Sunday Thought, February 1, 2015: Secular Family Values

My daughter pointed me to an article the other day, How secular family values stack up, by Phil Zuckerman. Mr. Zuckerman is professor of sociology at Pitzer College. Pitzer is a private residential liberal arts college in California. And this pretty much sums up Mr. Zuckerman; California college, liberal arts, and sociology. Digging deeper we see his research interests as secularity, atheism, apostasy and Scandinavian culture. His bibliography seem to all deal with secular and atheist themes, save for one which is entitled, Sex and religion. The last one confused me until I noted he coauthored it with two other people, so it may not have been his baby. It's also probably my age, but I remember having to capitalize titles to articles and stories. I guess we truly live in a world where rules mean so little when the basic rules of grammar and language are thrown out the window right along with faith.

I want to make sure we all understand the word "secular" before I continue.  I think you'll find it interesting.  I broke out and defined the synonym "profane," and from this I also broke out the synonym "impious."  I do this to illustrate how our initial impression of a word's meaning can be significantly different than the kinder, gentler, meaning used by an author.  Having said this, I do not know Mr. Zuckerman's personal beliefs, I can only state what I find when I look him up online and then take what he says with a grain of salt when I see that his information may be slanted toward a particular agenda.

sec·u·lar

ˈsekyələr/

adjective

adjective: secular

1. 1.

   denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis.

   "secular buildings"

   synonyms:

   nonreligious, areligious, lay, temporal, worldly, earthly, profane; formallaic "secular music"

   antonyms:

   holy, religious

2. 2.

   CHRISTIAN CHURCH

   (of clergy) not subject to or bound by religious rule; not belonging to or living in a monastic or other order.

-- Google

pro·fane

prəˈfān/

adjective

1. 1.

   relating or devoted to that which is not sacred or biblical; secular rather than religious.

   "a talk that tackled topics both sacred and profane"

   synonyms:

   secular, lay, nonreligious, temporal; formallaic "subjects both sacred and profane"
2. 2.

   (of a person or their behavior) not respectful of orthodox religious practice; irreverent.

   "desecration of the temple by profane adolescents"

   synonyms:

   irreverent, irreligious, ungodly, godless, unbelieving, impious, disrespectful, sacrilegious "a profane man"

   • verb

1. 1.

   treat (something sacred) with irreverence or disrespect.

   "it was a serious matter to profane a tomb"

   synonyms:

   desecrate, violate, defile, treat sacrilegiously "invaders profaned our sacred temples"

-- Google

im·pi·ous

ˈimpēəs,imˈpīəs/

adjective

1. not showing respect or reverence, especially for a god.

   "the emperor's impious attacks on the Church"

   synonyms:

   godless, ungodly, unholy, irreligious, sinful, wicked, immoral, unrighteous,sacrilegious, heretical, profane, blasphemous, irreverent; More

   • (of a person or act) wicked.

     "impious villains"

-- Google

I have no doubt that the majority of secularists in the world are practicing good moral life philosophies.  I do have to question a conclusion that abolishing the death penalty has any bearing on murder rates decreasing.  What they're saying is, murder only occurs if a person knows they will die for doing it; they're linking murder to suicide?  Maybe its just me, but this seems a bit odd, even for Scandinavia, though I fully see how someone against the death penalty would stretch for this to prove their point.  My problem with "experts" is they expect, not only the "liberal arts" students to drink the Kool Aid they mix, but they expect the rest of us that actually have a brain to drink it as well.

Herein lays my problem with articles by people that have a political or philosophical agenda instead of just reporting both sides, and the bigger picture.  You can make an argument for anything if you play with the numbers.  Political parties are the real "experts" at this, but we see through their BS every day, like when they say unemployment is getting better but don't take into account the PhD working at McDonalds, or the fact that many maxed out their benefits and are now on welfare or back home living with mom.  The numbers only work if you cover all the bases; otherwise you look like another self-serving idiot spewing the party line.

Are all secular people atheists?  No.  I know secular folks that take exception of being labeled atheists.  I also know spiritual folks that take exception to being labeled secular.  It is pretty obvious why when you look at the definitions and see the secular have to accept being defined as "profane" which would then define you as being irreverent, impious, and disrespectful, which would take us to the final definition of being sinful, wicked, and immoral.  Way to go atheists!  Does anyone pay attention to definitions before they bandy them about?  I will be looking closer from now on.

So I think the findings of Mr. Zuckerman fly in the face of definitions dealing with "secular," and this is probably because the world is changing.  Godless doesn't mean evil.  It might mean damned to hell for a period, but that is for the God they don't believe in to judge, not me.  I think if you live a righteous, secular life, this will carry much weight at judgment.  But that leaves the lingering question:  If you die never believing when you die, that's it, do you die and that's it?  Is the afterlife only available for those that believe in it.  I wouldn't think it necessarily requires you to have religion inasmuch as it requires you to have faith.  Maybe, but an afterlife would open up a whole nuther can o' beans for the secular, wouldn't it?

I have a feeling if you attend this type of college, and don't toe the party line, you probably won't get very good grades.  Free thinking and free will are becoming frowned upon any more.  They want the social robot that dutifully goosesteps humanity through the 21st century.  That may be fine if you want to follow the rest of the lemmings into the sea.  I prefer to look to the heavens and wonder if there might not be a greater power that wishes more for us.

I really don't care if you follow secular philosophy toward life, if this is your cup of tea, so be it.  I just care that consider living your life thinking for yourself; making decisions based on what you want, not what some college says you must believe in order to graduate.  Thinking for yourself means hearing both sides of issue and not just believing what the "expert" says because he has a title.   Professors are supposed to teach facts, not party lines.   Joseph Mengele was a learned man, a doctor, he had a title and, oh... and I think he was secular.  Does this make being secular wrong?  Absolutely not.  Do Christians care if you're secular?  Absolutely, and it's because we care about your immortal soul.  However, if you don't feel you have one, it is a choice, your choice, and not necessarily the wrong one.

As long as there is free thought there will always be alternative arguments; the other side of the coin.  It is what makes us human and keeps us free.



Editor's Note:  

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion.  It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other.  An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth.  After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human.  God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.
  

Pastor Frank Anthony Villari

Pastor Tony is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of "The Path," the Congregation's official blogsite.