The origins of "Secularism"

In my article at the Alfred the Great Society titled "From Revivalism to Secularism (Evangelicalism and Secularism part 3)", I observed how American evangelicals in the 19th century because to see culture as an autonomous organism independent of any religious moorings. It is in this sense that the term “secular” must be understood within its 19th century context. American culture in the first half of the 19th century was not ‘secularized’ because of any insurgent atheism, humanism or (at least not initially) theological liberalism. Rather, culture became secularized by default as soon as Americans embraced the unconscious dualism inherent in the false disjunction between Christ and culture. The overriding assumption came to be that culture and the church were not merely distinguishable, but absolutely divisible entities.  Culture was the domain of the secular realm while the church was the domain of the spiritual realm. A completely spiritualized church became a socially irrelevant church. To read more about this process, visit the following three articles:

From ‘Christ of Culture’ to ‘Christ Against Culture’ (Evangelicalism and Secularism part 1)

Republicanizing the American Religion (Evangelicalism and Secularism part 2)

From Revivalism to Secularism (Evangelicalism and Secularism part 3)