Editor,
Amidst the rise of radicalisation and Islamic fundamentalism in Western nations an old video of the UAE foreign minister surfacing on social media, stating, “There will come a day when we see far more radicals, extremists and terrorists coming from Europe because of lack of decision-making, and trying to be politically correct. Or assuming that they know Islam or they know Middle East.”
Back in 2008, when I was in Class 8, I was baptised. The pastor asked me if I would ever commit adultery or would ever steal in life. It was clear in my mind that I was not ready to be baptised because I felt that I was still immature, so I responded, “I can’t say. I am still young. I need more time to know god properly,” hoping that I would be disqualified. One should be ready to abide by the 10 commandments and know god to be baptised. The point here is, not even the basic ideals of Christianity are being followed in the state.
An ulcer patient would be recommended by pastors to go for fasting. And that is ridiculous because the gastric acid would further erode the intestine and would exacerbate the cause of stomach cancer.
When the whole nation was locked down in fear of Covid-19, some people gathered for mass prayers just to be diagnosed as Covid positive.
I am not contradicting religion with science; I truly believe that science is just a manifestation of god’s creations. But the point I want to make is that the thekkedar (custodians) of religion have interpreted the idea of god according to their whims and fancies, as some liberals interpret the idea of secularism.
Coming to secularism, under Article 25, it states, “Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.”
Try asking any person who has a slight idea about fundamental rights about Article 25, and he would promptly say “right to freedom of religion.” But that’s incomplete. Because the word that comes much before religion in the same article is ‘conscience’. It is important to be conscientious before being religious. For instance, no matter how advance artificial intelligence may get in the future, a robot can never be religious, because it has no conscience of its own. And so, having a conscience is important for any individual to be converted to any religion. Before being Hindu or being Christian or being Muslim, one should ask oneself, what is god? God is not someone who gets pleased by offering of coins in the church or pouring of milk in the temple. Keeping this matter for another debate, the question is, how do we see that one has the right ideas and values of the religion he is choosing? And here comes the role of the state as a complementing agent rather than supplementing our choice.
Secularism and state have three forms of relations, as practiced worldwide. The first is equal distance from religion, as seen in the US and European countries. Second, strict neutrality, as seen in communist countries like China and N Korea; and third, equal promotion, as practiced in India. Indian secularism allows the state to intervene in religious matters, as seen in the case of Sabarimala temple, and the case of the recent regulation of Waqf board. It also includes preventing the innocent from being converted by fraudulent means. It is important for the state to oversee religious affairs in India because we are a country of heterogeneous religious practices, unlike the Western countries where there is a comparatively more uniformity in religion. It becomes pertinent for the state to ensure that the ideals of secularism are protected and not misused.
The activation of the decades-old Act is legit and I request the state government to uphold the Act. However, what is law for? Law is meant to serve the interest of masses. So any legislative Act necessarily should incorporate opinions from different sections of people. The apprehension over ambiguous provisions should be addressed by clearly specifying the Act that would be fall under the category of fraudulent means to prevent any misuse, rather than just scrapping the Act.
Osho