SECULARISM

T.N. Madan on Religious Fundamentalism

The phrase "religious fundamentalism" has been much in vogue since the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Bigotry, intolerance of dissent within the community of believers and often hostility towards other faiths is among its characteristic features. Fundamentalism is different from communalism or religious nationalism.

Role of Scripture

Today, all over the world, there are movements and organizations that are called fundamentalist. They all apparently attach a central importance to scripture as an infallible and accessible (easy to understand, not in need of interpretation) guide to the conduct of human affairs. Maulana Maududi argued against the modern notions of "nationalism" and "democracy" and said that sovereignty belongs to God alone Muslim fundamentalists everywhere share these views.

In the 1870s, when the Arya Samaj was formed, Dayanand Sarasvati claimed that the Vedas were the only true and complete revelation. All other scriptures (including the Bible and the Koran) were, according to him, false... He sought not only to cleanse Vedic ritual of later accretions, such as idol worship, but also to reform the caste-based Hindu society of such social evils as untouchability and the discrimination against women against women. The professed concern with the purity and sanctity of culture that today characterizes the RSS ideology is a continuation of the Arya Samaj agenda, but as Hindutva, it is ruthlessly intolerant of pluralism. Every India is required to consider India both the fatherland and the holy land. The cost of dissent, it has been said, should be the loss of citizenship rights.

In the recent past, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. identified three enemies of the Khalsa, namely the fallen (patit) Sikhs, the Hindus and the secular or godless state. He said that if the Sikhs did not follow the traditional codes of conduct, they would surely be oppressed by others. The call to recite scriptures was combined will the exhortation to use firearms for self-protection.

Quest for Power

From the above, two key characteristics of fundamentalism may be inferred. First, faith in the authority, infallibility and transparency of scripture or ordering of the family, the civil society, and the state other sacred traditions. Second, a concern with the according to it or them. In short, fundamentalism is about scripture, culture, and power conceived of as a system of interrelated elements. The fact that fundamentalist claim sole access to truth results in the intolerance and bigotry that one associates with them. Bigotry combined with the quest from political power led to militancy, terrorism and secessionism.

A question that often is asked is whether fundamentalism is not only a new name for revivalism and traditionalism. To a certain extent fundamentalists are revivalists, but they are not simple traditionalists. In fact, they are innovators. The strategy employed is that of selective retrieval or invention of tradition. Dayananda stressed the Vedas and rejected the Puranas and Epics. The Ayodhya movement has recast Rama in a strident warrior mould which is not faithful to the benign image that Tulasi Das handed down. Bhindranwale consistently stressed the personal example of the sixth and tenth Gurus almost at the expense of the first the Iranian Revolution installed a system of governance. heavily indebted to Greek and Western liberal political thought and institutions, but at its helm a guardian who is the best Islamic jurist available. In the 1300 years of the The doctrine of the guardianship of the jurist (vilayet-i- history of Islam there never had been such a government faqih), which was offered by Ayatollah Khomeini was a late development in Shia political. In short, fundamentalists redefine tradition in terms of their assessment of contemporary needs, before giving the call for a return to it.

Another Aspect

Fundamentalist movements reject "secularism" as an ideology (but) they are not against the use of science and technology in economic life or modern methods of political mobilization and bureaucratic organization, or indeed modern methods of mass communication. Christian fundamentalists in the West also have made their peace with secularization but denounce secularism as error.

To confront the excesses of fundamentalism rationalization alone is inadequate. Religious pluralism intellectually the exact opposite of fundamentalism by repudiating claims or the possibility of anyone being in sole possession of the whole truth, shows the ways to the opening of inter religious dialogues and the making of tolerant societies.

(Source: The Times of India, 29 August, 1996)