Is Certainism a Secular Response to Religion?

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO--(Marketwire - Jun 15, 2011) - Dr. Martin Millette is certain about one thing -- secularism is on the rise.

According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data, most every religious denomination in the U.S. lost members between 1990 and 2008, with one key category marking the largest increase in the Census survey of religious affiliation -- no religion at all.

"The last Census showed a 6.8 percent increase in Americans who claimed to have no religious affiliation whatsoever," said Dr. Millette, a former minister with a PhD in Christian Education and author of the book "Stormy Whether" (www.martinmillette.com), which explains the secular philosophy of Certainism.

"Most of the religious categories suffered losses, while a few marked gains in the fractions of a percentage point. This is a clear indication that many Americans are starting to question whether religion can be a guiding force in their lives."

Having been a minister, Millette's perspective on the shift is more incisive than that of just another scholar. His viewpoint sprang from a lifetime of study of the non-secular, which led him to the foundation of a new philosophy he calls Certainism.

"Certainism is a new philosophy that seeks to accommodate the existential views of reason," he said. "In fact, Certainism endeavors to overrule all religious tenets of constraint, because religion is mainly geared to robbing people of their ability to intelligently think for themselves. As a result, the Certainist is a revisionist of religious tenets in the realm of the Ninth Amendment and the reason of man."

Millette believes his ideas provide something that those without faith can use as a guiding set of principles, to replace the dogma of religion.

"Many of those who eschew religion are identified not by what they believe, but rather, what they don't believe," he added. "So, Certainism is a philosophy that offers a progressive voice for the 21^st century that provides the secular population a set of ideas that help them identify as someone who believes in something, as opposed to simply being identified as someone who doesn't believe in something."

About Dr. Martin Millette

Martin H.S. Millette, PhD. has a doctorate in Christian Education; he's a former minister who has taught philosophy, theology, and history for over two decades in the ecclesiastical polity. He reads three ancient languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.