Cover of: The Funny Thing about Secularism
Francisca Cho

The Funny Thing about Secularism

[The Funny Thing about Secularism: Christian and Buddhist Versions Compared]
Section: Articles
Volume 4 (2017) / Issue 1, pp. 74-93 (20)
Published 09.07.2018
DOI 10.1628/219597717X14884498299123
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    CC BY-SA 4.0
  • 10.1628/219597717X14884498299123
Summary
This article delineates a Christian and a Buddhist basis for secularism in order to demonstrate that secularism can take very different forms. The primary difference is the presence or absence of a cosmological discourse that strives for ontological verity. Although Christian secularism rejects belief in God, it maintains a parallel concern with cosmological knowledge in the form of scientific naturalism. Buddhist secularism accepts references to otherworldly realms but does not presume or require them to be ostensible and mind-independent. Buddhism is ultimately more humancentered in its focus, but for that reason it falls short of the transcendent aspirations of Christian secularism.