In short piece for The American Scholar , William Deresiewicz reflects on the holy words of a (supposedly) secular culture . These are words, Deresiewicz suggests, that are “possessed of something like magical powers, a kind of ideological open sesame .” He lists freedom , equality , and justice as examples. Of course, one could argue that some of these words have a long history in the Judeo-Christian tradition, but that criticism aside, what are some other “holy” secular words? Clunky as it is, open-mindedness is certainly one.
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