On Thursday 04 Aug 2011 7:41:18 pm Charles Haynes wrote: > > But as far as i know - it is only in India here there are big debates > > where the members of the majority religion are debating with each other > > as to whether they are secular enough or not. > > One of the things I found frustrating in India was how people would assume > their ignorance of counterexamples implied the nonexistence thereof. > > For example, one of the states I see struggling hardest with secularism is, > like India, officially secular with strong religious traditions. That being > Turkey. But they're Islamic which contradicts the thesis above. > > As far as I can tell, all secular democracies struggle with how to deal > with religion and government. >
Thanks for the information about Turkey. I was looking for an education when I said "As far as i know" and you have used that as a generalization about all Indians making assumptions :D . I will let it pass. What is a "secular democracy"? How would a non secular democracy work? Does anyone have any examples of a non secular democracy? Democracy and secularism go very easily together if the country has an overwhelming majority of one single religion. As the proportion of minority religions rises, secularism becomes more contentious. As I have stated before on Silklist, predominantly Christian European states became secular after decades of war, death and strife in Europe. Christianity per se does not include secularism as a tenet. Islam and secualrism have no connection. Hindus have no concept of secularism. It is "pluralism" that Hindus follow. Yet it is a predominantly Hindu country that writhes and struggles with an internal debate on secularism. If democracy is the will of the majority, then pluralism should be the rule in india, not secularism. And in fact that is exactly what I see around me. Pluralism in the guise of secularism. Perhaps it It is people who object to pluralism who have a problem? shiv
