Download or read book Ethics and the Challenge of Secularism written by David Bradshaw and published by . This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Proceedings of a conference held May 25-26, 2012 at the University of Notre Dame.
Download or read book Ethics and the Challenge of Secularism written by David Bradshaw and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Secular Age written by Charles Taylor and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-17 with total page 889 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The place of religion in society has changed profoundly in the last few centuries, particularly in the West. In what will be a defining book for our time, Taylor takes up the question of what these changes mean, and what, precisely, happens when a society becomes one in which faith is only one human possibility among others.
Download or read book The Secular Outlook written by Paul Cliteur and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2010-09-29 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Secular Outlook: In Defense of Moral and Political Secularism shows how people can live together and overcome the challenge of religious terrorism by adopting a "secular outlook" on life and politics. Shows how secularism can answer the problem of religious terrorism Provides new perspectives on how religious minorities can be integrated into liberal democracies Reveals how secularism has gained a new political and moral significance. Also examines such topics as atheism, religious criticism and free speech
Download or read book Bioethics and Secular Humanism written by H. Tristram Engelhardt and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bioethics is vitally important in our day because it represents the critical expression of interest in the proper use of medical science to provide health care. Secular humanism is important because it is a central factor in constructing a common morality that does not make special appeal to such things as religious assumptions. The argument of this book, therefore, will be of profound interest to all who are concerned for the well-being of humanity in today's world. Imagine, the author says, Roman Catholics and committed atheists disputing over proper abortion policies. Imagine individuals who wish to organize a for-profit surrogate mother service, confronting individuals who view such endeavors as exploitation of women. To what moral premise do they appeal? Are power and influence the deciding factors, or is it possible to establish certain principles to which all may appeal? In answer, Professor Engelhardt examines the various meanings of secularity and humanism, clearly showing how complex they are. Alongside this he demonstrates the diversity of bioethics and the problems of laying a foundation for it. Based on these considerations, he identifies which ways forward are the most promising. The urgency of the task is clear. New biomedical possibilities are surfacing at the very time that demands to contain health care costs pose difficult ethical problems.
Download or read book Humanism A Very Short Introduction written by Stephen Law and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2011-01-27 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Summary: Philosopher Stephen Law explains why humanism--though a rejection of religion--nevertheless provides both a moral basis and a meaning for our lives.-publisher description.
Download or read book Plurality and Christian Ethics written by Ian S. Markham and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1994-03-24 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Too many parts of the world testify to the difficulties religions have in tolerating each other. It is often concluded that the only way tolerance and plurality can be protected is to keep religion out of the public sphere. Ian Markham challenges this secularist argument. In the first half of the book, he advances a careful critique of European culture which exposes the problem of plurality. His analysis of the Christendom Group is contrasted with the outlook found in the USA, where a religiously informed culture may be seen to be tolerant. In the second half of the book, the author argues that plurality is better safeguarded by a theistic, rather than a secularist, foundation. He submits that too often secularists use relativist arguments, while theists want to appeal to the complexity of God's world. He concludes that in our post-modern world the religious affirmation of diversity offers genuine political possibilities for cultural enrichment.
Download or read book Forbidden Fruit written by Paul Kurtz and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2010-10-29 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paul Kurtz, America's leading secular humanist philosopher, affirms that it is possible to live the good life and be morally responsible, without belief in religion. In this original and penetrating book, Kurtz delineates the means by which humanity can transcend the limitations of traditional religious loyalties and achieve a higher stage of ethics. Fundamentalists deny the possibility of ethics without belief in God. Conservatives rail against secularists. Yet belief in God is no guarantee of moral virtue - as the evils committed in the name of religion have vividly shown. Are there secular ethical principles and values that are vital for a world in crisis? In this new edition of Forbidden Fruit, Kurtz defends the ethics of secularism and humanism. In order to progress to a maximum level of creative development, he maintains that we must be nourished by the "forbidden fruit" of the knowledge of good and evil, grounding principles and values in autonomous reason. This is the path that leads to the discovery of significant ethical truths that can guide both self-reliant conduct and consideration for the rights of others. By breaking the bonds of theistic illusion, we can summon the courage and wisdom to develop a rational ethic based on a realistic appraisal of nature and an awareness of the centrality of the moral decencies common to all peoples. The ultimate key to the good life, Kurtz writes, is to eat of the fruit of the second tree in the Garden of Eden - the tree of life - discovering for ourselves the manifold potentialities for a bountiful existance. Forbidden Fruit contains important chapters on ethical excellences for individuals, moral education for children, and thoughts on privacy and human rights, in addition to presenting concrete ethical recommendations as alternatives to the reigning orthodoxies.
Download or read book Christian Ethics in Secular Cultures written by Thomas K. Johnson and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2018-05-10 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A central question in Christian ethics is the relationship between the moral principles we should follow within the Christian community and the ethics followed in the secular societies in which we live. Our dilemma is that we have received a revelation of God’s moral will in the Bible and in creation which must shape the identity of believers over against unbelieving cultures, while our neighbors follow the ethics of other world views which concern us deeply. Remember the Holocaust, where the ethics of a secular ideology wreaked destruction in an entire society. How should we, as Christians whom God has called to a distinct identity, participate in the moral considerations that will shape our cultures and communicate some of our convictions in a way that brings moral light into our worlds? Johnson offers the insight gained by 20 years of teaching ethics in secular universities in Europe and North America. First he addresses questions of sex, marriage, and family; then questions of work and economics; and finally theological and philosophical foundations.
Download or read book The Ethical Challenge of Auschwitz and Hiroshima written by Darrell J. Fasching and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 1993-07-01 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses the problem of religion, ethics, and public policy in a global technological civilization. It attempts to do what narrative ethicists have said cannot be done—to construct a cross-cultural ethic of human dignity, human rights, and human liberation which respects the diversity of narrative traditions. It seeks to do this without succumbing to either ethical relativism or ethical absolutism. The author confronts directly the dominant narrative of our technological civilization: the Janus-faced myths of "Apocalypse or Utopia." Through this myth, we view technology ambivalently, as both the object of our dread and the source of our hope. The myth thus renders us ethically impotent: the very strength of our literal utopian euphoria sends us careening toward some literal apocalyptic "final solution." The demonic narrative that dominated Auschwitz ("killing in order to heal") is part of this Janus-faced technological mythos that emerged out of Hiroshima. And it is this mythic narrative which underlies and structures much of public policy in our nuclear age. This book proposes a coalition of members of holy communities and secular groups, organized to prevent any future eruptions of the demonic. Its goal is to construct a bridge not only over the abyss between religions, East and West, but also between religious and secular ethics.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Secularism written by Phil Zuckerman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 793 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As recent headlines reveal, conflicts and debates around the world increasingly involve secularism. National borders and traditional religions cannot keep people in tidy boxes as political struggles, doctrinal divergences, and demographic trends are sweeping across regions and entire continents. And secularity is increasing in society, with a growing number of people in many regions having no religious affiliation or lacking interest in religion. Simultaneously, there is a resurgence of religious participation in the politics of many countries. How might these diverse phenomena be better understood? Long-reigning theories about the pace of secularization and ideal church-state relations are under invigorated scrutiny by scholars studying secularism with new questions, better data, and fresh perspectives. The Oxford Handbook of Secularism offers a wide-ranging and in-depth examination of this global conversation, bringing together the views of an international collection of prominent experts in their respective fields. This is the essential volume for comprehending the core issues and methodological approaches to the demographics and sociology of secularity; the history and variety of political secularisms; the comparison of constitutional secularisms across many countries from America to Asia; the key problems now convulsing church-state relations; the intersections of liberalism, multiculturalism, and religion; the latest psychological research into secular lives and lifestyles; and the naturalistic and humanistic worldviews available to nonreligious people.
Download or read book Beyond Religion written by Dalai Lama XIV Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2011 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Beyond Religion" is a stirring call to move beyond religion for the guidance to improve human life on individual, community, and global levels--including a guided meditation practice for cultivating key human values.
Download or read book Geographies of Postsecularity written by Paul Cloke and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-01-03 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the hopeful possibility that emerging geographies of postsecularity are able to contribute significantly to the understanding of how common life may be shared, and how caring for the common goods of social justice, well-being, equality, solidarity and respect for difference may be imagined and practiced. Drawing on recent geographic theory to recalibrate ideas of the postsecular public sphere, the authors develop the case for postsecularity as a condition of being that is characterised by practices of receptive generosity, rapprochement between religious and secular ethics, and a hopeful re-enchantment and re-shaping of desire towards common life. The authors highlight the contested formation of ethical subjectivity under neoliberalism and the emergence of postsecularity within this process as an ethically-attuned politics which changes relations between religion and secularity and animates novel, hopeful imaginations, subjectivities, and praxes as alternatives to neoliberal norms. The spaces and subjectivities of emergent postsecularity are examined through a series of innovative case studies, including food banks, drug and alcohol treatment, refugee humanitarian activism in Calais, homeless participatory art projects, community responses to the Christchurch earthquakes in New Zealand, amongst others. The book also traces the global conditions for postsecularity beyond the Western and predominantly Christian-secular nexus of engagement. This is a valuable resource for students in several academic disciplines, including geography, sociology, politics, religious studies, international development and anthropology. It will be of great interest to secular and faith-based practitioners working in religion, spirituality, politics or more widely in public policy, urban planning and community development.
Download or read book Limiting Secularism written by Priya Kumar and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a backdrop of religious violence and escalating regional tensions in South Asia, Priya Kumar’s Limiting Secularism probes the urgent topic of secularism and tolerance in Indian culture and life. Kumar explores Partition as the founding trauma of the Indian nation-state and traces the consequences of its marking off of “Indian” from “Pakistani” and the positioning of Indian Muslims as strangers within the nation. Kumar unpacks the implications of the Nehruvian doctrine of tolerance-with all of its resonances of condescension and inequality-and asks whether more ethical cohabitation can replace the “arrogant compulsive tolerance” of the state and the majority. Informed by Jacques Derrida’s recent work on hospitality and living together, Kumar argues for the emergence of an “ethics of coexistence” in Indian fiction and film. Considering narratives ranging from the cosmopolitan English novels of Rushdie and Ghosh to literature in South Asian languages as well as recent Hindi cinema, Kumar demonstrates that these fictions are important resources for reimagining tolerance and coexistence. Distinctive and timely in its investigation of secularism and communalism, Limiting Secularism works to envision the radical possibilities of going beyond tolerance to living well together. Priya Kumar is associate professor of English at the University of Iowa.
Download or read book What It Means to Be Moral written by Phil Zuckerman and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A thoughtful perspective on humans' capacity for moral behavior.” —Kirkus Reviews “A comprehensive introduction to religious skepticism.” —Publishers Weekly In What It Means to Be Moral: Why Religion Is Not Necessary for Living an Ethical Life, Phil Zuckerman argues that morality does not come from God. Rather, it comes from us: our brains, our evolutionary past, our ongoing cultural development, our social experiences, and our ability to reason, reflect, and be sensitive to the suffering of others. By deconstructing religious arguments for God–based morality and guiding readers through the premises and promises of secular morality, Zuckerman argues that the major challenges facing the world today—from global warming and growing inequality to religious support for unethical political policies to gun violence and terrorism—are best approached from a nonreligious ethical framework. In short, we need to look to our fellow humans and within ourselves for moral progress and ethical action. “In this brilliant, provocative, and timely book, Phil Zuckerman breaks down the myth that our morality comes from religion—compellingly making the case that when it comes to the biggest challenges we face today, a secular approach is the only truly moral one.” —Ali A. Rizvi, author of The Atheist Muslim
Download or read book Dissent on Core Beliefs written by Simone Chambers and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-23 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores how nine different religious and secular traditions deal with pluralism, dissent, and the challenges these issues pose.
Download or read book Multicultural and Interreligious Perspectives on the Ethics of Human Reproduction written by Joseph Tham and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-01-03 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book includes a number of distinct religious and secular views on the anthropological, ethical and social challenges of reproductive technologies in the light of human rights and in the context of global bioethics. It includes contributions of bioethics experts from six major religions—Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism—as well as secular authors. The chapters include commentaries discussing the content cross-religious/secular tradition to give a comparative perspective. Not only the volume editors but also the contributing authors took part in reviewing each others’ chapter making this a unique collected volume, not common in interreligious dialogue today. This text appeals to researchers and students working in the fields of bioethics and religious/secular studies.
