Towards an Indian Pluralism

Towards an Indian Pluralism:

by Sankrant Sanu

Indian society faces a choice between maintaining a pluralistic approach, with mutual respect for different religions, or following the European intellectual secularism, where the state protects religious exclusivism.

The birth in Europe of ideas of religious tolerance, religious pluralism and ultimately the separation of church and state arose out of their experience with religious intolerance. This religious intolerance was a natural outgrowth of religious exclusivism - the idea that there is only One Way, and that One Way is controlled or determined by a particular church, tribe or book. Thus the liberal struggle in the Age of Reason was precisely against the ideas of religious exclusivism and authority, and the resultant foreclosure of free thought and speech in the name of curbing apostasy and heresy. Similarly in the Islamic world, the Shia-Sunni conflict and the persecution of Sufis, Bahais Ahmediyas arises from doctrinal exclusivism that applies both externally and internally.

By contrast, Indian traditions developed differently. The pluralism of paths and viewpoints is an essential Indian viewpoint, found as far back as the Rig Veda, that states: �Ekam Sat, Vipra Bahuda Vadanti� (Truth is One, the Wise describe it variously). This was a principle that was broadly accepted among followers of religions of Indian origin - Hindu, Buddhist, Jains and Sikhs and others such as the Bahais is slowly being understood throughout the world - in the Unitarian Church, among some liberal Christians and Muslims, and among humanistic groups such as the United Nations where Kofi Annan used this quote to point to a great and ancient teaching of religious pluralism that can offer succor in the world of religious conflict caused by exclusivist doctrines. "