Readers React: Secularism breeds narcissism? Tell that to civil rights activists.

Editor’s note: On Sunday’s Op-Ed page, sociologist Phil Zuckerman took aim at those who blame increasing secularism in this country for a host of societal ills, including recent mass shootings. He noted that more secular societies tend to rank higher in numerous quality-of-life categories than more religious ones.

This didn’t sit well with reader Vivian Ben Lima, a Roman Catholic priest whose letter published Friday distinguished between “good” and “bad” religion. Ben Lima credited Europe’s Christian past for the prosperity it has achieved today and criticized secularism for producing a “seductive, self-destructing narcissism that unfortunately dominates the secular world.”

Ben Lima concluded: “Having a society with no violence or other ills is not the point. The broader question is what society does when they are absent. Secularism has no
answer. Good religion does.”

Below is Zuckerman’s response.

Some religious traditions promote violence, others pacifism. Some promote patriarchy, others egalitarianism. And I agree, most countries that exhibit the best in human rights, democracy and scientific achievement have a history of centuries of Christianity. Scandinavia stands out as an example.

But as these societies move beyond their Christian past, things are turning out just fine. Actually, better than fine; daily life was far more violent in Christian
Europe 200 years ago — when “good religion” was strong — than today.

My point was to counter the common assertion that violence or immorality in society is the result of secularism, a thesis that is readily falsified by sociological facts: Nations and U.S. states that are the most secularized tend to be the least violent, while those that are the most religious tend to be the most violent and corrupt.

This does not prove that secularism causes societal well-being, but it does disprove the claim that secularism is a source of violence and societal decay.

To castigate secularism as an empty philosophical system that only produces narcissism is, well, ignorant.

Secularism underpinned the movement away from theocracy to democracy. Secularism has been at the forefront of women’s rights. Secularism fights against the caste system in India. Secular white Americans were more likely to support the civil rights movement than strongly Christian white Americans.

Numerous psychological studies have shown that secular people are, on average, less ethnocentric, less racist and less militaristic than religious people. They are also more sympathetic to the suffering of animals and more likely care about global warming.

Secular humanism is a sound ethical orientation with a morality based on empathetic reciprocity: treating people the way one would like to be treated. Secular culture is characterized by pragmatic problem-solving, freedom of thought, a soulful appreciation for the majesty of nature, encouragement of scientific inquiry, defense of human rights, a serene acceptance of mortality and a deep appreciation of this world and this life.

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