Advocates of secularism believe that religion must be separated from the affairs of the state, in order to guarantee individual freedom against the imposition of any rules or law that is based on a particular religious belief. This view has been challenged by its opponents who believe that secularism is inherently dangerous because it rejects the moral and ethical foundation of society, hence creating a moral void.
Secularism is dangerous because it does not recognise the important role of religion in providing moral guidance to the society. Because of the secularists insistence that religion be removed from the public sphere, religious values are no longer considered in making ethical decisions, leaving the individuals to their own devices without a shared moral framework to guide their actions. When absolute standards of right and wrong as provided by religion is no longer accepted moral relativism, where anything goes, becomes the new norm. A society that does not have a strong moral foundation, can easily descend into chaos when individuals are left to pursue their own self-interest without regard for the greater good.
In Europe, where secularism has been fervently cherished, promoted and defended, traditional values and cultural norms rooted in religious teachings have lost their significance because religion is denied access to public sphere. With the rapid dissemination and acceptance of secular thinking these values are quickly eroding and with that a cohesive societal framework is gone. This is the cause of the breakdown of social norms and the disintegration of societal cohesion, which in turn leads to fragmentation and division.
While secularism is promoted by its advocates as the ultimate solution to bigotry and intolerance purportedly caused by an organised religion, namely Christianity, the outcome might be the very danger that secularism seeks to eradicate, totalitarianism. The rise of totalitarianism is to be expected because with the absence of religious values and an ethical foundation, the state will replace religion as the ultimate authority on moral matters. And when the state imposed its own particular set of beliefs, religious oppression is now changed to another oppression sanctioned by a secular oppressive regime and individual freedom remains elusive as ever.
Another negative consequence of secularism which is often overlooked by many is its potential as a dehumanising force because in a secular society individuals are no longer considered as inherently valuable while according to many religions human beings are believed to be inherently noble and dignified. Secular worldview is responsible for reducing man to mere biological or economic entities, and such a conception of man is the underlying reason why human life is no longer respected as it used to be and why the worth of an individual is determined purely by his usefulness as a citizen of a secular state, not as a human being.
In conclusion, while every person aspires freedom and thinks that equal rights should be granted to all, the basic philosophical problem that has to be answered remains, namely: what is goodness? And how can we know it? Secularism, having been born from the womb of Western Civilisation, has indeed evolved to become just another religion and with that a new kind of injustice and oppression emerges. So, secularisation has now been admitted as a failed philosophical project, and with that the Western Civilisation is gradually losing its influence and world leadership. Nevertheless, the appeal of secularism remains strong while its danger is not yet recognised even by the educated class, let alone the general public. In this regard, the Muslims have a crucial role to play, namely, saving the mankind from the darkness of ignorance and confusion which is indicated by moral degradation leading to widespread corruption. Secularism itself is a corrupt ideology camouflaged as an agenda of promoting freedom and protecting human rights. But freedom and human rights are not possible without having certainty of the meaning and ultimate purpose of life because a truly free person is he who knows the truth and lives by it.
