Secularity
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{{dablink|This article is about the condition of not being specifically religious. For other usages, see the [[Secularity (disambiguation)]] page.}}
'''Secularity''' ('''adjective''' form '''secular''') is the state of being separate from [[religion]].<ref>''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.'' "Secularity". ("1. The condition or quality of being secular. 2. Something secular.")</ref> For instance, eating and bathing may be regarded as examples of secular activities, because there is nothing inherently religious about them. (Note, however, that both eating and bathing are regarded as [[sacraments]] by some religious organizations, and therefore would be religious activities in their worldview.) Saying a [[prayer]] derived from religious text or doctrine, [[worship]]ping through the context of religion, and attending [[Sunday School]] are examples of religious (non-secular) activities. However prayer and meditation are not necessarily non-secular being that the concept of spirituality and higher consciousness are not married solely to any religion but are practiced and arose indepedently across a continuum of cultures.
Most businesses and [[corporations]] are secular organizations. All [[state university system (United States)|state universities]] in the [[United States]] are secular organizations, while some private universities are [[church]]-related; among many, four church-related examples are [[Brigham Young University]], [[University of Notre Dame]], [[Baylor University]], and [[The Catholic University of America]]. The public university system in the United Kingdom is also secular, although many primary and secondary schools are religiously aligned.
One approximate synonym for secular is ''worldly''; another could be phrased as ''neutral in religious matters''. Approximate antonyms for secular are ''religious'' and ''devout''.
Despite occasional confusion, secularity is synonymous neither with [[atheism]] nor [[agnosticism]], both of which are, arguably, religious concepts, since they presume the existence of religion (particularly so with atheism).
==Origin of term==
{{wiktionarypar|secular}}
This word derives from a [[Latin]] word meaning "'''of the age'''". The [[Christianity|Christian]] doctrine that God exists [[eternity|outside of time]] led [[Middle Ages|medieval]] [[Western culture]] to use ''secular'' to indicate separation from religious affairs and involvement in worldly (or time-related) ones. This meaning has been extended to apply to separation from any [[religion]], regardless of whether it has a similar doctrine.
==Modern usage==
Examples of ''secular'' used in this way include:
*''[[Civil authority|Secular authority]]'', which involves legal and military authority as opposed to clerical authority, or matters the church controls.
*''[[Secular clergy]]'' in the [[Roman Catholic Church]], who, traditionally, do not live the [[monastic]] lives of the regular clergy and are therefore, in a sense, less religious and more worldly. For a related Roman Catholic reference, see [[Secular institute]].
*''[[Secular education]]'', schools that are not affiliated with [[churches]] or other [[religious]] organizations.
*''[[Secular state|Secular governments]]'', which follow [[Civil law (common law)|civil law]]s as opposed to religious authorities like the [[Islamic]] [[Shariah]], [[catholicism|Catholic]] [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|Canon law]], or [[Judaism|Jewish]] [[Halakha]], and which do not favor any particular religion.
*''[[Secular Jewish culture]]'', cultural manifestations of Jewishness that are not specifically religious.
*''[[Secular music]]'', composed for general use, as opposed to [[Sacred music]] which is composed for church use. ''Secular sonatas'', in the 17th century, were those which were not composed to be used in church services.
*''Secular Organizations for Sobriety'', a secular alternative to [[Alcoholics Anonymous]], AA being a loosely [[religious]] organization although [[nondenominational]].
*''[[Modern secular society|Secular society]]'' refers to aspects of [[society]] that are not ([[mosque]], [[church]], [[synagogue]])-affiliated.
*''[[Secular spirituality]]'', the pursuit of spirituality without a formal affiliation with a [[church]] or other [[religious]] organization.
*''[[Secular state]]'', a nation that has a secular government.
==Related concepts==
*'''[[Laïcité]]''' is a French concept related to the separation of state and religion, sometimes rendered by the English cognate neologism ''laicity'' and also translated by the words ''secularity'' and ''secularization''. The word ''laïcité'' is sometimes characterized as having no exact English equivalent; it is similar to the more moderate definition of [[secularism]], but is not as ambiguous as that word.
*'''[[Secularism]]''' is an assertion or belief that religious issues should not be the basis of [[politics]], a movement that promotes those ideas or (in the extreme) an [[ideology]] that holds that religion has no place in public life. ''Secularist'' organizations are distinguished from merely ''secular'' ones by their political advocacy of such positions.
*'''Laïcisme''' is the French word that most resembles [[secularism]], especially in the latter's extreme definition, as it is understood by the Catholic Church, which sets ''laïcisme'' in opposition to the allegedly far milder concept of [[laïcité]]. The correspondent word ''laicism'' (also spelled ''laïcism'') is sometimes used in English as a synonym for [[secularism]].
==See also==
* [[Separation of church and state]]
* [[Anticlericalism]]
==External links==
* [http://www.sisr2007.de Conference: Secularity and Religious Vitality]
* [http://www.secularstudents.org Secular Student Alliance]
==Notes==
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[[Category:religion and society]]
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