Hi,
To promote, protect, nurture a "pluralistic" society - the "western notion of secularism" (i.e. "separation of chuch & state" as supposedly opposed to or different from the authors view of "pluralism") is indispensable! Otherwise the predator ideologies will simply gobble up the others, and there will be none to protect the victims.
Besides, who is going to prevent the State from taking sides (or the State becoming a party itself) between faiths/ideologies, or even between various 'interpretations' or 'schools' within the same faith/ideology ? And what if the intolerant, aggressive, violent, totalitarian, predator variety wins out in this process (which usually happens), by hook or by crook ?
In short, the State will inevitably end up as partisan and antagonistic to pluralism, without the implementation of the church-state separation.
I think the author got it wrong, and if his version of Bangabandhu's understanding of the issue is correct, then so did he.
Pluralism or the traditional Bengali/Sufi Syncreticism will only survive and prosper under the umbrella of a church-state separated state.
What do you think ?
Regards,
R.A.
--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, Farida Majid <farida_majid@...> wrote:
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> Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
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> Friday, March 27, 2009 03:15 PM GMT+06:00
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> Published On: 2009-03-18
> Point Counterpoint
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> Redefining secularism
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> Md. Anwarul Kabir
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> Secularism is not negation of religion. Photo: Munir Uz Zaman/ Drik News Establishing secularism was one of the principles of our Liberation War. After liberation, the 1972 constitution incorporated secularism as one of its salient features. However, post-1975 politics changed the situation and we reverted to the realm of communalism.
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> The reasons behind this U-turn are manifold. Yet, one may argue that, as the term secularism was not defined objectively, communal forces could misguide the people with a view to promoting their own political agenda.
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> The apparent debacle of communal forces in the last election does not negate the possibility of their revival in future. To annihilate communal forces, secular democrats must redefine "secularism."
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> There is no universal notion of secularism. The rationalist and atheist notion suggests that religion and secularism are rigidly incompatible as secularism is a non-religious, if not altogether anti-religious, philosophy. So, in framing state policy, a secular state should not care about the religious beliefs or practices of the citizens.
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> In extreme cases, a secular state can debar the citizens from practising their religious obligations. The communist blocs established this notion of secularism.
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> The western liberal notion of secularism suggests that there is no contradiction between religion and secularism. Rather, it concentrates on the separation of the church and the state. This model suggests that the state should remain independent of the church and that the church has no role in framing state policies. However, the church can still play a significant role in the private sphere of life.
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> In Bangladesh, the communal forces have misguided the people by defining secularism in line with the rationalist and atheist notion. Thus, the majority of the people perceive secularism as an anti-religious ideology, and those who are religion oriented naturally don't endorse secularism.
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> Is the western notion applicable to our country? To answer this, we need to assess the influence of religion on state affairs from an historical perspective.
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> Throughout Europe, the church had played a role in framing and regulating state policies till the 18th century, when everything was determined in accordance with the biblical doctrine. In a real sense, the countries in Europe then were theocratic by nature.
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> Due to the development of natural science, rise of the Renaissance Humanists and the Enlightenment, the supreme authority of the church collapsed gradually and, ultimately, church and state were completely separated during the 17th and 18th centuries.
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> Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, initiated the first step of the separation of state and church by introducing the doctrine of two kingdoms (secular and spiritual) of God. Like Europe, America also had a similar experience; separation of the state and religion was endorsed in 1791 through the first amendment to the constitution.
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> But the case of the Indian subcontinent was completely different. Before the Moghul Empire, most of India was ruled by Hindu kings. As Hinduism covers different varieties of indigenous religious beliefs, the ancient Hindu kings showed religious tolerance and ran the state in a secular manner.
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> The Moghul emperors, except Aurangzeb, continued to conduct state affairs in secular mode and they never tried to establish theocratic Islamic state. The tenure of Emperor Akbar was noted for his secular practices in running the kingdom. By combining the essence of all major religions, he introduced Din-e-Elahi with a view to upholding the philosophy of secularism.
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> Din-e-Elahi can be viewed as an effort to establish Indian style secularism, which did not negate religions. Rather this nurtured all religious doctrines, allowing peaceful co-existence of their followers.
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> After independence, Jawaharlal Nehru, realising the very essence of secularism, framed the constitution. So, it is unsurprising that in India the state promotes religions and religious activities. For instance, it sanctions huge funds for religious institutions and education.
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> However, such state funded institutions must not discriminate against any citizen for his/her religious belief. So, in the state funded Muslim madrasas, not only Muslims but also people of other religions can study without any religious prejudice.
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> Now the question is; what mode of secularism should Bangladesh follow? As the majority of the citizens are not orthodox but religious, we must discard the rationalist and atheist notion. Again, the influence of religions is so immense that it is not possible to separate state from religion. So, the western notion will also fail to serve our purpose. In fact, Bangladesh has to define its own brand of secularism, considering the fact that the majority people of the country are Muslims and Bengali.
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> Bangladesh consists of other religious communities along with some indigenous ethnic minorities. So, in defining secularism we must consider Bangladesh as a pluralist society in both the religious and the cultural aspects.
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> Our secularism may be close to that of India's, but it must originate from our own soil. Though the majority of the people are Muslims, historically they have been upholding and practising Bengali culture without any confrontation with Islam. The reason is the way Islam is preached in this region.
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> Many people who converted to Islam in the erstwhile East Bengal were from the lower strata of Hindu community, and were inspired by the Peers/Aowalias who followed Sufism, which is contrary to the orthodox view of Islam. Sufism emphasised a spiritual union with God and did not require its adherents to abandon their traditional beliefs and practices totally.
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> The influence of indigenous Bengali culture is evident in the Muslim community in Bangladesh. The majority of the Muslims have a liberal outlook and traditionally believe in peaceful coexistence with other religious communities. So, implementing secularism in Bangladesh is relatively easier compared with other Muslim countries.
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> Perhaps, while defining secularism in the 1972 constitution, Bangabandhu had a crystal clear conception of secularism of the land. To him, secularism did not mean discarding religion. Rather, he was eager to promote all religions and bring religious harmony in the country.
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> During his tenure, recitations from all major scriptures at the opening of any state function can be cited. Besides, he was keen to maintain good ties with other Muslim majority countries and joined the OIC. His decision to form the Islamic Foundation and patronise major Hindu/Buddhist festivals was in line with our brand of secularism.
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> Md. Anwarul Kabir is an educationalist and a freelance writer. E-mail: kabiranwar@...
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