Rational Secularism asserts the exclusive supremacy of reason above all other forms of knowledge, therefore seeks to eliminate, reduce or control other sources of moral influence. This most always includes religion, but can also extend to educational systems and the personal experiences of citizens through active state supervision or restricting individual rights to travel, right to information, communicate, associate, protest and practice their religious beliefs, either publicly or privately. It was most popular form of Secularism of the twentieth century.
Turkey and France, much like the US, created a strong line between public and private spaces and are committed to democratic principles and freedom of conscience. However, they are both more appropriately classified as Rational Secular states for more strictly protecting the public sphere from religious influence. This characteristic stems from their common problem of having much such stronger institutional churches from which to seperate.
France and America share a period of revolutionary history, but France differed significantly in 1789 because it's "Church" was not hundreds of competing Protestant Churches vying for political status, but the hegemonic and powerful Catholic Church. Consequently, many attempts to implement Romantic Secularism, which champions individual freedom of conscience, failed and stronger measures on behalf of the state were required to free individuals.
In 1789, France confiscated church property, auctioned most of it off, and then handed the rest over to the laymen who would form new cultural associations, which the government recognized as secular institutions. This meant that the clergy were now under state supervision, and their positions were now determined by popular vote. Further, the clergy was asked to swear allegiance to the Constitution above their allegiance to the Church, clearly infringing upon what we now understand to be freedom of conscience. The constitutional changes were short-lived but would resurface in the French laws of Separation of Church and State of 1905, which remains the longest enduring example of Rational Secularism. France's attempts to establish a secular nation spanned 116 years, and serves as the bridge from Romantic Secularism to Rational Secularism.
More recently, this secular bias against religion, was expressed in the widespread acceptance of a law that restricts freedom of conscience, in the 2004 law Secularity and Conspicuous Religious Symbols, that disallows Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses from being worn in public schools. The primary rationale was that many young girls were donning the scarves out of peer or parental pressure. This law was passed by an overwhelming majority of the French National Assembly (496-36).
In January 2010, the French government considered a partial ban on any veils that cover the face including the burqa on public transportation, universities and hospitals. President Sarkozy said the issue is one of a woman's freedom and dignity, and did not have to do with religion, but clearly this contradicts the key tenet of Romantic Secularism which seeks to protect the individual's freedom of conscience.
Such a move by France, to ban the public wearing of religious symbols, would make its policies consistent with those in Turkey. The secular government in Turkey first asserted its Rational Secular nature by abolishing the Caliphate in 1924. The secular constitution in Turkey states that it is "neutral towards religion" but also claims to be "actively neutral", meaning that it can legitimately use state force to keep religion out of the public sphere. Like revolutionary France, the Turkish state directly supervises the activities and communications of the clergy of the largest religious population of Sunni Muslims.
A key aspect of Turkish Secularism is it's express revolutionary nature and strong secular military. Again because of the strong, four hundred years of hegemonic Islamic political control, strong state controls were deemed justified. Not surprisingly, Turkey has experienced a strong religious resurgence since the 1980's.
Communism is the most extreme example of Rational Secularism. Communism is based on the rational theory that economic equality is the only political foundation that can provide for genuine human freedom. It was originally proposed by Karl Marx and its dogmatic nature is best expressed by his quotation “The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism.”
Consequently, under communist regimes, both religion and human
rights are legitimately suppressed by law. Rational Secularism is most
similar to Absolute Monotheism as both must control education, the flow of
information, freedom of association and non-government organizations in
order to be successful.
They tend to thrive off of each other's excessive, absolute truth claims.
The similarity
in their approaches is easiest to appreciate by
comparing the three assumptions of Rational Secularism with Absolute
Monotheism:
1.
There is only one moral truth;
2.
Reason, not revelation, is the only legitimate path to that universal
moral
truth;
3. Reasoning, by the proletariat and based on the
assumption that economic equality was the greatest political goal, is the only legitimate
path to
a morally just world.
As history has shown, Soviet
Communism was defeated on each level of commitment:
1. There was more than one truth. No one could live with the
truth of communism, least of all its leaders. George Orwell said it best in
Animal Farm: “All animals are created equal, but some are more equal
than others";
2.
The resilience of religious beliefs suggests the moral truth in the
surviving churches to be at least as
compelling, if not superior to the rational values of communism;
3. Many citizens continually risked their lives to live in freedom, providing contrary empirical evidence to the theory that economic equality was a universal political truth and efficient path to justice.
Reaction to monotheism’s religious
dogma set off a chain of equally dogmatic rational
claims, hence producing equally violent and abusive regimes. Monotheism was
the first dogmatically countered by Communism, which was then itself challenged by the even
more dogmatic Axis Powers of WWII. The Anti-Comintern Pact signed by Germany
and Japan in 1936, and Italy in 1937 was designed to counter to the absolute
truth claims of Communism:
"Recognizing that the aim of the
Communist International, known as the Comintern, is to disintegrate and
subdue existing States by all the means at its command; convinced that the
toleration of interference by the Communist
International in the internal
affairs of the nations not only endangers their internal peace and social
well‑being, but is also a menace to the peace of the world desirous of
co‑operating in the defense against Communist
subversive activities.
Countering the universal truth claims of Marxism, on the basis of the supremacy of the Aryan race, the Nazi regime quickly became the most repugnant form of Rational Secularism for murdering between 11-17 million people (Jewish, homosexual, disabled, Polish, Romani, Soviet, Marxist, clergy, and intellectual) on the common rationale that by even existing, they challenged the truth of German superiority or Hitler’s right to absolute rule. Hitler’s rationalization was that he could prove Aryan superiority if he could just first eliminate all these ‘obstacles’.
The American equivalent can be found in the white nationalism advocated by
the Ku Klux Klan. All Rational Secularists ultimately
align their ideas with God’s
will, which is universal of course, and therefore the right thing to do
becomes killing anyone who challenges the universality of their ideas:
Right=might, therefore might=right. Rationalizing is reasoning but with the
cause and effect completely reversed.
Legitimate concerns with monotruistic claims include how easily they may be abused by political rhetoric that prey on of feelings of inferiority and despair. Dogmatists are those who subscribe exclusively to either reason or religion as the only means of knowing truth, with a simultaneous commitment to one absolute truth.
Dogmatists will insist upon the universality of their version of
truth by cynically dismissing dissenters as morally deficient,
blasphemous, uneducated, too vulnerable to admit the reality of their own
situations, opiate-addicted or evil, therein justifying violence or
oppression in the name of progress, equality, nationalism, God, peace, or
civilization. Rational Secularism is especially prone to fail when it
advances a theory of human nature that is only validated by the experiences
of a limited population, the extreme example being a dictator basing his
reasoning solely on his own subjective desires and experiences.
The dogmatic forms of both Absolute
Monotheism and Rational Secularism have justified the most horrible wars to
“prove” their universal claims. However, we must remain vigilant against
milder forms. Rational Secularism has re-emerged with the new atheists of
Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. The new atheists see
religion as irreconcilable with moral truth, fundamentally flawed and
nothing but an obstacle to peace. New atheists would limit the freedom of
conscience/religion if they had a significant political following. Once
again this defensive movement is responding to the violence of
absolute monotheists—but it is critical not to make the same mistakes as the
last set of Rational Secularists. This can be done by trying to understand
the positive allure of monotheism, while remaining wary of its violent
potential. This brings us to
Postmodern Secularism which tries to avoid the
danger of absolute truth claims by constitutionalizing diversity.