SECULARISM  , a

term, applied specially (see SECULAR) to the system of social ethics associated with the name of G . J . Holyoake (q.v.) . As the word implies, secularism is based solely on considerations of practical morality with a view to the physical, social and moral improvement of society . It neither affirms nor denies the theistic premises of religion, and is thus a particular variety of utilitarianism . Holyoake founded a society in London which subsequently under the leadership of Charles Bradlaugh advocated the disestablishment of the Church, the abolition of the Second Chamber and other political and economic reforms . See Holyoake's Principles of Secularism (1885) .