Friday, January 05, 2007

SECULAR AND THE SO-CALLED SECULAR , I.E. PRO MOSLEM INDIA

Actually, USofA is NOT a christian nation. It is a secular nation. The first
amendment to the US constitution (passed under President Adams) is nothing
but declaration to run a nation on secular principle. Here is how the first
amendment goes -

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ."

It is a different matter that America is a Christian majority nation. But
that is not to say that it is not secular. I can run for a public office in
America even though I am a Hindu, and nobody can challenge me on the basis
of religion, and even if someone does (no matter how covertly), the US
Courts (whose prime duty is to uphold the Bill of Rights given in the US
Constitution) will not let that challenge sustain. A brief understanding on
US secularism is given here (*).

India's problem is not that its constitution is secular. Never that... Its
problem is that in practice Indians are pseudo-secular. Under a truly
secular nation, everyone is equal and there is no prejudice based on the
religion. In India, there is rampant prejudice evident in government
policies against you if you are a Hindu. More so, if you are an upper caste.
That is the problem of implementing secularism Indian style. In India, there
is a disparity in distribution of resources, media attention, and sometimes
even justice, and this disparity is very much based on religion. Therefore,
India is NOT a secular nation in practical terms inspite of a secular
constitution. In India, Muslims, and Christians are more at an advantage
than Hindus as far as public policy goes...

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