There is a memorable scene in the short story “Bloodshed” by the spectacular Jewish-American novelist Cynthia Ozick. A Hasidic Rebbe endowed with the ability to read other people’s minds confronts a visiting nonbeliever seated in his synagogue. After having somehow articulated the innermost thoughts of this troubled voyeur, the Rebbe exclaims: “Despair must be earned.” The following dialogue ensues:“I’m not in despair” Bleilip objected.
“To be an atheist is to be in despair.”
"I’m not an atheist, I’m a secularist,” but even Bleilip did not know what he
meant by this.
My hunch is that many Americans do not know what is meant by these terms either. Given the hysteria and incivility that characterize discussions about secularism and atheism, permit me to suggest a few basic definitions and distinctions.
Much confusion would be avoided if all kept the following in mind: not all secularists are atheists or agnostics. There are many definitions of the term secular. Some of them are highly nuanced and complex. Some demand familiarity with the history of classic Christian political philosophy. But for now let me offer a very simple (and useful) go-by: a secularist is a person who advocates the strict separation of Church and State.
This brings us to atheists and agnostics. Speak to well educated members of both groups and you will find that they have profound, and often quite fascinating, philosophical disagreements with one another. But if there is one thing atheists and agnostics usually agree on it is the importance of keeping the Wall of Separation “high and impregnable,” to quote Justice Black.
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