Secularism is mainly known as the separation of government and religion, in simpler terms, the separation of Church and State, based on or justified by Jesus saying:

“Well, then,” Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” Mark 12:17

In Matthew 22:21, Jesus’s response to a trick question about taxes: “Then he said to them, ‘Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s'” 

A lot of preachers define it as disbelief or atheism, especially the radical ones. The idea that a nation can be governed by civil laws written by humans and grounded in morals and ethical values is unacceptable to them. Often, morals and ethics align with religion or are based on religious rules, but the power that governs the nation is neither religious nor composed of religious representatives or leaders.  Secularism takes away the political power from the church, the mosque, the synagogue, or any deity. A peaceful coexistence between church and state is not atheism; many believers see secularism as beneficial, as it safeguards human rights, democracy, and personal freedoms, such as freedom of religion.

Religion and politics do not go together, and we have seen the sad examples through history when religion is in charge, the country turns into a religious dictatorship like in Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, where you can be accused of blasphemy or apostacy, Yemen, and Mauritania where the constitution is based on religious rules, especially the legal system, the Maldives where you have to be Muslim to be a citizen. Most of these countries have religious police who are allowed to beat and arrest women if their hair is showing, and all of them oppress women in the name of religion.

In most, if not all, Muslim countries, being a woman is a handicap since women are subject to abuse, discrimination, and oppression by men using their own interpretation of the Quran to justify the way they treat them. The same thing was happening in medieval Europe when the Clergy was in charge. Let’s not forget that in the Middle Ages, the Pope had a state, an army, and a power that surpassed that of kings. After Italy became a secular state, the Vatican became a small nation, but it is focused solely on religion, peace, and human rights. The Pope is a religious leader, the head of the Catholic Church, the sovereign of the Vatican State, but not the king or the president of Rome or Italy.

In some Muslim countries, the power dictates how women should dress and strips them of their fundamental human rights given by God and stated in the Quran, but they also target the minorities. In many Muslim countries, especially since the creation of the state of Israel, the expansion by the dictators of Arab nationalism as a diversion, and the growth of fundamentalism and radical Islam, Jews and Christians must keep a low profile; often, their religion is kept a secret, they hide, or simply leave if they can afford it. Their places of worship are destroyed or confiscated to be used as mosques, while the country has a very high number of mosques, more mosques than schools or hospitals.

In a particular Muslim dictatorship, many members of the government took the beautiful, historical, massive buildings that belonged to the Catholic Church and had been used as convents or monasteries, making them their private residences. Those buildings contained schools, orphanages, food kitchens for the poor, free clinics, and nursing homes. The priests, the nuns, as well as the babies and the elderly, were evacuated from the premises without an alternative. Even the land that was used as cemeteries by the Catholic Church was confiscated, used by the members of the government to build mansions, and while the bulldozer dug to build the foundation, the bones of the priests and nuns were uncovered and flew in the air, as seen by witnesses. Churches were closed, and even some Christians were put in jail, and recently, a family deprived of inheritance because their mother is a Christian complained to the Vatican. In the mid-nineties, a bishop was assassinated for political reasons. If Muslims in these countries convert to Christianity or Judaism, they are arrested, accused of apostasy, and might be condemned to death.

None of these dictatorships goes by any religion of God, not even close to any holy scripture, while in many of these countries, the constitution guarantees the freedom of religion. All this abuse of power in the name of religion could not be possible in a secular country.

In many countries, religion has been used to gain or retain power by convincing people that the politician is repeating what God wants him to say and that his mission on earth is to establish God’s rule and invite people to join him, maybe as the ambassador of God on earth or a prophet. Of course, if people are smart enough not to believe them, oppression, jails, torture, and death are used to suppress any opposition. All countries ruled by religion came to this point and acted against any religion they claim to represent.

History recalls the oppression of the Jews in medieval Europe, the pogroms, the ghettos, and the expulsions justified by religion and labeling the Jews as “Jesus’ killers” and many other stereotypes. A lot of people do not realize that during the Crusades, Jews were murdered in Europe and in the Middle East. The crusaders targeted the Muslims and the Mizrahi Jews. During the Inquisition, Andalusian Muslims and Jews were killed, which explained the migration to North Africa from Europe. Even the European plague was used as an excuse to kill the Jews. Both Jews and Muslims are still subject to discrimination in modern times, judging by the antisemitism and islamophobia we witness so often.

History also teaches that when a country becomes secular, and the clergy is not in charge, minorities and women gain their human rights, such as the right to go to school, to work, to dress as they want, to inherit, to divorce, to vote, to own property, and to drive, rights stated in religion but denied by men. In the name of religion, Muslim fundamentalists, Orthodox Jews, and Evangelical Christians impose a lifestyle on women that lacks freedom of choice, and the Mormons used to allow polygamy.

We saw women and minorities rights emerge from the darkness and surface in Persia in 1936, in Turkey in 1923, which made Mustafa Kemal Atatürk the worst-hated enemy of the radical Muslims who insult him, call him names, curse him,  declare him an infidel and the enemy of God, neither for religious, or political reasons, nor for ideological reasons, but for freeing women and giving them the same rights as men. They consider any woman claiming that women have rights to be a Jezebel. They still blame him for every women’s movement or association that advocates for women’s rights; they call him the source of evil, and it is no surprise that they define the word secular as infidel and non- believer. They warn people that being secular is against God and the rule of God, punishable by hell, and that Atatürk was an apostate and an Atheist.

When Ataturk became the president of Turkey in 1923, he transformed the Hagia Sophia in 1934, which was a Byzantine Cathedral built by the Emperor Justinian in 537 AD, and transformed into a mosque by Sultan Mehmet II in 1453, into a museum that can be visited by people of different religions or no religion as a monument and a witness to history. The Blue Mosque, across the street from it, which was not a cathedral, was built by Sultan Ahmed I in 1609 AD, remained a mosque.

When a fundamentalist member of the Muslim Brotherhood took power in Turkey in the late 2000s, the Museum was converted into a mosque in 2020. A decision meant to show the power of religion and the death of secularism in Turkey. This religious power is also evident in Hebron/Al Khalil, with the mosque that houses the tombs of the Patriarchs. The mosque is divided into two parts, separated by a locked wall that serves as a fence between a synagogue and a mosque. This ridiculous partition separates two similar religions that worship the same God.

 The visit is cut in half because, if you enter from the Jewish side, you can see the tombs, or cenotaphs, of Jacob, Leah, and Joseph. If you enter from the Muslim side, you can see the cenotaphs of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebecca. The mosque also includes the entrance to the caves, a covered opening that leads down 40 feet and is locked to visitors. The Muslim side also includes a significant piece of art: the 12th-century pulpit (minbar), brought from Egypt by Sultan (King) Salah Eddine (Saladin) and carved from a single piece of wood without a single nail. All the cenotaphs, either on the Muslim side or the Jewish side, are enclosed in locked rooms, and the grave can be seen through the bulletproof glass and the metallic window bar guards.

The Muslims are not allowed on the Jewish side, and the Jews are not allowed on the Muslim side. It is as sad as it is absurd. It would be wise if the children of Abraham shared their patriarchs and the prophets they believe in.

They should open the site as a museum that welcomes people of all faiths in the name of religion, history, and art. It is the right of all humans to live the experience, even if they are not religious. That is what Mustafa Kemal wanted when he opened the Hagia Sophia as a museum, free of religious restrictions, as a historical site that offers art, history, culture, and religion. These special sites offer more than a place of worship; they are also historical sites and monuments that millions of people wish to visit. After all, visitors to the Vatican can visit Saint Peter’s Cathedral and the Sistine Chapel. Just like in present-day Turkey, when religion is mixed with power, the rulers, the clergy, or both, it deprives people of discovering their history, admiring art, or even finding or strengthening their faith. 

Ibn Rushd (Averroes) offered the world the theory of faith and reason in the 12^th century, which Thomas Aquinas adopted in Europe as a stepping stone to the Renaissance in the 13^th century. We are living in the 21^st century, and we still do not understand how to use religion and politics, faith and reason. We believe in the unseen, but our intellectual reasoning helps us see the truth. Logic, facts, and thinking create in us reason, and religion completes the vision of truth.  None is the enemy of the other; intellectual coexistence is what secular reasoning means. Opening religious historical sites as museums will strengthen human bonds rather than separating brothers and sisters in faith and causing them to hate one another.