"Secularism is used in a restricted sense today, but it retains a philosophical
aspect in political and social situations. Secularism has always carried a
strong connotation of the desire to establish an autonomous political and social
sphere which is naturalistic and materialistic, as opposed to a religious realm
where the supernatural and faith take precedence."
It is difficult to credit any one religion as being True or any one god as being True when there have been so many throughout human history. None appears to have any greater claim to being more credible or reliable than any other. Why Christianity and not Judaism? Why Islam and not Hinduism? Why monotheism and not polytheism? Every position has had its defenders, all as ardent as those in other traditions. They can't all be right, but they can all be wrong. Too Many Gods...
"The very act of calling America a "Christian Nation," for example, is at a
bare minimum a symbolic attempt to describe America in Christian rather than
secular terms. A "Christian" nation is one in which the Christian beliefs of
people or institutions become relevant to their status in the political
community. We would not all be equally "citizens," but first and foremost
"Christian" as defined by the state or "not Christian" - and thus politically
inferior.
This, then, means that the assaults on the separation of church and state
are, in the end, also assaults on not only liberty and freedom, but also on the
very concept of citizenship in a liberal democracy."