Terror has political goals, Religion should be for humanism

After being attacked by the bombs of the terrorists (13/7, 2011), we are facing the barrage from the ideologues of Hate and divisiveness. Many a ideologues of religious nationalism have come out with outpourings associating religion, Islam and so Muslims with terrorism and the need to confront this attack of terror by uniting as Hindus, voting a Hindu party, taking away the citizenship rights of Muslims, and declaring India as a Hindu nation (Subramanian Swamy 16/7, 2011). Swamy says the terrorism is an attack of Islam on Hinduism. Islam wants to take over India. So in response Hindu mind set has to be promoted, temples built at Ayodhya and Varanasi, article 370 should be abolished, conversion from Hinduism to other religions banned while conversions to Hinduism should not be stopped. India should be declared as Hindu Rashtra and Muslims should be disenfranchised. While being put forward in a brusque and blunt fashion, there is nothing new about his article, as this is precisely the agenda for which RSS combine has been working and spreading the ‘Hate politics’ in India. The political ideology making Hinduism as its political base, the Sangh Parivar, has been propagating this from close to a century by now. And to add to this the US propaganda, US media coining the term ‘Islamic terrorism’ has added further grist to the mil of hatred. Terrorism though a centuries old phenomenon has come to global prominence especially after the creation of Al Qaeda, Taliban; in the especially set up Madrassas by US. The whole US design in the last three decades of last century was to dominate in West Asia, one of the richest oil reserves. While the US state manufactured one or the other pretext to attack these countries, it had already sown the seeds of formation of Israel at the end of Second World War and the idea was clear that this emerging global power needed a close ally to conquer the oil fields of the West Asia.

Religion, Politics and Gender Equality - Asia - Heinrich Böll Stiftung

Contrary to modernist predictions that religion would retreat into a private zone of worship and practice, recent decades have seen religion become increasingly salient on the political stage worldwide. Does this matter? From the point of view of women’s rights and gender equality, much is at stake. UNRISD research shows that politicized religion impinges on women’s rights in problematic ways. The challenge to gender equality comes not just from fundamentalist agendas, but also from those who instrumentalize women’s rights for political ends.

The Issue While religious attachments and practices may have weakened in some geographical regions (most notably in Western Europe), on a global scale they seem to have persisted, if not intensified. Moreover, religious actors and movements have gained prominence on the political stage over the past three decades. This “de-privatization” of religion puts into question the prediction that sweeping secularization would be the inevitable companion to development.

What are the social and political implications of religion assuming prominent and contested political roles? Has the spread of politicized religion made it harder for women to pursue equality with men?

Some observers see incompatibilities between democracy, human rights and gender equality, on the one hand, and a world in which religion plays an active role in public affairs, on the other. Others ask whether it is useful to see religion as the nemesis of gender equality, and secularism as  Others ask whether it is useful to see religion as the nemesis of gender equality, and secularism as the precondition for it. Questioning the opposition between a “religious Right” and a “secular Left”, they provide a more nuanced assessment that recognizes the need for greater attention to women’s agency and engagement with religion in ways that may be empowering. Many observers now agree that banning religion from the public arena of citizen deliberation and association is problematic from a democratic point of view, and ultimately counter-productive. Some even argue that religion can be a counterweight to the institutions of the state and the market, revitalizing public debate on their workings and social implications.

In addition, where states have failed to deliver physical security, welfare provisioning or a sense of national belonging, faith-based groups have enjoyed a revival as they have rushed in to fill the gaps. The resilience of these groups, their ingenuity in substituting for state services (be it health, education or some minimal form of social protection) and their effectiveness in providing members with a sense of dignity and purpose, can render them indispensable to the communities they serve.

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All chapters are specially designed to aid cross-religious comparison, following a standardformat covering set topics and issues; the book reveals to students ...

Religions of Asia

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Religions of Asia