Much ado about Secularism
Secularism is a word that you need to tread on carefully. In the classical sense, secularism is the separation of ‘Church’ and ‘State.’ Indeed, some aspect of secularism includes the separation of religion and state; however, this does not encompass the entire concept. When we talk about secularism we need to consider one crucial aspect of it: we need to consider the extent to which secularism can free us from dogma. The latter is fundamental because often religion becomes a placeholder for some other ideology or authority that can plunge society back into political instability. Religion is a placeholder for politicians to subjugate our free will to their consent. Placeholders can have other forms: We see this in Marxism, where the dogma lies in the communal state. We see this in Capitalism, where dogma lies in imperialism and money. True freedom can be accrued from secularism when citizens have the freedom to determine the welfare of their nation without succumbing to an ideology, faction, or sect. The Palestinian scholar Edward Said captures a crux of Secularism that, in my opinion, would give genuine freedom to the people of a nation: The goal of mankind should be “not only to understand oneself but to understand oneself in relation to others and to understand others as if you would understand yourself.”
I would hope that Secularism could be a means for mankind to achieve such a goal. I believe it is something that we can achieve in Lebanon in the future. I don’t think I can say that it can be real at this point in time because we are so politically paralysed. It can be real in the future, but only if the mindset of Lebanese citizens is changed. More specifically, in our mindsets must accept to question the dogmas enforced on us by political leaders. Once we are able to question, we have made a step forward towards true and free secularism.
Changing the mindset of the people, in order to achieve secularism in the future, is largely a responsibility that falls on Lebanese youth. My message to Lebanese youth is to read, question, and use reason to understand what the media, and politicians at large, are telling you. I also urge Lebanese youth to realise that our government, and its underlying sects, fear us the most. They often make us believe that we must fear ISIS, Iran, the United States, the Saudis, etc... be sure that this is only a distraction. The entity that the custodians of the political system fear the most is us because once we abandon their dogmas they can no longer coerce us into their political agendas.
Nour Chehabeddine
Secularism is a word that you need to tread on carefully. In the classical sense, secularism is the separation of ‘Church’ and ‘State.’ Indeed, some aspect of secularism includes the separation of religion and state; however, this does not encompass the entire concept. When we talk about secularism we need to consider one crucial aspect of it: we need to consider the extent to which secularism can free us from dogma. The latter is fundamental because often religion becomes a placeholder for some other ideology or authority that can plunge society back into political instability. Religion is a placeholder for politicians to subjugate our free will to their consent. Placeholders can have other forms: We see this in Marxism, where the dogma lies in the communal state. We see this in Capitalism, where dogma lies in imperialism and money. True freedom can be accrued from secularism when citizens have the freedom to determine the welfare of their nation without succumbing to an ideology, faction, or sect. The Palestinian scholar Edward Said captures a crux of Secularism that, in my opinion, would give genuine freedom to the people of a nation: The goal of mankind should be “not only to understand oneself but to understand oneself in relation to others and to understand others as if you would understand yourself.”
I would hope that Secularism could be a means for mankind to achieve such a goal. I believe it is something that we can achieve in Lebanon in the future. I don’t think I can say that it can be real at this point in time because we are so politically paralysed. It can be real in the future, but only if the mindset of Lebanese citizens is changed. More specifically, in our mindsets must accept to question the dogmas enforced on us by political leaders. Once we are able to question, we have made a step forward towards true and free secularism.
Changing the mindset of the people, in order to achieve secularism in the future, is largely a responsibility that falls on Lebanese youth. My message to Lebanese youth is to read, question, and use reason to understand what the media, and politicians at large, are telling you. I also urge Lebanese youth to realise that our government, and its underlying sects, fear us the most. They often make us believe that we must fear ISIS, Iran, the United States, the Saudis, etc... be sure that this is only a distraction. The entity that the custodians of the political system fear the most is us because once we abandon their dogmas they can no longer coerce us into their political agendas.
Nour Chehabeddine