Say, Hemant, do you have a Myspace?

I do! The link is in the sidebar on the right… and right here.

Where am I getting with this. I don’t know. I have no clue what so ever. Um… Yeah. I’ll shut up.

You sent me a message on Myspace awhile back, but I can’t seem to find it….

I am trying to get something cleared up in my mind. According to my fundamentalist Christian teachers, secular and atheist are synonyms. From your website, this appears to be a good viewpoint. The more liberal flavors of Christianity seem to define secular as anything except fundamentalist Christianity. Is either of those viewpoints correct? Or perhaps they are identical? Or is there something else?

Hi Looney– There is a very big difference between these words. They’re not the same at all. A long explanation can be found here.

Here’s the shorter explanation. Atheism is about not believing in God. Secular is about not having a point of view on the matter; God doesn’t come into play.

So when atheists say we should have a “secular” government, that means God should not play a role in our government. It does *not* mean we’re advocating a government that says there is no God (or something like that).

Similarly, our schools should be secular. We should not be teaching that we should not believe in God; rather, we should keep God out of the question. Let religious teaching stay confined to home and church.

Many conservative Christians see this latter view as an atheist view, since God is not being mentioned in school. But there is a big difference between not bringing up God and saying that God doesn’t exist.

Learning Calculus is secular. Being a cop is secular. Playing soccer is secular. They have nothing to do with God. They are not atheistic, though.

Hope that helps.

I am trying to get something cleared up in my mind. According to my fundamentalist Christian teachers, secular and atheist are synonyms. From your website, this appears to be a good viewpoint. The more liberal flavors of Christianity seem to define secular as anything except fundamentalist Christianity. Is either of those viewpoints correct? Or perhaps they are identical? Or is there something else?

Thanks.