Tuesday 16 August 2005

Is there a “secular worldview”?

Today many Christian theologians and apologists speak of a “Christian worldview.” Often this worldview is vigorously defended and asserted, while the inroads of various “secular worldviews” are just as vigorously denounced. I suggested in an earlier post that there is no such thing as a “Christian worldview.” And it’s also worth asking whether there is such a thing as a “secular worldview.”

What is meant by “secular worldview”? The very term is a tautology—if something is a view-of-the-world then it obviously relates to the saeculum (world), and is thus saecularis (secular; pertaining to the world). A “secular worldview,” then, is simply a worldview. And any worldview is, by definition, secular.

I think it’s therefore senseless for Christians to condemn any worldview simply because it is “secular”—just as it would be senseless to condemn a university for being “academic,” or a cat for being “feline.”

3 Comments:

XX said...

I believe that yes there is a secular worldview and that in a secular society the world is not appreciated or respected as much as in a Christian worldview. Christians and secular worldviews both exist.

XX said...

Cats are felines also. Weirdo.

Anonymous said...

Though, technically true, your definition is at odds with the common usage of the word to convey the idea that Christian culture is counter to the world's culture.

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