Secularism

We call India a secular country. Secularism means that the country as a whole respects all the religions followed in the country and all the religions are equivalent. No one is above or beneath. Everyone is free to opt to their own choice of religion.

But are we really secular?

The word secular is defined in the dictionaries as the belief that the state, morals, education, etc. should be independent of religion. But in India it means only one thing -- espousing everything Hindu and eschewing everything Islamic.

Why do we classify Hindu Brahmins as the upper castes? If we are secular, then why there is a need to classify religions as upper, middle or lower? Aren’t we all equal?

An Indian Muslim is always looked down on; they are considered as the lower castes, but why? Is it just because they eat meat or because they believe in some other Supreme Power? Every religion has its own belief. All religions may have given their Supreme Power another name, but all religions’ motive and teachings are just similar.

Buddha was not Buddhist.
Jesus was not Christian.
Muhammad was not Muslim.
They were teachers who taught love. Love was their religion.

We should love and respect each other, whether we worship in a church, kneel in a temple or pray in the mosque as “we all are of one faith, for the diverse paths of religion are fingers of the loving hand of the one Supreme Being, a hand extended to all, offering completeness of spirit to all, eager to receive all”.

A person following the religion Islam does not mean he/she belongs to Pakistan. Do we seriously need to recall History? And a Muslim does not mean he is a terrorist. This is a misconception which is misleading us and disuniting us.

We, Indians are divided by religions and states. Our first priority is religion and not India whereas it should be just the contrary. Religion does three things quite effectively: Divides people, controls people and deludes people.

We care more about our status and caste than our country. We are the ones who are abusing and sullying it. Today Indians only care about their status in the society and don’t even know what is going on around in the news.  We were all Indians until race disconnected us, religion separated us, politics divided us and wealth classified us.

We need to stop disputing over which religion is better, or which state is the best. We need to emphasize on India as a whole, its people as a whole, its varied culture and not only by saying so, we need to show it through the development of the society and India. We are Indians, firstly and lastly. A little change in ourselves can unite us. We need to be set as a good example; we need to be known as a country of unity, love and respect. India needs to be transformed into a developed nation, a prosperous nation and a healthy nation, with a value system.