Secularists? People of Faith?
When you hear the word secularist, what thoughts come to mind?
How about when you hear the term people of faith?
A few days ago I engaged in the most interesting of excercises.
As a part of broader visioning excercise, I was asked to list on a flip chart all of the stereotypes about secularists that exist and in turn also list all of the stereotypes that I think that secularists might have of me, as a person of faith. There were about half a dozen of us doing this excercise. You can probably guess most of the list.
Some examples as follow--
Secularist:
- intellectual
- scientific
- afraid of death
- unaware
- hedonistic
- judgemental (about people of faith)... You get the idea...
People of faith:
- delusional
- irrational
- conservative
- blind sheep
- politically dangerous
- judgemental (about secularists)...
In parallel to the work we the faith group were doing, the secularist group was also generating their own lists.
Once both groups had finished and the flip charts were complete, we came back together to share with eachother the lists we had come up with. The charts were presented with candor, a good dose of humor and respect.
It was a powerful experience, where we were able to be straight with each other and share in conversation with one another the stereotypes that exist.
The most interesting thing perhaps for me is that the charts that both groups generated were remarkably similar. The secularists knew what the people of faith thought about them and the people of faith knew what the secularists were going to say.
That sharing opened up a new possibility for me and many involved with the excercise. As we presented, we found that all of a sudden we went from speaking with a stereotype, to speaking with a human being.
And so I am left wondering,
"Why don't we have these kind of frank conversations day to day?"
It seems to me like there would be much more relatedness if we were to get honest and articulate all of the stereotypes.
Imagine if we could acknowledge the conversation that exists in the background and then move on from there to a new conversation that is based on our hopes and dreams and what we say.
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re. Secularists & People of Faith
A bit more background-
The way we were employing the word in this excercise was in fact religious skepticism or indifference.
I can not speak for everyone, but I believe that most progressive people of faith do in fact value the separation of church of state.
Moreover, personally, I am clear that I do. To be a good Christian for me means to advocate for the separation of church and state.
Like many others today, I struggle with the notion that some people feel the laws of their own religion should be imposed upon an entire nation. Such domination concerns me. Freedom of choice in worship is a tennet that I firmly believe in and I think that is given to us by the separation in church and state.
As some of you know, a few weeks ago I met Jimmy Carter and told him about CrossLeft.org and though he is clearly a man of faith, the first question he asked me was if we (at CrossLeft.org) were clear in our commitment to the separation of church & state.
My answer, "Yes. We are very clear on that."
The founders of this country were wise in choosing this principle which would keep religion from controlling the state and the state from controlling religion. It works both ways. & that's the piece that I think it's critical for us all to get.