STUDENTS’ VOICE
December 19, 1954.
By: KHURSHID AHMAD
Much talk about secularism is, nowadays, in the air. The prospects of Secularism have, everywhere, become the topic of discussion and controversy. The discussion is swelling every day, and the irony is that much confusion is being spread and clarity of thought is becoming extinct. The present confusing situation calls for a candid analysis and a clear-cut approach to the problem. An attempt is being made in this brief essay.
Secularism is a politico-philosophical doctrine and stands for the separation of state and religion. It envisages that religion is a personal matter, a private affair of man and has nothing to do with the problems of statecraft. The state should remain indifferent towards religion and religion should have no say in politics.
Secularism, as a political movement, assumed importance in 1648, the year when the bitter religious strife of Europe came to an end. These wars were fought between the two sects of Christianity and caused great bloodshed and destruction and left behind a long trail of frustration and embittered feelings against religion. The movement with the march of time, gained momentum and in the nineteenth century religion was completely purged from the political arena.
SECULARISM IS OUT DATED
The protagonists of secularism want the future of Pakistan to be so modelled and in such a manner that religion is kept away from statecraft and the political edifice is reared on the foundations on which the Western political institutions developed. This approach to the problem is grossly fallacious and that is so because they fail to appreciate the historical currents and cross-currents which have changed the face of things beyond any semblance of the past. History has marched ahead of secularism, which is today, only a relic of the past having utility only for academic purposes but with no relevance to the facts of political life.
Secularism was the product of certain forces of history which have, for long, faded into oblivion. It was a reaction against papal dictatorship, the remnant of the Holy Roman Empire. Nationalism in politics, Laissez-faire in economics and individualism in philosophy and religion formed its main bulwark and when the modern world is dishoarding nationalism and individualism and has totally thrown Laissezfaire to the winds, how can Secularism, a corollary of the two survive? The concepts about the role of the state have undergone a revolutionary change. This political revolution has knocked the bottom off the creed of secularism and the lofty protestations of the secularists betray an abysmal ignorance of these historical facts.
In the 18th and 19th centuries individualism & laissez-faire held sway and secularism could only function in alliance with these concepts. It was held, in those days that the state should not interfere in matters economic and cultural. The state was only a “Police State” and its purpose was to maintain law and order and to protect the country from foreign invasion. Its main business was the suppression of violence and fraud. The guiding principles of individualism was the maximum possible individual liberty and the minimum possible state action. In the words of Lord Melbourne:
“The state should only preserve peace within and defend the country from aggression without.”
This was based on the philosophies of J.S. Mill and Herbert Spencer. John Stuart Mill has categorically declared in his essay:
“On Liberty” that:
“The only purpose for which power can be rightly exercised upon any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. The only part of the conduct of anyone, for which he is answerable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.”
NOTION OF STATE FUNCTION HAS CHANGED.
This concept of the role of the state has been totally rejected. Its futility was exposed by experience and the policy state interfered and control was gradually adopted. Several movements rose and under their influence the activities of the state multiplied. The factory legislation, the policy of protection and state regulation of trade and industry, the provision of education, poor relief and unemployment insurance, the regulation of public health and the maintenance of sociality, all radically changed the complexion of state activities and has transformed the “police state” of the 18th century into the “welfare” state. Now it is being recognized on all hands that the state has duties other than the provision of any army and police. The community as a whole must unite to enforce right against might; to protect the weak against the excess of the strong; to prevent the exploitation of the poor by the rich; to banish the hydro headed evils of poverty, diseases and illiteracy and to fight against moral laxity and social anarchy which disrupt the calm and poise of the social and political order. Thus the modern state is a social service state, a positive state, and is basically different from the police or negative state of the laissez-faire conception. It properly intervenes to uphold social standards to prevent exploitation and manifest injustice, to remove the needless hazards of the economic struggle and to promote the well-being & welfare of the entire community. The state cannot discharge these duties unless it subscribes to some ideology and holds up some standards of justice and morality. That is why the historians called the current period of history as an Ideological Age. Today, indifference towards ideologies has become an impossibility. To talk of secularism in the present context of history is absurd, and futile. Secularism cannot function without its counterpart, viz., individualism and laissez-faire have ceased to exist; any attempt to practice it would be tantamount to playing Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. The result is quite evident: it will turn out to be a grand fiasco.
YOU CAN’T PUT THE CLOCK BACK
The current of history has moved towards all-embracing ideologies and no amount of claptrap about secularism can put the clock of progress back. The secularists have either failed to study the problem in its historical context or have deliberately convinced at these realities of history. Whatever the case may be, they are backing the wrong horse.
Another lesson of current history is that the world is in dire need of a politico-cultural basis for collective efforts against the rising forces of totalitarianism. Western civilization badly lacks this moral force and on this count, is fighting a losing battle against the furious demon of Communism. Only a powerful and progressive alternative ideology can meet the challenge of totalitarianism. Secularism is quite out of tune with history. It cannot stem the call for cultural outgrowth of Communism. Nay. Rather it may pave the way for that. The need of the time is a New, Strong Ideology. And the sooner the New Ideology gathers strength, the better. Any delay in this respect can lead humanity to a Second Dark Age.
