The Secular Outlook

This book makes a refreshing change from the vituperative polemics of some new atheist writers, and has a more modest agenda, namely to show how religious believers and unbelievers can live peacefully together and how the state should stimulate its citizens in order to achieve social harmony and social cohesion. His secularism contends that the best way of dealing with religious differences is a morally neutral vocabulary, and that we can all share a morality that is not based on religion, as also suggested by Hans Kung's global ethic, which does not in fact feature here. Values are regarded as essential to the identity of civilisation. The structure of the book reflects the elements of a secular outlook, namely the history of atheism, free thought as criticism of religion and as freedom of expression, and the implications of moral and political secularism. The book is exceptionally well-informed and provides the reader with copious historical background as well as political discussion. It is also firmly planted in European soil, describing the contributions of key enlightenment figures on the continent such as Voltaire and earlier thinkers such as Spinoza. It is a level-headed contribution to an important debate about how best to address religious fundamentalism and political fanaticism.