Pakistan from its inception till 1955 was a secular country and it was only after 1955 that it became an Islamic republic of Pakistan. What prompted the need to push the country in this direction and did that benefitted the country?
There is a petition in the supreme court to declare Pakistan a secular state
Is secularism good or bad for the state or any country?
There are nearly 96 countries in the world where the state is secular. The happiest countries in the world are secular liberal democracies such as Scandinavian Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
Social scientist Phil Zuckerman in his study reported that secularists are less prejudiced less racist less dogmatic and supportive of gender equality and women’s rights.
Secularism is the separation the religion and state where all citizens are equal in front of the law and parliament of that country. The term secularism was first coined by a British reformer in the 19th century George Jacob Holyoake.
Secularism emerged as a reformist movement against the political hegemony of the Catholic church with the idea that both can operate independently.
French scholar Jean Bauberot cited three essential components of a secular society. First separation of the religious institution from the state institutions, secondly freedom of conscience for all individuals, and lastly no discrimination by the state against any individuals based on their beliefs.
There is a difference between secularism and atheism as atheism rejects the concept of religion and God whereas secularism stresses the separation of state and religion and considers religion as a personal matter of any individual
In UK Queen is the head of the state and supreme governor of the Church of England. 26 unelected bishops of the Church sit in the House of Lords and influence laws that affect the whole of the UK.
A few years ago, Thomas Jefferson was voted to be out of the list of foremost founding fathers of America by the Texas Education board from the school curriculum because of the phrase ‘Wall of separation of the state and the church ‘. He along with James Madison and Benjamin Franklin contributed a lot to making America a secular country.
Modern France and America are the two countries that established themselves on a secular basis. The French revolution was more anticlerical than the American one. Secularism is the core concept in Article 1 of the French constitution.
Article 6 of the American constitution state that no religious test shall ever be required for qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. However, there have been religious references in various official documents such as the Pledge of Allegiance including the line ‘One nation under God’ also the phrase ‘In God, we Trust’ appears on the United States currency and coin which is non-secular and still starts the debate on secularism in the USA.
Turkey’s first constitution declared Islam as the state religion. This declaration was repealed in 1928 and by 1937 it was secular. The Indian constitution of 1949 adopted the elements of secularism in the laws. The preamble of the Bangladeshi constitution declares secularity as the basic constitutional principle. Article 8 enshrines secularism as a basic government policy. Indonesia which has the largest Muslim population is a secular country the Indonesian government guarantees all its citizens the right to worship each according to their religion and belief. The constitution in Malaysia makes it a secular country allowing everybody in the country the freedom of choice to practice the religion of their choice
Secularism ensures that the religious groups don’t interfere in the matter of the state and the state doesn’t interfere in religious matters. Such as the recent long march from Karachi to Islamabad by a religious group that was allowed to go uninterrupted undermining the rule of law
In a secular democracy, all citizens are equal in front of the law and parliament a very good example is Joginder Nath Mandal who was a Dalit and was appointed as the first law minister of Pakistan by Quaid e Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah the founder of Pakistan.
No religious affiliation or belief should give an advantage or disadvantage to any group or individual and punier communities should not be persecuted but rather protected.
Secularism protects women and minorities from discrimination. The recent killing of a Sri-Lankan national is a stain on our country’s reputation and will be a constant source of embarrassment in time to come.
Secularism ensures that all the citizens of the country should have equal access to public services and nobody should be discriminated against based on caste color or creed such as admission to the educational institution, getting treatment in the hospital getting jobs, and in front of the police.
State-funded schools should be nonreligious a good example is Educate together Ireland where children are taught together and informed about different religions of the globe and they celebrate festivals of every religion regardless of their parent’s religious background.
Money given to religious organizations from public funds should not be used for missionary work a good example is 80.16 million rupees of funds given to a religious organization by the KPK government.
All the overseas funding of the religious seminaries should be documented and audited and this applies to all FBNPO faith-based non-profit organizations. External funding of religious seminaries has gained a lot of importance because of the war on terror as students were involved in acts of terror.
There should be the abolition of special privileges granted to religious organizations. and any special protection for any faith group and nobody should above the law.
Education should also cover the non-religious way of looking into the world and encourage critical thinking.
Copson in his book stated that secularism is under attack around the world as India and Turkey are sliding away from secularism under their current leadership and becoming religious intolerant societies.
Iraq was a secular country but the invasion of Iraq by the coalition of willing on the pretext of the weapon of mass destruction and dismantling of the ruling Baath Party saw one of the worst sectarian killing sprees and the emergence of ISIS.
Power struggle in the Middle East also saw a concentrated effort to topple the present government of Syria which is also ruled by the Baath party and where the state law is secular.
Pakistan lost eighty thousand of its citizens in the war against terror against the religious groups who want to impose their brand of religion in the FATA.
In the recent political turmoil in Pakistan, we remember Faizabad dharna and TLP getting away with the murder of 10 policemen in Punjab which shows the weakness of our political and judicial system.
Blaise Pascal wrote that men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
Have we progressed in moving our country forward this is the question we need to ask ourselves?.
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