Secularism is the Source of Terrorism

"[T]he world's profoundly religious cultures see [the] exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions. A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures." Pope Benedict XVI, Regensburg Address.

"This perception of Western civilization as an attack on all they hold sacred seems to be the principal motivating force behind Islamic terrorism, though the form that terrorism is taking is, paradoxically, shaped by the Western scientific-technological mindset..." Vincent Twomey Seton Hall Address, 2013, 11.

"...[T]errorism is ultimately based on [the Enlightened will to power] modality of man's 'self-authorization', not on the teachings of the Qur'an." Joseph Ratzinger, Christianity and the Crisis of Culture, 42 (i.e., 2005 Subiaco Address).

Our Western secular religion (which we deem inherently superior to theocratic world outlooks) blinds us to the dignity, unfathomable depths and immeasurable worth of the major religions of the world (including Christianity) and thus creates a blind spot in our relations with and our technological and political colonization of the cultures of the world's peoples and nations. This is an insurmountable obstacle in international dialogue with non-secularist peoples, which is also at play politically in our presumed benevolence in exporting our Western democratic model. Our rejection of God puts us out of touch with the world, even today. Not all of the world is an "Enlightened" world. So, we are not even in the conversation with the "unenlightened" world. Plinthos.