Anti-religious

The first and most common criticism is that secularism is anti-religious. This chapter has already shown that secularism is directed against institutionalised religious DOMINATION, not against religion as such — being against domination is simply not the same thing as being against religion.

A closely related claim is that secularism threatens religious identity. But, as already established, secularism actively promotes religious freedom and equality — it protects religious identity far more than it threatens it. That said, it is true that secularism does undermine SOME forms of religious identity: those that are dogmatic, violent, fanatical, exclusivist, or that foster hatred of other religions. But the real question to ask is not simply whether something is undermined — the real question is whether what is undermined is, on its own merits, intrinsically worthy of …