Secularism And Indi Secularism

To others, Religion is one condition among so many other countries, but to the Indian people it is one great sustaining force, pertaining to all the spheres of their lives. Mahatma Gandhi who was born and brought up in India could not escape this strong influence of religion in all his activities.

q. This shows that Nationalism still plays a large role in keeping India together, regardless of their diverse religious identities. Secularism

Secularism is the indifference to or rejection of formal religion. The most secular countries today are in Europe. Secularism has become more widespread during the past century due to the rise in democracy. Democratic governments disadvantage the traditional practices of a religion because they offer freedom, whereas other forms of government may force it's population to practice a specific religion. For example, the predominance of Islam in the Middle East can be associated with the influence of Taliban, a militant movement in the area that enforces the Islamic religion.

Historically, India was under British rule until 1950. Many people in India felt that during British rule they were powerless (Beteille, 2010). All of the problems in the country were blamed on this helplessness (Beteille, 2010). When India became independent and developed its own constitution, a large amount of emphasis was placed on the role of government in solving social problems (Beteille, 2010). During British rule, many customs and practices in India were based on the Hindu religion (Beteille, 2010). The British left those in place, neither making them unlawful nor supporting them (Beteille, 2010). When the new government was established, the caste system that had so sharply defined India was declared unlawful (Beteille, 2010). While this was a step in the

Hinduism is one of the most diverse religions still practiced today. They are an adaptive religion, often taking in the local Gods of its followers, leading to many branches of the religion that occur much like dialects within a language. Although it is difficult to catalog all of the Hindu Gods and Goddesses, there is estimated to be over 300 million of them. It is common for people unfamiliar with the religion to generalize all those living on the Indian subcontinent as “Hindu”, since they are usually not aware of the many religions that are practiced in India, and how similar they can be. This generalization can trace its roots back to imperial British rule of the country. In an attempt to offer their colony representation in Parliament, a census was taken of the colony to offer representation based on religion. The census did not allow for the diversity of belief that occurs under the Hindu

Secular is basically a fancy way of saying modern. So, this all takes place during 1776 until 1900. In 1776, the USA expanded which is a symbol of Conquest. The expansion lasted until about 1851, when America has finally reached its full size. Next, was the US Civil War that lasted from 1861 till 1865. This was obviously symbolizing war. In 1873 until 1879 was the Panic of 1873, which was a time of hunger for everyone. In 1888 till 1900, when they attempted to legislate religion in the US, was also when a lot of people died. It was a hard time for everyone, but the human race survived.

Secularism within Society: How Believing in Nothing Leads to Everything It is quite difficult to believe in the unseen, and it seems to be even harder to build morals and ethics off of nothing. With over 4,200 differing religious viewpoints, it is a constant struggle for humans to decide what is the best religious fit for them. However, the reality is, no one will ever know who and what is actually correct in its beliefs; it is impossible to know.

A major platform of the indigenismo movement was anticlericalism. There are three major positions generally taken when speaking about indigenismo and religion. First is that of the literary critic. Religion in the works of Lopez y Fuentes and Magdaleno is symbolic of power struggle. Authors sought to influence the emotions of the public by painting priests as villains. A second position is taken by the modern historian who claim that the Church held too much power over the indigenous peoples. It was an obstacle to modernization efforts and therefore ought to be removed. A third stance focuses on the religious terminology of national projects, stating that while the Catholic institution

Secularists like Charles Watts and Richard Dawkins affirm a single belief, though they vary in their methods of stating it. They believe that there is no evidence for the truth of any "revealed faith and that only secularist science should be permitted to exist. People who call a religion "revealed" mean that somehow these people were told what to believe by a non-material means and that there is no outside evidence that the written record, their holy scriptures, are true or

Sikhism is a distinctive religion which is combined with teaching from Hinduism and Islam. Sikhism is founded in the 15th centuries by Guru Nanak in the Punjab area of South Asia, which is present day Indian and Pakistan. Guru Nanak was born at Nankana Sahib. The Sikh symbol is called the Khanda, which is a double-edged sword. The Khanda has to sharp on both ends of the sword because that symbolizes spiritual power and authority over people.

Secularism, is the term used to define the separation of church and state. The antagonists argue that the total separation of church and state is extreme and that the writers of the Constitution would have allowed for more religious involvement in the schools (Whitehead, Freedom 5). For

“Your vision will become clear when you look into your heart. Who looks outside dreams. Who looks inside, awakens”- Carl Jung. Siddhartha is a novel by Hermann Hesse, was written in 1922 right after the World War 1. In short, it is a journey of a Brahmin 's son Siddhartha- transitioning from spiritual to materialistic and back to the spiritual world to attain self-realization, authenticity, and spirituality. The novel 's setting takes place in ancient India, during the period of the Gautama Buddha (The Sublime One). Below, I will show how Siddhartha’s story legitimates Hinduism, but challenges both Hinduism and Buddhism. According to Siddhartha neither Brahmins, Samanas nor Buddha can teach how to attain Nirvana, they can only guide, which challenges both Hindu and Buddhist teachings. However, legitimation of Indian religious authority is depicted through his instructor that guides him towards enlightenment, who is the father of Hindu God Krishna-Vasudeva. Thanks to him, he was able to finally comprehend OM-the unity of all things (Indian mantra) by listening to the river 's secrets. In addition, throughout the novel legitimation of Indian religious authority was revealed in its use of Indian religious and philosophical concepts.

As Peter Berger (1967) explained religion, it is a sacred canopy under which the entirety of life is explained and regulated. Secularization theory as explained by Weber holds that modernity challenges this sacred canopy through two major ways: increased cultural and structural pluralism and increased primacy of economic pursuits (Emerson and Hartman, 2006:129). With globalisation accelerating in the post Cold War era, causing mass migration across borders, increased interstate interaction and huge growth in the global financial market, it was predicted that religious influence would be relegated to the private sectors of social life by ripping the sacred canopy, and leaving people with, at best, sacred umbrellas (Smith 1998). Despite this, what secularization theory did not anticipate is that the demystification of the world provided within it the seeds both for the re-mystification of the world and resistance to the demystification (Berger, 1992:1). Hence the world today, with some exceptions, is as furiously religious as it ever was, in some places more so than ever (Berger, 1999:8). Since the 1970s there has been a particular rise in religious fundamentalist movements, as signalled by the Iranian Revolution in 1979 led by Ayatollah Khomeini, which led to the establishment of the first Islamic State. As Almond et al note, fundamentalist movements have risen to the highest levels of power in Sudan in 1993, Afghanistan and India in 1996, and in India again

of India, due to which it remained marginalized as an electoral post (not social post) for a while. The primary support of Hindu Nationalism comes from the Northern and Western parts of India. Being a center right movement, it is seen to have major differences with Congress. They are driven by ideology and faith, and are traditionally conservatives. It is seen that they are able to mobilize a large section of the population who trust leaders and parties that use religion as a mobilizing factor. India being a Hindu majority country, has a large Hindu religious voter base and the BJP over the year have been able to mobilize on this portion of the population who are driven by the idea of Hindu nationalism. It is important to remember that even though the Hindu nationalism movement was marginalized electorally during the early years after the Independence, it remained strong and influential throughout society and over there years gradually gained support and electoral posts in Indian politics. The BJP is a party of the strong, meaning that it is an organization run by the educated upper class and is backed by political and economic elites. It follows a dual targeting voter strategy, in which the Party politics takes care of the interests of the upper class (consisting of business and political elites), and then there are social organizations in place that do charity and other social work that takes care of the poor. The BJP as a party has an organization centric party structure.

Therefore Sri Lanka is not a secular state where as in India under the amendment made for the preamble of Constitution in 1976 it recognizes India as a secular state. Out of the south Asian countries only India is a secular state. But secularism in India differs from both secularism in United States which completely separate State and Church and also it is different to the Secularism concept in France which relegate religion entirely to the private life. In India there is no state religion. And it treats all religion equally. Where as in the context of Sri Lanka, Buddhism has been granted the foremost place while protecting the rights of all other