On Friday 27 Jul 2012 5:23:53 am Shoba Narayan wrote: > What will Indian culture (or any culture) be like without religion?
I am not sure that I should reply to this because it typically launches me off on one of my rambles. Religion is never culture. The exception in my view is Arab culture. Islam was designed to fit Arab culture closely - at least that is what I have heard Arabs claim and I can find no reason to disagree. The Pakistan experiment has been one of trying to divorce all culture identifiable as "Indian" - which was interpreted by Pakistani founding fathers as "Hindu culture" and replacing that with what was thought to be pure Islamic culture. Indian culture basically cuts across linguistic, ethnic, religious and national borders. But I must point out that Indian culture demands respect for nature (animate and inanimate) and even worship of nature for those who desire that. This has always appeared to the rigid ayatollahs of Christianity and Islam as polytheism and idol worship. But Christians and Muslims in India seem to be able to coexist perfectly well with Indian culture as long as they are not provoked into creating a vertical, religion-based split in society. The culture is fine, its the religion that causes problems. I use the words "vertial split in society" deliberately. Indian culture has its own definition of how society should be split up and that split is horizontal, based on class and ethnicity, not on religion. This 1 hour 50 minute video on untouchability is an excellent illustration of how some of the less savoury aspects of Indian culture remains with people in India, be they Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians or communists. The video is called "India Untouched". It's a good video worth watching in full. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgDGmYdhZvU shiv
