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The Copenhagen Declaration on Religion in Public Life
The recent Gods and Politics conference in Copenhagen adopted a “Declaration on Religion in Public Life.” The conference was the first European event of Atheist Alliance International, and was co-hosted by AAI and the Danish Atheist Society.
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Posted by veronica on 06/30 at 06:28 PM
Not bad.
Just one question:
"History has shown that the most successful societies are the most secular. "
And vice versa?
Posted by postfuturist on 06/30 at 08:14 PM
"History has shown that the most successful societies are the most secular." As long as you point out an anomaly such as Pol Pot's Cambodia, which a bland declaration from Copenhagen wont do.
Posted by Arghtheist on 07/01 at 09:31 AM
And this declaration is supposed to be necessary - today? Is it 2010 or 1010?
Posted by Brendan Foht on 07/01 at 09:34 AM
One way of looking at the Cold War might be as a struggle between extreme secularism and moderate secularism, with the moderately secular side plainly winning. I suppose this depends on how you define 'secular'; if you define it as 'religious freedom', then obviously the democratic side was more secular. But it seems like the definition of secular really ought to be the extent to which religion is excluded from public affairs, in which case it seems that the communist side was arguably far more dedicated to secularism.
Posted by Richard Eskow on 07/01 at 03:05 PM
As someone who has tangled - sometimes quite publicly - with some New Atheist leaders over unproven social science assumptions, I can honestly say there is nothing in this statement I could not endorse happily.
I would, however, have to agree with the commenter that this sentence - "History has shown that the most successful societies are the most secular" - may be subject to challenge.
I certainly disagreed with Sam Harris' statement that Buddhist (and therefore non-theistic) countries are less violent than theistic ones. The top ten Buddhist countries in the world (by percentage of population) include Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Cambodia ... shall I continue? Social and military violence are caused by many factors.
That said - excellent statement.
Posted by postfuturist on 07/01 at 10:54 PM
"I certainly disagreed with Sam Harris' statement that Buddhist (and therefore non-theistic) countries are less violent than theistic ones." Repressed societies can contain latent violence, Pol Pot being the most obvious example; Cambodians attempted to keep their cool, but it went bad, very bad. I noticed that very civil Midwestern-American Scandics often bottle up their anger, and become Lutherans-- or somesuch 
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