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Recently, I attended an impressive forum on interfaith harmony
in Sydney. School children, very interestingly, participated in the
debates, on interfaith harmony. A twelve year old high school
student, in his speech, asked the audience, "we don’t
understand why we are not given school holiday on Eid or
Dewali while we get off on Christmas and Easter… We are told
that Australia is a secular country where everyone has equal rights to
practice and celebrate his or her religious activities. So,
why don’t Muslims, Hindus and the people of other beliefs
get days off to observe their religious days… is this what
we call secularism or freedom of social and religious rights?."
The children’s arguments left many questions in my mind
about the western society we live in.
Eventually, I found no answer other than to realise that no
matter how
convincingly a given society may claim itself as "Secular",
the majority always dominates over the minority, religiously,
culturally and socially.
Historically, the idea of secularism emerged as a practical
strategy to deal with the issues related to the Christians and
people of other faiths in the Western culture. Apparently, the
nations which adopted secularism had the conviction that people
should not be accused or discriminated against in the name of
religion. Everyone should be given liberty to observe his or
her own faith and the State should not be in control of
religious obligations.
In Webster's dictionary the word ‘Secularism’ is defined as:
‘A system of doctrines and practices that rejects any form
of religious faith and worship’ or ‘the belief that
religion and ecclesiastical affairs should not enter into the
function of the state especially into public education.’
The theory of separation of State and Religion makes several
underlying assumptions that are hard to come by in the real
world. State and Religion, both possess direct relationships
with the people – people practice religion and people run
the State. Therefore, it is quite illogical to believe that
the Secular philosophy has ever been implemented according to
its theoretical definition.
However in the western world, where Christianity is the major
religion, the rulers tried to compromise between the day to
day affairs and the practices of the faith. They decided to
include some of the values of their religion -Christianity- in
the making of the rules of their version of secular State.
One may still articulate on the religious freedom granted to
the minorities to practice their faith in the Secular Society
of the West and in other parts of the world. Yet, these
liberties are found to be confined within the boundaries of
religious premises of the minorities. Yet, at some degree,
this liberty can also be seen in the non-secular States and in
the countries where religion is the part of the State’s
constitution.
How can one separate the dealings of State and the rules
dictated by religion dealing with issues from social to state
affairs, when the global religion of Islam, strongly defines the codes of life
in the Holy Qu'ran?
That is why when rulers of the Muslim majority States tried to
implement the Secular philosophy of the West in their
countries, they failed to reach any point in implementing any
system which could be away from the conflict between Islamic
Laws and Secular Ideologies. The concept of compromising and
creating a half secular, half Islamic system produced divisions
in the public and nation become a mixture of divided thoughts.
Pakistan, Iran and Indonesia are the examples in this regard. These States are terribly
divided between those who want to see Islam at macro level
and the others who want to implement a customised system and
want to carry both Islam and the Secular ideas at the same
time. The end result in these States, is an inability to produce a stable
and peaceful social atmosphere.
Today, Islamic States are abused as being the countries
producing religious extremists and are considered as
conservative. As a matter of fact, this extreme division among
the people, who are in today’s terminology called fundamentalists and
moderates are the consequences of the same
ideology of implementing half Islam and half secular of the
west.
Nevertheless, counting the facts, the issues related to the
religious freedom are also found in Secular States. The recent
critical issue of ‘banning women’s headscarf’ in
France is the perfect example of how much the word
‘Secularism’ has been is manipulated. Secularism is
supposed to provide freedom to every individual to practice
his or her beliefs in an independent environment rather than
regulating people with a single rule defined by the State.
It would be wrong to pay credit to the secular system of the
West for their economic independency and technological
advancements. These attributes are directly linked with the
level of education and the literacy growth of the people
rather than due to the secular status of the country. However,
when one looks at the human values and social relationships in
the western world such as family values (status of mother,
father, sister and brother) respect of elders, teachers, and
so on which are taught by religion, one finds that the
level of these characteristics are continuously diminishing in
the Secular States compared with Religious States.
The influence of the religion of the majority in the public
institutions like media, education centres and other meeting
places can be understood as an uncontrollable phenomenon.
However, the influence of the religion of the majority on the
minority can be seen by social and procedural practices
adopted in the government institutions of the Secular States.
Many States’ affairs related to the social, cultural and
educational activities are defined under the light of the
belief of the majority of the people within the State. For
instance, in the Western Secular States where Christianity
dominates, the system of the State observes the practices of
the Christian faith, e.g. national holidays on the Christmas
& Easter; beginning official events and even
parliamentarian sessions with the holy verse from the Bible
and routine official visits of the heads of the states to
their respective churches. The Secularism in the East is not
much different than the West. In India, which is one of the largest democratic and
secular State of
the world, Hindu religious practices can be seen as a part of
official activities of the State.
Indonesia
is another perfect example of the dominancy of the religion in
the secular system. Although Islam has not been defined as a
religion of the State in the Indonesian constitution, the
dominance of Islam can be seen in the government and public
affairs of the State.
The State and religious affairs could only be possible to
separate if these two were totally non-dependent entities. As,
both, the State and religion affairs are run and practiced by
the same people, these can not be separated. Accepting this
reality, the Secularism of today can be defined as, a
philosophy where practices related to faith are the
activities of the faith of the majority in the State and the remaining affairs of the State are man-made rules defined to
provide the social freedom to the people. And the States which
claim themselves as secular states are actually the Christian,
Hindu or Islamic States depending on who are in majority and
ruling the State.
Dated:
1st of May, 2004
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