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Information about Secular State

A secular state is a state or country that is officially neutral in matters of religion, neither supporting nor opposing any particular religious beliefs or practices. A secular state also treats all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and does not give preferential treatment for a citizen from a particular religion over other religions. Most often it has no state religion or equivalent. If there is a state religion, this should have only a symbolic meaning, not affecting the ordinary life of its citizens, and especially not making any distinction based on someone's religion.

A secular state is defined as protecting freedom of religion as pursued in state secularism. It is also described to be a state that prevents religion from interfering with state affairs, and prevents religion from controlling government or exercising political power. Laws protect each individual including religious minorities from discrimination on the basis of religion.

A secular state is not an atheistic state (e.g. Albania under Enver Hoxha), in which the state officially opposes all religious beliefs and practices. In some secular states, there can be a huge majority religion in the population (e.g. Turkey) and in others there may be great religious diversity (e.g. India). Secular states become secular either upon establishment of the state (e.g. United States) or upon secularization of the state (e.g. France). Movements for laïcité in France and for the separation of church and state in the United States of America began the evolution of the present secular states. Historically, the process of secularizing states typically involves granting religious freedom, disestablishing state religions, stopping public funds to be used for a religion, freeing the legal system from religious control, opening up the education system, tolerating citizens who change religion, and allowing political leadership to come to power regardless of religious beliefs. Public holidays that were originally religious holidays and other traditions are not necessarily affected, and public institutions become safe from being used and abused by religion.

Not all legally secular states are completely secular in practice. In France for example, lots of Christian holidays are official vacations for public administration, and teachers in Catholic schools are salaried by the state [1].

Many states are often considered secular where the term is not, in fact, completely applicable. Secularism has various grades of intensity. Thus, in the UK, the head of state is required to take the Coronation Oath [2] swearing to uphold the Protestant faith. The UK also maintains positions in its upper house for 26 senior clergymen of the established Church of England known as the Spiritual Peers. [3] It can therefore not be fully considered a secular state.

The reverse progression can also occur, a state can go from being secular to a theocracy as in the case of Iran where the secularizing state of the Pahlavi dynasts was replaced by the Islamic Republic (list below). Although there are elements such as those in the United States which would exert pressure to make it an officially Christian nation, Turkey an Islamic state, etc., such pressure groups are presumed to have little chance of effecting similar revolutions in any advanced country.

Since at one time all states had official religions and as the map above shows that the situation has essentially been reversed over the last 250 years, it may be concluded that the global secular trend is toward secularism in the modern period.

Contradictions in Secular States

Some states that claim secularism or have secularism written into a constitution or law have some contradictions where religion intrudes into government. India has political parties which are linked to fundamentalist religious organizations and 'personal laws' that vary depending on the religious of the particular community.[4] In the USA the president will often hold a Bible while taking the oath of office[1] and add 'so help me God' to the end of the oath, although he is not required to do either by law. The Pledge of Allegiance contains the controversial phrase 'one Nation under God'[2]. The USA also has many religiously motivated political lobby groups including the Family Research Council[3], Christian Voice[4] and Christian Coalition of America who aim to 'change policy and influence decisions - from the school boards to Washington, DC'[5]

List of secular states

The following is an incomplete list of officially secular states as of 2007:

Africa

Americas

Asia

Europe

Oceania

List of former secular states

  • Bangladesh - Proclaimed a secular republic upon independence in 1971, President Hossain Ershad instituted Islam as state religion by the eight amendment to the constitution (passed in June 1988), citing the need to do so to combat any rise in fundamentalist and/or extremist militant movements.
  • Iran - Became a secular state in 1925 after Reza Pahlavi was installed as Shah. Islam was re-insituted as state religion in December 1979 following the adoption of a new constitution.
  • Iraq (Chapter 1, Article 2 of the 2005 Constitution, constitution is subject to review by the Constitutional Review Committee and a possible public referendum in 2007)
  • Madagascar (1960-2007) Constitution with "laïc" removed
  • Pakistan - Was a secular state from 1947 until the proclamation of an Islamic republic in 1956.

Notes

1. ^ Richard Teese, Private Schools in France: Evolution of a System, Comparative Education Review, Vol. 30, No. 2 (May, 1986), pp. 247-259 (English)
2. ^ Coronation Oath
3. ^ Different types of Lords
4. ^ Needham, Anuradha Dingwaney; Rajeswari Sunder Rajan (2006). The Crisis of Secularism in India. Duke University Press, pp. 40. ISBN 0822338467. 
5. ^ US governmental report (International Religious Freedom Report 2005) (English)

See also

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A state is a political association with effective dominion over a geographic area. It usually includes the set of institutions that claim the authority to make the rules that govern the people of the society in that territory, though its status as a state often depends in part on
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In political geography and international politics, a country is a political division of a geographical entity, a sovereign territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation and government.
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religion is a set of common beliefs and practices generally held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and mystic experience.
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state religion (also called an official religion, established church or state church) is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state. Practically, a state without a state religion is called a secular state.
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Freedom of religion is a guarantee by a government for freedom of belief for individuals and freedom of worship for individuals and groups. It is generally recognized to also include the freedom not to follow any religion.
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Secularism is generally the assertion that certain practices or institutions should exist separately from religion or religious belief. Alternatively, it is a principle of promoting secular ideas or values in either public or private settings.
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Atheism

Concepts
ReligionNontheism
AntireligionAntitheism
AgnosticismHumanism
Metaphysical naturalism
Weak and strong atheism
Implicit and explicit atheism
History
History of atheism
EnlightenmentFreethought

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Motto
Ti Shqipëri më jep nder më jep emrin shqipëtar ( Albania give me honor, give me the Albanian name.)
Anthem
Rreth flamurit të përbashkuar''
("United Around the Flag")

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Enver Hoxha   (help info ) , (IPA /ɛn'vɛɾ 'hɔʤa/
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Motto
Yurtta Sulh, Cihanda Sulh
Peace at Home, Peace in the World
Anthem
İstiklâl Marşı
The Anthem of Independence
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This page is currently protected from editing until disputes have been resolved.
Protection is not an endorsement of the current [ version] ([ protection log]).
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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Secularization or secularisation generally refers to the process of transformation by which a society migrates from close identification with religious institutions to a more separated relationship.
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Motto
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
Anthem
"La Marseillaise"


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laïcité (pronounced /la.i.si'te/), Turkish: laiklik, Italian: laicità or laicismo, is the concept of a secular state
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Separation of church and state is a political and legal doctrine which states that government and religious institutions are to be kept separate and independent of one another.
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The word holiday has related but different meanings in English-speaking countries. A contraction of holy and day, holidays originally represented special religious days. This word has evolved in general usage to mean any special day of rest (as opposed to regular days of rest such
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The Lords Spiritual of the United Kingdom, also called Spiritual Peers, consist of the 26 clergymen of the established Church of England who serve in the House of Lords along with the Lords Temporal.
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Anthem
Sorūd-e Mellī-e Īrān ²


Capital
(and largest city) Tehran

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History of Iran 

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An Islamic republic, in its modern context, has come to mean several different things, some contradictory to others. Theoretically, to many religious leaders, it is a state under a particular theocratic form of government advocated by some Muslim religious leaders in the Middle
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interest group (also called an advocacy group, lobbying group, pressure group (UK), or special interest) is a group, however loosely or tightly organized, doing advocacy: those determined to encourage or prevent changes in public policy without trying to
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In statistics, a secular trend in a time series is the long-term upward or downward trend in the numbers, as opposed to a smaller cyclical variation with a periodic and short-term duration.
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Secularism is generally the assertion that certain practices or institutions should exist separately from religion or religious belief. Alternatively, it is a principle of promoting secular ideas or values in either public or private settings.
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The oath or affirmation of office of the President of the United States was established in the United States Constitution and is mandatory for a President upon beginning a term of office.
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The Pledge of Allegiance is a promise or oath of allegiance to the United States as represented by its national flag. It is commonly recited in unison at public events, and especially in public school classrooms, where the Pledge is often a morning ritual.
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The Family Research Council (FRC) is a Christian right non-profit think tank and lobbying organization. It was formed in the United States by James Dobson in 1981 and incorporated in 1983. The group was designed to be a lobbying force for conservative legislation on Capitol Hill.
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Christian Voice is the name of two organizations:
  • Christian Voice (UK), A UK Christian organization
  • Christian Voice (USA), an American conservative Christian advocacy group

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Christian Coalition of America -- originally called the Christian Coalition, Inc. -- is a US Christian political advocacy group, which includes Christian fundamentalists, evangelicals, neo-evangelicals, charismatics, Roman Catholics and members of mainline Protestant churches.
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Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,221,532 km² (11,668,545 sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.4% of the total land area.
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