A Step Toward Rational Secularism Is Better than None

A number of secularists have criticized my article, “The Shapiro Principle,” and I’d like briefly to address their objections.

The article (a) applauds Ben Shapiro’s recognition of the fact that religious people should be able to make secular arguments in support of the ideas they accept, (b) names this idea the Shapiro Principle, and (c) urges pro-liberty religionists and secularists alike to embrace this idea and thus to form a unified, reason-based movement in support of freedom, individual rights, and capitalism.

What’s not to like about that?

Some say that, because the Shapiro Principle contradicts the essence of religion and yet was stated by a religionist, we shouldn’t take the principle seriously, much less praise it. Others say that religionists can’t embrace reason because they are by definition committed to faith; thus trying to persuade them by trumpeting this principle is hopeless. Still others say that the idea is not original to Shapiro, that it is a basic and long-standing principle of rhetoric, and thus that it should not be called the Shapiro Principle.

A few clarifying questions:

If the first step that a religious person must take in order to begin transitioning to a fully rational, fully secular worldview is to acknowledge that he should be able to support his beliefs with reason, evidence, and logic, then is it better for him to take that first step—or not to take it? . . .

About Craig Biddle

Craig is cofounder and editor of The Objective Standard, cofounder and director of education at Objective Standard Institute, and executive director of Prometheus Foundation. He is the author of Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts that Support It; Rational Egoism: The Morality for Human Flourishing; and the forthcoming Moral Truths Your Parents, Preachers, and Teachers Don’t Want You to Know. He is currently working on his fourth book, “Thinking in Principles.”

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