“In another sense, however, contemporary secularism has new and distinct features, the source of both its strengths and its weaknesses. Its commitment to rationality and evidence, for instance, means that it’s unusually open to modification around the edges, although—as with any value system worth its salt—the core values like human rights or freedom are in principle non-negotiable. The flip side to this openness is a somewhat disorienting minimalism: liberalism is about as stripped down as a value system can be and still function. Most of its injunctions are negative. Do not violate human rights, do not restrict people’s freedom of expression, do not allow the strong to oppress the weak. As long as you are careful to steer clear of committing genocide or being oppressively prejudiced, however, secular liberalism then doesn’t have a lot to say about what you should be doing. Besides vaguely sacred communal rituals such as listening to NPR, reading the New York Times, or buying locally sourced organic vegetables, secular liberals are not given much guidance on how to actually live their lives. And this vacuum has to be filled by something—avoiding human rights abuses still leaves a lot of hours in the day.”