Secular States and Freedom

A secular state is based on rational humanism and the conviction that individual humans and human societies are capable of self-regulation. Secularity, democracy and freedom are the three pillars of self-regulating, free states. A secular society is not based on any religion, although the right to pursue your own religion, independent of politics and government, is considered to be a basic freedom.

In my other books, I described three fundamental limitations of human cognition: that information and cognitive abilities are unevenly distributed; that each person will display some understanding of some issues but will be otherwise ignorant; that each person acts from a narcissistic assumption that only I am right.

There is little doubt that everything changes and the future cannot be foretold. History will unfold as the play of innate tendencies that will remain the same with new possibilities gained through creativity, invention, innovation and changes in the planet that are beyond our control.

The enlightenment tendency of mind is to open up, to expand beyond limiting local conditions. If any enlightenment tendency survives the rigors of traffic jams, shopping malls and TV news, then there will be tension between the limiting needs of daily existence and a deep and recurrent call to expand beyond local conditions, to open up to the universal properties of mind.

Atonement is the re-integration of many worldly parts into a holy whole.

Epiphany is the transcendence of the little and local mind by achieving atonement. One desirable property of an expanded, atoned mind is compassion.

There are hazards built into the aspiration to be a good person. One hazard is the tendency to act like a good person without becoming a good person. Another hazard is self-righteousness, the tendency to turn good deeds into reasons to feel superior.

Much harm has been inflicted on others by self-righteous people, so that proper self-development must lead to humility and tolerance, not the belligerent imposition of your own views on others.

We have recognized a tense dialectic at work in human minds. The thesis is personal freedom and antithesis is bondage and oppression, acting as competing teams in constant play. Since we often work in the interfaces between being isolated creatures with selfish interests and participation in group activities, there are always tensions that need resolution.

Often, we exaggerate the importance and the autonomy of individual experience and individual action, but we seldom act alone. Each person is an agent of a common understanding both innate and learned. We depend on each other to provide rules of conduct, information, context and meaning. Mostly, we are free to conform to the norms and expectations of the local group and suffer when others find fault with our actions.

A human tendency is to treat only a few other humans well, members of your immediate select group, and to be suspicious of and hostile towards everyone else. Humans can learn to override this tendency and succeed in developing tolerance, even affection for other sentient beings, but this is a difficult task.

Religion for the 21st Century s available in print or download formats. The book is intended for a well-educated smart reader, who is interested in a world view of religious expressions past, present, and future. The main theme is that each religious group has its own  claims and stories and will tend to reject others. A reader committed to one point of view may not accept the egalitarian review presented here. We offer two sources of our books. Persona Digital offers downloads of eBooks, music and other digital documents available to customers all over the world. Click to order  the PDF file from this website (available worldwide). 
Alpha Online ships our printed books to the US and Canada. Order printed book for mail delivery to US and Canada. 

The  Psychology & Philosophy series was developed by Persona Digital Books. All rights to reproduction by any means are reserved. We encourage readers to quote and paraphrase topics from Religion for the 21st Century, 2011 edition, published online and expect  citations to accompany all derivative writings. The author is Stephen Gislason. Persoan Digital is located at Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada.