How to Be Secular

Book excerpt: Why secularism isn’t the same thing as atheism—and why it’s crucial for preserving liberty and democracy for all Americans, regardless of their beliefs. Founding father Thomas Jefferson believed that “religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God,” but these days many people seem to have forgotten this ideal. Conservatives claim America is a “Christian nation” and urge that laws be structured around religious convictions. Hardcore atheists, meanwhile, seek to undermine and attack religion at all levels. Surely there must be a middle ground. In How to Be Secular, Jacques Berlinerblau issues a call to the moderates—those who are tired of the belligerence on the fringes—that we return to America’s long tradition of secularism, which seeks to protect both freedom from and for religion. He looks at the roots of secularism and examines how it should be bolstered and strengthened so that Americans of all stripes can live together peacefully. “Jacques Berlinerblau mounts a careful, judicious, and compelling argument that America needs more secularists. . . . The author’s argument merits a wide hearing and will change the way we think and talk about religious freedom.” —Randall Balmer, author of Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts FaithandThreatens America