The Necessity of Secularism Quotes

“secularism should be understood as the view that: government should not involve itself with religious matters; religious doctrine should play no role in shaping public policy or in the discourse about public policy; and religious institutions and beliefs should not enjoy a privileged position within society.”
― Ronald A. Lindsay, The Necessity of Secularism: Why God Can't Tell Us What to Do

“There are prerequisites for democratic discourse to be successful: people must be willing to discuss the issues, provide reasons for their views, and be open to persuasion; and, in addition, the participants in the discussion must be able to analyze, evaluate, and debate the reasons that others offer for their views. In other words, there must be a commitment to reason together in terms everyone can understand. That is not possible if religious doctrines are offered as a justification for public policy positions—not in a country that is religiously pluralistic and includes a significant number of nonbelievers.”
― Ronald A. Lindsay, The Necessity of Secularism: Why God Can't Tell Us What to Do

“One of the most ridiculous claims that has gained currency among some Religious Right advocates is that the Constitution doesn’t provide for separation of church and state because the phrase “separation of church and state” is not itself in the Constitution. What these persons fail to understand is that it would have been redundant to include such a phrase in the Constitution. The document as a whole embodies the view that the government is not to meddle in religious matters.”
― Ronald A. Lindsay, The Necessity of Secularism: Why God Can't Tell Us What to Do

“It is true that coercion of an individual cannot compel genuine belief by that individual. However, one must remember that the justification offered for religious persecutions was not so much that they helped to save the individual heretic—the person with erroneous beliefs—but rather that they helped those who might otherwise be contaminated with false religious beliefs.”
― Ronald A. Lindsay, The Necessity of Secularism: Why God Can't Tell Us What to Do

“This violence was not condemned by religious officials. To the contrary, Catholic priests applauded the killing of heretics (that is, Protestants) while Protestant clergy endorsed the killing of agents of the anti-Christ (that is, Catholics). After about 13,000 French Protestants were slaughtered in Paris and other cities during the notorious St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of August 1572, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a special celebratory mass and had a medal struck to commemorate the event.”
― Ronald A. Lindsay, The Necessity of Secularism: Why God Can't Tell Us What to Do

“We can’t possibly shape a coherent public policy based on shared norms if substantial segments of the population insist that divine communications are the only basis for morality, whether those communications come from a burning bush, some self-designated prophet, or a rock in a hat. Secularism and a secular, common morality provide the only sound, rational basis for public policy.”
― Ronald A. Lindsay, The Necessity of Secularism: Why God Can't Tell Us What to Do