1. CONSTRUCTION OF
SECULAR & SACRED
RELIGION
ABDULGAPHOR M. PANIMBANG

2. DEFINITION

3. Secularization
is the transformation of a society from close
identification with religious values and institutions
toward nonreligious (or irreligious) values and
secular institutions

4. Sacred
the state of being holy (perceived by religious
individuals as associated with the divine) or
sacred (considered worthy of spiritual respect or
devotion; or inspiring awe or reverence among
believers in a given set of spiritual ideas)

5. Secularization
• Social theorists such as Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Max
Weber, and Émile Durkheim, postulated that the
modernization of society would include a decline in levels
of religiosity
• In Catholic canon law, the term can also denote the
permission or authorization given for a member of a
religious Order to live outside his or her religious
community or monastery, either for a fixed or permanent
period

6. BACKGROUND

7. Background
 Secularization is sometimes credited both to the
cultural shifts in society following the emergence
of rationality and the development of science as
a substitute for superstition
 Max Weber called this process, "the
disenchantment of the world"

8. Two consequences
1. The collective conscience as defined by
Durkheim is diminished; and
2. Through the fragmentation of communal
activities, religion becomes more a matter of
individual choice rather than an observed social
obligation.

9. Islam and Secularization
 Abdel Wahab Elmessiri (2002) outlined two
meanings of the secularization term
 Partial Secularization: "The separation between religion and
state".
 Complete Secularization: "The separation between all (religion,
moral, and human) values, and (not just the state) but also to (the
human nature in its public and private sides), so that the holiness
is removed from the world, and this world is transformed into a
usable matter that can be employed for the sake of the strong".

10. Secularism has no place in Islam
 Islam is the religion that Allah sent down to
replace the previous manifestations of the faith
and to govern all aspects of life
 Throughout the history of Islam, it never
experienced any amendment or alteration

11. Secularist movements
 In 1924 ,Mustafa Kemal Atatürk led a political and cultural revolution
• The abolition of the Caliphate.
• Religious lodges and Sufi orders were banned.
• A secular civil code was adopted to replace the previous codes based on Islamic
law (shari’a) outlawing all forms of polygamy, annulled religious marriages,
granted equal rights to men and women, in matters of inheritance, marriage and
divorce.
• The religious court system and institutions of religious education were abolished.
• The use of religion for political purposes was banned.
• The article that defined the Turkish state as Islamic was removed from the
constitution.
• The alphabet was changed from Arabic to Roman.
• A portion of religious activity was moved to the Turkish language, including the
Adhan (call to prayer) which lasted till 1950

12. SECULAR LAWS

13. POLYGAMY
Islam Christianity
 “Marry women of your  Many Hindu religious
choice, two, or three, or personalities, according to their
scriptures, had multiple wives
four; but if ye fear that
 In earlier times, Christian men
ye shall not be able to were permitted as many wives
deal justly (with them), as they wished, since the Bible
then only one.” puts no restriction on the
[Al-Qur’an 4:3] number of wives
 Polygyny is permitted in
Judaism

14. PORK FORBIDDEN
Christianity Islam
 “Of their flesh shall ye not  “Forbidden to you (for
eat, and their carcass shall food) are: dead meat,
ye not touch, they are
unclean to you.” [Leviticus
blood, the flesh of
11:7-8] swine, and that on
 “And the swine, because it which hath been
divideth the hoof, yet invoked the name of
cheweth not the cud, it is other than Allah.”
unclean unto you. Ye shall
not eat of their flesh, nor  [Al-Qur’an 5:3]
touch their dead carcass.”
[Deuteronomy 14:8]

15. PROHIBITION OF ALCOHOL
CHRISTIANITY ISLAM
 “Wine is a mocker,  “O ye who believe!
strong drink is raging; Intoxicants and
and whosoever is Gambling, (dedication
deceived thereby is not of) stones, and
wise.” [Proverbs 20:1] (divination by) arrows,
are an Abomination – of
 “And be not drunk with Satan’s handiwork;
wine.” [Ephesians 5:18] eschew such
(abomination), that ye
may prosper.” [Al-
Qur’an 5:90]

16. Questions Please . . . . .