Definition of "secularism" [sec•u•lar•ism]

• Religious skepticism or indifference. (noun)
• The view that religious considerations should be excluded from civil affairs or public education. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Holy Church, is our philosophy of life and we hold that any attempt to educate a youth in what we call secularism is a retrogression to a lower level than that of pre-Christian culture."
• "When the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, invited him to speak, he told him that New York had "particular challenges of what he called secularism," Archbishop Dolan said."
• "He objects: "What sort of secularism is it that regards reading of Sanscrit texts as a political act?""