Secular - frequently used, frequently abused.
It's somehow become shorthand for atheist or, at the very least, being deliberately free from 'God talk.' Thus Carmen Lawrence's recent opinion piece was subtly titled
Keep God out of our democracy. (She may not have been responsible for the title, of course.)
Lawrence's piece speaks of some members of parliament as 'dissenters defending the secular nature of our democracy' by remaining outside the chamber during a general prayer and the
Lord's prayer. I've read this kind of thing before and will do so again. No one who pens such a view ever considers the fact that those who framed Australia's secular constitution knew secular and prayer co-exist. This Lawrence-style argument is self-defeating: 'we're defending our true secular origin, and that origin is fatally compromised by including God.'
In my Shorter Oxford Dictionary, secular has it's first main meaning as 'of or pertaining to the world.' The very first subpoint of this is about church, 'Of members of the clergy: Living 'in the world', and not subject to a religious rule'. That means my job - employed as a church minister - is secular. I'm not a monk hidden away
from the world. Instead, my service of God is
in the world.
Likewise, prayer in parliament is secular. Religious education in schools is secular. A state funeral in a cathedral is secular. Singing hymns at rugby union test matches is - most definitely - secular.
Since secular is not anti-God, I want to end with a positive
for ministry arising from Australia's secular system.
Our church has no building. We rent a place for public meetings. For a little while, we were in a denominational school. Some of that school community were uncomfortable with us, not being of the same denomination. They got us to leave.
We moved to a public school. The state school has no religious affiliation - it's 'in the world', secular. Because there's no affiliation, to have us meeting there is no challenge to their fundamental values. We're tenants and fellow community members. They're not endorsing us, nor are they excluding us. Honestly, of all the places we've hired over the years, they're the most helpful, too. I think this is a result of the secular context for our relationship. Both school and church know exactly where we stand.
