Conscientious Objection to Military Service: Secularism Evolves from Religious Freedom in the Seeger Case

by Karl Fleischmann, Captain (ret.) in U.S. Army, Judge Advocate General Corps., graduate of Columbia College (A.B.), Phi Beta Kappa and Harvard Law School (J.D.)

Congress has long seen fit to recognize a right to exemption from active service for those who hold a conscientious objection. This was recognized by the Supreme Court in United States v. Macintosh, 283 U.S. 605, 623 (1931). It continues to apply to the occasional situation in which someone develops a conscientious objection during voluntary military service.

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION TO MILITARY SERVICE: SECULARISM EVOLVES FROM RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN THE SEEGER CASE

The Creationist Attack on Science and Secular Society

by Daniel G. BlackburnThomas S. Johnson Distinguished Professor of Biology at Trinity College, Hartford

In 1925, John Scopes was put on trial in Dayton, Tennessee, for mentioning the idea of evolution in a biology class that he taught at the local high school. The trial became a media circus, and gained national attention because of what it seemed to represent—a clash of science vs. fundamentalist religion, a conflict between local autonomy and national interests, and an intellectual battle between two great orators, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. John Scopes was found guilty and fined, but the verdict was overturned on a technicality— an anticlimactic outcome to the historic conflict.

The Creationist Attack on Science and Secular Society

Art and the Impact of Secularism on Eighteenth-Century Society

by Alden R. Gordon, Gwendolyn Miles Smith Professor of Art History and Chair of the Fine Arts Department, Trinity College

This course idea is based upon a desire to create a philosophical and historical framework that permits the understanding of the dramatic changes in the settings of daily living, the fine arts and architecture that is based in the Enlightenment’s empowerment of the individual. These philosophical ideas along with the associated new respect for empiricism, science and nature (human, organic and inanimate) found expression in a dramatic new emphasis on secular subject matter in art and in new departures in the planning of domestic space in architecture. As the century progressed and Enlightenment individualism made an impact on political philosophy and government, architecture responded with forms and historical quotations of style that expressed republican and democratic values.
The course, to be entitled Art and the Impact of Secularism on Eighteenth-Century Society, will explain how absolutist monarchs like Louis XIV and his successors authorized the creations of academies which sponsored the growth of the new ideas and promoted the professionalization of artistic and intellectual pursuits even though those ideas eventually undermined the authoritarian basis of absolute divine-right monarchy. Ranging from the style and subject matter of painting to the appropriate forms of decorative furnishings for intimate spaces in private residences, the course will contextualize the way secular genre subjects of everyday life were powerfully expressive of the shift in values from hierarchichal institutions of religion and state to the subversive realm of private emotion and the desire for individual happiness and fulfillment.
The course will make use of philosophical, scientific and literary readings along with first-person accounts and travel literature to amplify the issues in the realm of ideas which were also expressed visually and materially in the arts. Eventually, it is my goal to write an art history text book to accompany this course.
Syllabus for a Proposed Course
This is a survey course which aims to give a picture of the entire spectrum of architecture and of the fine and decorative arts in a full European cultural context. Students will learn about individual artists and architects in readings which will be done in parallel to the course lectures which will concentrate on overarching patterns of stylistic evolution and changes in usage brought about by shifts in social and economic conditions. All students will do an independent research project and term paper based on a single work of art that they can study at first hand or on a central text of the period.  Students who are able to read in a foreign language (French, Italian, German, Spanish or a Scandinavian or Central or Eastern-European language) may earn an extra half-credit by doing an additional body of reading in the foreign language as part of the Languages Across the Curriculum program.
Course requirements: There will be two exams and one research term paper project
which will require students to visit a major museum collection or rare book library on
their own. There will also be one required group museum trip. Students will be graded
upon the tests, term paper project, attendance at class meetings and museum trips, and
on active and informed participation in class discussions. Students will be assigned to
lead discussions in class on readings.
Texts: There is no single adequate text book for the broad sweep of European arts of the
eighteenth century. The books which do exist are divided by nationality and by medium.
Therefore, I am obliged to use several different books in which students will be assigned
readings. All of these will be on Reserve in the Trinity College Library. Shorter
essays will be available in a course reading packet (indicated in the syllabus by an asterisk *) which will be sold at cost in the Department of Fine Arts office. Students who
wish to own the books may purchase them either at the Trinity College Bookstore or via
one of the on-line commercial book dealers. Any edition is acceptible, though I provide
below the essential information for the latest editions including ISBN numbers for such
ordering:
  • Wend von Kalnein, Architecture in France in the Eighteenth Century, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1972, reissued 1995 (about $85) (0-300-06013-0)
  • Michael Levey, Painting and Sculpture in France 1700-1789, New Haven, Yale Univ. Press, (paperback, Amazon new $35, used $17.95);  (0-3-0006494-2)
  • John Summerson, Architecture in Britain 1530-1830, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1993 (0-300-05886-1)
  • Ellis Waterhouse, Painting in Britain: 1530-1790, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1953, 1994 (0-3-0005833-0)
  • Michael Levey, Painting in Eighteenth-Century Venice, 1959. (0-3-0006057-2)
  • Paul Hyland ed., The Enlightenment: A Sourcebook and Reader, New York, Routledge, 2003 [ISBN 0-415-20449-6 pap.]
For students without sufficient prior study of European history, it is recommended that you buy a standard history, such as Jeremy Black, Eighteenth-Century Europe in the History of Europe series in paperback, New York, St. Martin’s Press, 2nd edition, 1999.
PART I: From Grandeur to Intimacy. Circa 1680 to circa 1745. FRANCE
  • Introduction and Overview. Historical perspective. Readings from John Locke, “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” (1690) from Paul Hyland ed., The Enlightenment: A Sourcebook and Reader, New York, Routledge, 2003 [ISBN 0-415-20449-6 pap.]
  • The Pre-eminence of France and the reordering of artistic leadership in the Late Reign of Louis XIV. The importance of the French arts institutions and their educational model.
  • Palaces, Gardens and Interiors and the Expression of  Power and Social Order. Reading: * Joan DeJean, “Introduction, Living Luxe” and “Fashion Queens” from The Essense of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion …, New York, Free Press, 2005. (Coursepack) and Reserve: Skim picture books on Open Reserve on Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte; Palais de Versailles; French Gardens;
  • France as a Model for Europe. Reading: Wend von Kalnein, Architecture in France in the Eighteenth Century, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1972, (text and also on reserve). Introduction and Part I, Chapter 4.
  • “Domestic Architecture in and outside Paris.” and Michael Levey, Painting and Sculpture in France 1700-1789, New Haven and London, Yale Univ. Press, 1993, Chapter 2, Sculpture: Coustou to Slodtz.
  • The Importance of Paris. Urbanism, Residences for the newly wealthy and changes in manners. Reading: * Rochelle Ziskin, The Place Vendôme: Architecture and Social Mobility in Eighteenth-Century Paris, Cambridge University Press, 1999. Chapters 2, “Social Representation and Gendered Realms” pp 34-64 & Chapter 5, “Not at all Monsieur Jourdain,” pp 114-127. (Coursepack) (Book is On Reserve for consultation of illustrations, TC Library: NA 9072 . P37 P589 1999)
PART II: Art And The Expression Of The Subjective. 1715-1760
  • Interior Architecture, Painting, Sculpture and Stucco. The Great Itinerant Artists. Reading: Kalnein, Architecture in France in the Eighteenth Century, Part Two, Chapter 5 and 7: * Katie Scott, The Rococo Interior, New Haven, Yale Univ Press, 1995, Ch 7, “Earthly Paradise on the L
    eft Bank,” pp 147-176 (Coursepack).
  • Country Life and Gardens and Sculpture. Reading: LIBRARY RESERVE: Mark Girouard, Life in the French Country House, Chapters 5 (The Curious History of the Salon) and 6 (In and around the Boudoir).
  • The Decorative Arts: Tapestry, Silver, Porcelain, Furniture, Small Sculpture, Musical and Scientific Instruments.  This topic will be continued from class into the museum visits. Reading: * Carolyn Sergentson, Merchants and Luxury Markets: The Marchands Merciers of Eighteenth-Century Paris, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996, Chapter 4, “Importation and Imitation,” pp. 62-96. (Coursepack). LIBRARY OPEN RESERVE: Consult pictures in books on French furniture, porcelain and tapesty.
  • The Eclipse of Dutch Art and the Rise of French Painting and Sculpture. The Literary and Philosophical sources of the Enlightenment. The emergence of new or newly respectable genres in art and contrast to Academic hierarchies. French Painting and Engraving. READING:.Michael Levey, Painting and Sculpture in France 1700-1789, New Haven, …, Chapter 1 & 4 (Painting up to the Death of Boucher, 1770, sections on Boucher, Chardin, Greuze).

PART III: Italy, Austria, Germany.

  • Italy in the Eighteenth Century: Rome.. Reading:  *Christopher A. M. Johns, “The Entrepôt of Europe: Rome in the Eighteenth Century,” from E. Bowren and J. Rishel eds., Art in Rome in the Eighteenth Century, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2000, pp. 16-45 (Coursepack). & * John Pinto, “Architecture and Urbanism,” from E. Bowren and J. Rishel eds., Art in Rome in the Eighteenth Century, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2000, pp. 112-121. (Coursepack) [TC Quarto N 6920 .A7 2000]
  • Rome as the Destination of Travelers: Per Bjurström, “Physiocratic Ideals and National Galleries,” from Per Bjurström, The Genesis of the Art Museum in the 18th Century, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, 1993, pp. 28-60. (Coursepack)
  • The Importance of Travel and First Hand Experience. II. Italian Painting, Sculpture & Decorative Arts by Artistic Centers: Naples, Venice, Turin, Genoa, Florence. Reading: Michael Levey, Venetian Painting, (On Reserve)
  • Austria and the German States. Readings TBA. Library Open Reserve: Books on Meissen Porcelain; Splendor of Dresden.
9. PART IV: ENGLAND
  • Architecture and Interior Decor in England and the British Embrace of Continentalism. Reading: John Summerson, Architecture in Britain 1530-1830, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1993, Chapter 17 (English Baroque: Hawksmoor, Vanbrugh, Archer); Chapter 20 (The Palladian Phase 1710-50: The Palladian Movement: Campbell, Burlington and Kent) and Chapter 23 (The House and the Street in the Eighteenth Century).
  • English Painting. Hogarth and Gainsborough to Wright of Derby. Reading (On Reserve) Ellis Waterhouse, Painting in Britain: 1530-1790, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1953, 1994, Chapter 11 (Hogarth), Chapter 18 (Thomas Gainsborough).

PART V: Sublime, the Picturesque, National Antiquariansim and Historicism.

  • Historicism in Architecture and Decorative Arts. Summerson, Chapter 24 (Building in Gothic: From Wren to Walpole); Chapter 25 (Neo-Classicism and the Picturesque 1750-1830: Neo-Classicism and Britons Abroad); Chapter 26 (William Chambers and Robert Adam).
  • The Sublime and the Picturesque in Landscape Painting, Garden Design and in Art. READING: * Longinus, 1st C. AD, W. Rhys Roberts trans. Longinus: On the Sublime, Cambridge University Press, 1907, pp. 42-59, Sections 1- 8, and Section 36, pp.135-136, On Sublimity and Human Nature; (Coursepack) The English Garden: Its Sources in Baroque Landscape Painting and Its Impact on Later Art and Architecture. Waterhouse, Chapter 17 (Richard Wilson 1713-1782); Chapter 21(Wright of Derby and the Painters of Romantic Literature)
  • LATER 18th C. PAINTING
  • Levey, Painting and Sculpture in France 1700-1789, Chapter 4 (Painting up to the Death of Boucher, 1770 section on landscape painter Vernet) & Chapter 6 (Painting up to the Salon of 1789, through section entitled Genre: Aubry and Boilly). The Psychological and Fantastic Dimension and the Transition to Romanticism: Fuseli, Stubbs, Goya
  • History Painting 1750-1789 in England and France: Reading: Waterhouse, Chapter 16 (Sir Joshua Reynolds); Chapter 19 (Foundation Members of the Royal Academy); Levey, Painting and Sculpture in France 1700-1789, Chapter 6 (Painting up to the Salon of 1789, Second part to end.) * Andrew McClellan, The Museum and Its Public in Eighteenth-Century France,” from Per Bjurström, The Genesis of the Art Museum in the 18th Century, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, 1993, pp. 61-80 (Coursepack)
  • French Sculpture. Bouchardon, Caffiery & Falconet to Houdon. READING: Levey, Painting and Sculpture in France 1700-1789, Chapters 3 & 5.
  • French Architecture from Soufflot to Ledoux. Reading: Kalnein, Architecture in France, Part Three, Early Neoclassicism. Note that interior styles are dealt with in the sections on “Decoration.” Library Open Reserve: Books on Neoclassicism in Decorative Arts.

The Scientific Study of Secularism

Interview with Barry Kosmin in Point of Inquiry (Dec. 1, 2006).
In this discussion with D.J. Grothe, he details the scientific study of religion and secularism, the “secularization hypothesis,” religious diversity in contemporary America, and the rise of the nonreligious in recent years. He also explores the relationship between science and secularism.
Barry Kosmin is Research Professor in the Public Policy & Law Program at Trinity College and Founding Director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture

Public Opinion and Support for the Separation of Church and State in the U.S. and Europe

Featured

by Barry A. Kosmin, Research Professor in the Public Policy & Law Program at Trinity College and Founding Director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture

The idea of separating the institutions of the state, government and public life from the direct involvement and influence of organized religion arose during the Enlightenment. It became a feasible proposition as a result of the two great revolutions of the 18th century. In fact the American and French revolutions produced two intellectual and constitutional traditions of secularism and the secular state – a “soft secularism” and a “hard secularism”. Canadians, of course, rejected both these revolutions and so historically they are heirs to the Lockean tradition of religious toleration rather than of secularism per se.

Public Opinion and Support for the Separation of Church and State in the U.S. and Europe

Worldly Islam: The Sacred, the Secular

by Raymond Baker, Professor of International Politics, Trinity College

This course addresses two challenges:

  1. The inadequacy of dominant interpretive frameworks for understanding the global changes brought by the Information Revolution and the new Network Economy and Society; and
  2. Western incomprehension of Islam in the Global Age, with particular emphasis on Islam as a worldly as well as spiritual force.

While these two crises are widely discussed, they are rarely, if ever, discussed in tandem. The course opens with a theoretical consideration, derived from complexity theory, of the changed character of our world in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and the transformations of societies and economies around the world by the new information technologies and the global market they enable. At the same time, the course proposes new ways of understanding Islam in our time, based on critical rereading of the Islamic heritage. What resources does the Islamic historical and philosophical heritage offer to contemporary Muslims to develop effective ways of contending with our globalized world? How have Islamic thinkers and power holders responded to assertive Western secularism? Why, with material conditions almost everywhere in decline, is Islam thriving in the new conditions of globalism, despite the weakness of its material base in failed societies, while secularism as a compelling ideological force appears to weaken?

The discussion format for the course requires that readings be completed for each meeting. Please do not attend class meetings for which you are not prepared, without indicating at the beginning of class that you have not done the reading. (Please note that the readings for this course are heavy and difficult; drop the course now if you cannot put in the time required.)

Books for purchase:

  1. Mark Taylor, The Moment of Complexity;
  2. David Waines, An Introduction to Islam;
  3. Albert Hournai, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age;
  4. John Esposito Unholy War;
  5. Raymond Baker, Islam Without Fear;
  6. Khalidi, Medieval Islamic Philosophical Writings;
  7. Williams, The Word of Islam;
  8. Stephen Zunes, Tinderbox;
  9. Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age;
  10. Mahatir Muhammad, Excerpts from Collected Works.
  11. In addition a packet of readings from Muahmmad Abduh, Ali Shariati, Yusuf al Qaradawy will be provided.

INTRODUCTION: ISLAM IN OUR WORLD

  • Taylor, The Moment of Complexity, Introduction, chaps 1 and 2
  • Taylor, The Moment of Complexity, chaps 3 and 4
  • Taylor, The Moment of Complexity, chaps 5, 6 & 7.
  • Waines, An Introduction to Islam, chaps 1-2
  • Waines, An Introduction to Islam, chaps 3-4
  • Waines, An Introduction to Islam, chaps 7-8

BUILDING THE WORLD (ISTIKHLAF): ISLAM’S CHARGE TO HUMANITY

THE HERITAGE:

  • Williams, chap 1. “Word of God”, chap 2 “The News of God’s Messenger”
  • Williams, 3 “The Law of God”; 4. “Interior Religion: Sufism” 5. “The Statements of the Theologians”
  • Abduh, “Tawhid”

THE HERITAGE: ISLAMIC THOUGHT, HISTORY, AND THE VENTURE OF ISLAM

ISLAMIC THOUGHT philosophers, Islamic scholars, and Sufis.

  • Khalidi, Medieval, Introduction and al Farabi, X1 – 26

THE HERITAGE: ISLAMIC THOUGHT

  • Khalidi, Medieval, Ibn Sina and al Ghazali, pp. 27 -98
  • Khalidi, Medieval, Ibn Tufayl, and Ibn Rushd, pp. 99- 180 (read Ibn Rushd first and carefully; skim Ibn Tufayl)

THE AWAKENING: ENCOUNTERING THE WEST

THE WEST AND ISLAMIC AWAKENING:

  • Hourani, Arabic Thought, preface, chap 1-6
  • Shariati, Religion vs Religion, entire.(handout)

THE WEST AND THE ISLAMIC WORLD:

  • Zunes,chaps 1-7.

ISLAM IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD:

The ISLAMIC SECULARISM of Mahatir Mohamad (Malaysian case study)

ISLAMIC PLURALISM IN A GLOBAL AGE

  • Esposito, chap 1-4

THE WEST AND THE ISLAMIC WORLD

  • Baker, Islam Without Fear, Prologue, chap 1-6

Selected Research References for Course Development

  • Ibn Sina (Avicenna), http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/sina/default.htm

Works:

  • Avicenna on Theology, A. J. Arberry,
    • http://umcc.ais.org/~maftab/ip/pdf/bktxt/arb-sin-2.pdf
  • Risala fi’l ‘ashq (Treatise on Love) Translated by E. Fackenheim,
    • http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/sina/works/avicenna-love.pdf

Al-Ghazali, http://www.ghazali.org/site/ihya.htm

Works:

  • Books of the Ihya by Al-Ghazali
    • First Quarter: Acts of Worship
    • Second Quarter: Norms of Daily Life
    • Third Quarter: The Ways to Perdition
    • Fourth Quarter: The Ways to Salvation

All works in this collection are accessed through the main URL indicated above. The language of the work’s translation is noted for each link. The site is well organized by Quarters and books. All book titles within the Quarter are listed but there are several that are not available on this site. File formats are a mix of PDF, WORD and HTML. Files are quite large but can be easily downloaded. A link to the copyright information is provided at the bottom of the page.

Ibn Rushd (Averroes), http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ir/

Works:

  • Tahfut at Tahafut (Incoherence of the Incoherence), Translated by Simon Van Den Bergh,
    • http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ir/tt/default.htm
  • On the Harmony of Religion and Philosophy,
    • http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ir/art/ir100.htm
  • On the Harmony of Religion and Philosophy, new translation by G.F. Hourani,
    • http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ir/fasl.htm
  • Faith and Reason in Islam- Averroes’ Exposition of Religious Arguments, translated by Ibrahim Y. Najjar,
    • http://www.oneworldpublications.com/books/texts/faith-and-reason-intro.htm

These works are all provided in English but are in an HTML format and therefore not in an easily downloadable form and best viewed at their source URL.

Secularism Definitions:

  • The Secular Society, A brief history of the origins of the Secular Society beginning with George Holyoake.
    • http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Rsecular.htm
  • Garver Joel S., Professor of Philosophy, LaSalle University, Deconstructing the Secular, a Summary of John Milbank’s Theology and Social Theory,
    • http://www.joelgarver.com/writ/revi/milbank.htm
  • Robert Green Ingersoll, Secularism, 1887, The Independent Pulpit, Waco, TX, An essay on the meaning of Secularism.
    • http://infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/secularism.html
  • Einstein on Science and Religion, An essay by Einstein on the conflict between knowledge and belief.
    • http://www.einsteinandreligion.com/scienceandreligion.html
  • The Secular Web, http://www.infidels.org/ A website focused on an atheistic perspective of secularism.