use British English Oxford spelling|date=September 2018}}

[[Category:Religion and society]]
[[Category:Social concepts]]