Religion and Society: Secularism and Its Discontents

INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME IV

The Western understanding of ‘secularism’ as the separation of ‘church and state’ is not realistically applicable in India. The Constitution doesn’t define it, even though it the word was put into the Preamble almost as an afterthought to pre-empt any challenge to the secular character of the state. Our Republic is now “Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic”.  Secularism was taken for granted even though there are multiple understandings of ‘secular’. CLICK TO READ MORE.

The two most prevalent ones at the time of our Independence were: the Nehruvian one, equal distance of the state from religions (dharmnirpekshta); and the Gandhian one, equal respect for all religions (sarva dharma samabhava).

Nehru’s understanding was more intellectual and appealed to the educated elite, the Gandhian one more populist and resonated with the masses. Ambedkar’s understanding of the secular was more legal and concerned with justice rather than religion itself focused on the reform of personal law. Though the discourse was nuanced over the post-Independence years, the secular ideal was to provide a common ground, equal and open, for all citizens in the polity. That space is now shrinking.

The articles in this volume are contextualised by this history. Today a religious nationalism is overtaking our previous commitment to secularism. Hopefully these will help open keep old spaces open and trigger news as well.

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Religion and Society: Secularism and Its Discontents

LIST OF ARTICLES WITH ABSTRACTS IN VOLUME IV

1. RELIGION AND MODERNIZATION IN INDIA

Abstract: The essay explores the relationship between tradition and modernity. Rather than a straightforward direct relationship, it involves a complex process of both modernising rationality and traditionalising modernity. 

2. ETHICS AND ECOLOGY: TOWARDS AN ECOLOGICAL ETHIC ─ RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR PERSPECTIVES

Abstract: This short essay attempts to outline the main ethical contours of the present ecological crisis; the tradition response, a modern secular affirmation and finally the polarities and tensions involved.

3. CONVERSION AND CONFRONTATION: THE TALASARI MISSION EXPERIENCE

Abstract: This is a sociological study of the evolution of the Talasari mission in Maharashtra in the last seventy years. This is an analysis of the forces at work in the passage from a religious/proselytising concern to involvement in development projects and finally to promotion of conscientization among the people in search of justice, and shows how the three are interconnected. The early section of the study, dealing with the situation of the Warlis and the history of the mission is omitted and presented in summarised form by the editors of VJTR.

4. LEVELS OF DISCOURSE OR ‘COMMUNALISM’

Abstract: Communalism in India is a complex phenomenon, involving overlapping levels of discourse. Here the attempt is to distinguish and identify these multiple levels without separating or confusing them. Our response to the escalating communalism in the subcontinent must be adequate for such an analysis. 

5.  SECULARISM AND SECULARISATION: NATION-BUILDING IN A MULTI-RELIGIOUS SOCIETY

Abstract: In the process of nation-building, secularism has been an important component of development. What is stressed is a liberative secularism for peoples’ movements as the common ground for a state in a pluralist society.

6. THE RECENT ATROCITIES AGAINST CHRISTIANS: SUGGESTION FOR AN INTRA-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

Abstract: This editorial sets intra-religious dialogue, as a prerequisite for inter-religious dialogue, in the context of conflict between religious communities.

7. FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND RELIGIOUS PROTEST

Abstract: The question raised here concerns the limits of legitimate expression of free speech and acceptable social protest.

8. NO ENTRY, NO EXIT: SAVARNA AVERSION TOWARDS DALIT CONVERSION

Abstract: Religious conversion in a caste-ridden society that traps Dalits in their oppressive circumstances is studied at four levels of discourse: psycho-social, socio-cultural, economic-political, socio-religious. For a breakthrough, a holistic approach to conversion is needed.

9.   PAPAL REFLECTIONS

Abstract: This article attempts to defuse the backlash that Pope Benedict XVI’s speech on “Faith, Reason” at the University of Regensburg, Germany, on September 12  had caused by appealing to the larger context in which it was made.

10.  THE DIALOGUE OF CULTURES: FROM PARANOIA TO METANOIA

Abstract: Our political imaginations and the international arena are preoccupied with the inevitability of a clash of civilisations. While it is true that cultural and religious differences have precipitated violence, we have also witnessed a real dialogue of cultures. If conflicting economic interests and political concerns are taken to mean irreconcilable religious worldviews, ethnic cleansing and genocide will become the norm. We need a dialogue of cultures as a prelude to a dialogue of religions, thus freeing us from the distrust of the Other.

11. RETHINKING RELIGIOUS CONVERSION

Abstract: In this article, a pointed question must be raised: Why is the concern only over conversions rather than the wretched condition of the people?

12. MISSION AS TEXT IN CONTEXT: RELIGIOUS CONVERSIONS IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA

Abstract: Every ‘text’, verbal or otherwise, must be set in its ‘context’. This article sets ‘mission’ in the context of contemporary conversion in India. 

13. WHY I AM A CHRISTIAN?

Abstract: This article elaborates on a personal confession of my religious faith-commitment in a public inter-religious forum. 

14. INTERROGATIONS FROM THE MARGINS: CONVERSION AS A CRITIQUE

Abstract: There are several common approaches to the understanding of religious conversion and correspondingly various ways of responding to it. These often do not present an integrated or holistic understanding of religious conversion. For this, we must distinguish four levels of understanding: psycho-social, socio-cultural, eco-political and the socio-religious. Conversion as critique is invariably associated with resistance and rebellion, dissent and protest. It includes a spectrum of possibilities both in analysis and interpretation as well as in response and action.

15. FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM: A PROPHETIC WITNESS

Abstract: Our action-response as a Church must be a commitment to liberation from injustice and repression, not to partisan ideology or institutional power. Articulating such a praxis into a viable agenda and pursuing it with prudence and vigorous courage would certainly be a major contribution of the Church in India to all our peoples. How do we incarnate and express this mission for the Church, in both its institutional and charismatic dimensions? We need a renewal of our vision and mission to inspire an agenda for action. The contribution of the Church to India today must be in terms of a prophetic witness to the kingdom of God to which we are all called.This is the best contribution the Church can make to India today, a challenge we all are called to face together as a believing, prophetic community of sharing and caring.

 16. RENEWAL AND REVIVAL:  A NEW EVANGELISATION FOR A NEW INDIA

Abstract: New Evangelisation is a call to ‘renewal’  In this subcontinent, the new evangelisation must be expressed by tolerance of other cultures and religious traditions, at all four levels: practical, intellectual, ethical, mystical. Further, it must be practised in an open and equal dialogue at the four levels: life, action, experience, religious heritage. Only then, will we sow the good seed of a meaningful, relevant faith for a hundredfold harvest of love and forgiveness, justice and reconciliation, peace and harmony.

17. CIVIL SOCIETY AND PROPHETIC WITNESS: COUNTER-CULTURAL SOLIDARITY TO TRANSFORM THE WORLD

Abstract: The paper suggests a Counter-Culture for Communities of Solidarity as a Prophetic Witness in Political and Civil Society using transformative Pedagogies and reading the signs of the times in fidelity and hope.

18. A CHURCH THAT IS POOR AND FOR THE POOR: COUNTER-CULTURAL SOLIDARITIES AND TRANSFORMATIVE PEDAGOGIES FOR CATHOLIC FACULTIES IN INDIA

 Abstract: Pope Francis’s vision of a poor Church for the poor is a more authentic and focused on our mission. It calls us, not just for the transmission but the transformation for the social heritage of the Church. This is not just for charismatic individuals, but for Church institutions as well, all to witness the option for the poor and the promotion of justice with a pedagogic praxis in the quest for the kingdom of God.

19. HINDU RASTRA AND RELIGIOUS MINORITIES

Abstract:  Hindu Rastra with its majoritarianism and its politics of hate against minorities poses a critical challenge to our constitutional republic. To reverse we need a civic activism for a cultural and religious disarmament for peace.

20.  SECULARISM IN A PLURI-RELIGIOUS SOCIETY: THE CONSTITUTIONAL VISION

Abstract: The idea of secularism as expressed in our Constitution is a peculiar Indian invention. Neither the ‘positive secularism’ of the Hindu right, nor the Nehruvian version of the liberal left, nor the anti-secularism of the anti-modernists are able to provide an adequate basis for such a quest Rather we need to recapture the inspiration of our freedom struggle as expressed in the vision of our Constitution.

21. RELIGIOUS DISARMAMENT: METAPHOR FOR TOLERANCE AND DIALOGUE

Abstract: Against the background of the historical trajectory of violence in religious traditions, , we will first clarify an understanding of violence and the relationship of power and peace. This will be the basis for an elaboration of the ideal of tolerance, which in turn becomes the sine qua non for a multidimensional dialogue. In the context of violent religious conflict, religious disarmament becomes the metaphor for a radical reorientation to deeper tolerance of the ‘other’ and more open inter-religious dialogue.

22. RELIGIOUS NATIONALISM AND GLOBALISATION: ERODED IDENTITIES AND DISPLACED ELITES

Abstract:  Nationalism as an ideology must be at the service of the people, and not vice versa: the people to be sacrificed on the altar of nationalism. So too must religion embrace the seva-marg and not sacrifice people at the altars of false gods. Surely we can do with a surgical strike into the prejudice and hatred in our hearts and minds.

23. JESUIT CONTRIBUTION TO NATION-BUILDING IN INDIA: CHALLENGING THE JESUIT IMAGINATION

Abstract:  The celebration of the bicentennial anniversary of our restoration, calls for an open-ended encounter with our Jesuit past. In this sense, history as remembrance is also prophecy. Here I have focused on India and the Indian Assistancy.

24. THE POPE FRANCIS EFFECT

Abstract:  The mission and effect of Pope Francis on the Church, ten years after his election.