Secular liberalism

Secular liberalism is the separation of culture and politics from religion. A subcategory of liberalism and secularism, it supports the separation of religion and state particularly from the ideas of the Christian Church. Christian ideals are usually to be found on the opposite end of the spectrum from secular liberalism. Secular liberalism is often connected with standing for social equality and freedom.

Adherents of secular liberalism believe in the disestablishment of the Christian Church. Secular liberalism also depends on the conviction that religious tradition and belief has no binding authority on society. Public promoters of secular liberalism, such as Dawkins call for a clear distinction between the teaching of religion as a historical and cultural phenomenon and the teaching of religion as fact. Dawkins has likened using education to indoctrinate children with a particular religion to child abuse. One of the central tenets of the ideology is separation of church and state Among those who follow secular liberalism are Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris.

Practices that are considered to be illiberal are reformed in a state that practices secular liberalism. Legal measures have failed in the past because no effort is made to make a concept of the goods that the community has cherished in the past. This lack of reason-giving apparatus is called communitarianism and it used to criticize the liberal state as a coercive organization. Communitarianism essentially advocates a sense of intra-community (community-wide) democracy.

In a modern democratic society, a plurality of conflicting doctrines share an uneasy co-existence within the framework of civilization.

Secular liberalism is sometimes connected with the Arab Spring protests. One commentator labels it as a "secular liberal fantasy". Others have labeled the motivations behind it, and the temporary governments created as a result as secular liberalism.

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