Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/744

 SECULARISM

676

SECULARISM

dependent on bishops for ordination. (See Cleric; Reguiars.)

Dd Cange, Glossarium, a. w. Smculum; Clericus.

A. BOUDINHON.

Secularism, a term used for the first time about 1846 by George Jacob Holyoake to denote "a form of opinion which concerns itself only with questions, the issues of which can be tested by the experience of this life" (English Secularism, 60). More explicitly, "Secularism is that which seeks the development of the physical, moral, and intellectual nature of man to the highest possible point, as the immediate duty of life — which inculcates the practical sufficiency of natural morahty apart from Atheism, Theism, or the Bible — which selects as its methods of procedure the promo- tion of human improvement by material means, and proposes these positive agreements as the common bond of union, to all who would regulate life by reason and ennoble it by service" (Principles of Secularism, 17). And again, "Secularism is a code of duty pertaining to this life, founded on considerations purely human, and intended mainly for those who find theology in- definite or inadequate, unreliable or unbelievable. Its essential principles are three: 1. The improve- ment of this life by material means. 2. That science is the available Providence of man. 3. That it is good to do good. Wliether there be other good or not, the good of the present life is good, and it is good to seek that good" (English Secularism, 35).

I. History. — The origin of Secularism is associated especially with the names of Holyoake and Brad- laugh. George Jacob Holj'oake (b. at Birmingham, 13 April, 1817; d. at Brighton, 22 January, 1906) met Robert Owen in 1837, became his friend, and be- gan to lecture and write articles advocating socialism or co-operation. In 1841, with Southwell, Ryall, and Chilton, he founded a magazine called "The Oracle of Reason" which was succeeded by "The Movement" (1843), and by "The Reasoner" (1846). In 1861 the pubhcation of the latter was discontinued, and Holy- oake founded "The Coun.sellor", which, later on, was merged with Bradlaugh's "National Reformer". Owing to differences between Bradlaugh and Holy- oake, the latter withdrew from "The National Re- former," started the publication of "The Secular World and Social Economist" (1862-64), and in 1883 of "The Present Day". Among the political and economical agitatioas in which Holyoake took a lead- ing part may be mentioned those for the repeal of the law prohibiting the use of unstamped paper for period- ical publications, for the abolition of all oaths re- quired by law, for the secularization of education in the pubhc schools, for the disestablishment of the Church, for the promotion of the co-operative move- ment among the working classes, etc.

Charles Bradlaugh (b. at Hoxton, London, 26 Sep- tember, 1S33; d. 30 January, 1891) was a zealous Sunday school teacher in the Church of England, when Rev. Mr. Packer, the incumbent of St. Peter's, Hackney Road, asked him to prepare for confirma- tion which was to be administered by the Bishop of London. "I studied a Httle", writes Bradlaugh. "the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, and the four Gofpels, and came to the conclusion that they differed" (Autobiography, 6). He wrote this to Rev. Mr. Packer, who hastily denounced him as an atheist. His views, which at this time were deistical, later on reached extreme Atheism. From 1853 till 1868 he wrote a great number of articles under the pseudonym of "Iconoclast", gave many lectures, and held many public debates. In 18.58 he edited "The Investigator", and in 1850 foundr-d "The National Reformer". Elcfted by Northampton as a member of the House of Commons in 1880, he refused to take the required oath, and was not allowed to sit in the House. Re-clecte<i the following year, he consented

to take the oath, but this was refused on account of his Atheism. Finally, in 1886, the new Speaker al- lowed him to take the oath and sit in ParUament. In 1858 Bradlaugh succeeded Holyoake as president of the London Secular Society, and in 1866 enlarged the scope of this association by founding the National Secular Society, over which he presided until 1890. when he was succeeded by Mr. G. W. Foote, the actual president. The following words from Bradlaugh's farewell speech are significant: "One element of dan- ger in Europe is the approach of the Roman Catholic Church towards meddling in pohtical Ufe. . . . Be- ware when that great Church, whose power none can deny, the capacity of whose leading men is marked, tries to use the democracy as its weapon. There is danger to freedom of thought, to freedom of speech, to freedom of action. The great struggle in this coun- try will not be between Freethought and the Church of England, not between Freethought and Dissent, but — as I have long taught, and now repeat — between Freethought and Rome" (Charles Bradlaugh, II, 412).

In the United States, the American Secular Union and Freethought Federation, presided over by Mr. E. P. Peacock, with many affiliated local societies, has for its object the separation of Church and State, and for its platform the nine demands of Liberalism, namely: (1) that churches and other ecclesiastical property shall be no longer exempt from taxation; (2) that the employment of chaplains in Congress, in state legislatures, in the army and navy, and in pris- ons, asylums, and all institutions supported by public money, shall be discontinued, and that all religious ser- vices maintained by national, state, or municipal gov- ernments shall be abolished; (3) that all public ap- propriations for educational and charitable institu- tions of a sectarian character shall cease; (4) that, while advocating the loftiest instruction in morals and the inculcation of the strictest uprightness of conduct, religious teaching and the use of the Bible for religious purposes in public schools shall be prohibited; (5) that the appointment by the President of the United States and the governors of the various states of re- ligious festivals, fasts, and days of prayer and thanks- giving shall be discontinued; (6) that the theological oath in the courts and in other departments of gov- ernment shall be abolished, and simple affirmation, under the pains and penalties of perjury, established in its stead; (7) that all laws directly or indirectly enforcing in any degree the religious and theological dogma of Sunday or Sabbath observance shall be re- pealed; (8) that all laws looking to the enforcement of Christian morality as such shall be abrogated, and that all laws shall be conformed to the requirements of natural morality, equal rights and impartial ju.s- tice; (9) that, in harmony with the Constitution of the United States, and the con.stitutions of the several states, no special privilege's or advantage's shall be conceded to Christianity or any other religion; that our entire political system shall be conducted and ad- ministered on a purely secular basis; and that what- ever changes are necessary to this end shall be con- sistently, unflinchingly, and promptly made.

Although the name Secularism is of recent origin, its various doctrines have been taught by free-thinkers of all ages, and, in fact. Secularism claims to be only an extension of free-thought. "The term Secularism was cho.sen to exj^ress the extension of freethought to ethics" (English Secularism, 34). With regard to the question of the existence of God, Bradlaugh was an atheist, Holyoake an agnostic. The latter held that ,

Secularism is based simply on the study of nature and has nothing to do with religion, while Bradlaugh claimed that Secularism should start with the dis- proof of religion. In a public debate held in 1870 be- tween these two secularists, Bradlaugh said: "Al-