Suchergebnisse

IN THIS PAPER, THE AUTHOR PROVIDES A POLITICAL PREFACE TO THE RECOVERY OF A WELL-KNOWN DOMAIN OF PUBLIC CONCERN IN SOUTH ASIA, ETHNIC AND ESPECIALLY RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE, FROM THE HEGEMONIC LANGUAGE OF SECULARISM POPULARIZED BY WESTERNIZED INTELLECTUALS AND MIDDLE CLASSES EXPOSED TO THE GLOBALLY DOMINANT LANGUAGE OF THE NATION-STATE IN THIS PART OF THE WORLD. THIS LANGUAGE, WHATEVER MAY HAVE BEEN ITS POSITIVE CONTRIBUTIONS TO HUMANE GOVERNANCE AND TO RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE IN THE PAST, INCREASINGLY HAS BECOME A COVER FOR THE COMPLICITY OF MODERN INTELLECTUALS AND THE MODERNIZING MIDDLE CLASSES OF SOUTH ASIA IN THE NEW FORMS OF RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE. THESE ARE THE FORMS IN WHICH THE STATE, THE MEDIA AND THE IDEOLOGIES OF NATIONAL SECURITY, DEVELOPMENT AND MODERNITY PROPAGATED BY THE MODERN INTELLIGENTSIA AND THE MIDDLE CLASSES PLAY CRUCIAL ROLES.

The author seeks to provide a political preface to the recovery of a well-known domain of public concern in South Asia, ethnic and especially religious tolerance, from the hegemonic language of secularism popularized by westernized intellectuals and middle classes exposed to the globally dominant language of the nation-state in this part of the world. This language increasingly has become a cover for the complicity of modern intellectuals and the moderizing middle classes of South Asia in the new forms of religious violence. (Internat. Pol. Science Assoc.)

A description of a seminar on secularism in the Egyptian legal tradition, convened in Cairo on 11 July 1986 under the auspices of the Egyptian Medical Syndicate. Focus was on the essential problem of modern Egyptian politics, namely, whether Egyptian legislation should be derived from the Islamic law as administered by the state (Shari'a), or from secular legal traditions; though support was expressed for both approaches by seminar attendees, the predominance of the Islamic point of view, even among the Egyptian intellectuals, was evident. The former approach departs from the assumption that secularism in Western Europe emerged as the political response to abuses by the Catholic Church; it is inappropriate to the true Islamic state, which does not have a history of religious abuses. The moderate Islamic state should be religious, but not theocratic, allow for freedom of thought & expression, & pursue both material & spiritual goals. Though a concern for the material & spiritual was also expressed by the secularists, they emphasized that the state should be based on the separation of religion & law. M. Polinsky

Janata Party's inability to resolve its orientation toward the meaning and practice of secularism and its perceived opposite communalism as the principal cause at the ideological level for the party's demise just two years after its stunning victory in the 1977 elections. Ideological struggle within the Janata Party on the question of 'dual membership': whether party members should be allowed to belong to RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh). The authors examine the textbook controversy against the backdrop of these contentious issues. (DÜI-Sen)