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The word secular, from which secularism is derived, refers to something concerned with temporal that is with matters of this world than with something religious or otherworldly. Secularism as a doctrine can be defined as the attempt to establish a body of principles concerning human behaviour based on rational knowledge and experience rather than theology or the supernatural.

In sphere of politics, secularism advocates that the domain of operation of religious influence should be restricted in society, and that in particular the state should be independent of religion. It must be noted that when we talk here of religious influence or independence from religion, we are referring to religion as an organised socio-political force and not merely as a system of sacred beliefs.

Secularism is a dominant feature of modern times. Secularisation or the decline of the prestige and power of religion began in Europe and is closely associated with the breakup of the medieval feudal order in the 14th and 15th centuries. Beginning in the 4th century, when the Roman Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity as a state religion, Christianity had acquired a powerful hold over medieval Europe. The Church came to combine both spiritual and temporal authority.

The Church (and therefore the Pope) directly ruled over small regions around Rome, but its influence extended over the entire Europe. It had more political power than any government in Europe. This was because in those days the power and authority of Emperors and kings was limited by the fact that land was divided into feudal estates. The holder of the estate, the feudal lord, was for all practical purposes, an independent ruler.

Most rulers were virtually puppets placed in position by the Church (usually from among large wealthy families who were considered to be benefactors of the Church). With the Church becoming deeply involved in the political and non-spiritual affairs, its leaders like the Popes, bishops and clergy amassed great wealth, indulged in earthly pleasures and behaved like princes and military men. The political intrigues and manipulations, combined with the Church’s increase Gower and wealth contributed to the bankruptcy of the reels a spiritual force.

The most important consequence of the domination of religion and the Church was on the intellectual climate of Europe. Man’s though its and feelings were expressed in terms of religious values. Christianity believed that human mind and its reason are not reliable, as sources of knowledge and that through the help of Christian faith and Gods grace alone, human beings can know what is true or untrue. In other words, faith was more important than reason.

This attitude dominated so much that the quest for knowledge was mostly confined to ‘spiritual’ matters like the interpretation of the Bible and of the writings and sayings of Popes and religious writers. In the universities of Padua and Bologna in Italy, Sorbonne in France and Oxford and Cambridge in England teaching and learning was mostly on religious subjects and they trained priests, and the ecologies (scholars in Christian religious subjects). Although non-religious subjects such as astronomy, geology, medicine, chemistry and law were studied, Christian view of the world limited the scope of lunar enquiry. No one dared to question the Church (and therefore the Pope) as it was believed to be infallible and in direct contact with God. People who questioned the authority of the Church disagreed with its tackling’s were imprisoned, exiled or executed.

Many scholars therefore describe the medieval period as the Dark Age. The seemingly impregnable intellectual and political edifice of Christianity began to crumble under the assault of Humanism, the Renaissance, and the Protestant Reformation. From the 14th century onwards, several developments combined to undermine the medieval feudal order. The Crusades and the contacts with the East established by medieval travelers like Marco Polo, brought to Europe new knowledge and information. It also increased the trading activity. Consequently new towns emerged in Europe, especially, in the Mediterranean region.

A new class in society, the middle class began to emerge. It was in these circumstances that there was a revival of Greek learning and values. An important development contributing to the Renaissance or ‘rebirth’ of classical ideas was the fall of Constantinople, the capital of Eastern Roman Empire to the Muslim Turks in 1453. Many scholars in Constantinople fled westward, carrying with them Greek classics and manuscripts. The new intellectual awakening in turn created a new spirit of enquiry among the people. Human reason and pursuit of learning, which were not confined to religious learning alone, began to receive priority.

This resulted in important scientific discoveries being made and known to people. Discoveries made by scientists like Copernicus, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin directly challenged the Christian view of the world. We can therefore say that the Age of Faith was effectively questioned and began to be replaced by the Age of Reason because of the Renaissance.

In politics also, important changes were brought about. Several thinkers challenged the authority of the Church and Christian morality over emperors and kings. In the 13th century, Aquinas, the greatest scholar of the age, borrowing from Aristotle, aided in raising the dignity of the civil power by declaring the state a perfect society and a necessary good.

The Renaissance writer Niccole Machiavelli advocated the important idea that princes and rulers need not be guided by religious morality but should be able to conduct politics mainly with the purpose of increasing the power of the state. Sometimes, this idea itself was, dangerous, as it could mean that kings and rulers need not follow morality in politics.

But in another sense this idea was very crucial. It helped to strength lie the powers of the rulers as against the Church. Politics in Europe became free from religious control. This political thinking coincided with the desire of many princes and kings who wanted to become independent. The result was that independent kingdoms based on the idea of nationalism got establish in important areas of Europe and gradually spread to other regions. Protestantism is a movement within Christianity that originated in the sixteenth- century Protestant Reformation.

It is considered to be one of the principal traditions within Christianity, together with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Anglicanism and Nontrinitarian Christianity, both of which are

Significantly influenced by Protestantism, are also sometimes considered separate traditions.

Protestantism is associated with the doctrine of sola scriptura, which maintains that the Bible (rather than church tradition or ecclesiastical interpretations of the Bible) is the final source of authority for all Christians. Another distinctive Protestant doctrine is that of sola fide, which holds that faith alone, rather than good works, is sufficient for the salvation of the believer.

Protestant churches tend not to accept the Catholic and Orthodox doctrine of apostolic succession and associated ideas regarding the sacramental ministry of the clergy, though there are some exceptions to this. Protestant ministers and church leaders therefore generally play a somewhat different role in their communities than Catholic and Orthodox priests and bishops.

Protestantism has both conservative and liberal theological strands within it. Its style of public worship tends to be simpler and less elaborate than that of Roman Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox Christians, sometimes radically so, though there are exceptions to this tendency.

Examples of denominations within Protestantism include the Lutheran, Calvinist

(Reformed, Presbyterian), Methodist, and Baptist churches

Social Basis of Secularism:

Secularism and secularization of state authority in Europe was a more complex affair than has been described above. The rise of modern capitalistic economy had an important role in the secularization of state authority. As we saw, trade and commerce played an important role in stimulating the renaissance and reformation movements. Strong rulers who created the nation-states made active use of the rising middle classes in overcoming the feudal aristocracy, the chief barrier in the unifying process.

The strength of the middle class lay in the wealth they accumulated placed by landed feudal aristocracy in pursuing trade and commerce supported strong rulers who can regulate trade and commerce within and outside country. As the capitalism spread and moved into a higher stage of development, the industrial phase, regulation of economic activity by despotic rulers was seen as an obstacle for further development of industrialization. Moreover, the new class of men- artisans, industrial workers i and middlemen-form humble origin began to demand social and political opportunities. These pressures ultimately gave rise to liberalism and democratic institutions in Europe.

Form the above; it is clear that secularism has been a part of a process of human liberation from domination-initially from that of the Church and latter from despotic rulers. In Europe, it has played an important role in checking absolutism, bigotry and fanaticism, in ensuring that the values enshrined in a particular religion did not trump other values and in managing religious conflicts.

It has also been an element of the process of democratic transformation. Even though secularism as a political force had established its hold over most of Europe, there was in practice no formal separation of religion and politics until 1791, when the first amendment to the constitution of the United States was passed. This amendment lay down that the Congress would not pass a law respecting an establishment of a religion, or prohibiting the free exercise of religion.

With time, secularism spread to other parts of the would making the laws of the state independent of religion. In most of the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, secularism useful to avoid religious conflict and promote national integration.

Secular Regimes: Meaning and Features

A secular state does not bother whether its members belong to this religion or that religion. Primarily concerned with an individual’s external life, a secular state does not concern itself with religious affiliation of these citizens. Religion is seen as something concerning an individual’s internal life, that is, a matter of purely individual and private faith.

Separating religion and politics, a secular state treats all religions alike. It does not allow religion to influence political issue. Religion does not impede or interfere in any decision of the state. To that extent, religious discrimination is absent in a secular state.

A secular state involves three distinct and interrelated sets of relationship between the individual and the state from which religion is excluded. That is, an individual is a citizen independent of membership of any particular religious group. The institutional arrangement for these relationships is a separation between state and religion. That is, there is neutrality of state in matters of religion. There is no state religion.

Some of the characteristic features of secular political systems are as follows:

a) The secular state is not based on any particular religion. This means that such a state does not owe any allegiance to any particular religion. Nor such a political system adheres to the principles of particular theology.

b) Though the secular state does not favour any particular religion, it is not anti religion or irreligious. It cannot be said to non-religious. We cannot say such a state immoral or an atheistic state. Secular states do follow principles that are characteristic of any religion such as truth, non-violence, love and morality, but they do not align with any particular religion. In other words, a secular state may tie itself to certain universal ethical principles without allowing any particular religion to dictate its policies.

(c) A secular state admits numerous religions under its jurisdiction. It advocates religious harmony, accommodation and co-operation. All religious organisations are accorded equal treatment and are equally respected. To that extent, a secular state is multi-religious state.

Secularism is the most widely established policy on religion today. In most countries of the contemporary world, there is a strong tendency to limit the role of religion to the ‘religious’ sphere of society. Secular regimes can be broadly categorised into two- the liberal and the Marxist. The liberal secular regimes are those which regard religion as a societal resource and allow for individual as well as corporate religious freedom to a greater or lesser extent. Religion in these liberal countries may in practice have a significant role in political life.

A vast majority of modern political regimes, including the United States of America, Canada, Australia, India, South Africa, most European states and others belong to this category. In the Marxist version of secular regimes, we have countries like the former Soviet Union and China that have an ideologically defined negative view of religion. In these and other countries inspired by a Marxist critique of religion, there is a strong ideological divide between religion and politics, and corporate religious freedom is often subordinated to the prerogatives of political organisations.