secularism

Secularism (from the Latin saeculum 'time' , 'age'; also: 'century', as the 'here and now' contrast to ' eternity ' understood as 'beyond ') describes a worldview that is limited to the immanence and secularization of society and no further metaphysical and religious questions. It arises from two processes: on the one hand from secularization , i.e. the mental process of unbundling or separation between religion and state , on the other hand from secularization , the concrete process of the replacement of the secular power of religious institutions. The term was coined by the theologian Friedrich Gogarten (1887–1967) and introduced, among other things, to enable the Christian churches to reconcile with secularization. The religious side regards the world views on which the concept of secularism is based mostly as ideological - which critics in turn accuse it of as the same ideology.

Secularism in the Islamic World

In the early 20th century, when dealing with European ideas, secularist thinking developed in some Islamic countries. In Turkey, after the victory in the War of Liberation (1919–1923) , Mustafa Kemal Ataturk launched a secularist modernization program that served as a model for other political leaders in the Islamic world. One of the most prominent secularist thinkers in the Islamic world was ʿAlī ʿAbd ar-Rāziq , who published his book " Islam and the Foundations of Rule" ( al-Islām wa-uṣūl al-ḥukm ) in 1925 , in which he argued that the Muslims are free to choose their system of rule, since Mohammed did not set such a system and neither did the Koran and Sunna make any specifications.

See also

• Anti-clericalism / clericalism
• Secularism
• Church and State

literature

• Heiner Boberski , Josef Bruckmoser : World Power or Discontinued Model: Religions in the 21st Century . Tyrolia, Innsbruck, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-7022-3239-9 .
• Pascal Boyer : Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought , 2002, ISBN 0-465-00696-5 .
• Nader Hashemi: Islam, secularism, and liberal democracy: toward a democratic theory for Muslim societies . Oxford [u. a.], Oxford Univ. Press, 2009.
• Susan Jacoby : Freethinkers. A History of American Secularism . Metropolitan Books, Newe York, NY 2004, ISBN 0-8050-7442-2 .
• Hans Joas , Klaus Wiegandt (ed.): Secularization and the world religions . 2nd edition, Fischer-TB 17647, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-17647-2 .
• Hermann Lübbe : Secularization. History of an ideological concept . Karl Alber, Freiburg im Breisgau / Munich 1965; 2nd edition with a new foreword 1975, ISBN 3-495-47119-7 .
• David Nash: Secularism, Art and Freedom . London: Continuum International, 1992. ISBN 0-7185-1417-3 (published by Continuum, 1994: ISBN 0-7185-2084-X .)
• Edward Royle : Victorian Infidels: the origins of the British Secularist Movement, 1791-1866 , Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1974. ISBN 0-7190-0557-4 .
• Edward Royle: Radicals, Secularists and Republicans: popular freethought in Britain, 1866–1915 , Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1980, ISBN 0-7190-0783-6 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Secularism  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Secularism: Online version ( Memento from July 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive )