(March 10, 2010 at 2:11 pm)Gilligan Wrote: What is the difference between secularism and what is described in the YouTube videos above?Secularism is the idea that government and religion should be separate. That is, governments do not have any say about what religions can say / do, and religions do not get to lobby in government. There is no national religion, mainly because such a mandate would be unfair to all the citizens who did not subscribe to that religion.
This does not mean the government is atheistic, because the government simply does not have an opinion on God rather than saying God does not exist. The government as an organisation is apatheistic in a sense.
There is nothing stopping Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, etc from running for positions in government, from talking about their religious beliefs, or even from mentioning God. What is stopped through secularism is favouritism in government for a single set of religious beliefs over another. So you can be a Christian in government, but you must legislate for everyone (not just Christians). Similarly, you can be an atheist in government, but you must legislate for everyone (not just atheists).
What the videos described (being forced to say "Christianity is stupid" again and again by the government) simply wouldn't happen, because that is a government position on religion, and as I've already said, in secularism the government cannot have such positions.
