We live in a culture that is increasingly secular. At its best, secularism is simply what we Americans call the separation of church and state. It is a practical way to keep people from having to live lives regimented by someone else's religious convictions and that keeps countries from being torn by conflicts between religious groups that all want to write the rules. There is a lot of history in our world that argues for the practicality of that kind of arrangement.

As it has taken shape among us, however, secularism has a downside. We have come to a time when the legal structures of society are so intent upon not appearing to favor "religion" over "non-religion" that they appear to be in opposition to religion. In intellectual circles, the dominant belief that there are no absolutes h…