Politics, religion

Can a Godless Nation Survive?

State and Religion — The Case of a Godless State

‘God is dead!’ — Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche in his book ‘Thus Spake Zarathustra’, presents some of the most influential ideas of philosophy. Besides quoting that ‘God is dead’, he goes on to say that God is a conjuncture and that man is something to be surpassed.

Thankfully, I live in a secular state and as its domicile, the state bestows me with complete freedom to practice my school of thought. Luckily, it also promises me that it shall not interfere with my religious beliefs as long as they don’t pose a threat to the state’s security and integrity.

Article 25–28 of the Indian Constitution illustrates further on the freedom of practice and propagation of religion. The constitution ensures impartiality towards all religions through below striking features: 1. Neither will India have state religion, now will the state confer special patronage upon any particular religion. 2. The state shall not compel its citizens to pay any form of religious tax. 3. While religious educational institutions are not banned, they can only impart religious education on the pupil’s consent. 4. Most importantly, every person is guaranteed the freedom to profess, practice, and propagate his own religion; subject only that they do not pose a threat to the state’s security and integrity.

Secularism in India does not mean that the state may be hostile to religion, rather it means that the state would guarantee to be neutral as between different religions; not only in conflict but also in peace.

Can a state be godless? A state can be secular, it can associate itself with a particular religion, but can a state be “ATHEIST”? Can it have no religions at all and still survive?

Being godless does not necessarily mean secular. It means having no temples, churches, mosques, and no religious institutions at all. It means having no religious subsidies for pilgrims and no festive holidays.

The Economics of Religion

Speaking in economic terms, the state in no way profits from religion; neither are its foreign relations directed by religious principles. States of different religious beliefs can have just as normal friendly relations.

There is nothing in the Indian constitution that says that the state may cease to function, may the citizens abandon their faith in religion or are forced to abandon the same. Coming back to India, communalism is the greatest threat to its integrity. Well before Independence, politics drove communalism and vice-versa.

The Problem With Religion

A state where citizens have no god can be a state without communal tensions. No other reason has made the world suffer more than religion. Holy wars on the name of God, inquisitions, forceful conversions, the domination of one community over another on the basis of perceived religious supremacy, and the list go on. More blood is spilled on safeguarding and propagation of religious doctrines than any other struggle on earth.

In USA, the ceremonial oath taking may require a person to vouch for his integrity with his hand on the Bible. However, their constitution does not mandate so. China is secular too. That makes the world’s two superpowers secular.

Statistically, more than 60% of the countries in the world are secular. Some, however, are ambiguous. Eg. UK, Germany. Also, declaring oneself to be secular is one thing and practically implementing with no bias is a completely different thing.

Noticeably, Bangladesh, Iran and Iraq which were all previously secular, now have a state religion. Its interesting to see that these conversion took place in the 19th century, some of them a few decades back. This implies that the influence of religious doctrines on state affairs is here to stay.

India is a curious case of a secular state. The reason being that the vestige of pre-independence communalism still drives elections, state policies, reservations, riots, and culture alike.

The history of Religion

A country can be born in a day, but unlike a country, society is the remains of thousands of years of tradition, culture, customs which are chiefly driven by religion. Indian society is so closely knit with the thread of religion that we cannot even imagine an individual persona of Indian society, let alone define. The riots of 1987, 1992 are a good example of this.

The religious affairs of the state are no more private matters. To put in other words; a state can be free, but it can never be independent. A state cannot hold itself isolated from its neighbors. What happened at Babri Masjid had immediate repercussions in Bangladesh. Thousands were left homeless, Hindu properties burned to ashes, idols defiled, women desecrated and children beaten to death. This all resulting in a mass exodus to India, similar to the post-partition exodus.

Religion and Governance

Humans by nature are greedy, selfish, possessive, and erotic. We fight for ourselves and our dear ones and sometimes in doing so, we cross the moral and ethical line. Desires drive us. How are then we to persuade ourselves to live in harmony and integrity?

According to Plato, a policeman’s club or a pistol is too brutal a way to contain the recusant mob to submit itself to authority. Also, it’s not cost-effective. To fight a recusant mob with force is to propagate more hatred and only adds up to more oil in the fire.

Plato believed that the state cannot survive unless the people submit themselves to a higher authority; God.

The mere idea of imaginary, unquestionable, supernatural, omnipresent God commands more respect and authority in the minds and hearts of people than dictators and officers. Plato himself couldn’t have put it any better. He believed that the idea of God can bring carnal desires to moderation.

The Philosophy of Religion

To live is to fight and we are twice armed when we are armed with faith. Interestingly, the idea of impersonal God is so flexible that we can discount ourselves from its ambit anytime we wish and rejoin as we please.

The impersonal God holds no grudges against such men and thus it is quite possible for one to associate or disassociate oneself from God anytime.

Major religions in the world believe in the idea of reincarnation and immortality. Hinduism for instance treats both immortality and reincarnations as the same, a part of the birth-death-birth cycle. Nothing fancies the human mind more than the idea to live forever. The hope of another life gives us the courage to face death and bear with the death of our loved ones. So long as there is such a thing as death in the world, so long as there is a thing as weakness in the human heart, so long as there is cry to fulfill the wants; in this very weakness shall there be faith in God.

Closing Thoughts

Yet so, it is an insult to teach a starving man the metaphysics of religion.

While separation of the state and religion is necessary, religion is a catalyst in the growth of a society. Religion is to state what skin is to the body; it holds together, gives shape, and facilitates strength and growth in an orderly manner.

Growth for the sake of growth is the philosophy of a cancerous cell. Without religion, the state can fall to chaos. Religions may not be a need but it definitely is the want. Sooner or later people need to fulfill this want, call it inner satisfaction or karma.

Religion can do without man, but a society cannot do without religion.