[This was published on 30 April 2014 in Dhaka
Courier]
This, in fact, a kind of elaboration and
reconstruction of the article under the same title published in the Financial
Express on 3 June 2012. Yes, it’s very much easy to talk about keeping distance
from religion while getting involved in politics and statecraft. But it is not
so much comfortable to follow, maintain and preserve the credence in practice.
Asking is why does it happen?
There is no denying the fact that there is a
missing link for which all the visions and missions of politics in various
models of democracy are faced with acute crisis of not getting implemented
smoothly in spite of the Himalayan efforts and drives. Political parties of
various faiths and ideologies, ruling or opposition, are confused and
bewildered since the overall landscapes entailing social, economic, cultural,
religious and political are degrading day by day putting serious challenges to
peace, stability and continuity. Corruptions, philistinism, cronyism,
degradation of moral values, private or public, greediness, lessening ties of
fellow-feelings, brotherhood and so forth have appeared as Leviathan’ before the
nation-states in particular and the world in general as if we are almost in the
Hobbes’ ‘state of nature’. Widely-quoted fundamentalism, terrorism and
trafficking of many faces are on rampant increase. Therefore, the question is
what is the missing link?
Answer is clean, clear and thought-provoking
indeed since there is emerging a new line of thoughts in new-fangled modes and
contents from the latent areas of politics to voice and reiterate, and I
believe also, that careful attention to the real teachings and practice of
religions of various faiths and folds should be taken as the possible missing
link. Today it is being felt and realized to a greater extent than ever before
that the objects of politics are manifested all the way through its contents and
for overhauling and rejuvenating the contents, carriers and implementers from
within and without requires supports from religions as religion only religion
can touch the body and soul together. Ethical standing and standard of politics
are condition precedents for its survival, development, continuity and
longevity. Man-made theories, doctrines, laws, rules and regulations all are
subject to flaws and short-sightedness, and contain adequate roads, avenues,
lanes and by-lanes for escapes and exits. Greediness, lusts, ugliness, negative
competitions etc can hardly be uprooted from the very minds of those who prefer
philistinism and opportunism anyhow and at any cost to altruism, sacrifice,
dedication and commitments which are the basis of politics. Therefore, keeping
the appeals and efficacy of religions at a long distance in the name of
so-called standards of politics and civilization it may not be possible to
continue as a measuring rod in the coming days. Growth of extreme secularism
i.e. separation of religion both from life and state means inevitable rise and
application of proper teachings and lessons of religions in life in the final
end not as a segmented piece but as a whole at every possible stage of life
from self to family to society to state to international compacts. Let there be
no ambiguity about the conclusion that ‘whole is truer than a part and all the
parts together constitute the whole’.
Time has come to reassess and recast
everything in a new perspective and focus that neither Muslims nor Christians
nor Jews not Hindus nor Sikhs nor Buddhists nor others in the currents are in a
position to say in most of the cases, to be sure, that they are very much aware
of the proper teachings and lessons of their respective religions while dealing
with other(s) in a community, society, state in particular and the world in
general. No religion in true sense of the term encourages a person to be
dogmatic, hostile, terrorist, regressive and static. Humanity, humanitarian
outlook, dedication and sacrifices are said to be ornaments of a religion. This
is also true that, like other areas, religions have also become prey of
negative interpretations, uses and escalations. We have to bear in mind with
awareness the difference between a religious person and a religion-loving
person. One is exactness leading to conclusion being the minority of a religion
and the other is vagueness keeping distance from conclusion forming the
majority. Today it is really difficult to find and rank a community based on
proper foundation of a religion. Let the leaders in the domains of religions
take the crisis as challenge without delay anymore.
Take it guaranteed that I am neither talking
of anything in line with politics based on religion, nor asking for revival of
Din-i-Ilahi ((Persian: دین الهی "Divine Faith")
of the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great who reigned the Indian sub-continent from
27January 1556 to 27 October 1605( 49
years, 273
days). Akbar, for the purpose of perpetuating his rule, devised this synergetic
model accommodating and merging the best elements of the religions of his
empire, and thereby made attempts to command and enjoy the confidence of of the
people of all faiths and folds together. One of the major targets of it was to
reconcile the differences that divided his subjects causing serious disorder
and threat to the smooth and peaceful running of administration and atmosphere
thereto. My proposition rather goes on saying that no canvass or model of
politics aimed at the well-being of the people and development thereto can
succeed or thrive in full or even achieve an optimum level of satisfaction if
the people engaged in the process of leadership, distribution and
implementation are not committed and dedicated from within with a considerable
degree of sanctity and purification from her or his religion.
Once founding father of India Mahatma
Karamchand Gandhi, widely acclaimed as pioneer of non-violent movement in
India, remarked, ‘there is no politics devoid of religion’ and his concept of
religion consisted in truth and love. Gandhi, in brief, desired to moralize man
and society with an emphasis that moral means must be adopted to achieve desired
results because where there exists and continues moral values and standard
there is a way to even-mindedness which is full of a kind of spiritual power to
spray and spread one’s sense of dedication and sacrifice. Today my realization
is, ‘there cannot be politics proper short of touch of religion in building and
cementing the base of dedication, honesty, transparency and sacrifices’.
Looking at the recent development in France,
a land where laïcité
(secularism) grew and developed, further attention deserves to be paid to the
book ‘La République, les religions, l'espérance (The Republic,
Religions, and Hope) co-authored by Surkozy, immediate past
President of French, in 2004. He argued in the book that the young should not
be brought up solely on secular or republican values and advocated reducing the
separation of church and state, arguing for the government subsidy of mosques
in order to encourage Islamic integration into French society. About the
philosophical or ethical standing of France he stated on many occasions that
‘the roots of France are essentially Christian’. It’s a clear indication to the
finding of religion as a possible missing link in politics.
When a US President-elect routinely touches
the holy Bible while taking oath it at the same time conveys a message that
even the President who remains under the obligations arising from the
Constitution of USA requires further to tie himself with the religious lessons
so that both divine and temporal laws may his guide, friend and inspiration. In
its currency it wrote,’ ‘In God we trust’ and recent trends also cover a
convention of political party with a prayer. If such is the necessity in the
statecraft at the climax then should not the same be reflected and practiced in
other areas of the administration and politics in the country?
In Germany political parties exist and
continue and even voted to power in the name of Christian religion. In India
religion of various folds and faiths are deeply rooted with Hinduism at the
peak. Political base and mass support to BJP is a pointer in this regard.
In Russia religion is reviving, which has
started even before the fall of socialism, more acutely than ever before.
Fabrics of Chinese societies are much tuned to religion predominantly with
Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism and, to speak the truth, Islam and
Christianity are developing there gradually. All these were also encouraged
more vividly through a constitutional amendment in 1982.Above all, in Japan
there the ‘Emperor’ is regarded as the direct descendent to the Sun.
In United Kingdom it is laid down in
documents that the Head of kingdom shall be a protestant by faith at the same
time being the ex-officio Head of the Church of England. More interesting is
that the necessity of religion has desperately further been echoed in the voice
of David Cameron, sitting Prime Minister of UK, on 16 December 2011, which
Daily Star, Bangladesh quoting AFP noted on 18 December 2011as follows:
Britain is a Christian nation and should not
be afraid of standing up for Christian values to help counter the country's
"moral collapse", Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday.
In a rare foray into religion by a British
premier, Cameron said "live and let live" had too often become
"do what you please" in Britain.
The "passive tolerance" of immoral
behaviour had helped fuel the August riots, excess in the banking industry and
home-grown Islamist terror, he said.
"We are a Christian country. And we
should not be afraid to say so," Cameron said at an event in Oxford to mark
the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.
"The Bible has helped to give Britain a
set of values and morals which make Britain what it is today. Values and morals
we should actively stand up and defend.
The alternative of moral neutrality should
not be an option."
Cameron described himself as a committed but
only "vaguely practicing" member of the Church of England, who was
"full of doubts" about big theological issues.
"We've got stand up for our values if we
are to confront the slow-motion moral collapse that has taken place in parts of
our country these past few generations," he said.
"Moral neutrality or passive tolerance
just isn't going to cut it anymore.
Cameron said that along with the works of
William Shakespeare, the King James Bible was a "high point of the English
language".
"The Bible has helped to shape the
values which define our country," he said.
"Responsibility, hard work, charity,
compassion, humility, self-sacrifice, love, pride in working for the common
good and honoring the social obligations we have to one another, to our
families and our communities -- these are the values we treasure.
"Yes, they are Christian values. And we
should not be afraid to acknowledge that.”
"But they are also values that speak to
us all -- to people of every faith and none. And I believe we should all stand
up and defend them."
All these testify on records that religion in
its many manifestations are inherently tied to life, society, politics and
state but the real teachings and lessons are not properly reflected in life,
society, politics and state. Why the half-done initiative and performance?
Isn’t it true that a half truth is more dangerous than a lie?
Keeping all these in right perspective,
therefore, my stress, unlike Gandhi’s, is on the use and application of the
proper teachings and lessons of religion (religion in the true of religion, not
in Gandhi’s line) in one’s life so that a human being fells and realizes all
the time that he a creation of the Sovereign of universe, visible or not
visible, and he has no choice but to go back to Him any time upon His call and
satisfaction. It is well perceived and digested that living in the world for a
period of time is just one of the billions of fractions of ultimate time. No
religion asks its followers to be bad, wicked, greedy, dishonest, corrupt,
immoral, unethical, inconsiderate, ruthless, and inhuman and so forth. A human
being is a blend of animalism and rationalism so fight for supremacy of one
over the other is on all the time. When a human being acquires the ascendency
of rationalism in life, he becomes a valuable asset for himself and others
around him. Unfortunate to note it is that the numbers of such people are on
decline everywhere in the world.
Moreover, today it is tested, and crystal
clear in all respects that neither socialism nor capitalism can stand and
sustain suitably as a possible response to gear the wheels of politics for
development because of the inherent flaws, constraints and limitations. All the
so-called sweetest words contained in the documents, theses, theories, books
and publications have come to a critical standstill, nay, collapse because of
their failures to cope with the calls and needs of politics and development
overshadowed by mismanagements, laxity in determination of priorities and
corruptions in particular.
In the overall context of Bangladesh where
Islam has been declared as the state religion paying attention duly to all
other religions it can safely be arrived at a proposition that the people of
Bangladesh comprising of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians etc are mostly
God-fearing not religious in the true sense of the term for which the teachings
and lessons of the religions are not in a qualified position to inspire them in
action as a whole. Speaking in the superlative, while all the positive laws,
by-laws, rules and regulations are almost grappling and groaning because of
lack of strict observance for the reasons, known or unknown, posing serious
threats to politics and statecrafts combating of all sorts of corruptions,
terrorism, social restlessness and the erosion of ethical standard at an
unprecedented at rate and degree has become a challenge indeed. Politicians and
statesmen here in Bangladesh now have to ponder about the maximum utilization
of religion in its positive mode for the benefits of individual, associations,
bodies of professional and non-professional backgrounds society and state .But
care must be taken so that this noble venture may not be misunderstood as a
plea to move to politics based on religion.
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