secularist
Church-state separation proponent
A secularist advocates for the separation of religion from public affairs, particularly government and education.
The term can be neutral—describing someone who believes religious institutions shouldn't influence state policy—or dismissive, implying hostility toward religion: The secularists want to remove God from public life.
As an adjective, secularist describes this viewpoint or its adherents.
One guided by reason
- empiricistKnowledge-from-experience advocate
- naturalistStudent of nature
- materialistValues physical over spiritual
- positivistOne trusting only observable facts
skeptic · agnostic · atheist · freethinker · humanist · nontheist · enlightenment · reason
Public cause supporter
- campaignerOne who advocates publicly
- reformerAgent of institutional improvement
- proponentOne who advocates something
- separationistAdvocate for splitting apart
lobbyist · church-state · civil-liberties · policy-maker · legislator · pluralist · liberal · progressive
Not devout or pious
- nonbelieverOne lacking religious faith
- unbelieverOne lacking faith
- godlessLacking belief in deities
- faithlessUntrustworthy, lacking loyalty
unchurched · lapsed · apostate · nones · worldly · temporal · earthly · mundane
rationalist
One guided by reason
- empiricistKnowledge-from-experience advocate
- naturalistStudent of nature
- materialistValues physical over spiritual
positivist · skeptic · agnostic · atheist · freethinker · humanist · nontheist · enlightenment · reason · logic
advocate
Public cause supporter
- campaignerOne who advocates publicly
- reformerAgent of institutional improvement
- proponentOne who advocates something
separationist · lobbyist · church-state · civil-liberties · policy-maker · legislator · pluralist · liberal · progressive · democrat
irreligious
Not devout or pious
- nonbelieverOne lacking religious faith
- unbelieverOne lacking faith
- godlessLacking belief in deities
faithless · unchurched · lapsed · apostate · nones · worldly · temporal · earthly · mundane · profane
- leftismMarxism, socialism, communism, leftist, socialist
- political labelsliberal, conservative, leftist, rightist, moderate
- political peopleactivist, advocate, politician, voter, partisan
- revolutionariesrevolutionaries, revolutionary, rebel, rebels, Lenin
- contrarianscontrarian, dissenter, naysayer, skeptic, doubter
- freethinkersfreethinker, freethinkers, rationalist, rationalists, skeptic
secularisttheocrat
Ruler by religious authority
fundamentalist · Islamist · establishmentarian · ayatollah · traditionalist
secularistreligionist
Devout faith practitioner
believer · pietist · spiritualist · true believer · supernaturalist
secularism, secularization, secularize, secularity, secularists, secularized, secularizing