There is a growing suspicion among many people, both liberal and conservative, that religion is ending.
If true, what replaces it? Most likely, secularism will.
Western philosophy was born in Europe.
It’s also where the largest branch of Christianity developed. Christians believe in worshipping Jesus in order to make it to heaven.
I am a lifelong product of Christian theology. My particular definition of it is you make it to heaven by working at it.
The question I keep asking myself is, have we arrived at a point when the great majority of people living today are leaving religion in favor of embracing secularism as the foundation upon which we go to the next phase of human history?
An argument against secularism is that it is a mere offshoot of Christianity. As the argument goes, secularism strives for progress in science, just as a Christian strives for eternal progress. In Europe, Christianity came before secularism, so the argument grows that secularism is an anemic reinterpretation of Christianity.
That argument is lacking because in Christian Europe and Christian America, secularism is the opposite of religion. That which isn’t religious is secular.
So in what direction am I evolving? The best I can determine is that I’m taking my branch of Christianity, Mormonism, and blending it in with secularism. When asked my affiliation, I say I am a secular Mormon. Which means: I understand that secular and Christian (Mormon) are two opposite terms, which push and pull against each other. Their tension creates a balance.
For the first thirty five years of my religious life I allowed my religious lens to interpret my secular life, and for the last thirty the reverse.
That second phrase of the above sentence is the one with which I am most comfortable.