What do we mean by secular?

From Westminster Magazine:

What comes to mind when you hear the word “secular”? Godlessness? Anti-religious sentiment? Apathy toward faith? Our world is often labeled secular, but when pressed we may not know what that really means. In Charles Taylor’s magisterial work, A Secular Age, he offers a definition and explanation that I’ve found insightful and helpful. It’s been insightful because it shows me how to understand the modern Western world I live in—a place where belief in God has been let go in the wind behind culture and popular discourse, drifting in the trees in back of our words and actions. It’s helpful because it suggests how I might talk to people who desperately need the God I love and worship. And that all comes down to a question we might ask any human being: what do you choose?...continue reading