Secularism

It gives precedence to rationality, but fails to determine the true value of desires. This limitation is referred to as “rationality bounded by desire.” Christianity paved the way for this worldview. However, human history has proven that reason offers very little help in defining and prioritizing values. For example, reason alone cannot determine whether casual mixing between men and women is appropriate or not, or whether a person should seek pleasure in this world or refrain from it.

In short, reason can be used as a means to achieve goals, but it cannot by itself establish standards of right and wrong. This weakness of rationality was more apparent in the early modern period. During that time, rationality and reformed Christianity tried to address this issue by upholding secularism.

Secularism divided human life into two broad spheres: one social life, and the other private life. From social life, religion was completely excluded and replaced by the dominance of rationality. In contrast, in private life, rationality and state systems were excluded, and religion was given its place. Under this system, absolute monarchies prevailed for two to two-and-a-half centuriees

Liberalism:

Secularism, despite being a religion-averse system, still allowed some space for religion in personal life. In contrast, liberalism emerged as a rebellion against even this limited allowance. Liberalism, too, drew its foundations from Christianity. Since Christians believe in the divinity of Christ considering Jesus (peace be upon him) simultaneously Creator and creation, God and servant, finite and infinite liberalism eventually transformed this doctrine into a civilization where the individual, as an individual, has full freedom to determine their own way of life.

In liberal thought, every person has the right to define good and evil for themselves, and no one else has the authority to impose any specific lifestyle on another. In essence, each individual becomes their own god.

Another foundational concept from Christianity that influenced liberalism is the idea of salvation. According to Christian belief, Jesus (peace be upon him) was crucified to atone for the sins of all humankind. As a result, all individuals became morally equal. Liberalism adopted this idea of salvation to mean that as man conquers nature, all suffering, pain, hardship, and sorrow will be eliminated and true salvation will be achieved in this world.

The conquest of nature also came to mean complete control over natural laws day and night, rain, wind, etc. One Western philosopher even stated that a time of progress will come when man will overcome death itself.

Building on these ideas, the philosopher Immanuel Kant presented a notion of human dignity that became central to liberalism. Kant considered the individual as fully autonomous, capable of formulating a life system for themselves. Whatever life system an individual chooses is just as respectable as that of any other person.

For instance, if one person decides that their life’s goal is to count all the blades of grass in a square mile, and another decides to run a narcotics business in the same area then, from a liberal perspective, both life goals are equally respectable to society.

The core philosophy of liberalism is that a person should do whatever they desire, as long as it does not infringe upon the freedom of others in other words, “your fist can swing as far as the other person’s nose begins.”

In conclusion, Christianity played a fundamental role in the development and evolution of modern liberal civilization.