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Why Secularism Does Not Work

The following is a list of demands of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, their 10 commandments so to

speak.

1. Universal rights and equal citizenship for all. We are opposed to cultural relativism and thetolerance of inhuman beliefs, discrimination and abuse in the name of respecting religion or

culture.

2. Freedom to criticise religion. Prohibition of restrictions on unconditional freedom of criticismand expression using so-called religious sanctities.

3. Freedom of religion and atheism.4. Separation of religion from the state and legal and educational system.5. Prohibition of religious customs, rules, ceremonies or activities that are incompatible with or

infringe peoples rights and freedoms.6. Abolition of all restrictive and repressive cultural and religious customs which hinder and

contradict womans independence, free will and equality. Prohibition of segregation of sexes.

7. Prohibition of interference by any authority, family members or relatives, or officialauthorities in the private lives of women and men and their personal, emotional and sexual

relationships and sexuality.

8. Protection of children from manipulation and abuse by religion and religious institutions.9. Prohibition of any kind of financial, material or moral support by the state or state institutions

to religion and religious activities and institutions.

10.Prohibition of all forms of religious intimidation and threats.

Many people would support these rules as a sort of code for secularism, and they demonstrate very well

why secularism does not work.

1) Ambiguity of thought.The terms used in this manifesto and the cconcepts in general are very ambiguous and the

authors obviously have written this for similarly-minded people without consideration for true

diversity of thought. Take the third point as a perfect example; without defining freedom or

religion they claim to support freedom of religion. The following 5 points are concerned entirelywith restricting religious institutions, obviously running against the concept of freedom unless

envisioned in a certain (undefined) way.

The way secularists usually get away with this is to fail to define terms and to assume

agreement. We need to look no further than point 4 to see this. The separation of church and

state assumes a certain understanding of what the state is, an understanding that is assumed

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without consideration for those who may think differently. The legal educational system is

similarly ambiguous and one-sided. Many (if not most) religious institutions rely on the

education of their population, in fact every human society does, what the secularists are doing

here is simply supporting the idea that the state creates a legal system that includes education

but excludes religious institutions. This is not a free and open understanding of religious

practice, but the restriction of society to secularism through dogmatic, undefined, arbitrary, and

heavy-handed techniques.

2) IntoleranceSecularism cannot, by definition, accept most faiths, as most faiths support either a certain legal

code or a certain statehood model, if not both. Muslims, for example, are required to live by

Shariah law. The definition and implementation of this legal system is up to the religious

scholars in Islam, but this model is mutually exclusive to secularism. The assumption that

secularists make, as with all bigots, is that their system is better and should be the default.

The intolerance of secularism is defined very well by the fifth point: all religious practice that

interferes with secularism should be banned. There are other points that continue to support an

ultimately intolerant model such as the prohibition of the segregation of the sexes. Mens and

womens bathrooms are obviously not included, but it is because of problem 1, ambiguity of

terms and an assumption of agreement rather than because of some sort of logic.

If read from an outside perspective one will discover to his horror that this 10-item manifesto is

a simple declaration that all who think differently or behave in a way not deemed acceptable by

the secularist will be punished.

3) The Combination of1 and 2This combination leads to the ultimate tyranny of a secular society. Because ambiguous

punishments are given out to either individuals, institutions or even victims for crimes that are

not well defined a secular government will inevitably become a tyrant of intolerance and

despair. This has happened numerous times before, from the French Revolution to Anders

Breviks assault on human dignity, the list is not difficult to populate.

4) IgnoranceThe 10 points made above aim not at increasing human dignity, but at spreading secularism.

This is evident in the lack of support or definition of the ideas contained therein, and the

wording. Abolition of all restrictive and repressive cultural and religious customs which

hinder and contradict womans independence, free will and equality. Prohibition of

segregation of sexes. The supreme irony is that this very sentence segregates men away

from the realm of being protected. A further semantic clue lies in the fact that only cultural

and religious customs are forbidden, and again the assumption is made that all humans

(women seem to be taken as particularly in need of help here) are in fact independent, that

free will exists, and that equality is good. Before these ideas are considered the secularists

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would have their ideals rule the country. Unanimously, perfectly and without challenge if

possible.

Ignorance also stems from the evident orientalism taking place. To define ones self

positively one can define others negatively, quietly assuming the insurmountable divide

between us and them. The points made here about the equality of women, the protectionof children, and intervention of authorities in the personal affairs of others are obviously not

rhetorical devices or concerns about humans, but are rather definitions of self (feminist,

child protecting non-interventionists), and restrictions and subordinations of the other

(religious people, who are obviously everything bad).

Secularism is not a viable social system. The modern secularist states have failed either to be states (the

first 5 republics in France for example) or to be completely secular, and they have done so for hundreds

of years. What is more important is that in the brief periods of lucid secularism we have seen some of

the worst human conditions imaginable, from enlightenment France to the USSR. It is true, there are

terrible periods of history dominated by religion, but the goal of most religious institutions is not to lookgood or even provide a good life, whereas the goal of secularism is to provide a good life, have humans

get along, or at least slow here and now suffering.

Secularism is hypocritical, illogical and often very dangerous. Consider your options carefully before

supporting such a foolhardy enterprise.