A secular state is a concept of secularism, whereby a state or country purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion.^[1] A secular state also claims to treat all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and claims to avoid preferential treatment for a citizen from a particular religion/nonreligion over other religions/nonreligion. Secular states do not have a state religion or equivalent, although the absence of a state religion does not guarantee that a state is secular. In addition, secular states are not necessarily communist nations enforcing state atheism on the population by way of religious censorship and persecution.

Secular states become secular either upon establishment of the state (e.g. United States of America or India) or upon secularization of the state (e.g. France or Nepal). Movements for laïcité in France and for the separation of church and state in the United States defined modern concepts of secularism. Historically, the process of secularising 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, freeing up the education system, tolerating citizens who change religion or abstain from religion, and allowing political leadership to come to power regardless of religious beliefs.^[2]

Not all legally secular states are completely secular in practice.

• In France for example, many Christian holy days are official holidays for the public administration, and teachers in Catholic schools are salaried by the state.^[3] In many western European states where secularism has led to a situation that the church depends on the state for its (financial) resources to organise religious worship, the church itself is responsible for providing the "religious content", and educated clergy and lay-persons to exercise their functions. To that effect the church has established a number of secular organisations that manage the finances of the church. Any religious group, and also atheist organisations can apply for the same treatment to the government and receive subsidies usually based on the number of their followers.
• In India, the government gives subsidy in airfare for Muslims going on Haj pilgrimage(See Haj subsidy). In 2007, the government had to spend Rs. 47,454 per passenger.^[4]After considerable pressure from Muslim groups and the Ministry of Minority Affairs, the Congress government in 2010 decided to begin phasing out the Haj subsidy that had been in operation since 1993. The Central Haj Committee of India will work through the Ministry of External Affairs to restructure the Air fares so that the richer Hajis will pay a premium for the poorer pilgirms. The entire restructuring is expected to take about seven years and be completed by 2017.^[5]

Many states that nowadays are secular in practice may have legal vestiges of an earlier established religion. Secularism also has various guises which may coincide with some degree of official religiosity. Thus, in the Commonwealth Realms, the head of state is required to take the Coronation Oath^[6] swearing to uphold the Protestant faith. The United Kingdom also maintains positions in its upper house for 26 senior clergymen of the established Church of England known as the Lords Spiritual (spiritual peers).^[7] While Scotland is part of the United Kingdom, it has no established church, and no religious representation in parliament.

The reverse progression can also occur, a state can go from being secular to a religious state as in the case of Iran where the secularized state of the Pahlavi dynasts was replaced by the Islamic Republic (list below). Over the last 250 years, there has been a trend towards secularism.^[8][9][10]

List of secular countries by continent[link]

States with no state religions   States with state religions   Ambiguous or without data

Africa[link]

•  Angola^[11]
•  Benin^[12]
•  Botswana^[13][14]
•  Burkina Faso^[15]
•  Burundi^[16]
•  Cameroon^[17]
•  Cape Verde^[18]
•  Chad^[19]
•  Democratic Republic of the Congo^[20]
•  Republic of the Congo^[21]
•  Ethiopia^[22]
•  Gabon^[23]
•  The Gambia^[24]
•  Guinea^[25]
•  Guinea-Bissau^[26]
•  Liberia^[27]
•  Mali^[28]
•  Namibia^[29]
•  Senegal^[30]
•  South Africa^[31]

America[link]

•  Brazil^[32]
•  Canada^[33]
•  Chile ^[34]
•  Colombia
•  Cuba^[35]
•  Ecuador
•  Honduras^[36][37]
•  Mexico^[38]
•  Peru
•  Puerto Rico^[39]
•  United States^[40]
•  Uruguay
•  Venezuela

Asia[link]

•  Azerbaijan^[41]
•  People's Republic of China^[42]
•  East Timor ^[43]
•  India^[44]
•  Japan^[45]
•  Kazakhstan^[46]
•  South Korea^[47]
•  Kyrgyzstan^[48]
•  Laos
•  Nepal^[49]
•  Philippines^[50]
•  Singapore (see Declaration of Religious Harmony, which explicitly states the secular nature of society)
•  Syria^[51]
•  Tajikistan
•  Thailand^[52]
•  Turkmenistan^[53][54]
•  Vietnam^[55]

Europe[link]

•  Austria^[56]
•  Albania^[57]
•  Belarus
•  Belgium^[58]
•  Bosnia and Herzegovina^[59]
•  Bulgaria^[60]
•  Czech Republic^[61]
•  Estonia^[62]
•  France^[63]
•  Germany^[64]
•  Georgia^[65]
•  Hungary^[66]
•  Ireland
•  Italy
•  Latvia^[67]
•  Macedonia
•  Netherlands
•  Norway^[68]
•  Poland
•  Portugal
•  Romania^[69]
•  Russia^[70]
•  Serbia^[71]
•  Slovakia^[72]
•  Spain^{[citation needed]}
•  Sweden^[73]
•  Switzerland
•  Turkey^[74]
•  Ukraine

Oceania[link]

•  Australia^[75]
•  Federated States of Micronesia^[76]
•  New Zealand

Former secular states[link]

•  Iran - Became a secular state in 1925 after Reza Pahlavi was installed as Shah. Islam was re-instituted as the state religion in December 1979 following the adoption of a new constitution.^{[citation needed]}
•  Madagascar (1960–2007) Constitution with "laïc" removed

Ambiguous states[link]

•  Argentina - According to Section 2 of the Constitution of Argentina,"The Federal Government supports the Roman Catholic Apostolic religion" but does not stipulate an official state religion, nor a separation of church and state.
•  United Kingdom - The Church of England is the established state religion of England - though not Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales - with members holding seats in the House of Lords as the Lords Spiritual. Traditionally they do not vote, though the potential is there for direct church involvement in law-making decisions over the entire United Kingdom. Parliament is opened with prayers, in the House of Lords usually led by one of the Lords Spiritual and in the Commons by the Speaker's chaplain.^[77] The full term for the expression of the Crown's sovereignty via legislation is the Crown-in-Parliament-under-God. At the coronation, The King or Queen is anointed with consecrated oil by the Archbishop of Canterbury in a service at Westminster Abbey and must swear to maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel, maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law and to maintain and preserve inviolable the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England. Thus though the Church of Ireland is no longer established and the Church of England has been disestablished in Wales to the Church in Wales, the Crown is still bound to protect Protestantism in general in the whole of the United Kingdom by the Coronation Oath and the Bill of Rights, and to protect the Church of Scotland by the Act of Union.^[78] All Members of Parliament must take an oath of allegiance to the Queen upon taking their seat, swearing by almighty god. However there is the option of using the alternative oath, still with the allegiance to the Queen, however with no reference to God and no requirance to put their hand on a Holy Bible. The majority of Members of Parliament use the oath whereby swearing by Almighty God.
•  Indonesia - The first principle of Pancasila, national ideology of Indonesia, stated "belief in the one and only God" (in Indonesian: Ketuhanan yang Maha Esa). A number of different religions are practiced in the country, and their collective influence on the country's political, economical and cultural life is significant.^[79] The Constitution of Indonesia guarantees freedom of religion among Indonesians. However, the government only recognizes six official religions, namely Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.^[80][81] Other religious groups are called kepercayaan (Indonesian: faith), including several indigenous beliefs. Religious studies are compulsory for students from elementary school to high school. Places of worship are prevalent at school and offices. Minister of Religious Affairs responsible for administering and managing government affairs related to religion.^[82]
•  Israel^[83]Claims to be secular, yet has been established as a Jewish state.
•  Finland - Claims to be secular, yet the Church of Finland has the right to collect church tax from its members in conjunction with governmental income taxation. In addition to membership tax, businesses also participate by a way of taxation in contributing financially to the church.

See also[link]

Look up secular in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Civil religion
• Religious police
• Secular education
• Secularism
• Secular religion
• State atheism
• State religion
• Theocracy

Notes[link]

Leslie Cannold

Leslie Cannold, PhD, (born 1 April 1965 in Port Chester, NY) is an author, academic ethicist, columnist, activist, and high-profile Australian public intellectual.

Born and raised in Armonk and Scarsdale, New York, Leslie migrated to Melbourne, Australia in her early twenties.^{[citation needed]} She began writing for The Age as an opinion and education section columnist while raising young children and completing her graduate degrees. She is considered a protege of one of the most influential modern philosophers, Peter Singer, though she does not share his utilitarian views.^{[citation needed]} A twice-published non-fiction author and novelist, Cannold is a familiar voice and face on radio and TV in Australia, discussing ethics, politics, and reproductive rights. In 2005 she was named one of Australia's top twenty public intellectuals by The Age newspaper.^[1] In 2011 Cannold was awarded Australian Humanist of the Year by the Council of Australian Humanist Societies.^[2]

Education and career[link]

Educated at Wesleyan University where she studied psychology and theatre, Leslie completed a Masters degree in Bioethics at Monash University and worked at the Centre for Human Bioethics during Peter Singer's tenure there.^{[citation needed]} She earned her PhD in Education at the University of Melbourne before commencing employment at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics when C.A.J. Coady was director.^[3] As of 2011^[update] she maintains adjunct positions at both universities though she left academic employment in 2006 to pursue writing full-time.^{[citation needed]}

Books and columns[link]

Leslie's fortnightly Moral Dilemma column^[4] has appeared in Sydney's Sunday Sun-Herald since 2007. Prior to that she was an occasional columnist for The Age. Her opinions have also appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, Crikey!, The Herald Sun, ABC The Drum Unleashed, The Courier Mail, and the national broadsheet The Australian. In 2011 she was recognized with an EVA for a Sunday Age opinion piece on sexual assault.^[5]

Her books include the award-winning^[6] The Abortion Myth: Feminism morality and the hard choices women make^[7][8] and What, No Baby?: Why women are losing the freedom to mother and how they can get it back,^[9] which made the Australian Financial Review's top 101 books list.^{[citation needed]} Her first work of fiction, The Book of Rachael,^[10] a historical novel, was published 2011. She publishes on diverse subject areas including grief, circumcision, HIV/AIDS, genetic manipulation, ex utero gestation and regulating Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs). She published chapters in Sperm Wars^[11] (2005) and The Australian Book of Atheism (2010).^[12]

Radio and television work[link]

Leslie's radio and TV appearances include ABC Radio National, triple j, Today Tonight, The 7:30 Report, A Current Affair, The Catch-Up, The Einstein Factor, SBS Insight, 9am with David & Kim, The Circle, Today, and Lateline. For many years she talked life, work and ethics with well-known radio and TV broadcater Virginia Trioli on 774 ABC Melbourne and now appears regularly on Radio 4BC and Deborah Cameron's morning show on 702 ABC Sydney. She is a regular panelist on ABC TV's political talk show Q & A^[13] and is the resident ethicist for Network Ten's The 7pm Project.

Activism[link]

Leslie is President of Reproductive Choice Australia, a national coalition of pro-choice organisations that played a key role in removing the ban on the abortion drug RU486 in 2006 and of Pro Choice Victoria, which was instrumental in the decriminalisation of abortion in Victoria in 2008. She is a Dying with Dignity ambassador for law reform.^[14] In 2011 she co-founded the not-for-profit speaker referral site No Chicks No Excuses.^[15]

Personal life[link]

Cannold self-identifies as a secular Jew.^[16] Her partner is Adam Clarke and together they have two teenage sons.^[17]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Leslie Cannold's website
• Leslie Cannold's Text Publishing page
• Leslie Cannold's No Chicks No Excuses page

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2010)

For the Bangladeshi cricketer of the same name see Shahriar Kabir (cricketer).

Shahriar Kabir (Bengali: শাহরিয়ার কবীর) is a Bangladesh Awamileague Supported Bangladeshi journalist, filmmaker, human rights activist, and author of more than 70 books focusing on human rights, communalism, fundamentalism, history, and the Bangladesh war of independence.

Shahriar Kabir has been imprisoned twice for engaging with anti state position. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his contribution to Bengali literature, he has addressed at least sixty international conferences, seminars, and workshops on issues of peace, communal harmony, and human rights.

Early Life[link]

Kabir after completing his schooling in 1968 with Higher Secondary Certificate in 1968 and formal education. In 1971 Kabir began his journalist career. As a freedom fighter he participated in our liberation-war against the Pakistani occupation force in 1971. After liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistani occupation force Shahriar joined ‘Vichitra’ group- a left leaning Marxism-based liberal group formed centering a popular weekly magazine called ‘Vichitra’ in 1972. There he served as a member of the editorial board ending with Executive Editor in 1992. He was a regular contributor not only of his own Magazine of all important dailies and earned reputation as an analytical and critical columnist. His critical articles created a host friends amongst the humanist liberal and secular circles but equal number of enemies in the establishment as well as among the fundamentalists and communalists.

Championing the cause of Trial of War criminals[link]

As Shahriar was exposing himself as a BAL supported humanist and activist against human rights violation through his writings exposing the ugly desire and design of seizing power by fundamentalist forces to turn secular-liberal democratic Bangladesh into a theocratic state based on fundamental Islamic principles he became one of the principal target of the Islamite force in Bangladesh. Consequentsty as the part of government side to tackle Bangladesh Jammat Islami, a traditional and democratic political party, started Championing.

Shahriar equally invited animosity of the fundamentalists and political elites who believes in autocratic form of governing system based on Islamic principles and pseudo-democracy. His writings and activities exposing the role of fundamentalists led by Jamat e Islami invited added displeasure of the Islamic force who declared him ‘Murtad’, a term meaning a Muslim who has severed his relation from Islam, a term very much despised by an ordinary Muslim. Since the liberation of our country we have been demanding a trial of the Bangladeshi war criminals like Golum Azam, Amir of Jamat e Islami, who collaborated with the Pakistani occupation force against our war of liberation. Shahriar’s voice was loud and clear- he took an active part with many of the distinguished members of the civil society under the leadership Mrs. Jahanara Imam, mother of a guerilla fighter- a Martyr in our war of liberation in the formulation of Public Tribunal which held open trial against these collaborators. The tribunal found many of the accused collaborators including Golum Azam, Amir of Jamat e Islami in Bangladesh was found guilty. The tribunal asked the then sitting government of Bangladesh National Party (BNP) (1992–96) led by Mrs. Khaleda Rahman, preferred to be known as Khaleda Zia, wife of late president General Zia ur Rahman.

This action of trying the accused collaborators in a public tribunal by passing the government system of judiciary antagonized the government of Khaleda Begum. This is because the party in power BNP since its formation in early eighties by late Zia ur Rahman, an army general of Bangladesh army, and sector commander in our liberation war in 1972 was harbouring good relations with the Islamic parties including the Jamaat e Islami. In fact General Zia after assuming power rehabilitated the fundamentalists in the body politic of Bangladesh. Golum Azam was brought back by his initiative, and later on the government of Khaleda Begum did everything to return citizenship to Azam. It was therefore no wonder that public trial of Mr. Azam was taken seriously by the Khaleda government, which was at that time trying to protect the interest of the Jamat chief. All elite of the society involved in the proceedings of the trial including Mr. Shahriar Kabir were arrested by Khaleda government in nineties with sedition charge- all of them were termed as anti-state elements. Although these elite citizens were harassed in public but were not put behind the bar as the learned high court granted bails to them. The case was finally dropped after a couple of years when a new caretaker government came to power under a retired chief justice replacing the BNP government which was forced to resign because of mass uprising against it.

References[link]

• Boi Mela : http://www.boi-mela.com/Booklist.asp?author=169
• Secular Voice : http://www.secularvoiceofbangladesh.org/A_humanisjt_by_Dr_Roy.htm
• IISG: http://www.iisg.nl/news/shahriar1.php
• The Daily Star: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=72130