Re: dharam versus religion
Posted by Jasdev S Rai on Sunday, 2/15/2004 12:35 PM MST

Dear Khalsa ji, Dear Harsimran kaur You are right to point out that atheism and agnosticism can exist within the domains of dharma. However secularism is a political theory that NEGATES anything religious from the State system. There is a difference here. Atheism can be pursued as a personal or even institutional belief in the world of dharma, but in that world it cannot exorcise systems that promote concepts of divine, nor can the vice versa occur. Western secularism is a political theory that rejects the role of ‘religion’ in any sphere of state’s institution. Secondly, is it our dharma to fight for others, yes of course it is, provided the symbols and practices are not harmful to society. For instance Sikhs will not fight for the right of sati for Rajasthani lady or for female genital mutilation in Sudan as an alleged Islamic practice. But much as I would like to believe that the immense outcry from Sikhs in the French issue is altruistic, I am quite certain it isn’t. In the great antiwar march in London which attracted 2 million people, only 15 Sikhs turned up. I don’t think the rest were for the war. Modern Sikhs do not really have a great history of altruistic campaigns. Besides, fighting for others does not call upon us to go to the extent of misrepresenting one’s own ideas and jump in for a suicide pact. The first thing is to ensure that the turban does not become a target of this law. Concurrently we can fight for the others but by making a clear distinction, which even the French have started to appreciate. Thirdly, there is enough controversy among Muslims about the Hijab. It might be an idea to find out what is going on in the Muslim world about this issue and the extent or lack of support within that community. The Jews and the Christians didn’t seem to be bothered enough to wage public campaigns. As for Serjinder Singh’s equally constructive contribution, I think we are getting to appreciate the hermeneutic distortions that have resulted from these mistranslations. To add to the debate, my own understanding of the genesis of the word religion is as follows. The word does not seem to be in any literature before 13th century. It is then popularised by the clearly emerging domain of secular philosophies. As secularism gained strength, it also defined the limits, the scope and the boundaries of Christendom by continuing to label it as religion. Christendom lost its eminent place in society and internalised this word, clinging onto the domain of ethics, morality and Divinity. Religion therefore has to be concurrently existent with secularism and is a product of the long atomistic period of enlightenment and modernity. In simple Punjabi, and in Sikh context, this means secularism, which is ‘manmat’ defines, describes and orders the boundaries of religion which we have chosen as the word for ‘gurmat’. Now I as a Sikh have great difficulty in accepting this premise. Surely Gurmat will define what manmat is rather than the other way. By accepting Sikhi to be a religion, we unwittingly fall into the western realm of secular world and religious ‘otherworld’ where the secular rules in this world. Surely that is not dharm. Yes there are aspects of religion in Sikhi, but there are also aspects of politics, aspects of science and aspects of culture and aspects of law etc in Sikhi. Why stick with one category. Lastly for Mr Karan Singh I am sorry to have offended you, but please read the questions carefully next time when responding, at least to my questions; I am an impetuous person with a shorter fuse than most. Moreover a Sikh is required to pay attention to the questions. You should do some research before answering. (I have gone soft here. What will my friends say) Jasdev Singh

	dharam versus religion... (Jasdev S Rai - 10.Feb.04)
	. . Re: dharam versus religio... (Param S Arora - 10.Feb.04)
	. . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jaspal Singh Sindhar - 12.Feb.04)
	. . Re: dharam versus religio... (Gurufateh Singh - 19.Feb.04)
	. . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasdev S Rai - 11.Feb.04)
	. . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Karan Deep Sagri - 12.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasdev S Rai - 12.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasbir K Villaschi - 13.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasdev S Rai - 13.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasbir K Villaschi - 13.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Serjinder Singh - 14.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasdev S Rai - 14.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Karan Deep Sagri - 14.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasdev S Rai - 15.Feb.04)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Karan Deep Sagri - 13.Feb.04)
	. . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Chober Singh Sandhu - 1.Mar.05)
	. . Re: dharam versus religio... (Aneeta - 1.Mar.05)
	. . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Indy S Dhillon - 1.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Aneeta - 2.Mar.05)
	. . Re: dharam versus religio... (Manjit_Ss - 2.Mar.05)
	. . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Chober Singh Sandhu - 3.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Indy S Dhillon - 3.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Aneeta - 4.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Indy S Dhillon - 4.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Aneeta - 5.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Indy S Dhillon - 5.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Aneeta - 7.Mar.05)
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: dharam versus religio... (Jasdev S Rai - 11.Mar.05)
	. . Re: dharam versus religio... (Amarpalsinghxx - 6.Mar.05)

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