Secularism Figures
Five figures who shaped arguments and political models for separating civic authority from religious control.
5 profilesSecularism Figures
George Jacob Holyoake
Holyoake gave secularism a public name and framed it as civic life organized without religious tests.
- Birth
- 1817 CE
- Region
- Britain
John Locke
Locke became a major source for modern arguments about toleration and civil authority.
- Birth
- 1632 CE
- Region
- Britain
James Madison
Madison is central to the political architecture of church-state separation in the United States.
- Birth
- 1751 CE
- Region
- North America
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
Ataturk represents a powerful twentieth-century model of state-led secularization.
- Birth
- 1881 CE
- Region
- Anatolia
Jawaharlal Nehru
Nehru connected secular governance with democracy, pluralism, and scientific modernization.
- Birth
- 1889 CE
- Region
- South Asia