challenge of secularism

• Freud

  religion is a human construct - illusion

  religion is wish-fulfilment - a reflection of our subconscious projecting into our conscious minds

  Religion is created by the mind to help us overcome:

  The external forces of nature.

  The internal forces of nature.

  The need for a father figure.
• Dawkins

  teapot sun analogy

  Dawkins likens belief in God to randomly supposing that there is a teapot circling the sun (an example that was first used by Bertrand Russell).

  Dawkins believes that there is simply no reason to believe in God’s existence and plenty of contrary evidence such as the existence of evil.

  Philosophical arguments for the problem of evil as disproving God’s existence come from Mackie and, originally, Epicurus.
• Dawkins

  Dawkins acknowledges: “I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.”

  Dawkins has creationists in mind, who believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible and think that evolution is false.

  
  

  Dawkins is weary of Christian fundamentalism - harms scientific advancement

  • religion is dangerous - divides us and creates misery and wars
• Faith schools

  Christopher Dawson’s essay The Challenge of Secularism argues that secular education is problematic. Dawson points out that where education systems were consciously anti-religious (meaning deliberately avoiding religion), such as in communist countries, that religion becomes endangered. Removing religion from culture, art, architecture, music not only deprives religion but also people who are trying to make sense of their own culture.