Secularism In India

According to Langdon Gilkey, an American Protestant Ecumenical theologian, secularism is “the cultural Geitst within which all forms of thought, including the theological, must operate if they are to be relevant and creative”(64). Gilkey continues to say that secularism exists on presuppositions level and so expressed in different forms of a given culture’s life, and thereby not an easy thing to characterize briefly (Gilkey 64). This is true especially when one attempts to define the meaning of secularism in a place like India, a land of multiple cultures and religions. Secularism seems “incongruous” as Badrinath Rao, a professor in Sociology and Asian Studies, rightly asserts (47). It has multifaceted expressions and it means different things

This seems to mean that the State gives all religions and cultures equal importance, status and treatment. It is a privilege like in a secular state like India where every citizen has the Constitutional Right to follow, to practice and spread the religion of our choice as it is described in Articles 25, 26, 27 and 28 of Indian constitution. Therefore, be it Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, etc...all religions in India are of equal values and significance to the making of an integrated and progressive India. In other words, the state cannot establish or promote any particular religion in India. Rather, it should ensure equality of all her citizen in every walk of

It is in the way we respect one another. It is in the way we value each other’s differences. It is in treating one another as brothers and sisters of the same soil. It is in foregoing one’s own preferences. It is in letting go of our selfishness and considering others better than ourselves. It is in doing away our suspicions, hypocrisies, prejudices and intolerances. It is in treating all creation with respect and dignity whether black or white humans, from the South or the North, Tribals or Brahmins, animals or plants. It is about celebrating unity in diversity. It is about celebrating all God’s creation. Where do we find these principles? It is in the Christian Bible. It seems clear to me that a true Christian believer, who believes in the Triune Creator of the world, is one with a spirit of secularism, but never a racist, celebrating different race, culture and religion. The Bible as the revelation of God assists Christian believers to live out what it means to have a “faith seeking understanding” that reflects the secular consciousness and relevant to the every day’s experience of a diverse community in India. Lesslie Newbigin is right when he says that, “In India...it needs Christians to keep the secular state truly secular”(76). Christians must take this as opportunity and recognize “the possibility of