10-16-2003, 05:35 AM
[quote name='Kaushal' date='Oct 14 2003, 06:56 PM']
That is not entirely true . Most of the communist countries (before the breakup of the FSU) and a few even today like China, Albania, Vietnam, Cuba follow these precepts fairly faithfully. My point was just as the word secular is very popular with Communist countries, it is not so in the US as it is considered to be synonymous with anti-religious doctrine. Furthermore , Indian communists, unlike their comrades in China who happen to be first and last Chinese patriots and happy to be called jingos, do not follow these precepts. For the Indian communists basically secularism means there is nothing good that can be said about Hinduism (why - for no other reason than that it is the religion of the majority and their unity must be smashed at all costs). My contention is not that many countries follow such a brand of secularism , but that such a meaning for secularism is widely accepted as a secularist concept and that therefore secularism is not widely used as a philosophy or an ideology in America. You can glance at any newspaper and see how many times the word secularism pops up on any given day and compare the same to a english language newspaper in India. In India secularist dogma dominates the debate in english language media and is constantly hurled as a Brahmastra against bewildered Hindus who have always considered themselves pluralistic in their acceptance of other religious beliefs. [/quote]
U r right about the commie countries, they were indeed secular, by the book.
Now regarding the commies in India, my question is are they really secular?
If they were why this Hindu bashing? why putting down every thing Hinduism offers or values? Commies are supposed to be secular, so by the book they should bash anything & everything anti-commie not people of a particular religion. Since they are doing this how can they be commie, they become communal IMO. And if communal is the opposite of secularism these guys are non-secular, they very thing they preach against.
The article that you posted about mney earned from temples being diverted towards Haj / mosques / Churches was certainly news to me.
This idea of secularism cannot last for too long. It's not healthy for any community, neither for the nation. I hope these so-called secular groups realise that they are just isolating the majority more n' more, day by day and sooner or later it would come back to haunt them.
Quote:By that definition no country in this world is secular. Not one!
That is not entirely true . Most of the communist countries (before the breakup of the FSU) and a few even today like China, Albania, Vietnam, Cuba follow these precepts fairly faithfully. My point was just as the word secular is very popular with Communist countries, it is not so in the US as it is considered to be synonymous with anti-religious doctrine. Furthermore , Indian communists, unlike their comrades in China who happen to be first and last Chinese patriots and happy to be called jingos, do not follow these precepts. For the Indian communists basically secularism means there is nothing good that can be said about Hinduism (why - for no other reason than that it is the religion of the majority and their unity must be smashed at all costs). My contention is not that many countries follow such a brand of secularism , but that such a meaning for secularism is widely accepted as a secularist concept and that therefore secularism is not widely used as a philosophy or an ideology in America. You can glance at any newspaper and see how many times the word secularism pops up on any given day and compare the same to a english language newspaper in India. In India secularist dogma dominates the debate in english language media and is constantly hurled as a Brahmastra against bewildered Hindus who have always considered themselves pluralistic in their acceptance of other religious beliefs. [/quote]
U r right about the commie countries, they were indeed secular, by the book.
Now regarding the commies in India, my question is are they really secular?
If they were why this Hindu bashing? why putting down every thing Hinduism offers or values? Commies are supposed to be secular, so by the book they should bash anything & everything anti-commie not people of a particular religion. Since they are doing this how can they be commie, they become communal IMO. And if communal is the opposite of secularism these guys are non-secular, they very thing they preach against.
Quote:I agree with you that this is an acceptable definition of secularism namely equal treatment of all humans , regardless of religion, caste, creed etc and i would have no problem if this was faithfully applied in India. But that is not the case . There is no question that preferential treatment of minority religions is written into the constitution and under the guise of secularism they have been skimming of temple funds to subsidize the Hajj pilgrimage and subsidizing churches and masjids, all based on the supposition that the Hindu is either gullible or too meek to raise a voice in protest. Thus the secularism that is followed in India adheres to no definition and is an adhoc proposition made up to garner minority votes.
The article that you posted about mney earned from temples being diverted towards Haj / mosques / Churches was certainly news to me.
This idea of secularism cannot last for too long. It's not healthy for any community, neither for the nation. I hope these so-called secular groups realise that they are just isolating the majority more n' more, day by day and sooner or later it would come back to haunt them.