“Sectarianism and Secularism” at the Cultural Movement-Antélias"
Nahar Ash-Shabab and Al-safadi Foundation organized a workshop at the Cultural Movement center-Antélias, under the title “Sectarianism and Secularism”. The workshop is the 15th that comes within the project “Young Active Journalists for an Inter-religious Dialogue”’, financed by EU, through Afkar II program, managed by OMSAR".
The seminar was attended by representatives of the following political parties: National Social Syrian Party, Phalanges Party, Communist Party, Amal Movement, Free Patriotic Movement, students and professors from Notre Dame University, Arab University of Beirut, Lebanese Canadian University, correspondents from Nahar Ashabab and the director of Annahar Training and Researches Center, Dr. Jean Karam.
The seminar started with the Lebanese national anthem, followed by the speech of the director of the workshop, the secretary general of the Cultural Movement, Dr. Antoine Seif, who welcomed the participants in the headquarters of the Secular Cultural Movement, in Mar Elias Covent of the Maronite Antonin Order. He considered that it is vital to raise the issue of “Sectarianism and Secularism” within the project “Inter-Religious Dialogue”, for it allows to get to know one of the facets of differences between the religions.
He also talked about the disadvantages of the sectarian system, and the disadvantages of what it authorizes and what it proscribes, noting that the sectarian system is not a religious one; it is a pluralistic system based on the religious confessions. The speaker added that the confessions strive to destabilize the confessional system to weaken it, and to strip it of its prerogatives. The confessions seek to maintain its fragility with the aim of remaining the strongest. Seif talked about the conflict between the sectarianism and secularism, considering that this conflict turned Lebanon “The Message” into a “lab”, where the Lebanese political mind is tested. In conclusion, Seif said “we are gathered here to have dialogue on a sound and firm roadmap that will lead to a freer and sounder future for Lebanon”.
As for the Dr. George Charf, the former Dean of the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, he raised in the beginning of his speech the following questions: Does secularism means atheism? Is it the substitute for religion? Is it a consensual formula between the religion and the State? Then, the speaker talked about the intellectual problematic of the relation of God with the human being and the universe, with its two aspects, the one related to the belief (the confession and the submission) and the other to the ways of living the belief. “So, is the religion personal or collective? Is the relation with God personal or does it come in a collective context? If there is a reward or punishment in the afterworld, should there be a direct temporal punishment?”
The speaker reviewed the European history course, the first stage of which (middle age) was marked by the “totalitarianism and exclusivity of the religion and the absence of any other ideological thought”; during that time the religious belief was not a personal one. During the second stage (the European renaissance) the relation of the human being with God changed. The totalitarianism and the exclusivity disappeared, and were replaced by an intellectual plurality and the God-Mind dualism (The Human Will). Hence, the belief became a personal matter and the temporal system a human one, lying on three bases: the social contract, the personal freedom and the popular sovereignty, which was equal to democracy and secularism (as the organizational principles of the life). Therefore, is it considered atheism to replace the role of the church by that of the mind in organizing the State affairs? After decades, the answer of the Vatican came in the negative. Charaf added that the secularism is not a philosophy substitute for the religious teachings; it is a technical interpretation of the transformation through the reshuffling of the political power, apart from the religion, and this it what gave both the religion and the church (the religious power as a whole) new concepts. Charaf stressed that the secular State can not be atheist, for it recognizes God, as well as the religious belief and the right to evangelization. Therefore, it practices the positive neutrality without serving a specific religious idea; while each individual has the total right to believe or to be an atheist.
The second speaker of the meeting was Dr. Issam Khalifé who said “today, we are living in the midst of fundamentalisms, as a result of their adoption to specific ideologies considered to be the absolute right; they have recourse to politics, violence and refusal of dialogue, are characterized by their rigidity and refuse to adjust because of their sectarian intolerance”. Dr. Khalifé did not make any exception in the classification of these Muslim, Christian and Jewish fundamentalisms, rather he added to them the national, communist and Stalinist fundamentalisms that are stationed in their trenches rejecting any dialogue.
The speaker considered the secularism a dynamical historical concept that aims to free the society, the State and the culture from the hegemony of the religious institutions and symbols and to consider the religion a relation between the man and his God. Thus, the secularism is neutral and not exigent. The secularism allows making changes on all levels (intellectual, cultural, political, religious…). It is not the instant recipe, but a constant movement of conflict. He set out some models of secularism, going back to the period preceding the French Revolution, the most important of which is the Muslims’ Isolated Movement, where the Koran was submitted to the mind and to a rational interpretation by Ibn Rochd and others, who suggested ideas aiming at enhancing the secular movement in the Lebanese society.
The third speaker of the meeting, Cheikh Ahmad Haidar, considered that the religion and the secularism are in principle one, for both of them call to the liberalization from the restrictions, the legends and illusions and to achieve justice, equality and emancipation within the societies. He added: “When the religions were pure and truthful, they used to strive to the advancement of the human being towards the completion of his humanity. However, when the religion became rigid and intolerant towards the Pharisees, it brought about the idea of secularism. But this latter just like the religion started to put restrictions, to oppress and to disbelieve…” It is neither acceptable for the religion which came to free, to become a restriction, nor for the secularism which objective was the assertion of justice to disbelieve, for he who thinks does not disbelieve”. Cheikh Haidar talked about the Holy Koran which started with the work “read” and the Gospel with “In the Beginning was the Word”, which means that the knowledge starts with the reading. God spoke to the reason and said: “Reward and Punishment are upon you”, to stress the importance of the reason for Him and the necessity to abide by its rules and get away from both religious and secular fanaticisms.