SECULAR WORLDVIEWS

Secular refers to “non-religious.

Examples of Secular world views

Atheism

 Atheism is seen as a secular world view because is opposite to theism.

 There are different forms of atheism.
 Soft atheists are those who doubt that God, gods and goddess exist but are not actively
engaged in providing that the divine being does not exist.
 The strong atheists are those who believe that there is evidence that the divine being does
not exist.
 In some cases the soft atheists reject both theism and strong theism because they feel both
depend on proof.
 In the modern world people have chosen to be atheists for various reasons.
 Some atheists believe it is not logical to believe in a divine power since there is no proof
that there is a divine power.
 The atheists often turn to scientists.
 They turn to the sciences to explain the nature of the world rather than relying on religion.
 Some atheists reject the idea of religion for moral reasons.

Agnosticism

 The term agnostic comes from the Greek word ‘gnosis’ (knowledge) and ‘a’ (without).
 Most agnostics claim that it impossible to know whether God, gods do actually exist.
 Agnosticism was first used by the philosopher T.H Huxley in 1869.
 Agnosticism emerged when there was a debate over science and religion in Europe.
 The Christian church had a lot of power and authority.
 The agnostics are skeptical of religious teachings.
 They are distressful of religious doctrines.
 It is the view that we cannot know whether God or gods exist/s.
 Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution had a big impact on religion since it challenged the
idea of Supreme Being that was responsible for creation.
 Many people began to question the authority of religious institutions.
 Agnosticism is understood in various ways.
 It is a secular response to religious knowledge.
 Some agnostics believe in God/gods but do not subscribe to any religion.
 They mainly reject most religions and their teachings on the basis that understanding a
Supreme Being is beyond human comprehension.
 They reject especially religions that claim to have true spiritual knowledge.
Communism

 It is a political system where the State controls property, production and trade.
 It denies existence of a supreme being.
 It is a political system in which individuals are not allowed to own revolution to overthrow
capitalism and eventually to bring about a classless society.
Materialism
 This is a worldview that believes that physical matter is the only reality.
 It denies the existence of a spiritual or supernatural realm.
 As such, materialism is a purely secular world view, and is incompatible with religion.
 Materialism developed in Asia and Europe (800-200 BCE).
 In the 19th century, Karl Marx, a German philosopher, elaborated on the concept of
materialism to describe human history and economic activity.
THE SIMILARITIES OF:
Agnosticism and Atheism
 Atheism view that the existence of god can neither be proved nor disproved.
 Humans simply do not have the necessary knowledge.
 Therefore agnosticism does not attach any importance to religious ideas.
 Atheism, on the other hand, is a denial of the existence of a God or Supreme Being.
 There are different degrees of atheism.
 Some atheists simply doubt the existence of a God, but concerned with proving this.
 This is referred to as soft atheism.
 It is very similar to agnosticism.
 Strong atheists seek to prove that divine beings do not exist.
 They turn to sciences to explain the nature of the world and the universe.
 Some atheists reject religion because they blame religion for wars and other acts of
violence.

Similarities Humanism and Materialism

 Humanism, or secular humanism, initially called for people to use their intellect to
understand revelation.
 This was in contrast to the dry, medieval way of looking at scripture.
 In the 19th century humanism meant atheism or a non-religious view.
 The Secular Humanist Declaration embodies an alternative philosophy to religion.
 It encourages free inquiry, unshackled from religious dogma.
 It strives for freedom in all aspects of life, spiritual, economic and social aspects.
 It advocates the use of reason (logic and inquiry) to develop knowledge and truth.
 Materialism is similar to humanism in that it accepts knowledge obtained solely from the
physical world.
 It denies the existence of a divine or supernatural realm.
 In the 19th century Karl Marx described religion as a drug.
 It tricked people to accept oppression.
 Instead he advocated the development of a classless society, in which workers and
employers would be all equal.
 Both Humanism and Materialism see logic as the answer to all of humanity’s challenges.
 They both see religion as an obstruction to man reaching his full potential.
 Some scientists argue that recent discoveries about the properties of matter present serious
challenges to materialism.
 They say that materialism cannot explain the concept of the mind or consciousness.
 There is no scientific objection to humanism.

SCIENCE AND RELIGION

 The Big Bang Theory
 The Big bang theory forms the latest understanding of creation.
 It is claimed that about 15 billion years ago, a sudden explosion of gases brought the
universe into existence.
 We do not know what existed before the Big Bang.
 After the Big Bang the universe had appeared and filled to enormous size.
 Small temperature differences in the initial explosion led to varying densities throughout
the universe.
 These eventually formed into clusters throughout the universe.
 The clusters continued to condense in a lumpy way and eventually formed the vast
collections of stars we call galaxies.
 Life started on earth in simple microscopic forms (unicellular.
 It evolved billion years into present day complex and varied forms.
 Over time they became more complex and eventually human beings evolve.
 The theory does not mention any creator.
 Our earth is part of the solar system.
 Some scientists predict that the universe will stop expanding and implode.
 Others claim that there is no end to the universe, and eventually everything will be isolated
in a vast space.
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
 The theory argues that all forms of life including humans are connected and go back to the
common origin.
 The various forms of life did not appear perfectly formed, but adapted to their changing
environments over time.
 Modern man also adapted or evolved over millions of years, into the present state.
Darwin’s theory consists mainly of the following ideas:
1. Species contain a great variety of minor differences.
2. Both the world and species change over time.
3. In the fight for survival better adapted variations will be favored while those that aren’t
will struggle to survive.
4. In this way a species may gradually change its form and become more complex – by
developing along a path of successful variation.
5. All forms of life are connected and go back to a common origin.
6. The different types of life are not absolutely different, but occur on one single
continuum.
7. Life evolves in a process of leading from simple to complex.
8. The various forms of life did not appear perfectly formed, but developed over time.
9. The theory of evolution says that humans are not created by a religious being.
Rather, they have evolved from apes.
10. The theory proposes that all life evolved from primitive forms and continues to evolve.
 Science and religion

 Scientific developments have changed our world. At a deeper level science has challenged
the way people look at the world.
 More importantly, science has challenged the very foundations of traditional religions.
 The difficulties between religion and science have emerged in the last four centuries.
 The two approaches became increasingly competitive, even conflicting.
 In all cultures religion through the ages has provided answers to questions such as the
following :
1. How and when did the world start?
2. When did the humans make their first appearance? While some religions some religions
regarded it as a major conflict, others had less difficulty in reconciling their teachings
with the theories of science.
Response of religions to the theory of evolution.

Christianity
 According to the creationists there can be no doubt that God created the universe as part
of His divine plan for humanity.
 Genesis describes how God created the world in six days and rested on the seven day.
 God created Adam and Eve, thus there seems to be no place for the theory of evolution
in creation.
 Darwin’s work was regarded as controversial by the church.
 Darwin’s ideas was criticized as follows:
1. There was no evidence in human history for development of new species.
2. There was no evidence of one species having developed from one another.
3. The attempts to create new species by cross-breeding tend to be unsuccessful
because the hybrids cannot breed.
 One of the reasons that Darwin’s idea had such an impact on the church is that they
appeared to provide an alternative explanation which did not need the idea of an
intelligent designer.
 Some Christians believe that the Bible should be interpreted figuratively, and not literally.
 They see no conflict with the theory of creation, as they see Science as simply uncovering
the laws of God.
 Christians reject that man evolved from lower life forms, as the Bible speaks of Adam and
Eve as the first human beings.
 However, liberal believers accept the principle of evolution-that living organisms adapt to
changing environments.
 This synthesis of evolution and religious doctrine is called “theistic or guided evolution”.

Hinduism

 Hindus have no problem with evolution because the universe is based on evolution.
 Hinduism is the only religion that shows relationship to Darwin’s theory.
 They have a more advanced theory of evolution than the scientific because the scientific
is based on the physical.
 Hinduism provides a more comprehensive view because it includes the spiritual.
 Scientists see evolution as a process that happens by chance.
 Hindus believe that you have control over both your spiritual and physical evolution.
 Whereas scientists see evolution as a process that happens by chance.
 Good life leads to gradual evolution to advanced forms.
 Ultimately, you will achieve liberation from the physical and become with god.
 Darwin’s theory did not create conflict with Hindu thought and belief for it contributed to
the understanding of evolution towards Moksha.

Buddhism
 Buddhism and the theory of evolution are in agreement.
 It does not have an account of creation.
 Buddhists do not mind what scientists say about how the universe and people came into
being.
 Buddhists believe that all life involves constant transformation and evolution.
 Buddhists believe in evolution long before western scientists did.
 They believe in the continuity of all living beings.
 They have no problem with the idea that human beings may have evolved from
primitive, ape-like forms.
Taoism
 According to Taoism, everything in creation consists of two kinds of forces.
 The Yang is active, light, forceful and male and the Yin is passive, dark, yielding and
female.
 All the processes are made up combination of two forces (Yang and Yin).
 Night and day, summer and winter, joy and sadness, birth and death, the universe rocks
endless between opposite like these.
 To Taoists, what you see when you stand back and look at the creative process is the
endless oscillation between poles- The waxing and waning things.
 The Yang and Yin are present.
 As soon as is present, then the opposite is also present.
 One and not one are two.
 The One comes from the Two, which means path.
 Two does not stand for the creator in the western or even Hindu sense.
 It stands simply for the pattern of the universe.
 There is nothing about “in the beginning” and “at the end” unlike the Hindu or
Abrahamic religious accounts.
 The Taoists account simply talks about how things get made and does not speculate as to
when it started whether there was a time before it or whether it will ever stop.
 Everything comes from nothing.

African Traditional Religion

 In ATR there is a belief in a Supreme Being.
 He does not play an important part in religious belief and practices.
 ATR sees divine as distant and beyond human understanding.
 The creation of man has many myths in ATR.
 These are regarded as symbolic.
 Although scientists have made amazing discoveries about nature and the universe, the
world seems too complex to dispel the existence of an intelligent designer.
 ATR scholars who support the theory of the intelligent designer do not reject the theory
of evolution, but claim that it cannot be the only explanation about creation.
 All that exists is seen as a living wholeness, manifesting itself in a variety of facets or
phases.
 Traditional Zulus believe humans appeared from water/ the sea.
 The reed dance’ celebrates renewal of life and advent of man, as reeds from water are
used to build huts.
Judaism
 Creationism is explained in the Book of Genesis.
 The scripture of Judaism are said to be inspired by God.
 There is one omnipotent, omniscient, perfect creator.
 He created human beings as center piece of creation.
 Creation took six days: it started by separating light from dark.
 The universe was made from nothing.
 God created Adam and Eve, who were the first humans.
 They had been made from clay.
 Some modern Jews accept the theory of Evolution.
 They argued that evolution is part of God’s plan.

Believe regarding Creation/Theories of creation

African Traditional Religion
 In ATR, the idea of a personal God as the creator is not a central belief.
 Therefore ATR believers would not have a problem with creation or big bang theory.
 The Divine is distinct and beyond human comprehension.
 As a result, in ATR, there are varying creation myths.
 One such myth is of Umvelnqangi/Mwali.
 He emerged from the reeds alongside a river, and created human beings, cattle and
other resources.
 He then went back to the reeds.
 These myths are interpreted as symbolic rather than literal.
 The symbolism is sometimes interpreted as “Intelligent Designer, i.e. creation occurred
as planned by a Superior Being.
CHRISTIANITY
 Christians believe that God is the creator of the universe.
 At first, only the creator existed.
 He created a perfect universe, including human beings.
 At the end of time the universe that we see will be replaced by paradise.
 This belief is referred to as Creationism.
 In the beginning there was nothing but chaos.
 God said; ‘Let there be ‘, and creation came into being.
 God created the universe in six days.
 The world was perfect after the Holy Trinity had finished with the creation project.
 The creation of the world is still continuing, and in a sense as human beings we are
playing a crucial role in the ongoing process of creation.

Baha’i faith
 According to Baha’i faith, God created the universe and humanity is supreme among its
creatures.
 Human beings with their rational powers are able to conquer the world.
 The world is a transitory place.
 The world and what is in it are not worthy of attachment.
 Humans are continually reminded that they must detach themselves from things of this
world.
 Living in this world, the Baha’i is believed they are given a chance to develop virtues,
build character and advance spiritually.
 The world is one place, home of all humankind.

Teachings about divinity and how the universe came into being
 God is the creator of the universe and infinitely exalted above his creation.
 Human beings do not have the capacity to fully understand God’s unknowable essence.
 They can see the signs of God’s power and qualities in creation.
 God is not limited to or defined solely by his or her creation.
 Neither is God limited in any way by qualities of his creation.
 Both the spiritual and physical creations of the same God.

Hinduism
 To Hindus, creation created itself.
 The creator is ever-existing, without beginning and end.
 The Creator (Brahmin) is not a supreme being, but a ‘world soul.
 That is part of all creation.
 The creator has no limitations and therefore is not a he or a she.
 Brahmin can be in active or passive state.
 When Brahmin stirs and become active, ‘creation begins.
 Like everything in existence, human beings are by-product of Brahmin’s dance.
 When the creator stops dancing, the universe collapses.
 When the creator starts ‘dancing’ again, the whole cycle of creation and destruction
repeats itself.
 Hindus believe that there must be an intelligent designer because the creation is too
perfect and complex just to be created by chance.