The Difficulty with Differences: Trying to Understand Religion

John and Jane were so interested in the topic of secularism that they decided to take the course, Secularism and its Discontents. After a few weeks into the course they started to e-mail each other their thoughts on the subject. Here is a record of their e-mails:

JOHN: I feel like I may have been a little harsh in calling Muslims "Medieval-like religious fanatics" but it does seem like societies with strong religious cultures are lagging in the process of secularization. The western world has advanced farther than the non-western world. I agree with Peter Berger's idea that the world has been advancing toward less religion. He says that the seed of "disenchantment" (113) with religion was planted with the conventional morality and permeation of "non-sacred" (115) objects in the Old Testament and blossomed with the advent of Protestantism which "divested itself [of] mystery, miracle, and magic." (111) Secularism cannot be fought because the world today is increasingly scientific and the human mind yearns ever more for fact and truth over mystique and religion. Berger explains the inevitability of the triumph of secularism when he says that "the religious legitimacies of the world have lost their plausibility...for broad masses of entire societies." (124)

When I look at the conflicts in the Middle East, I see it as a conflict between the religious and the secular forms of governing. In this modern age of increased equality and technological advancement, religious leaders as heads of government seem backwards and not beneficial to the people they lead. How can a government be tolerant if it is dominated by the beliefs of one religion?