So I had this big argument with a well-meaning longtime friend on secularism, which has brought me to this week's idea that changed the world!
Since this is a very controversial topic, I tread carefully and define my terms first. When I use the term 'Church', it means the religious institutions of all religions! And when I use the term religion, it means a particular system of faith or worship. I understand there are people who consider their religion a way of life or a personal relationship! I'm not getting into that. For me, religion is a system of faith. Period!
For a long time the world was ruled by religious orders, and by that I mean, the church had control over the government. So the clergy of the church decided on the taxes, the trade etc. But this did not survive the modern era and with the advent of the 'Nation states' in its current form, it was decided to keep church and religion away from power and politics. And rightly so!
So there are two forms of secularism. The first is such that the functions of political officials are performed in a way which invokes no religion. Under this model of secularism, the political officials perform their function without invoking any religion, irrespective of their personal belief or the belief of the majority population of that state. Simply put, church and religion are kept separately. This is the negative form of secularism. The other positive form of secularism is that the state will support all religion equally. So the state is supposed to give equal respect to all religion or to protect all religions equally.
Now, where do we stand?
Secularism in its true form is a misnomer! Since man is innately biased, we ascribe to our own belief system, and when in power it is almost impossible to let your belief system not impress on your work. Agreed!
That said, any country which subjugates any religion should never be called secular. Simply put, any law passed by a secular country cannot and should not discriminate a religion.
Is it good for the world to be secular? As a deep Christian(If I can say so myself) in my heart, I sincerely believe it is good for the world to move towards secularism. When laws are made against one group of people, it will end up creating resentment in that group! And resentment is never a good feeling. And eventually will end up creating more harm than good.
And what do we do as individuals?
Man, as I said earlier, is innately biased. The society which we grew up in, will definitely influence the human heart. And that will reflect in our actions and our belief system. In spite of that, I as a human being have no right to treat another individual as an inferior, for his belief system. I have no right of violence/abuse/misdemeanour on any individual, coz his beliefs are different!
It's time the world takes a clearer look at secularism again! A non-secular pluralistic world will be chaos.
Since this is a very controversial topic, I tread carefully and define my terms first. When I use the term 'Church', it means the religious institutions of all religions! And when I use the term religion, it means a particular system of faith or worship. I understand there are people who consider their religion a way of life or a personal relationship! I'm not getting into that. For me, religion is a system of faith. Period!
For a long time the world was ruled by religious orders, and by that I mean, the church had control over the government. So the clergy of the church decided on the taxes, the trade etc. But this did not survive the modern era and with the advent of the 'Nation states' in its current form, it was decided to keep church and religion away from power and politics. And rightly so!
So there are two forms of secularism. The first is such that the functions of political officials are performed in a way which invokes no religion. Under this model of secularism, the political officials perform their function without invoking any religion, irrespective of their personal belief or the belief of the majority population of that state. Simply put, church and religion are kept separately. This is the negative form of secularism. The other positive form of secularism is that the state will support all religion equally. So the state is supposed to give equal respect to all religion or to protect all religions equally.
Now, where do we stand?
Secularism in its true form is a misnomer! Since man is innately biased, we ascribe to our own belief system, and when in power it is almost impossible to let your belief system not impress on your work. Agreed!
That said, any country which subjugates any religion should never be called secular. Simply put, any law passed by a secular country cannot and should not discriminate a religion.
Is it good for the world to be secular? As a deep Christian(If I can say so myself) in my heart, I sincerely believe it is good for the world to move towards secularism. When laws are made against one group of people, it will end up creating resentment in that group! And resentment is never a good feeling. And eventually will end up creating more harm than good.
And what do we do as individuals?
Man, as I said earlier, is innately biased. The society which we grew up in, will definitely influence the human heart. And that will reflect in our actions and our belief system. In spite of that, I as a human being have no right to treat another individual as an inferior, for his belief system. I have no right of violence/abuse/misdemeanour on any individual, coz his beliefs are different!
It's time the world takes a clearer look at secularism again! A non-secular pluralistic world will be chaos.
No comments:
Post a Comment