On Friday 05 Aug 2011 8:05:08 pm Ingrid wrote: > A partial answer to the difference between European and Indian approaches > to, and definitions of, secularism, may lie in the fact that the earliest > struggles for liberty/freedom/rights in Europe were against the dominance > of the church. Much early migration to North America was also fueled by > the need to flee religious persecution. > > Secularism in the West, is, as a consequence, defined as the separation of > church and state. In India, by contrast, religion has arguably never been > the oppressive force, possibly because of the characteristics of Hinduism. > Even in Kashmir the origins of the struggle were anti-occupation, not > anti-Hindu, before it was hijacked by Islamists. > > The Indian constitution defines secularism as equal treatment for all > religions, pluralism, in other words, not the absence of religion in public > life. > Spot on Ingrid. But I believe it introduces a "constitutional crisis" of sorts in India. How can the constitution demand secularism but allow pluralism instead?
LOL! shiv
