Secularism facts for kids

The British writer George Jacob Holyoake (1817–1906), coined the term "secularism."

The Italian law professor Alberico Gentili (1552–1608) has been the first to divide the secularism from canon law and Roman Catholic theology.

Secularism, also called Secularity or (adjectives: Secular or non religious) is the idea of something being not religious or not connected to a church. An example of this is the government, which is independent of any religion in many states. In some countries, such as Pakistan, Iran or Saudi Arabia, there is a state religion. In that case, the government follows the state religion. Another example is that of the United States: There, founding fathers such as Thomas Jefferson made a law that religion and government should stay separate. This means that anyone can choose to practice or not practice any religion they want, and the government cannot make them be a part of a religion if they do not want to.

The opposite of this is called Theocracy: In a theocracy the priests of religion are the rulers of the country.

Related pages

• State religion
• Theocracy
• Freedom of religion

See also

In Spanish: Secularismo para niños