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Laws of Secular Controversy · The Principles of Secularism

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  Chapter four of the Principles of Secularism by George Jacob Holyoke. This LibriVox recording
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  is in the public domain. Chapter four Laws of secular Controversy One. Rights
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  of reason as a means of developing and establishing secular principles, and the security
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  that the principles of nature and the habit of reason may prevail. Secularism uses
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  itself and maintains for others as rites for reason. The free search for truth,
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  without which its full attainment is impossible. The free utterance of the result,
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  without which the increase of truth is limited. The free criticism of alleged
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  truth, without which its identity must remain uncertain. The fair action of conviction,
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  thus attained, without which conscience will be impotent. On practice. Two
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  standard of appeal. Secularism accepts no authority but that of nature, adopts no
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  methods but those of science and philosophy, and respects in practice no rule but
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  that of the conscience illustrated by the common sense of mankind. It values the
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  lessons of the past and looks to tradition as presenting a storehouse of raw materials
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  to thought and in many cases results of high wisdom for our reverence, but
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  it utterly disowns tradition as a ground of belief, whether miracles and supernaturalism be
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  claimed or are not claimed. On its side, no sacred scripture or ancient
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  church can be made a basis of belief, for the obvious reason that their
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  claims always need to be proved, and cannot, without absurdity, be assumed.
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  The association leads to its individual members to yield whatever respect their own good
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  sense judges to be due to the opinions of great men, living or dead,
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  spoken or written, as also to the practice of ancient communities, national
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  or ecclesiastical, but it disowns all appeal to such authorities as final tests of
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  truth. Footnote Program of Freethought Societies by F. W. Newman, Reasoner
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  number three hundred eighty eight and footnote three. Sphere of controversy. Since the
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  principles of secularism rest on grounds apart from theism, atheism, or Christianism,
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  it is not logically necessary for secularists to debate the truth of these subjects in
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  controversy. Secularism concerns itself with the assertion and maintenance of its own affirmative propositions,
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  combating only views of theology and Christianity so far as they interfere with,
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  discourage or disparage secular action, which may be done without digressing into the discussion
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  of the truth of theism or divine origin of the Bible. Four Personal controversy.
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  A secularist will avoid indiscriminate disparagement of bodies or antagonism of persons, and
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  will place before himself simply the instruction and service of an opponent, whose sincerity
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  he will not question, whose motives he will not impune, always holding that
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  a man whom it is not worthwhile confuting courteously is not worthwhile confuting at all.
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  Such disparagements are as included in the explicit condemnation of erroneous principles, are
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  we believe all that the public defense of opinion requires, and are the only
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  kind of disparagement as secularist proposes to employ. Five of controversy. The universal,
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  fair and open discussion of opinion is the highest guarantee of public truth.
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  Only that theory which is submitted to that ordeal is to be regarded, Since
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  only that which endures it can be trusted. Secularism encourages men to trust reason
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  throughout and to trust nothing that reason does not establish to examine all things hopeful,
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  respect all things probable, but rely upon nothing without precaution which does not
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  come within the range of science and experience. End of Chapter four