OREM — Christians and atheists set aside their differences Tuesday for a little friendly banter about secularism in today's social and political arenas.

"Over the past few years, American and European societies have been witness to a resurgent critique of religion in our public discourse," said Brian Birch, director of Utah Valley University's religious-studies program, which, along with Westminster College, sponsored the Religion and the Humanities Conference. "This conference is an opportunity to examine these perspectives and to better understand the place of religion and atheism in our society."

At the all-day event, scholars discussed whether religious belief is intellectually irresponsible and politically damaging to society or a necessary element of political discussion.

"Secularism is nonexistent — it is not real," said Michael Minch, an associate professor of philosophy at Utah Valley University, arguing that to completely separate religion from politics would be impossible. "It is a parasitical notion that depends wholly upon Christianity for its life."

While some suggest leaving religion out of government lends more validity to the political process, Minch pointed out that secularism is not synonymous with neutrality.

"There is nothing neutral about us — not us, not our moral commitments, not our politics," he said.

Owen Flanagan, a professor of philosophy at Duke University, agreed, but, as the panel's only atheist, he argued that human beings are intrinsically motivated to be moral. The tendency to gravitate toward good, he said, has nothing to do with religion.

"There is no connection between theism and goodness," he said.

In societies worldwide, regardless of religious affiliations, the basic recipe for happiness is the same, he said: Be virtuous. What religion does is change the paradigm through which people look at the world, Flanagan said.

"We are all people, we just come from different perspectives," he said.

Unless those "perspectives" have a solid base in logic, however, said Dennis Potter, an associate professor of philosophy at UVU, they are not valid.

"The problem with these beliefs is that they are based upon something transcendent," Potter said. "They are not inter-subjective."

Potter said using religion as a basis for political push is fundamentally flawed. Take the issue of gay marriage, for example.

"Imagine if I lived in a community where the main reason people don't want me to marry the person I love is religion and I don't believe in that religion," he said. "I'm going to criticize the belief."

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