The Secular Outlook: In Defense of Moral and Political Secularism

Add to Wishlist

The Secular Outlook: In Defense of Moral and Political Secularism

Paperback

$33.95

View All Available Formats & Editions

Paperback
$33.95

View All Available Formats & Editions

SHIP THIS ITEM

In stock. Ships in 1-2 days.
PICK UP IN STORE

Your local store may have stock of this item.

Available within 2 business hours

Want it Today?
Check Store Availability

Related collections and offers

Overview

The Secular Outlook: In Defense of Moral and Political Secularism shows how people can live together and overcome the challenge of religious terrorism by adopting a "secular outlook" on life and politics.

Shows how secularism can answer the problem of religious terrorism
Provides new perspectives on how religious minorities can be integrated into liberal democracies
Reveals how secularism has gained a new political and moral significance.
Also examines such topics as atheism, religious criticism and free speech

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781444335217
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	08/23/2010
Series:	Blackwell Public Philosophy Series , #21
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Paul Cliteur is Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. He is also a lawyer, a former Professor of Philosophy at the University of Delft, and a widely published author.

Read an Excerpt

Click to read or download

Acknowledgments viii

Introduction: The Secular Outlook 1

1 Atheism, Agnosticism, and Theism 14

The Alpha Privative 16

Atheism and Liberal Concepts of God 17

Atheism as an Unpopular Position 20

A Definition of Atheism 25

Motives for Atheism 42

Atheist Values 45

Spiritual Excellences and the Liberal Decalogue 47

Agnosticism 50

The History of Agnosticism 55

Huxley and Russell 57

Pascal's Wager 59

Pascal's Insight 62

Atheism or Non-Theism? 63

2 Freethought I: Criticism of Religion 69

"Écrasez l'Infâme" 72

Religion and Evil 76

Religious Violence 77

Father and Daughter 80

How to Discover a Relationship between Religion and Violence 84

Ramadan v. Hirsi Ali 86

Religion "per se" 89

Textual Relativism 91

Can Translation Mitigate All Immoral Passages in Scripture? 94

Can Interpretation Mitigate All Immoral Passages in Scripture? 96

Why Are "Moderates" so Reluctant to Criticize Religion? 98

The Bible on Apostasy 102

Biblical Terrorism: The Story of Phinehas 105

Biblical Violence and Modern Legal Practice 108

The Book of History 112

Some Objections 115

3 Freethought II: Freedom of Expression 122

Mill on Liberty 123

Khomeini v. Rushdie 125

Fukuyama Giving Up on the Arab World 130

The Limits of Free Speech 134

The Deontological and Utilitarian Justifications for Free Speech 138

Clifford on the Duty to Critique 141

Freedom of Speech and Philosophers on the Index 143

Intolerance not Restricted to Islam 147

Giniewski v. France 150

Freethought under Fire 152

People Are not Being Insulted for Having a Religion 155

Racism without Race 161

Social Criticism not Identical with the Urge to Provoke 163

Flemming Rose on Why He Published the Danish Cartoons 164

The Theory of Evolution: Too Controversial to Defend? 168

Is There Another Way to Discover the Truth than by Free Discussion? 170

4 Moral and Political Secularism 172

Pope Benedict XVI on the Apostles' Creed 176

"Who Are You to Tell Believers What to Believe?" 180

What Judaism, Christendom, and Islam Have in Common: Theism 184

Divine Command Theories 188

Abraham and Isaac 194

The Story of Abraham in the Qur'an 196

The Story of Jephtha 201

Adherents of Divine Command Theory 204

Command Ethics or Divine Command Ethics? 206

An Assessment of Divine Command Ethics 210

Kierkegaard and Mill 218

Kohlberg and Moral Education 221

Religious and Secular Ethics 225

Worship 229

Kant's Struggle with Moral Autonomy and Free Speech 234

Kant's Legacy in Nineteenth-Century German Theology 241

Schleiermacher as the Father of Modern Hermeneutics 244

Armstrong's Plea for Liberal Interpretation 248

A New Way to Look at the "Sacredness" of Scripture? 252

Classic Books and Sacred Books 254

Violating the Integrity of the Text 262

Is Hermeneutics the Only Way to Modernize Traditions? 266

Is Islam "Secularization-Resistant"? 272

Two Kinds of Reformers: Liberal Islam and Secular Islam 274

Selected Reading 281

Index 305

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This is a brave and timely book, a light in the gathering Endarkenment. Cliteur responds lucidly to the West's many failures of political nerve, to the new climate of rationalizing the irrational and appeasing authoritarians. He advances a powerful case for the values of freedom and reason."
—Russell Blackford, Co-editor for 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

"This book would be ideal for an upper-level undergraduate or graduate religious studies or philosophy seminar. Highly educated lay readers and academics interested in religion and secularism will also likely find the book of interest." (Journal of Contemporary Religion, 1 January 2012)
"The book is a balanced account of what went wrong in defending liberal democracy in the past two decades and what is to be done to revigorate the foundations for liberal democracy ." (Acta Politica, 2011)

"The overall structure of the book is quite clear . . . Nevertheless, if I would be forced to summarise the book in its entirety, then I would claim that it can be seen as an elaborate and successful (as far
as I am concerned) defense of the view that religion derives from morality and not the other way around." (International Humanist News, 1 April 2011)

"It is a level-headed contribution to an important debate about how best to address religious fundamentalism and political fanaticism." (The Christian Century, 8 March 2011)

"Cliteur's book is timely and well written. It covers some very recent events, and offers coherent - if sometime impatient - perspectives on religion from the secular standpoint. Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty." (Choice , 1 April 2011)

"You actually have to focus on the paragraphs. That doesn't mean that the style is inaccessible or difficult - not at all, it's very readable - but this is a meaty book that asks for (and rewards) a certain amount of concentration." (Metamagician and the Hellfire Club, 7 April 2011)

"The primary goal of this book, its author says, is ‘to show how religious believers and unbelievers can live peacefully together and what principles the state should try to stimulate in its citizenry to achieve social harmony and social cohesion.' He recommends a moral and political vision which he calls "a 'secular outlook' on life." Its four main components are atheism, criticism of religion, free speech, and ‘moral autonomy.' Cliteur wants us to be freethinkers and to expose the ways in which sacred texts actually endorse or even encourage violence, terrorism, and injustice. Cliteur is right, of course, that free inquiry and criticism should be protected." (Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 6 March 2011)

"Accessible, engaging and convincing, it is the perfect tome for those who wish to learn about the ethical and logical case for a secular moral and political framework." (Tribune, 4 March 2011)

"A robust defence of the Enlightenment tradition and a must-read for those concerned by the corrosive aspects of religion on society." (Times Higher Education, 10 February 2011)

"But Cliteur challenges this interpretation, charging Armstrong with seeking to dismiss fundamentalism as a ‘perversion' of religion when in fact the fundamentalists can claim to be adopting the very attitude their sacred texts demand". (Church of England Newspaper, 7 January 2011)

"The Secular Outlook is a thought-provoking discussion of how liberal, secular democracies can and should respond to extremism and a much-needed exposition of the vital importance, in that response, of rationality and an emphasis on common humanity". (New Internationalist, 1 December 2010)

"Secularism is one of those concepts that is widely used without a clear notion of what it is. Dutch humanist philosopher Paul Cliteur's The Secular Out - look: In Defense of Moral and Political Secularism supplies a theoretical clarification of what secularism is and what it is not. However, the book is more than a helpful analytical exercise-it is also an urgent plea for political and moral secularism." (Free Inquiry, October 2010)

From the Publisher

The Secular Outlook: In Defense of Moral and Political Secularism

The Secular Outlook: In Defense of Moral and Political Secularism

Paperback

Paperback

Related collections and offers

Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Read an Excerpt

Table of Contents

What People are Saying About This

Customer Reviews

Related collections and offers

Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Read an Excerpt

Table of Contents

What People are Saying About This

Related Subjects

Customer Reviews