ABSTRACT
The word “secularism” was coined only in the 1850s, in England, by George Holyoake, a leading Freethinker of his day, who noted, “Secularism is the province of the real, the known, the useful, and the affirmative: it is the practical side of skepticism. In the twentieth century, France and Turkey officially separated religion from the state, becoming “secular states,” while the United States gradually became, perhaps, the most religious country in Christendom, as well as a land of religious pluralism. It is also important to mention that “religious” people can have secularist views; an example is the belief in the separation of religion and the state. Secularism is mainly concerned with the complete separation of religion and the state, and especially the abolition of all privileges granted to religious organizations. Secularism does not concern itself with specific dietary problems, although some secularists may be vegetarian, for example, for other reasons.
