Q&A: Attitude Toward Secular People
Attitude Toward Secular People
Question
Hello Rabbi,
In your book you write about the attitude toward secular people and explain that they are not lacking information, and that therefore this is what you call “coercion in matters of belief.” What I felt was very missing was your addressing the fact that presumably most people have not studied religion in depth (just like most religious people), and so I had trouble understanding why this should be seen as coercion. I’m not saying that if they had studied it deeply they would necessarily become religious, but for the sake of argument, in your view, if they were to seriously study your trilogy, wouldn’t at least some of them become religious? If the answer is yes, why call the current situation coercion?
Answer
A reasonable person who is born and lives in a secular society does not even consider the possibility that religion is not just popular superstition. Just as a religious Jew usually does not examine options like secularism, Christianity, paganism, and so on. Beyond that, even if he does examine them, there are major biases that will lead him to reject the arguments. So, bottom line, in my opinion most of them are coerced. Of course, there are also some who are not.