I have spent a lot of time
discussing issues relating to family lately. A lot of persons have asked my
view on the too-many family crises these days. I did not think before I replied
secularism.
What is secularism? The Encarta
Dictionary defines it as:
1. exclusion of religion from
public affairs: the belief that religion and religious bodies should have no
part in political or civic affairs or in running public institutions,
especially schools
2. rejection of religion: the rejection of religion
or its exclusion from a philosophical or moral system. (Microsoft® Encarta®
2009)
By religion, I mean the undiluted
truth as decreed by God. The purpose of this piece is to put a spotlight on the
family institution, which is believed to be the oldest institution on earth and
on morality in general.
Recall that God made our first
parents and performed a wedding for them by ceremonially bringing the woman to
the man and settling them in the Paradise of Eden. So who, other than the Institutor
of the marriage arrangement, has the ability and right to issue practical
guidance on successful marriage? What is the result when people secularise
marriage? The answers are obvious.
It should not come as a surprise
that more and more marriages are deeping into crises and breaking up. As the
world goes increasingly secular, and more and more family members style their
families after their personal preferences and the moral bankruptcy of the day,
the inevitable will result.
Take this as an example. How do
you manage the devastation of a girl who learns that the man who lives with her
daddy is not her uncle or daddy’s friend but her mother? How can you bring her
to comprehend why the mums of all her friends are females while hers is
absurdly a male? How can she live with such an identity crises for the rest of
her life? What world view would such a girl have of the roles of both sexes in
the society?
This is just one area in which there will be
conflicts if secularism takes the centre stage. There are so many other examples
to provide.