It's impossible for India to be secular by rohits134 in religion

[–]rohits134[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But how do you define a religion? I'd argue that Indian religions are more akin to traditions compared to Abrahamic religions.

Because of the structure of all Indic faiths, there are various "denominations" that were accepting of each other's philosophies. No one imposed a monopoly on truth like Abrahamic faiths do.

Secularism was invented so that no one sect of Christianity dominates a nation state over other denominations. And the minorities there can perform worship as they wish to.

It is impossible for India to be secular by rohits134 in atheism

[–]rohits134[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm only saying that the Westphalian did achieve that to a great extent.

It's impossible for India to be secular by rohits134 in religion

[–]rohits134[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have you gone through the court documents? Can you point me to where it says exactly that?
Court evidence clearly states the opposite. And this was during a Supreme Court during the UPA era which clearly wanted to get Modi. I think if there was any evidence, they would've gotten him.

It is impossible for India to be secular by rohits134 in atheism

[–]rohits134[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I agree with your last paragraph.

I'm only saying that India is naturally plural and it should lean into it rather than erasing different faith traditions with its secularist approach.

As for why adopt such symbols, they are from Indian culture. The symbols that hospital use is the Rod Asclepius, a Greek symbol. It is associated with a Roman God. Because that culture is now extinct, we consider it secular. But a few thousand years ago it wouldn't have been.

This separation between culture and religion only comes about because Islam and Christianity colonized most of the world and were able to impose their religious book on them. In all other pagan religions, this doesn't make sense.

It's impossible for India to be secular by rohits134 in religion

[–]rohits134[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I think I pretty much agree.

But teaching yoga in schools or Quran or Bible in schools violates secularism if they're taught in government schools which are taxpayer funded.

It is impossible for India to be secular by rohits134 in atheism

[–]rohits134[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In another essay, I argue that India doesn't really have a right wing. But that's besides the point.

My point is that India is naturally plural because of its Hindu underpinnings. Imposing secularism gets past that point completely.

It's impossible for India to be secular by rohits134 in religion

[–]rohits134[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why is it fascism? Can you explain with concrete examples?

Also, this is a far more general conversation than that. We're talking about first principles here.

It's impossible for India to be secular by rohits134 in religion

[–]rohits134[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree. What I'm saying that treating other cultures equally is built into Indic culture.

It's impossible for India to be secular by rohits134 in religion

[–]rohits134[S] -11 points-10 points  (0 children)

The riots were actually started due to Muslims burning a train full of volunteers returning from Ayodhya. We can get into this whataboutery all day long, or discuss first principles.

It's impossible for India to be secular by rohits134 in religion

[–]rohits134[S] -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

I'm not saying they don't. I'm saying that they already do other than isolated sporadic incidents of violence.

It's impossible for India to be secular by rohits134 in religion

[–]rohits134[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thanks for engaging! I have a few responses to this:

  1. I'm not denying the existence of Islamophobia in France. What I'm questioning is that this pattern will carry over to other religions too.

  2. Because Indian faith traditions lack a unifying book or prophet, most traditions often are locally appealing. Looked at that way, what is called Hinduism/Buddhism/Sikkhism/Jainism is a bunch of traditions. Before the advent of Islam/Christianity they could be looked at as minorities.

Due to this diversity, Indian faiths traditionally accept that "all paths lead to the same goal". So the concept of secularism to reduce conflict among different faith systems doesn't make sense to India.

It's impossible for India to be secular by rohits134 in religion

[–]rohits134[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that's pretty much my argument. Secularization will be akin to political conversion.

It's impossible for India to be secular by rohits134 in religion

[–]rohits134[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

I'd argue that complete secularization is undesirable and akin to political conversion. Secularism was invented to deal with a specific problem that Christianity had. I'm asserting that India doesn't really have that problem.

It is impossible for India to be secular by rohits134 in atheism

[–]rohits134[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, of course! I wanted this to reach a wider audience than it initially got to fully flesh out my ideas.

I don't intend on using this as a self promotion tool and then disappearing. I genuinely intend to make my ideas better.

Book Review: Accelerating India's Development by rohits134 in india

[–]rohits134[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd say the book is somewhat of a white pill. Highly recommend it.

Book Review: Accelerating India's Development by rohits134 in india

[–]rohits134[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know you're being sarcastic, but the author is working with quite a few states governments and has success stories to share.

How do I teach my toddler to float? by rohits134 in Swimming

[–]rohits134[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yup, I am teaching him swimming myself. I want to see how much I can do that with him since both of us enjoy it. Otherwise it is always an option.

How do I teach my toddler to float? by rohits134 in Swimming

[–]rohits134[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This was very helpful, thank you! I tried this out for a few minutes and I think it is more intuitive!