Secularism and Religious Beliefs

By Rajendra Kumar Kale

This articles was published in The Secular Community monthly Newsletter

Being secular is essentially being pro-reason or being guided by logical principles in one’s day-to-day life. But in common parlance, the word “secularism” has assumed a negative connotation: something as being against religious beliefs. This limited meaning may be arising from misreading of the dictionary meaning of the word secular: “not connected with religious or spiritual matters,” or “(of clergy) not subject to or bound by religious rule; not belonging to or living in a monastic or other order.” The dictionary meanings only suggests that secular people do not concern themselves with religion.

Why secularism should be defined with reference to religion alone and negatively? This has something to do with centuries of religious practices when being religious was the norm, and every other position an exception. Religion, with no competition from science, was then the primary standard to judge people’s conduct.

To find a positive definition of secularism we need to go to the origin of the word. Authorities hold that historically, the word secular was not related, or linked to religion. It was a freestanding term in Latin, which would relate to any mundane endeavor. In Sanskrit, an ancient language of India, it can be termed as something belonging to (this) world (लौकिक or ऐहिक) as against the ‘other’ world (अलौकिक or पारलौकिक). The ‘other worlds’ in Christianity and Islam are, of course, the heaven and the hell. Hindus also believe in a heavenly 'other' world frequented by gods and demons, and, additionally, they believe in the concept of re-birth based on deeds, or कर्म of an individual.

So, the connection of the term secular with religion is only to the extent of whether we, in our association with each other, choose to indulge in this-worldly or other-worldly affairs. To any secular community, affairs of the life on earth, this world, only matter. Evidence does not suggest the existence of any other world. No other world appears in our school science books – even if the religious believe they exist and science-fiction writers imagine them – and therefore, for a secularist, the argument over religions is an unnecessary exercise. Thus, to say that secular persons are here to oppose religions is a misstatement. All one could say is, a secular person has nothing to do with matters not consistent with evidence-based knowledge, which is arrived through what we call the scientific method.

An alternate, positive definition of secularism could be “reason-based living”. A secular person would accept only those theories and beliefs, which are consistent with reason. True, one’s reasoning could go wrong, say, for insufficient data, or because they used a wrong premise. But as a community, we have the option to reason out the reason using our collective knowledge and abilities. We shall not offer or accept supernatural arguments. It is about the “due process” of thinking, logical thinking – a unique gift of nature to the human race – which is least likely to go wrong for the individual and collective good. This approach rejects religious beliefs (not the believers) to the extent that they are inconsistent with discernable truth. 

By switching-on reason, we automatically switch off every negativity against the wellbeing of people and of our planet. Discrimination based on color, age, gender, orientation, opinions, etc., as also destruction of the environment and rights violations are an absolute no-no. Those acts don’t stand to reason for our peaceful coexistence. 

One corollary of this kind of thinking is, every secular person shall have due regard for the beliefs of the religious persons, and that is so simply because beliefs are matters of thought and questioning them would amount to questioning freedom of thought.

But as it is said, “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins”, so there is a caveat. Everyone has the right to be religious if they like, choose their religion, and practice it, provided this exercise does not encroach on the rights of the people on the secular path, the path prescribed by the Constitution. It is only logical to say that religion in any democratic nation is a private affair to be confined to private spaces. This is noteworthy in the context of India where footpaths and roads can be seen to have permanently built places of religious worship without regard for the safety of the pedestrians.

Indeed, most mundane decisions of life can be taken speedily, unambiguously, and satisfactorily, based purely on our current scientific understanding of the natural world. Tangwa Abilu had tweeted this morning: Our forests and our oceans are our biggest carbon reservoirs while healthy soils act as our carbon sinks. In fact, healthy soils and forests ensure a healthy and sustainable mother earth. Who would disagree?