Religion, Communalism, Politics

Intro

Social differences & social divisions arise from religious differences

Many countries including India have followers of different religions

In Northern Ireland, even though most of the people are Christians, there are differences in the way it is practiced among the Catholics & Protestants

Religious differences are often take up by the political parties to get vote

Relationship between Religion & Politics

1. Gandhiji believed that religion cannot be separated from politics

By this he meant that politics should be guided by moral values taught by religions

2. Human rights groups in India say that religious minorities are the victims of most of the communal riots in our country

3. According to Women's movements Family laws of all religions discriminate against women

So they have demanded that the government take special steps to protect religious minorities of our country

So they have demanded that government should change these laws to make more equitable/just

Conclusion

People should be able to express through politics their needs or demands as a member of a religious community

The government should take steps to prevent discrimination based against religion

Politics in religion is not wrong as long as every religion is treated equally

Communalism

Communal politics is the use of religion in politics, where one religion is shown as superior to other religions

Communal Politics is based on the idea that religion is the main base of social community

Their interests are the same & that any difference they have is trivial or irrelevant

Communalism involves the thinking that followers of a particular religion must belong to a community

Communalism is a dangerous ideology that promotes the false belief that a religious group, has more differences with other groups than similarities

They believe that people of different religions cannot be part of the same social community

Forms of communalism in Politics

For the majority community it takes the form of majoritarian dominance & for the minority community it can take the form of wanting a separate political unit

  1. Political Mobilization on religious lines using sacred symbols, religious leaders, emotional appeal & plain fear to bring followers of a religion under a political party

There are many religious prejudices & stereotypes

  1. A communal person wants his own religious community to dominate politics
  1. The belief in the superiority of one's religion over all others
  1. Communalism can lead to communal violence, riots & massacre

India & Pakistan suffered some of the worst communal riots during the time of Partition