Endorsements A rich, fascinating intellectual odyssey, this book places religion in a wide historical and politico-economic context to reveal its dynamics and entanglements with multifarious forces that have impacted its development over the centuries. Respectful in tone, vast in scope, thrilling in detail and replete with instructive case studies, it is a journey that challenges common conceptions about human identity, spirituality and purpose. Alamin Mazrui Professor of Sociolinguistics and Cultural Studies Rutgers University This astonishingly wide-ranging and generous work explores the role of religion in societies through time and across the world, and its relationship to politics and economics, art and culture. It is a book about humanity’s search for truth, both in the physical and metaphysical spheres, a search often corrupted by power and greed, but with the potential for showing us how to live well together on our beautiful but threatened planet. Elizabeth Jones, MA Teacher, Quaker, Former Co-editor of Christian Today, UK This is a fact-based book that genuinely expresses things as they are. Some will criticize it, others will praise it, openly or privately. In the end I believe that the world will be a better place due to the tolerance that it will inject into the society. Mahmood Hameer, MBChB, MMed (Pediatrics) This brilliant empathetic exploration of religion encompasses Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism together with folk religions, some smaller religions, Confucianism and secularism. Hirji convincingly argues that whatever the originating theology, which frequently challenged existing power structures, in practice religions are colored by the social, economic, political and cultural context and tend to serve power. And yet, the original theological message also becomes a vehicle for continued resistance to power. Besides summarizing the beliefs and structures of religions, this book pays particular attention to the role of women in religion and the relationship between religion and neo-liberalism. Abdul Paliwala Emeritus Professor of Law University of Warwick RELIGION, POLITICS AND SOCIETY A PROGRESSIVE PRIMER Karim F Hirji Zand Graphics Ltd, Nairobi P O Box 32843-00600 Nairobi, Kenya https://zandgraphics.com/ ISBN 9789914743258 (ebook) Cover Design: Joshua Folorunso 4LR Creations, Nairobi, Kenya E-Book Design: Karim F Hirji Co-editors: Zarina Patel and Rosa Hirji Copyright © Karim F Hirji 2022 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-SA: Attribution-Share Alike license. Anyone is free to share & adapt the work, as long as credit to the author and original publisher is given, a link to the license is provided, and changes made to the original work are noted. The text of the license is available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 In memory of: Kulsumbai Hirji Sunderji Beloved Grandmother Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase. Martin Luther King True religion is real living; living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness. Rabindranath Tagore Humanism is a philosophy of joyous service for the greater good of all humanity, of application of new ideas of scientific progress for the benefit of all. Linus Pauling PREFACE ↔↔↔↔↔ God has no religion. The hands that serve are holier than the lips that pray. Mohandas K Gandhi People can be only divided into good or bad; their race, religion, nationality don't matter. Irena Sendler THIS BOOK EXPLORES THE INTERPLAY between religion, politics and society. It covers the four major world religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam—as well as secularism and several minor religions. For each religion, prior to discussing its social and political function, a synopsis of its origin, main beliefs, scriptures, practices and institutions is presented. Four issues are of particular concern: How has the globally prevalent neoliberalism affected the social role of religion? What are the nature and roots of conflict between and within religions? How can interfaith harmony be realized? And how can religion serve the broad interests of humanity? My presentation has a foundational premise: While their spiritual beliefs differ, all humans are equal in dignity and have equal rights. No human or belief system is more exalted than the rest. There are no chosen people; there is no chosen religion. We all are a part of the global human family. Our religious and cultural diversity is a cause for celebration, not conflict. This book is the first of a two-book project. The second book, Religion, Science and the Pandemic, addresses the relationship between religion and science and mathematics, and look as the role of religion during the eugenics era and in the corona virus pandemic. Unlike most other books on the social function of religion, these two books are based on a progressive, humanistic perspective. Writing for the general reader, my objective has been to factually and clearly present the relevant issues in an interdisciplinary, evidence-based manner and without bias towards any faith system. Our world is engulfed within an existential social, economic, health and environmental crisis. Resolution of this crisis requires unity among peoples across the globe. Unity does not mean homogeneity; it means realizing that we are in the same boat, acknowledging our differences, celebrating cultural and religious diversity, promoting interfaith dialogue and joining our hands to confront our shared problems. The coverage of religion and related issues in this book mostly ends at the time of the onset of the corona virus pandemic. The pandemic era issues are addressed in the sequel, Religion, Science and the Pandemic. +++ In writing this book, I have benefitted from the assistance of many. Foremost, I thank the co-editors Zarina Patel and Rosa K Hirji whose meticulous editorial corrections and insightful comments considerably improved the quality of the work. Erudite comments and suggestions from Abdul Paliwala and Elizabeth Jones were invaluable. Others who gave useful comments and pointed out errors are Alamin Mazrui, Rafik Hirji, Farida Hirji, Emma Hirji-Johnson, Nigel Westmaas, Mahmood Hameer and Lulu Chirande. My heartfelt thanks to them all. Zahid Rajan of Zand Graphics and Firoze Manji of Daraja Press deserve credit for their support and for expeditiously producing an elegantly designed book. I also thank Joshua Folorunso for the cover and layout design. This book uses US English spelling. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter do not necessarily reflect my views. I give them to show the diversity of views on the subject. Karim F Hirji July 2022 CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION ↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔ Three things cannot be long hidden; the sun, the moon and the truth. Gautama Buddha Religion must mainly be a matter of principles only. It cannot be a matter of rules. BR Ambedkar Your pain is My pain, My wealth is Your wealth, Your salvation is My salvation. African Folk Religion Proverb RELIGION IN A NASCENT FORM has been with us since the era of hunting and gathering. Religion today is belief in divinity, prayer, worship, celebrating special events and more. Religion is a holy book, a code of conduct, values, a moral guide. Religion is not monolithic. Humans have embraced it diversely. One count identified over 4,000 distinct religions. Today Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism constitute the numerically dominant religions. A plethora of minor religions exist. They form sects and denominations. And, over a billion people are irreligious. They do not believe in divine entities, do not formally follow a religion, or are neutral about such issues. Religion operates, directly or implicitly, in virtually all aspects of personal, family and social life. It reverberates in politics, economics, culture, health, education; it affects social harmony and conflict, war and peace. To billions, it gives meaning to life and helps them navigate its arduous, capricious path. It unifies people; it divides people, sometimes bitterly. Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and others often coexist without discord yet also battle each other. Conflicts within religions are common. As sharp lines over esoteric or mundane issues form, the room for reconciliation evaporates. Religion and science impinge on each other. Some scientists deem them irreconcilable, some call them complimentary ways of perceiving reality, and some say they are distinct domains of human life. Theologians are also divided into similar camps. These are not purely intellectual discourses; they flow over into politics, and social and economic relations. 1.1 A PERSONAL PASSAGE To set the stage, I recount my initiation into and exodus from religion. I grew up in a religious environment in Lindi, a southern town in colonial Tanzania. From the age of five or so, an hour of each evening was spent at the Ismaili Jamaat Khana. On special occasions, praying and singing hymns took longer. What I liked best was frolicking with my friends after the prayers. Saturday morning was set aside for religious studies. I learnt to recite the dua (main prayer) and ginans (hymns). The dua was in Arabic, of which I understood but a few words, but the ginans were in Gujarati, my home language. Learning faster than my mates, I had recited the dua and Eid Namaaz (Eid prayer) for the Jamaat (congregation) by age eight. In 1961, the year of Independence from colonial rule, I was in a middle school in Dar es Salaam run by the Ismaili Education Board. Most students were Ismaili, and in this African nation, of Asian origin. The set up reflected the colonial racial structure. Morning assembly was opened by a prayer. The once-a-week religious studies class was taught by a distinctly uninspiring teacher. My grandmother was the best teacher. I loved her. In late afternoon, she would have me sit next to her, and regale me with tales about our family history and sing alluring ginans. Those moments and her favorite ginans are etched in my mind. My religiosity intensified. A missed prayer session was unthinkable. I joined the Ismaili Youth Volunteer Corp. We cleaned the large Jamaat Khana grounds, served water to attendees, kept their shoes safe, arranged the trays of food offerings, decorated the premises for special occasions, and did other tasks. We enjoyed what we did. Prayers and service were combined with fun and learning the intricacies of our religion. The Aga Khan III, Sir Sultan Mohamed Shah, was the Imam (spiritual leader) of the Ismailis until his death in 1957. The Imamate passed on to his grandson, Prince Karim, the Aga Khan IV. The Ismailis hold that the Aga Khan is directly descended from Hazrat Ali, the son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad. He holds a divine status. His firmans (edicts) not only are a guide for this and the next life, but also constitute the irrefutable truth. They reach the Ismailis across the globe. The prayer house was full the day a firman was read out. The Ismailis were a third of the Asian community of about 100,000 in Tanzania. Barely one percent of the national population, the Asians had been key to the colonial policy of divide and rule. Granted special disposition for trade licenses, bank loans, residential areas and education, their economic status was distinctly higher than of Africans. Until I went to secondary school in 1963, I had no African friends. The attainment of Independence in 1961 signaled that the colonial racist reality would no longer be tolerated. The Aga Khan was an honored guest at the Independence Day events in 1961. Besides partaking in the official ceremonies, he gave a speech at our school and blessed his Jamaat. On both occasions, he stressed the need for Ismailis to reconcile themselves with a new mode of life in an independent nation. We had to make it our homeland, acquire Tanzanian citizenship, live as loyal citizens and serve our nation. Taking those words to heart, I joined nation building projects like primary school construction during weekends and spent a month of school vacation in a national service youth camp. My Jamaat Khana buddies also took part in such activities. I listened to and read the speeches of Julius Nyerere, our president. Shining with wisdom and dedication to racial equality and social justice, they inspired me. I queried the racist values and conduct my fellow Ismailis had imbibed in the colonial era. That the students at my secondary and high schools were largely African, and among whom I had close friends, propelled me further along that path. Yet, I remained devoted to the spiritual Ismaili values and our Imam. Religiosity and patriotism were complimentary sides of the same coin. In 1968, I joined the University of Dar es Salaam to purse the bachelor’s degree in mathematics. It was an era of activism. Students at universities in Africa and the world were raising the banner of anti-colonialism, racial justice, and equality, and taking to the streets. The University of Dar es Salaam was no exception. Inspired by the astute, pioneering historian Walter Rodney, a group of activist students formed a radical front to champion the notions of Pan-Africanism, total African liberation and socialism. Organizing public lectures and Sunday discussions, staging demonstrations and publishing a radical magazine, it aimed to challenge the conservative ideas dominating academic discourse and raise awareness about the critical concerns of the day. Attracted to the radical front from my first day on the campus, in my second year of studies, I became the senior editor of its magazine. My intellectual horizon expanded in two directions. I imbibed the works of Pan-Africanist and revolutionary thinkers like Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X, Che Guevara and Karl Marx. I was drawn to Marxism as a cohesive philosophical outlook. It made me question things I had taken for granted. My studies in mathematics and science cemented an idea that had bubbled in my mind since high school: Reason and evidence were the sole dependable venues for gaining knowledge. And yet, during the first year of my studies, I remained a devout Ismaili. With about seventy Ismaili students, the administration allowed us to use the room above the science lecture theater for evening prayers. I was one of the two volunteers responsible for keeping it clean, laying out the mats for the prayers and folding them afterwards. At times, I recited the evening prayer. But this bifurcated life—a socialist activist by day and fervent believer by evening—could not endure. Five Ismaili students who were allied to the activist cause, including myself, began to query the practical and theoretical bases of our faith. Why was money so central to devotional activities? Why were we so exclusive a community? Why did we pay only lip service to racial equality and patriotism? Were science and faith compatible? I was alienated by the racists words that invariably arose in conversations with community members and disgusted by the hypocrisy of the local Ismaili leaders who preached one thing but practiced another. Within a year, the radical Ismaili students made a clean break. For my part, apart from funerals, I have not entered a prayer house since 1969. Yet, to disavow what one has held dear for the first two formative decades of life was a gut-wrenching process. I felt I was sinking into madness. But through student activism and support from comrades, I managed to stay afloat, and landed on the firm shore of secular humanism, where I remain to this day. My ethical and intellectual gestalt today comprises of humanism, democratic socialism and firm adherence to the methods of science. 1.2 DISCORD These are the times of information and science. Education, communication and commerce have expanded across the world. Distant peoples are in closer contact. Yet, this connectivity has yet to generate a satisfactory level of mutual understanding and tolerance. Fair, dispassionate inter-cultural exchanges remain limited as unyielding opinions and vested interests block a meeting of minds. Locally and internationally, the world seems as divided as ever, and along many fault lines. Discord and inequality between rich and poor nations, and within nations keep growing. Western imperialism led by the US remains the primary fomenter of the surging global arms trade and military conflict. It seeks to overthrow the governments of Cuba and Venezuela, to destabilize Russia and encircle, isolate and militarily provoke China. People continue to embrace narrow nationalism, and exclusive racial and ethnic ties. Even as the corona virus pandemic rages on and the dire effects of climate change are manifested regularly, nations pay lip service to united action, but place their interests above that of others. Religion remains a major fault line. In India, Hindu mobs attack Muslims; in Bangladesh, it is the reverse; in the Central African Republic, Christian and Muslim militias commit atrocities against common folk; Islamophobia, discriminatory practices, and violence against Muslims prevail in Europe and North America; anti-Semitism is resurfacing; terror groups espousing loyalty to Islam commit atrocities against civilians and Christians in Nigeria and the Middle East; Buddhist militias in Myanmar go on violent rampages against the Muslim Rohingya population; free thinkers are killed in broad daylight in Bangladesh; Russian forces rampage in Muslim Chechnya; the Uyghurs in China face discrimination; Sunni and Shia Muslims engage in deadly conflict; and so on. India’s ongoing, extended domination of Kashmir, its only Muslim majority state, and the strife with Pakistan are interpreted in religious terms by both sides. The interventions by Western powers in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Syria, and their aid for the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine are seen by Muslims as attacks on Islam. A year 2012 survey of 198 nations indicated that religion-based hostility prevailed in 66 nations, and religion related violence occurred in 40 nations. Governments in 60 nations placed some form of restrictions on the practice and display of religion. Deadly conflicts with a religious component rose in Africa (DW 2019; Reuters 2014). The deeply personal, emotive nature of religious belief catalyzes conflict. The faithful believe what they believe, no matter what others say. A misplaced word or deed may flare tempers. Riots may ensue. A few years back in Dar es Salaam, my home city, two primary school boys were pushing and shouting. In the process, a book one was holding fell on the ground. And it was the Quran. The incident was observed by Muslim men. A Christian has insulted our faith; he has desecrated the Quran—the emotive words spread like wildfire. Soon, Muslims were attacking Christians with sticks and stones. And they were responding likewise. It took the riot police an entire day to restore order in that area. Had saner minds noted at the outset that it was an inadvertent act of a child, life would have gone on as usual. In February 2022, the custodian of a village mosque in Pakistan reported to fellow villagers that he saw a man burning the Quran in the prayer house. As he went to report to the police, an angry crowd seized the ‘blasphemer’ and pelted him with stones. The three policemen who arrived at the scene were also stoned. By the time more police arrived, the man was dead, and his body hung from a tree. But it turned out that he had been suffering from a serious mental illness for over a decade. Religious minorities, opposition figures and critical academics in Pakistan have often been accused of blasphemy on spurious grounds. In April 2017, an angry mob killed the university student Mashal Khan after he was accused of posting blasphemous content online. And a Christian couple were lynched then burned in a kiln in Punjab in 2014 after being falsely accused of desecrating the Quran. (AFP 2022). Blasphemy is a crime in Pakistan carrying a possible death sentence. Many have been convicted under the law, but no execution has taken place. The alleged blasphemer faces street justice leading to death or severe injury. Even as mob violence is decried by governmental officials and generates outrage in the main media, it is an ongoing social malady. +++ There is another side to the story. That religion related violence occurred in 40 nations means that it did not occur in 158 nations. Cordial interaction and solidarity between different faiths are in evidence across the world. When the followers of one religion face attacks, people and leaders from other religious groups often stand in solidarity with them. Despite the risk of personal harm, they often shelter the victims from zealots. A general review of history shows that discord between religions and sects changes over time and place. Thus, a detailed study of Christianity, Islam and traditional religions in Africa to the 1960s noted a few instances of purely religious strife but more instances of conflicts that while appearing to have religious causation were actually propelled by commercial and imperial factors. Africa today is a field of multi-religious activity that induces tolerance of different ways of belief. (Parrinder 1969, page 235). Even in this age of rising tensions, it is not all a story of conflict. There is room for hope. 1.3 MY FAITH Though I ceased participation in formal religious activities in 1969, I did not discard all I had gleaned from my immersion in Ismailism. Even as a non-religious socialist, I cherish the ethical values embodied in the ginans—honesty, modesty, humility, selflessness, altruism, compassion, respecting people especially elders—and abhor the behaviors—acquisitiveness, lying, cheating, hypocrisy—proscribed therein. Early in my non-religious life I held a disdainful attitude towards the religious way of thinking. But soon I shed that stance and adopted a balanced, scientific view that respects individuals and their beliefs yet does not compromise on logic or evidence. And I continue to value the friendship of my Ismaili peers from the 1960s. My interest in religion expanded. My reading of current affairs and history covered the role faith had played at varied historical junctures and in different places. My collection of books on religion and related issues kept growing. Some I read cover to cover; some I perused lightly. Once in a while, I read parts of the Quran, the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita. And I kept up with news reports and articles relating to religion in the media, websites and magazines. My readings made one thing clear. Religion has played a supportive role and an obstructionist role in the endeavors for human decency, fairness, equality and social justice. Among the instances that stuck in my mind were the role of religion in justifying slavery and abolishing slavery; the role of the Catholic Church in the efforts to replace military dictatorship with democratic rule in South and Central America; the role of the Christian churches in backing and fighting against Apartheid rule in South Africa; the role of the church in the fight for civil rights in the USA; and the role of Islamic parties in the fight against colonial rule in the Middle East and North Africa. I was intrigued by liberation theology, a doctrine which blended Christianity with Marxism. I realized that religion had contributed significantly to human culture—language, poetry, literature, music, art, architecture. I was not surprised to find prominent scientists who were atheists or agnostics but was taken in by the fact many scientific luminaries had been devout believers. The case of the two founders of modern physics, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, is apropos. The former wrote more books on Christianity than on science while the latter was a pantheist for whom science and exploration of nature were deeply spiritual endeavors. In my worldview, science, logical thinking and empirical evidence are the foundational pillars. But I recognize that despite its indispensability to life in the modern era, science cannot provide moral, ethical codes for humanity. It can explain why things are the way they are, and how they came to be, but cannot prescribe how they ought to be. It can theorize why humans act as they do, but it cannot lay down a code of conduct, a standard for good and bad. You are right in speaking of the moral foundations of science, but you cannot turn around and speak of the scientific foundations of morality. Albert Einstein For much of human history, religion played the dominant role in the provision of ethical codes. In the modern capitalist society, its status as the guardian of morality has diminished. Now, many other forces and institutions affect the formulation and dissemination of ethical percepts and norms, and socially acceptable and proscribed ways of behavior. Ethical codes arose from the process of evolution of human societies. They reflect and govern social relations. Neither science nor religion can boast an ethically spotless record. Both have been deployed for humane and inhumane ends, for moral and immoral goals. Perhaps religion provides the justification for wars, but science provides the weapons. James Rozoff Science has moral deficits while religion has factual deficits. One should not reject a scientific fact or theory on scriptural grounds. And one should not dismiss religious values and beliefs just by invoking the banner of science. If our world is regulated by reductionist, narrow, sophomoric versions of Darwin; or reductionist, narrow, sophomoric versions of religious dogma; you end up being childishly anti-scientific, and childishly anti-religious, and you miss the very complex interaction [they share]. Cornel West A worldview that envisions human development in a holistic way, adopts science as the foundation of knowledge and presents an elevated ethical code is required. That worldview for me is secular, socialist humanism but for others it maybe faith-based humanism. 1.4 DIALOGUE Dialogue is essential for resolving discord. Yet, for many, religion is so emotive that any form of discussion is unthinkable. This is true even in hallowed academic fora, where the spirit of free inquiry is expected to flourish. Take the experience of Michael S Roth, a professor at Wesleyan University in the United States. He finds the students attending his class on philosophy eager to discuss the topics he covers. But with one exception: religion. For a religion related topic, the class turns awkwardly quiet. And once in a while, a student is overtly bellicose. He wonders: How can such an institution claim to educate students about ideas, culture, and ways of life if students, professors, or both are uncomfortable when talking about something that’s been central to humanity throughout recorded history? (Roth 2019). Despite the difficulties involved, a respectful, fact-based dialogue between religions, their denominations, and secular traditions is absolutely essential. It has to be an honest dialogue at the official and grassroots levels. Today many national and international organizations promote interfaith harmony and understanding. Some are doing exemplary work. But clearly, more needs to be done. 1.5 ISSUES AND APPROACH The internecine conflicts between religions at first sight seems paradoxical. Religions embody humane values—peace, spirituality and kindness. Their tenets abhor violence and selfishness. Yet, they have turned into instruments for the perpetration of the opposite. Are the religious beliefs abused by a few errant believers, or is religion intrinsically double-faced? Or are there hidden factors and forces at the root of these conflicts? Are religion and science compatible? Such queries propelled me to embark on writing what I thought would be a small book giving a broad perspective on the relationship between religion, politics, science and society. But one thing led to another, and I ended up with a two-volume work. Thousands of articles, papers and books that address these matters exist. The organizations engaged in promoting interfaith harmony have produced material of relevance as well. Yet, I felt something was missing. A book that would cover the major and minor religions and non-religious creeds and bring the critical issues under one roof was needed. This book, unlike most works on religion and society, takes a progressive, socialistic perspective. It is based on the premise that a valid study of the relationship of religion to politics and society cannot be based primarily on holy texts. Religious scriptures are factually incomplete, inaccurate and ethically inconsistent. Thus, during the Atlantic slave trade, some Christian pastors quoted the Bible to justify it while other pastors used passages from the same source to oppose it. A valid, consistent exposition of religion and society requires an approach based on evidence, logical reasoning and the methods of social science. Every scientific theory has an element of uncertainty. Thus, incorporating the strengths and limitations of the two strands of the scientific method, reductionism and holism, it has to guard against the biases that often afflict scientific studies. The gap between the principles of science and the actuality of research practice is disturbingly wide in many fields. Using an interdisciplinary approach and secondary material from varied sources, this book aims to formulate a coherent perspective on the relation between religion, politics and society. Religions have functioned within diverse social and economic structures—feudalism, capitalism, imperialism, slavery, colonialism, neo-colonialism, neo-liberalism, socialism, communism. A basic understanding of these terms is desirable. Elaborations appear at the relevant junctures in the book. 1.6 PURPOSE I wrote this book as a concerned global citizen who feels that his ideas will help uplift the quality and tenor of discourse on religion and politics and promote harmony. Though the dialogue on religion and society has to be conducted in civil tones, it should not desist from bringing unsavory realities to the fore. A genuine consensus and peaceful coexistence cannot emerge from the avoidance of the truth. My main aim is to give a valid picture of the beliefs, scriptures, institutions, practices, history and social functions of the four major religions (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism), some minor religions and secular beliefs systems. Intended for the general reader, I hope to provide a comparative perspective on varied faiths and make people more open towards beliefs other than their own. And I expect it will stimulate the reader to ruminate on seven key questions that often arise in interfaith discussions. Question 1: Are some religions more exalted than other religions? Question 2: Is religion essential for morality? Question 3: Can secularism and religious belief coexist? Question 4: Are science and religion compatible? Question 5: Do divine beings and divine realms exist? Question 6: What is the future of religion in a neoliberal world? Question 7: How can harmony between faith systems be promoted? My responses to these questions are given in Chapter 11. 1.7 BASIC TENETS The fundamental tenets of this book are: All religions and faiths, ancient and contemporary, small and large, together with humanistic, secular creeds that lack a divine component deserve equal respect and freedom to exist. That is, unless it is engaged in activities causing harm to humans. And every person has an inviolable right to participate or not participate in any religious system of his or her choice. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 18. Equality in dignity is the essential springboard for a general discussion of religion and its relationship with politics, science and society in which popular participation is essential. The broader the audience, the greater the room for trust and understanding. If left to specialists, the conversation may become a befuddling exchange of little use in addressing real-life concerns. If left to the vocal believers, it may foment division, not respect or understanding. Presently, humanity is at a critical juncture. Its future is being hijacked by a minority with enormous power, wealth and influence. The insecurity fueled by their policies feeds extremist agendas. We are at a precipice; now is the time to act. Silence does not augur peace, understanding, progress, or justice. People of goodwill from all religious, ethnic, racial, gender and national backgrounds have an obligation to learn the histories, visions and actualities of people of other backgrounds, to arrive at a fact-based common denominator and engage in a united manner to confront the problems facing humanity and protect life on our planet. The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people. Martin Luther King CHAPTER 02: LEXICON ↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔ Don't seek God in temples. He is within you. Leo Tolstoy Science deals mainly with facts; Religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. Martin Luther King THIS CHAPTER EXPLAINS the meaning of commonly encountered terms in a discourse on religion. Terms specific to particular religions are explained in the relevant chapters. Religion: Many definitions of ‘religion’ exist. After exploring them in Chapter 3, we use the following definition. Religion is a system of beliefs and practices shared by a community that accepts the existence of supernatural beings and/or supernatural realms and has stories, rules of conduct (ethical norms) and rituals that are taken to be of divine origin. We use the terms faith system, belief system, faith, religious tradition and religious creed in an interchangeable fashion as equivalent terms for religion. Theism accepts the existence of divine being(s) who rule the universe and must be worshipped. While believing in divine beings, a theist may hold that the universe has no creator; it has always existed. Atheism, the opposite of theism, denies the existence of divine or supreme entities and supernatural realms. Some atheists affirm that a divine being does not exist, but some do not believe that such a being exists. Agnosticism, saddling a position between theism and atheism, posits that sufficient evidence to either accept or reject the existence of divine entities does not exist. Agnostics regard such questions not amenable to resolution through rational means. Humans should attend to the observable and try to understand it through rational, scientific methods. Religion or theism occur in three basic forms: Monotheism, Polytheism and Pantheism. Monotheism posits that a single divine power (God) created and rules the universe. He may be assisted by lesser beings like prophets and angels and may or may not directly intervene in human affairs. Christianity, Islam and Judaism are monotheistic religions. Polytheism posits that several gods and goddesses jointly or in a hierarchy rule the universe. Each god or goddess has its own domain. Hinduism, Chinese folk religion, Taoism, Shintoism (Japan), many traditional African religions, and the faiths of ancient Egyptians, the Roman Empire and the ancient Greeks are polytheistic beliefs. Deism holds that evidence and reason support the belief that God created the universe. But He does not interfere in human affairs or give revelations. Humans are fully responsible for what they do. Pantheism says that everything in the universe is permeated by a spiritual force. God is all and all is God; there is no personal, interventionist God. A flower, a bee, a child, a stone, a tree, the Moon and the Sun—all are infused with a soul and deserve reverence. Nature is to be respected, not despoiled. Examples of pantheistic religions are Buddhism, some traditional African and Native American religions, and Confucianism. Influenced by the philosopher Baruch Spinoza, scientists like Albert Einstein and Carl Sagan held beliefs that were close to pantheism. Animism is the idea that all things—animate and inanimate—possess a spirit or a spiritual essence. Animists revere natural objects such as tall trees, mountains and rivers. Humanism, a form of atheism, posits that the organization and conduct of human affairs does not need recourse to divine entities. Human society has the capacity to formulate codes of ethics, morality and law and does not need supernatural intervention for the purpose. Resolution of human problems and progress can be achieved by rational, ethical and scientific means. It is a tolerant creed and accepts that right of any person to hold religious beliefs. Skepticism is a tendency that questions, tests and debunks claims about supernatural events, paranormal phenomena and miracles. It casts doubts on the authenticity of religious stories and investigates the claims of people who supposedly can perform deeds that defy the laws of science. Skeptics are also called freethinkers, naturalists or rationalists. Secularism has two meanings. One, it is a political doctrine that espouses the separation of the church and state. In particular, laws, civic affairs and public education should not be governed by religion. Two, it is an umbrella term that covers atheism, agnosticism, humanism, skepticism and irreligiosity in general. In this book, it used in the second sense. People who do not follow a religion or believe in God or gods may identify as irreligious, non-religious, non-theist, non-believer, spiritual but not religious and nothing in particular. Their attitudes toward religion are not uniform. Syncretism is adherence to more than one belief system. Some regard their separate beliefs concordant, and some adhere to a belief system other than their primary one as a matter of social custom. Large majorities of Christians and Muslims in Africa and South America today continue to practice the rites and rituals of their traditional religions. Alternative Beliefs is an umbrella term for diverse beliefs that fall beyond the purview mainstream religions. Examples include Scientology, Raelian Movement, Way of the Jedi, Voodoo, Occultism, homeopathy, Powwow, reincarnation, and astrology. It covers people who believe in spiritual powers of crystals, special charms and flowers, psychic trance, and extraterrestrial visitors. Branded as cults, some are led by charismatic figures. New Age Beliefs, a common synonym for Alternative Beliefs, has a specific connotation. It refers to the non-traditional beliefs that emanated from the 1960s protest movements in the West. Ideology: Consciously or subconsciously, adult humans have a collection of ideas (worldview) that helps them make sense of their world. It generally comprises the primary values and perspectives on life and society that are held by most of the people around them. The dominant ideology in a society constitutes its ruling ideology. It includes the religious, cultural and political ideas prevailing in the society. The institutions, formal and informal, that generate, sustain and disseminate the societal ideology are called the ideological apparatuses of the society. Religion was the main basis of personal and societal ideology in the past. While it still affects the formulation of values and consciousness, today the prime conveyors and formulators of personal and social ideology are the education system, main media and the various cultural and political entities. Materialism is a term with two disparate meanings. On the one hand, it implies undue attachment to material goods and pleasures of life, or wasteful consumerism. On the other hand, it denotes a philosophical disposition that recognizes an objective, tangible external reality, and accords primacy—in history and social development—to material forces. The laws of nature, labor and production relations dominate mental forces (ideas, consciousness) in natural and human development. The term ‘materialism’ is often misused by political conservatives and myopic preachers. They accuse people who espouse a progressive, collective vision of being materialistic and ignoring the spiritual dimension. In reality, the progressives value sharing, compassion, modest lifestyles, caring for the environment and equality while the conservatives directly or indirectly are subservient to market-based capitalism, a system based on greed, individualism and rampant consumerism. Idealism, in the philosophical context, refers to the doctrine that accords primacy to mental forces (ideas, will power, consciousness) over material forces. People driven purely by ideals or values are called idealists. At times, it is posited as the opposite of realism, an outlook that recognizes the limits imposed by existing conditions. Spiritualism as distinct from spiritism, recognizes the importance of non-material, spiritual dimension of life but may not accept the existence of divine entities. +++ Fundamentalism, a term often found in media reports and scholarly articles on religion, denotes an unquestioning, strict acceptance of a system of ideas. Religious fundamentalism denotes the unquestioning, strict acceptance of the ideas, scriptures, teachings of a religion. Deemed morally and factually infallible and absolute, they are seen as superior to those of other religions. Fundamentalists divide the world into two parts: the blessed, righteous and the misguided heathens or heretics. A fundamentalist is also called a zealot. Religious fundamentalism has three tendencies: Quietism is holding and practicing fundamentalist beliefs and focusing on personal spiritual upliftment but not engaging in activism or interfering in the affairs of other religions. Reformism is holding and practicing fundamentalist beliefs along with engaging in civil and social actions to defend and promote one’s religion. Reformism operates within the existing legal and political structures. It aims to establish a state in which that religion is paramount in all aspects of life. Extremism or Militant fundamentalism is enhanced reformism that includes militant or violent actions not sanctioned by the law to defend and promote one’s religion and establish a theocracy. Evangelism is preaching and teaching the beliefs of a religion with the aim of gaining converts or sympathizers and spreading it. Missionaries and religious institutions evangelize through varied direct and indirect ways. We avoid using the terms fanaticism and radicalism in a religious context. CHAPTER 03: A FIRST LOOK ↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔ When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator. MK Gandhi It is certain that an atom of goodness on the path of faith is never lost. Jalal al-Din Rumi Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires. Sigmund Freud WHAT IS RELIGION? Though religion has been an integral part of every human society, a commonly accepted answer to this question does not exist. Notwithstanding, we all know it. The word conjures up notions like God, Allah or Brahman; church, mosque or temple; Bible, Quran or Gita; and Christmas, Eid or Diwali. It is commonly seen as a system of beliefs, rules, symbols and practices involving supernatural forces or beings. More than 4,000 religions have been recorded over the course of human history. From Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Judaism, Bahai, folk religions to many more, they exhibit an immensely diverse collection of beliefs, sacred visions and mythology; holy books and spiritual and philosophical literature; gods, goddesses, prophets, angels and evil beings; prayers, rites, rituals and special occasions; practical rules and prohibitions; sites of worship and pilgrimage; statutes and shrines; priests, gurus, imams, monks and holy personages; organized structures; and dress styles, literature and stories, art, music, song and dance. Religion is a central element of the cultural heritage of humanity and is deeply inscribed to the human psyche and way of life. Most people formally identify with a religion, but one out of six persons disclaims a religious affiliation. Currently, the four main religions, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, account for 76% of the global population; 16% are non-religious and 8% follow other faiths. These proportions ignore syncretism, namely the tendency of people to follow more than one religion at the same time. Table 3.1 Global Population by Religion (2020) Religion Followers Percentage Christianity 2.4 billion 31% Islam 1.9 billion 25% Irreligious 1.2 billion 16% Hinduism 1.1 billion 15% Buddhism 0.5 billion 6% Folk Religion 0.4 billion 5% Other 0.1 billion 2% Total 7.6 billion 100% Source: Wikipedia (2021 – List of Religious Populations). Religion is not a static entity. New religions have emerged over time, existing ones have evolved, and numerous religions have become extinct. Some religions expand while other decline. The ubiquity and diversity of religion evoke intriguing historical, sociological and psychological questions: Why, how and where did religion emerge? What are roles of religion in personal life and society? What factors account for the diversity of religions? Is religion an indispensable part of human existence? This chapter sets the stage for a general analysis of religion, politics and society with a survey of five religions—Ahmadiyya, Confucianism, Sikhism, Seventh Day Adventism and Traditional African Religion. An overview of their history, beliefs, practices and societal aspects illustrates religious diversity and enables us to begin formulating a general perspective on the role of religion in personal lives, history and societal matters. 3.1 AHMADIYYA A religion which does not inculcate universal compassion is no religion at all. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat (AMJ), or Ahmadiyya in short, is an Islamic sect founded in India in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Presently, it has between 10 and 20 million disciples spread out in some 200 nations and territories. Almost 4 million Ahmadis reside in Pakistan. Like the other Islamic sects, it affirms the unity of Allah and holds that Muhammad was the prophet to whom Allah revealed the Quran, the Islamic holy book. The Ahmadis abide by the key Islamic tenets and rituals like praying five times a day while facing Mecca, fasting during Ramadhan, charity and pilgrimage to Mecca. And they believe in angels who act as intermediaries between God and humans. In line with the Islamic doctrine, they ascribe a divine status to Judaic and Christian scriptures. But they hold that Jesus Christ did not die at the cross. Rather, he survived, and migrated to Kashmir, India where he died and was buried. While its website projects AMJ as a socially liberal movement, in actuality Ahmadis adhere to conservative Islamic practices on issues of dress, role of women and parental authority. The status of women in AMJ hardly differs from that in most Islamic sects. Many Ahmadi women, especially in the West, are highly educated professionals. Yet, they live under a patriarchal ethos in the community, lack decision making authority or leadership roles, and have subservient roles in family affairs. Despite ascribing to a literal reading of the Quran, the Ahmadis place a high value on secular education. Some have become eminent scientists, doctors and scholars. Included among them were the first Asian President of the International Court of Justice at the Hague, Sir Zafarullah Khan, and physicist Abdus Salam, the first Nobel laureate from Pakistan. The Ahmadis have occupied senior offices in political, civil, business, educational and media institutions across the world. Viewing religion and science as complimentary manifestations of God, Ahmadi theologians do not dispute the Darwinian theory of evolution but say that evolution is guided by God. Ahmadi scholars have translated the Quran into over 70 languages. A Swahili translation for East Africa, for example, appeared in 1936, just two years after the first Ahmadis landed in the area. Mirza Ahmed was a distinguished scholar and prolific writer, well versed in Islamic history and theology as well as in Judaic, Hindu and Christian scriptures. Convinced that he was ordained by Allah to rescue Muslims from prevalent social and spiritual decay, he set forth preaching the insights he gained from his divine visions. He debated Christian and Hindu theologians in defense of the Islamic faith. Even those who differed with him admired his integrity and spiritual devotion. His mission, he said, was to propagate true Islam, revive Islamic values like compassion, peace and forgiveness, and save humanity from sinful indulgence in worldly vices. He urged the Ahmadis to pursue a non-violent Jihad, spread Islam and pursue both spiritual and humanistic goals: There are only two complete parts of faith. One is to love God and the other is to love mankind to such a degree that you consider the suffering and the trials and tribulations of others as your own and that you pray for them. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad While the Ahmadis see themselves as Muslims in every respect, they differ from mainstream Islam in relation to the spiritual status of their founder. Muslims generally hold that Muhammad was the last prophet. The Ahmadis, on the other hand, are divided into two branches: those who regard Mirza Ahmad as the last prophet (messiah guided by Allah) and those who see him as a divinely blessed reformer. The latter, however, are a small minority. Since the death of the founder, the global AMJ has been led by a series of Caliphs and a Consultative Council. The Caliph, elected by majority vote in the Consultative Council, holds the office for life. With its headquarters at the Fazal Mosque in London, it is now a well-endowed, centrally organized movement that operates over 15,000 mosques, many of high architectural distinction, across the globe. During the struggle for independence in India, the AMJ leadership stood for a separate state for Muslims and was criticized by the rest of the nationalist movement for being too close to the British. In Indonesia, on the other hand, the Ahmadis fought together with the other nationalist parties to eject the Dutch from their homeland. In African nations like Tanzania and Malawi, local Ahmadis were involved in the anti-colonial struggles. When Tanganyika united with Zanzibar in 1964, a competition to name the new nation was held. Sixteen of the over 1,500 entrants proposed ‘Tanzania’; one being an Ahmadi high school student, Mohammed Iqbal Dar, whose doctor-father had moved from India to East Africa in the 1930s. The AMJ flag contains the full moon on the left, the minaret of a mosque near the middle, and the crescent and star on the right. The images are in white, the background is black. The flag and the white minaret are common symbols used to represent the Ahmadiyya community. The White Minaret Symbol The official motto of the AMJ is: ‘Love for All, Hatred for None’. Its public face is marked by two features: ongoing persecution and social engagement. The Ahmadi belief that Mirza Gulam Ahmad was a prophet has been rejected by other Muslims, especially the orthodox Sunnis. Labelled as heretics, they have suffered official and social persecution in many Islamic nations since the early times. In Pakistan, their faith is banned, their civil rights are restricted, and hundreds have died at the hands of Muslim extremists. Yet, the first Chief of the Airforce, several high-ranking officers in the military and distinguished civil servants in Pakistan have been Ahmadis. In Indonesia, anti-Ahmadi violence and discrimination erupt now and then. But the lyrics and melody of the Indonesian national anthem were composed by Wage R Supratman, an Ahmadi who is regarded as a national hero. Saudi Arabia does not allow Ahmadis to join the annual Hajj. But some go incognito. They encounter hostility from fellow Muslims in the UK. An Ahmadi shopkeeper in Glasgow was murdered by a devout Sunni Muslim for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad. In East and West Africa, where AMJ has been established for nearly a century, they have rarely encountered violent attacks though anti-Ahmadi incidents occur occasionally. The new Citizenship Amendment Act passed in India in 2019 that grants citizenship to refugees from neighboring nations who belong to persecuted minorities has left out the Ahmadiyya. The Ahmadis do not advocate retaliation but call for non-violence and tolerance. Since they vociferously condemn attacks by extremist Muslims in European cities, they earn accolades from Western politicians. Equivalent condemnation of terrorist bombings by Western militaries in Iraq, Somalia, and Afghanistan, however, is not heard from the Ahmadi dignitaries. The Ahmadi community participates in many socially beneficial projects. They cover disaster relief and long-term development projects. It cooperates with other relief organizations to provide medical care, food and clothing in the aftermath of major natural or man-made disasters in many places. Humanity First, an Ahmadi NGO, utilizes volunteer, unpaid professionals to provide skills training and eye care in East and West Africa. It supports clean water projects and orphanages. In 2017, it spent about $5 million in such projects. The AMJ operates over 30 health centers. Those in Africa charge minimal fees. It also runs 500 schools. The Ahmadiyya University, whose main objective is to produce competent missionaries, has campuses in many nations. It offers four- and seven-year degree courses which cover subjects like Arabic, Urdu, other languages, Islamic law, religious studies, Islamic scriptures, history and logic. AMJ communities are generally close knit and well organized. In many places, they are racially and ethnically inclusive. The Shia Muslim groups in East Africa originating from the Indian subcontinent—Ithnasheri, Bohra and Ismaili—are racially exclusive, with very few African adherents. But having stressed local conversion, the Ahmadis, in contrast, are a mixed community of Asians and Africans, with the latter in the majority. Yet, a class-race divide persists in the Ahmadi community: many Asian Ahmadis are a part of the business elite while the African Ahmadis mostly hail from the working, not-so-well-to-do groups. The former also dominate the leadership positions. The AMJ is a vibrant, growing, well organized faith that has acquired a broader legitimacy through its philanthropic activities and accommodation with Western capitalist social and political structures. As for other religions, its charitable acts are palliative remedies for the inequities generated by neo-liberalism. They are not meant to question the foundation of that system. 3.2 CONFUCIANISM To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness. Confucius Confucianism originated in China five centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ. It takes its name from Confucius, the main codifier and exponent of the doctrine. Fewer than 10 million people formally adhere to Confucianism at present. Yet tens of millions of Buddhists, Taoists, Christians and others in East Asia accept the principles of Confucianism in some way and attend Confucian ceremonies. The philosophy and practicalities of Confucianism are embodied in nine major works—the Five Classics and the Four Books. Among these, The Analects of Confucius (Lun Yu) and The Classic of Changes (I Ching) have an esteemed position. While a few large, architecturally magnificent Confucian temples exist across Asia, most Confucian rites occur in Buddhist and Taoist temples. Held on special occasions, attendance tends to be high. But these rites are more akin to cultural events that give a sense of ethnic pride and provide emotional solace to the attendees and are not prayer sessions in the usual sense of the term. Shui Confucianism has varied symbols reflective of its tenets. Some of them are shared with other Asian religions. Shui, the Chinese character for water, an element essential for sustaining life, frequently appears in Confucian art and works. Is Confucianism a religion? A few scholars say it is; most say it is not. The Confucian canon is a vast collection of astute vignettes, observations and teachings concerning life, family, education, work, culture, nature, politics and psychology. They are not centered on God or gods, a divine creator or mode of worship. Yet, Confucianism has a divine dimension. Like Taoism, it asserts that a heavenly realm (Tian) supersedes the earthly domain. Heaven is the supreme source of virtue and morality that overrides worldly authority. Human society will recede into disarray if people abandon the mandates of Heaven. Heaven means to be one with God. Confucius Religion, as we saw for Ahmadiyya, stands on three pillars: Spiritual (beliefs), devotional (personal practice) and societal affairs (social function). Confucianism straddles the nebulous territory between a religion rooted in the worship of the divine and a guide for ethical conduct and social organization. We characterize it as a religion, albeit one that accords a heavy emphasis to the societal, secular pillar. When Confucians visit the temple, they also pray for their departed loved ones and seek aid from Heaven for problems like ill health and financial insecurity. An example of witty Confucian wisdom is: He who will not economize will have to agonize. Confucius Confucians respect their founder as an exemplary teacher, a saintly sage, but not a godly being or a prophet. They do not have a central organization or a priestly hierarchy. In common with many religions, the moral principles of Confucianism include compassion, personal integrity, respectful and harmonious conduct, and fair and just treatment of people. It cultivates virtuosity, diligence and fidelity to family and society. Learning is highly valued. On the broader arena, it advocates a societal organization and mode of governance based on wisdom and trust and decries the use of coercion and penalties. Confucianism emerged at a time when corruption and profligacy of the ruling circles had produced significant economic malaise, social unrest and warfare. At the outset, it was opposed by the nobility for rendering a dour verdict on their neglect of the welfare of their subjects and wanton material indulgence. They had lost the mandate of Heaven and thus earthly legitimacy as well. Over time, Confucianism shed its revolutionary footing and became the state religion in China. The emperors employed its teachings to rationalize their rule. In terms of its social function, Confucianism has a transformative and a conservative angle. On the one hand, it takes an optimistic stand on the ability of people to improve their lives through individual and collective endeavor. On the other hand, its tenets provide support for extant social hierarchies and institutions and call upon people to conduct themselves in ways that are in conformity with their standing in society and the status quo. Confucianism accords a lower status to women and restricts their role to domestic affairs. A married woman must respect her husband and faithfully serve the family. Women are depicted as inferior to men in intellectual and emotional terms. 3.3 SIKHISM One cannot comprehend Him through reason, even if one reasoned for ages. Guru Nanak Sikhism was founded by Guru Nanak in Punjab, northern India, during the 15th century. It currently has between 20 and 30 million adherents. While the majority resides in India, Sikhs are spread across the world. The Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, is the most exalted Sikh shrine. Guru Nanak felt that Hindus and Muslims had inordinately digressed into rituals and material indulgence at the cost of spiritual devotion. Distressed at the extant tension between the faiths, he decried the neglect of compassion. According to Sikh beliefs, a revelation from God instructed him to implore people to return to God and the true faith. He travelled widely within and beyond India to preach, set up houses of worship and actualize his divine mandate. Finally, he settled in Punjab, and spent his life elucidating the precepts of a new religion, setting up its structure, formulating its rites, and establishing temples. After his death, the faith he founded was led by nine successive Gurus, each chosen by his predecessor. The ninth Guru decreed that after him Sikhs should resort to the main canon—Guru Granth Sahib—as the ultimate authority on religious and secular matters. The key precept of Sikhism is recognition of the One Supreme Being, the perfect, ever-living, indescribable creator (Waheguru) who is depicted by the Ik Onkar character. The goal of life is to spiritually unite with the Supreme Being. And that requires adherence to the tenets of pious living embodied in the teachings of the Gurus and enshrined in Guru Granth Sahib. They stress curbing the ego and worldly desires (maya)—lust, greed, possessiveness—and pursuing an active, simple, ethical, honest, compassionate life. Ik Onkar, One Supreme Being The Khanda is the principal symbol of Sikhism. It integrates the oneness, eternal nature of the Supreme Being with expression of loyalty toward Him by following His rules for ethical conduct in worldly affairs. Khanda, Symbol of Sikhism Sikhism places a central emphasis on human unity, equality and social justice. Guru Nanak was particularly critical of the caste system in India. He who regards all men as equals is religious. Guru Nanak Fidelity to the Supreme Being is expressed through meditation and prayer. Recitation of spiritual poems and hymns are integral to Sikh worship. The poetic style of Guru Granth Sahib lends itself well to song and sacred music that often accompany its recitation. Holding that no religion has the monopoly over truth, Sikhism enjoins its followers to respect and ponder over the holy texts of other religions. The different names for God found in various religions are said to be different names of one and the same Supreme Being. Sikhism stresses the importance of doing good actions rather than merely carrying out rituals. Sikhs believe that the way to lead a good life is to: keep God in heart and mind at all times; live honestly and work hard; treat everyone equally; be generous to the less fortunate; serve others. (BBC 2009). Sikhs abide by a number of practical rules. These include refraining from smoking, intoxication and cutting one’s hair. Men wear turbans while women adorn turbans or scarves. Early rising and prayers before breakfast and at night are customary. The Sikh temple, Gurdwara, is open to everyone. Free meals are served daily and during the festivals. Sikhism does not have an ordained clergy, though there are respected men who look after the temples. Like Hinduism, it ascribes to rebirth. The dead are cremated, and their ashes are thrown into a flowing body of water. Generally, the Sikhs in India coexisted amicably with Hindus and Muslims. But on occasion, they faced intense persecution. During the intolerant final days of Mughal rule, two Sikh Gurus were executed for refusing to convert to Islam. Ongoing persecution from many quarters prompted the last Guru to set up a wing of holy warriors, the Khalsa. He decreed that in addition to leading a spiritual, virtuous, simple life of service, a Sikh should prepare like a soldier to fight against injustice and defend the community. A Sikh kingdom was established in Punjab in 1799 but was violently subdued by the British. In the aftermath, the Khalsa acquired a new dimension. Recognizing their fighting spirit, the British recruited thousands of Sikhs into special regiments of the colonial army. Deployed in India and across the world in the two world wars, many Sikhs perished in the service of the British Empire. Punjab was a key center of agitation against the colonial era political and economic impositions. Many Sikhs actively fought for independence. Some formed Sikh parties; many joined the Congress Party. Prominent Sikhs cooperated with the leaders of the freedom movement, MK Gandhi and J Nehru. Militant socialists like Bhagat Singh and his compatriots, who were executed by the British, are respected martyrs for free India. In this struggle, Sikhs, like other Indians, suffered from colonial batons and bullets. The constitution of India protects freedom of religion. Today Sikhs form 2% of the population of India. Since Independence, Sikhs have held major positions in government, business, academia, media, entertainment industry as well as the medical, scientific and technical fields. Markedly, they account for about a fifth of the Indian armed forces, at both the senior and junior ranks. India has a gruesome history of religious strife. During the partition of India in 1947, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs engaged in inhumane orgies of violent attacks. Up to two million Indians perished. Fifteen million were made homeless. Thousands of women were raped. Much property was vandalized on all the sides. From the 1970s, Punjab was the center for the implementation of the US-backed Green Revolution in India. High-yield seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides raised agricultural productivity and reduced the prices of staple grains. In the long run, the benefits were offset by numerous adverse effects. Vandana Shiva, a distinguished scientist and ecologist sums up: The Green Revolution has been a failure. It has led to reduced genetic diversity, increased vulnerability to pests, soil erosion, water shortages, reduced soil fertility, micronutrient deficiencies, soil contamination, reduced availability of nutritious food crops for the local population, the displacement of vast numbers of small farmers from their land, rural impoverishment and increased tensions and conflicts. The beneficiaries have been the agrochemical industry, large petrochemical companies, manufacturers of agricultural machinery, dam builders and large landowners. (Shiva 2015). The Green Revolution sharply increased indebtedness among the Punjabi peasants. Losing their land, many were impoverished. Tensions between Punjab and adjacent states in relation to water quality and supply arose. The feeling of being used and abused for the benefit of the rest of India affected the Punjabi psyche. In this atmosphere, a militant but small Sikh party that had worked for an autonomous state in Punjab gained popularity. The situation turned volatile as it engaged in skirmishes with the Indian state. The climax ensued after the holiest Sikh shrine, where Sikh militants had taken refuge, was invaded by Indian troops. Sikh anger rose by degrees. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards. Spurred on by influential politicians, angry mobs then attacked Sikhs across the land in the aftermath. Thousands died. It only fed a cycle of violence. In 1985, an Air India plane flying from Canada was blown up by two Sikh militants while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. All 329 people on board were killed. A subsequent Canadian investigation revealed that the Canadian security agencies and probably the US CIA were culpable in the attack. Because of the close relationship between the USSR and India under Indira Gandhi, the US was keen to destabilize her government. Sikhism was born at a time when women suffered from discrimination and ill treatment among the Hindus and Muslims in India. Guru Nanak posited that men and women were spiritually equal. He endorsed monogamy, criticized dowry payment and condemned infanticide and the practice of the wife being burned at the pyre alongside her dead husband. It was a major step towards gender equality. Sikh women participate in temple activities in an almost equal measure to men, are active in community functions, and are well educated. But especially in India, Sikhism remains under the ambit of the dominant patriarchal society. Men hold the main leadership posts and prevail in decision making. Women are responsible for domestic work. 3.4 SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISM The great moral powers of the soul are faith, hope, and love. Ellen G White The Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church, an offshoot of Protestantism, was officially proclaimed in the USA in 1863 under the initiative of four eminent persons. With Ellen G White the most venerated founder, it has between 20 and 25 million adherents today. More than 80% of them reside in Africa and Latin America. The SDA operates more than 8,000 churches and runs many schools, health facilities and varied social welfare projects across the world. The doctrine of the SDA largely concurs with Protestant Christian tenets. It views the Bible as the word of God and accepts the Ten Commandments and the tripartite nature of the divinity. The Adventists, though, ascribe to a set of 28 core beliefs that are in part at variance with mainstream Christian views. For example, they accord prophetic authority to Ellen White. Her words of wisdom provide valuable insight into the Bible. Salvation is attained purely by faith in Christ. Heaven and hell do not exist. Either resurrection or eternal demise, as commanded by God, ensues after death. And the second coming of Christ is imminent. The Adventist Church adopts a literalist interpretation of the Bible. If the Bible says the world was created in six days, then it was created in precisely six days. No reinterpretation of the ‘day’ is accepted. It opposes abortion and only recognizes monogamous heterosexual unions. Personal activities such as buying life insurance and investing Church funds in the stock market are justified by Biblically formulated explanations. A human being is a unitary entity, composed of body, mind and spirit. The human body is a temple of God that has to be cared for by living a simple life. Thus, tobacco and illegal drugs are prohibited. Alcohol, caffeinated drinks and ‘unclean’ foods like pork are deplored. Good health needs a nourishing diet. Vegetarianism is promoted. The Adventist folk observe the Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. Abstaining from work, business and non-religious recreation in that period, they are enjoined to engage in family activities, charity work, church youth programs, Bible study, prayer services and interaction with the natural environment. The official logo of Seventh-day Adventism has four principal features. The shape of the flame represents the mission to spread Christianity world-wide; an open Bible stresses unwavering acceptance of the word of God; rising lines underline the second coming of the Christ; and the cross denotes the gospel of salvation. Reproduction of the copyrighted SDA church logo for a purpose not connected with Adventist activities is not permitted. The extent and range of integration of secular and religious activities is almost unique to Adventism. Besides building churches, organizing religious programs and regular faith activities, it operates a large-scale secular wing at a global level. From the early days, the SDA has championed freedom of religion, provided education and health services, organized youth groups and engaged in humanitarian endeavors under its own umbrella body. Now it runs one of the largest international educational systems in the world with some 6,000 primary schools, 2,400 secondary schools and 115 tertiary institutions. For example, it runs the University of Arusha in Tanzania. The SDA church also operates nearly 200 hospitals and over a hundred nursing homes, some of which are state of the art, major facilities. The renowned Loma Linda Medical School and Hospital in California is the premier SDA medical institution. The hospitals are for the most part self-financing and some are profitmaking institutions. The Adventist church also owns several publishing companies. The integration of secular and spiritual activities extends to commerce and business. The principal luminary of Adventism was clear on this issue: Religion and business are not two separate things: they are one. Ellen G White Taking this dictum to heart, some enterprising Adventists developed a global empire specializing in the manufacture and sale of vegetarian foods and breakfast cereals: The Seventh-day Adventist Church is surely the world's only church that owns and operates a worldwide chain of food factories--and, moreover, factories that make natural, healthy vegetarian foods. (Shurtleff and Aoyagi 2014). Food and drinks producing companies owned by or affiliated with the SDA include Earth's Own Food Company, McKee Foods, Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing Company and Sahmyook Foods. These conglomerates have a global footprint, dominating the cereal market in nations like New Zealand and Australia. Worldwide, more than 7,000 companies are said to be linked with Adventism. The Kellogg’s company, one of the leading producers of breakfast cereals in the world, was founded by two Adventists, Dr John Kellogg and his brother, William Kellogg. Mentored personally by Ellen White, the former utilized his medical skills to exercise a decisive influence on the evolution of preventive health practices in the United States and beyond. He was a prime proponent of making breakfast cereals an essential part of a healthy diet. His brother used his managerial acumen to make it a reality and, in the process, build up an international economic empire. Interestingly, Dr Kellogg was a staunch eugenicist who spent the last three decades of his life to the idea of wiping out the ‘inferior’ human stock. He co-founded the Race Betterment Foundation that organized conferences dealing with maintaining the separation of races and forcibly sterilizing the 'mentally defectives’. He also assisted state health bodies to enact eugenics laws (see Religion, Science and the Pandemic, Chapter 3). The global cereal and food companies have a tall agenda. Primarily they aim to divert people away from traditional home-cooked food to processed industrial foods. In that relentless drive, they employ a battalion of lobbyists to influence politicians, government ministers, regulators, health experts and journalists. Directly and under the aegis of charitable foundations claiming to promote children's health and education, they conduct multi-million-dollar marketing campaigns in the media with cartoons, Disney characters, enticing music and popular toys. Their health claims are oblivious of the fact that industrial processing and packaging removes or denatures basic micro-nutrients. Fortification is a poor substitute. Analyses of their products by independent experts have found that most violate important health standards. Many have excessive amounts of sugar and salt as well as saturated fat. Yet they aggressively market their products to children. Investigations by regulatory agencies in the UK, for example, have repeatedly found major flaws in their ads and banned them. Yet, the food behemoths march on. Their dream of a global presence is fast coming true. Not just the supermarkets in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania but its street vendors too, sell foreign branded cereal boxes. There is less scrutiny over quality and content in Africa. The least nutritional varieties predominate. At times, date-expired or fake items are repackaged to indicate otherwise. There is no guarantee that they are fortified with vitamins and minerals as stated on the label. Yet, boxed cereal is a status symbol, a mark of modernization. Traditional dishes made from whole grains, cassava, sweet potatoes are being replaced by heavily sugared, salted and fried foods onto which the cereals form the latest entry. They are a part of the process that has made Africa, despite its huge agricultural potential, to become heavily dependent on imported food; a process that has entrenched malnutrition, and, of recent, fueled obesity and related health ailments. [Processed] cereals represent a triumph of marketing, packaging and US economic and foreign policy. (Lawrence 2008). In theory, the Adventist philosophy promotes injection of humanitarian values in business and openness in marketing. In practice, it could not be otherwise. Interpreting risk taking in theological terms and fostering entrepreneurship has not made the Adventist associated firms function in ways other than like typical multinational corporations. The business side of Adventism is an integral part of the global capitalist system where the aims of maximal profit and accumulation outstrip any other objective. The beneficiaries of the SDA business activities mostly come from the smaller but affluent segment of the Adventists who reside in the US and Europe. Adventists are asked to pay 10% of their annual incomes as tithe to the Church. But the actual level of payment among the young followers is low. In Africa, only a few affluent members can afford the tithe. Yet, in recent years the Church has been raising over two billion dollars from tithe each year. The North American branch accounts for some 40% of the amount. The centrally held funds are used for pastoral salaries, maintenance of church facilities, proselytization work and partial support for primary schooling. A substantial amount is invested in stocks and bonds. In 2019, the Adventist investment portfolio was valued at over 500 million US dollars. Adventist women, especially in the West, generally play an active role in church and public activities. Since 1985, women are allowed to attend the Adventist seminary and perform some pastoral duties. However, they are not ordained as pastors, and cannot undertake the full range of pastoral duties such as presiding over baptism and marriage ceremonies. The patriarchal ethos is more entrenched in the African and Latin American SDA branches. 3.5 TRADITIONAL AFRICAN RELIGIONS Character is religion. Yoruba Proverb Before the onset of trans-Atlantic slave trade and the imposition of colonial rule, Africa was home to numerous small, and a few large, social formations. With elaborate organizational and social structures, some had technical capacities akin to contemporary Europe (Rodney 1972). There was conflict but also peaceful intercourse, and extensive interregional trade in Africa. African societies had a substantial cultural apparatus comprising of music, dance, ceremonies, folklore, wall paintings, ritual items, housing styles and carpets, pottery, clothing, masks, sculptures, amulets, bead necklaces and earrings. Integral to the culture was a belief system that explained the origin of life and humanity as well as the causation of natural events. It linked the living with the ancestors, posited the existence of a divine entity or entities that oversee all existence, and decreed a moral code for humans. Natural objects like the sky, mountains, rivers and large trees had a mystical status. Affirming the rhythmic character of natural phenomena, weighty events like rain, draught, floods, thunder, lightning and pestilence were ascribed to the operation of divine forces. Hippopotamus Carving for Divining Art objects like sculptures had a spiritual significance in traditional African societies. For example, the wooden hippopotamus carving above was used in the divining rituals performed in the Itoon community in the 19th century. The moral code of African folk religions derived from Ubuntu, a philosophy based on interdependence and compassion among humans. Ubuntu is the capacity in African culture to express compassion, reciprocity, dignity, harmony and humanity in the interests of building and maintaining community with justice and mutual caring. (Nussbaum 2003). John Mbiti, the eminent scholar of African religions, encapsulated the Ubuntu spiritual philosophy thus: I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am. Ubuntu Principle In addition to affirming the centrality of compassion, communal responsibility, and mutual aid, the key pillars of most traditional African religions were affirmation of a Supreme Being, stories of creation and human origin, linkage with the ancestors and the view of life as a changing, not static entity. And these beliefs were cemented in oral traditions, cultural rites, taboos, prayers and physical objects, not sacred texts. African religions had special rituals for pregnancy, birth, attainment of adulthood, marriage, illness, medicine and funerals. They conducted blessing ceremonies for important village activities like farming, animal husbandry and production of tools, utensils, cloth and building material. As for the ancient societies everywhere, the African of the yesteryear was immersed in the spiritual realm from dawn to dawn. The African worldview is life-affirming; a philosophy of vitalism or dynamism lies behind many attitudes and actions. (Parrinder 1969, page 233). That said, traditional African belief systems form a diverse terrain that covers the Akan and Yoruba religions of West Africa, Xhosa and Zulu belief systems of South Africa, Kikuyu and Maasai traditions of East Africa, and the Dinka and Hausa religions of central and northern Africa. Islam spread over Africa from the early days of its inception. Christianity laid roots in Ethiopia from the days of the Apostles and, in 330 CE, became the official religion. Yet, due to Western imperial intrusions, the traditional religions are no longer the primary religions in Africa. Christian missionaries rallied against traditional culture and beliefs during the colonial era, denouncing them as idolatry and witchcraft. Their efforts were largely successful. Over 90% Africans now are either Christian or Muslim. Exclusive adherents of ancestral religions are a minority. Traditional beliefs persist across Africa, but in a syncretic form. Most Christians and many Muslims hold on to the rituals and customs of their indigenous religions and resort to them in daily discourse. To state one case: [The] Songhay [of Niger], who have been Muslims for 500 years, observe the minimal daily prayers and go to the mosque on Fridays, but on Sundays, they have popular drumming and dances where people are possessed by the river spirit called Zin or Jinn. (Parrinder 1969, page 57). Below is an overview of two African belief systems. Akan Religion (West Africa): The Akan people of Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo adhere to the Akan religion whose central doctrine is that the world is governed by an all-knowing, all-powerful divine entity. A common name is Nyame. An infinite being, he provided the energy that created the universe. He is also able to control every occurrence in the universe. Nyame has laid down a code of conduct, of actions that are good or bad, which people have to follow. Nyame does not directly communicate with humans but has angles called abosoms who act on his behalf. They are in touch with priests who perform prayers and ceremonies like libations and invoke the spirit of the ancestors. Nyame’s power varies according to the context and is depicted in songs and chants. One lyrical chant goes: Nyame exists Nyame exists Nyame is everywhere If you sin, He will see, He will hear, He will write If you sin, He will not bless you. Akan song (Anderson 2013). Nyame and his powers are represented by the Adinkra symbol: Adinkra Symbol Akan beliefs crossed the Atlantic Ocean during the slave trade and fostered associated religious systems and cultural practices in Jamaica, Surinam and Haiti, among other places. These beliefs found their way into North America as well. The Akan religion has a large array of esoteric symbols that not only depict the varied forms of the supreme deity and things like immortality, war, peace, wealth and diplomacy, but also promote values like purity, love, goodwill, mercy, consent, remembrance, adaptation and harmony. The most known symbol of the Akan religion is Anansi, a spider-shaped wise, creative deity with a penchant for playing tricks upon unsuspecting beings. Also called Kwaku Ananse, it is the central character of the traditional folktales of the Ghanaian people that depict the intricacies and mysteries of life. Once of a purely oral form, the large corpus of Anansi fables has spread beyond West Africa, spawned other tales and became a part of the cultural traditions of the West Indian, African American and other peoples. Anansi also came to depict a valiant, inspirational character in the struggle against slavery and oppression, and an upholder of the dignity and ancient roots of the enslaved peoples. His stories are now in many literary works, children’s tales and songs, rock and spiritual music, comics, TV programs, movies and video games. But much of this extension has occurred outside of Africa and has become over commercialized. Anansi the Spider Symbol Numbering about 20 million, the modern Akans of West Africa retain their historical traditions but to a degree. Ancient taboos and norms are observed, rituals are performed, family names are retained, aspects of the matrilineal tradition persist, and family lives are organized around small groups under a council of elders. Yet, this strong tradition of cultural resistance wilted under the economic and social forces that came into play during colonial rule. Rapid urbanization and the ethic of neoliberal capitalism of the recent times further severed traditional ties and culture. Most of the Akans today are Christians who observe the religion of their ancestors as an adjunct creed. Bantu Religions (East, Central and Southern Africa): The Bantu people, located in hundreds of ethnic groups in the central and southern half of the continent, display basic commonalities in language, customs and religious beliefs. While roughly numbering 350 million, most ethnic groups are small. The population of only five Bantu ethnicities exceeds seven million: Shona (Zimbabwe), Zulu (South Africa), Luba (Democratic Republic of Congo), Sukuma (Tanzania) and Kikuyu (Kenya). The shared aspects of Bantu religions include belief in a divine power who cares for humanity, veneration of the ancestral spirits, origin myths of earth and sky, and eternality of the universe. The divine power has many names; among the Swahili speakers, he is Mungu. He rules the world along with lesser spirits. Individually and as a group, Bantu peoples are implored to lead virtuous lives in harmony with the spirits. The moral code of the spirits values honesty, integrity and bravery. It requires allegiance to the community, respect for parents and the elders, extending hospitality to visitors, raising children under good communal norms, and fidelity to the family. Special ceremonies to honor and appease the spirits, where animals are sacrificed and food offerings given, are held. If they are not done, an angry spirit may unleash calamities like famine, illness, pestilence, forest fire and conflict. People fear shamans who can harm individuals. The practice of traditional medicine with herbs and special chants is a key element of Bantu religion. Prayers and other ceremonies are accompanied by song and dance, which at times result in trance like states. Bantu Mythological Chameleon Animals have a diversity of roles in the Bantu culture. The hare embodies modes of conduct like bravery, cunning, intelligence, patience and violence. Lizards and chameleons have a special significance. A Pygmy story links the chameleon with the emergence of humanity while Zulu and Luyia stories portray it as a harbinger of death. Other stories view it as a symbol of the eternity of life. (Parrinder 1969, pages 34, 37). Most subscribers to Bantu religions today are also Christian or Muslim. Their traditional beliefs and customs have been altered by the dominant religions. Urbanized life under neoliberalism has further distorted the beliefs, limited the opportunity to practice traditional rituals and undercut the Ubuntu ethic, replacing it with a self-centered outlook. +++ Traditional African religions had flourished in social formations in which the technology for agriculture and craft production was at its formative stage and hierarchical structures were neither extreme nor entrenched. Egalitarian practices and values and conscious cooperation within the community, the essence of Ubuntu, were essential for survival and advancement. African religions, through their diverse forms, provided the glue for social stability and encouraged collective endeavor. Religion was communal, not personal. It served as a cushion of emotional solace and driver of resilience in times of family or general distress. Praying to gods and making offerings gave hope for a better future. It gave meaning to an often-uncertain life. In traditional African societies women worked at home but also on farms. Their work was valued, and their voices were respected. Women also served as priestesses, mediums and traditional healers. But over time, they were increasingly dominated by men, and their freedoms were restricted. For example, at mealtimes, the men got the choicest portions. The ambivalent but largely subordinate status of women is reflected in African myths and creation stories. Some portray them as worthy beings and some blame them for social ills. Some African proverbs depict women as the source of life, glory and good fortune, but some depict them as lazy and capricious; some see women as gentle, loving mothers; and some view them as talkative, wasteful persons who need supervision by men. A few proverbs advise men to beware of deceptive seductresses. A wide-ranging survey of African proverbs by John Mbiti shows that they generally portray men more favorably than women. One case is the Maasai proverb positing the basis of a successful life: ‘a wife, a cow, a sheep, a goat, and a donkey’. It notes the essentiality of women but ranks them with domestic animals, and not as autonomous, equal beings. (Mbiti 2020). 3.6 WHAT IS RELIGION? Our brief survey of five religious traditions returns us to the definitional query: What is religion? The answers vary. A succinct definition was given in 1871 by Edward B Tylor in his influential work, Religion in Primitive Culture. He defines religion as: The belief in supernatural beings. EB Tylor (Saxton 2006, page 39). Other definitions are elaborate. The Encyclopedia Britannica declares: Religion [is] human beings’ relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, absolute, spiritual, divine, or worthy of especial reverence. It is also commonly regarded as consisting of the way people deal with ultimate concerns about their lives and their fate after death. … Worship, moral conduct, right belief, and participation in religious institutions are among the constituent elements of the religious life. (Petruzzello 2019). The Wikipedia characterizes religion in slightly different terms: A religion is a set of beliefs passionately held by a group of people that is reflected in a world view and in expected beliefs and actions (which are often ritualized). (Wikipedia 2019 - Religion). It elaborates that these beliefs concern the origins of the world and humanity, and the purpose of human life, and are linked to supernatural beings, codes of moral conduct, devotional practices and rituals. The scholar YH Harari provides a shorter definition: Religion can …. be defined as a system of human norms and values that is founded on a belief in a superhuman order. (Harari 2018, page 210). David Dennett, a cognitive scientist and philosopher, also has a short working definition: [Religion is a social system] whose participants avow belief in a supernatural agent or agents whose approval is to be sought. (Dennett 2006). Religions stand on three foundational pillars: spiritual (beliefs), devotional (practice), and societal (social function). Even as they are manifested in highly diverse forms, every religion rests on these pillars. The first two pillars (spiritual beliefs and devotional practices) are essential features of religion, and the third (social function) has been an inseparable consequential aspect of religion. Religion is a communal entity, serving a communal purpose and not just an isolated relationship between a person and the divine. Hence, this book uses the following definition: Religion is a system of beliefs, practices and symbols shared by a community that accepts of the existence of divine beings and/or supernatural realms and has modes of worship, rituals, stories and rules of conduct (ethical norms) that are taken to be of divine origin. We employ the terms faith and faith system as synonyms for religion and use terms like denomination, branch, creed, tradition, school, order and sect to refer to a particular religion or its subdivisions. Religion is a complex, astonishingly diverse historical phenomenon. It is not a static entity. As their histories attest, all religions evolve. Beliefs, codes of morality and practices change; religions splinter into different branches; some become extinct; and new ones emerge—processes that persist to this day. Our review of five religions leads us to identify five interrelated, essential components of religion. Five Components of Religion Beliefs Spiritual beliefs, holy texts and origin stories Practice Prayers, customs, rituals, ceremonies, symbols Morality Ethical and moral precepts and prohibitions Organization Leadership, organizational structure, finances Social Role Societal activities, relations and function Even though religions change over time, viewing religions in this framework in the following pages will provide us a useful comparative perspective. CHAPTER 04: ORIGIN ↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔ Faith is the force of life. Leo Tolstoy It was the experience of mystery - even if mixed with fear – that engendered religion. Albert Einstein BELIEF IN THE SUPERNATURAL, in a mystical domain beyond this world, is the primary feature of religion. Religion is faith in a divine force deserving of worship and obedience. And it is not just a person-centered entity. It is a collective, shared endeavor. Our survey of five religions in Chapter 3 shows that religious beliefs and practices vary widely in form and expression. We also noted the five main components of a typical religion: Beliefs, morality, practice, organization and social function. Art, sculpture, painting, music, chants, song, dance, design, dress, dietary preferences and other elements of culture are also associated with religion. How and why did religions originate? An extensive volume of research on this issue exists. Philosophers, scholars, social scientists and theologians have weighed in with a diversity of views. This chapter reflects on the origin of religious beliefs and practices. From the dawn of humanity to some ten thousand years ago, thousands of religious types of beliefs emerged in different parts of the world. These are generally placed into two groups, Primal Religion and Neolithic Religion. Our ideas about these ancient religions is mostly derived from archeological excavations and rock paintings. Apart from clay tablets found in a few places, there are no written records. Genetic analysis has extended our knowledge of early human history, but much is unknown. Many regions have not been archeologically explored. And scholars differ widely in the interpretation of the unearthed evidence. The portrait below is my distillation of the main common features of these diverse belief systems. 4.1 PRIMAL RELIGION Theologians say religion was revealed from a divine source. For some of the major religions, the dates and manner of revelation are given. After looking at unexplained and intriguing finds from archeological sites in the different continents, Eric Von Daniken gave another answer (Von Daniken 1971). He surmised that there is good evidence to presume that our world was visited in the past by extraterrestrial beings. The development of human society and culture, including religion owes a great deal to these beings. Though a highly popular work when it came out, his book is not in vogue anymore. The use of sparse data to form sweeping conclusions undermined its credibility. Yet, to this day, the lack of a good science education makes many people inclined to take such scenarios seriously. A more credible picture of the origin of religion is based on evidence from archeological, genetic, biological and cultural studies. Fossil and genetic records indicate that modern humans (Homo sapiens) emerged from pre-human species some 200,000 years ago. Living in nomadic groups, they drew sustenance from the surroundings by hunting, fishing and foraging. As they learned to control fire and improved tools like axes, hammers, harpoons, bows and arrows, procurement and storage of food became more efficient. They dug pit traps and constructed public fire hearths. Language flourished; stories of life and nature surfaced. Knowledge of hunting, animal migration, harmful and edible plants, seasonal variation, tool making, and the use of animal hide for wear was passed on via experience and orally. Such changes were gradual, occurring over tens of thousands of years, and uneven from place to place. The nomadic communities led a precarious existence, especially after they moved from thick forests to open land. Their tools were rudimentary, made from stone and wood. Nature was a friend and a foe; a year of abundance could be followed by one of scarcity, harsher climate or greater danger from predatory animals. Life was unpredictable. Risk of death from hunger, illness or injury was high. Nature was revered but also feared. Coordinated cooperation between community members was essential for survival, especially for the protection of children. It made hunting of large animals possible and provided better defense against predators and raiders. Moving constantly, locating safe sheltering sites like caves and building temporary huts needed harmonized actions. While sexual relations were flexible, sexual impulses had to be controlled. Aspects of such traits are seen among other animals. But for the more vulnerable, conscious humans, they were critical. Paleolithic communities were classless. While elders and diviners were held in high regard, no subgroup lived off the labor of others. The notion of private property did not exist; everything was shared. Work and life were organized on the basis of equality and utility, not privilege. Solidarity was a fundamental feature of life in these communities. The social community was, and still today is a necessity for the survival of man as an individual. Without it, the human spiritual forces would never mature. (Alan 2015). While the evidence is sketchy, it appears that these earlier humans bonded through development of elements of culture. Fear of nature and desire for its bounty found expression in art, rituals and symbols. Walls of caves were painted, and small stone and clay sculptures were made. A hunt was preceded by ceremonial appeal to natural spirits and hunted animals were slaughtered in a ritualized fashion. This was the context in which different components of what we call religion now evolved. Recent genetic investigations show that the general sequence of emergence evolved from animism (belief that animals, plants, rocks, wind, river, sky, sun were imbued with spirits); to belief in life after death; to shamanism (resorting to diviners who went into trance to communicate with spirits and the departed ones); and to the reverence of ancestors. Events like storms and floods were ascribed to magic. Fire symbolized a magical spirit. In their totality, these beliefs formed a primal religion, the ideology of the Paleolithic era. By providing a psychic basis for group identity and fostering cooperation, it served a utilitarian purpose. It provided hope when nature was unforgiving and motivated hunting and gathering drives. Ideology had a material basis. The shamans were the counselors of that era—for individuals and the group. They also dispensed herbs for treatment of disease. Primal religion had a mystical dimension. With larger and more complex brains, human are inquisitive animals. Myths and stories provided a basis for understanding what was going on in the world. Explaining diverse events and objects expanded vocabulary and extended the mental horizon. Rituals embodied love, joy and sadness, hope and despair as well as playfulness. They helped people cope with the death of a loved one. Belief in the unitary spirituality of nature fostered empathy, altruism and reconciliation. As such, primal religion stands in sharp contrast to the prevailing ideologies of today. Most people regard hierarchy in human societies as inevitable, a natural part of who we are. Yet this belief contradicts much of the 200,000-year history of Homo sapiens. … In fact, our ancestors have for the most part been ‘fiercely egalitarian’, intolerant of any form of inequality. While hunter-gatherers accepted that people had different skills, abilities and attributes, they aggressively rejected efforts to institutionalize them into any form of hierarchy. (Suzman 2017b). The multiplicity of forms and styles of rock paintings and figurines indicate a gradual evolution towards abstract thinking. The artist transcends from the obvious onto identifying patterns. The fascinating diversity of art in different Paleolithic societies across continents indicates the flowering of imagination and creativity. Ideology, even in these early human societies, acquired a momentum of its own. To paraphrase Karl Marx, religion in the early human societies was the psychic pillar of a precarious existence, the sentiment of an egalitarian, harmonious way of life and the soul of a curious, determined people. Through the medium of religious beliefs, our ancestors laid the basis for modern ethics and morality, and the astonishing intellectual and cultural ferment that was to occur among their descendants. 4.2 THE HADZA The area surrounding Lake Eyasi in northern Tanzania is home to one of the few surviving hunter-gatherer communities in the world. Numbering about 1,300 in 2012, the Hadza provides an actual window into the Homo sapiens way of life for 95% of the period of its existence. With a distinct genetic profile and a language unrelated to any in the adjacent areas, these people persist with the millennia old practices of their ancestors. Lifestyle: The traditional Hadza do not build permanent shelters. Living in mobile subgroups of 20 to 40, they draw sustenance from plant foods like berries, yams, cassava, baobab fruit, honey and honeycomb as well as small and large animals. Hunting is done with poisoned tipped bows and arrows. Their foods vary by season. A keen knowledge of the environment enables efficient location of food, medicinal plants and water sources. But extraction from nature is done in a sustainable manner. Of recent, their fiber rich diet has garnered accolades from global health experts. Infant mortality is high but life spans for those who make it through childhood are similar to those in surrounding areas. Social Organization: Hadza lives are organized on the basis of equality, sharing and collective decision making. Daily decisions are taken jointly. No leader has a special status. Viewing themselves as a unified family, everyone is treated with respect. Caring for children is done by related and unrelated persons. Competition, selfish conduct and accumulation are frowned upon. The few items a person owns are carried on her or his back. Meals are eaten together. When internal conflicts cannot be resolved, calm is restored by a parting of ways. Matrimony: Monogamy is the norm, but separation and remarriage also occur. Marriage is a non-ceremonial act of consent between a man and a woman. For a young girl, approval from her family is sought. Women take part in collective decision making; gender discrimination is minimal. In food collection and other activities, a division of labor between men and women exists, but it is not always adhered to. Female puberty rituals are conducted. Culture: In addition to egalitarian norms and values that reflect respect for nature and emphasize collective endeavor, there are two other components to the Hadza culture: cosmological myths and folk tales, and ritualized eating and dance ceremonies. Myths: Hadza cosmology does not feature a divine power. But their myths have god-like beings linked to the sun (female, Ishoko) and the moon (male, Seta) and stars, their children. They believe that humans were created over four culturally distinct epochs during which animals, people and man-eating giants emerged. Among their numerous folk tales, some depict malevolent giants who were finally vanquished and some feature heroes who entered the netherworld after death and returned to spread customs and material objects. They maintain a worshipful attitude towards the ancestors who can return as ghosts on special nights. Rituals: The Hadza conduct special rituals that have spiritual connotations. The most important are the epeme dances on moonless nights and epeme meal ceremonies for men who attain manhood by killing a large animal. And they do not perform burial rites. Corpses are put in a hole made into the soil or left in the open. Education: As in all traditional societies, Hadza children learned the ways of the world informally, through stories and by observing and doing. But now, since school attendance is compulsory, they spend three quarters of a year in public boarding schools in surrounding areas. While this is a positive step, questions about the quality and content of education, deleterious influences and loss of traditional knowledge cannot be ignored. In addition to their own language, the Hadza speak Swahili, the national language of Tanzania. Some educated Hadza hold low level jobs in the district administration and private firms. A few run small shops in border areas and a number are employed as game scouts and guides for Western tourists and scholars. External Influences: Due to misguided colonial and post-colonial policies, the Hadza have lost access to over three quarters of their land and animal populations. Conflicts due encroachment by neighboring communities have worsened their situation. Some foreign companies have acquired hunting rights in former Hadza lands. Missionaries have often attempted to convert them to Christianity but, for the most part, the Hadza have managed to resist them. Current Situation: Only about a third of the Hadza pursue their traditional lifestyle. The rest are settled in border areas, trading with outsiders or doing manual work on large farms, including guarding corn fields from monkeys and other animals. They buy necessary items like clothes, shoes and tools. Some Hadza men demonstrate their hunting ability to tourists in return for cash. External contact has led to a rise in alcoholism, and infectious ailments like tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases and measles. Malaria is also a persistent problem. External Support: Due to their unique profile, the Hadza have garnered extensive support from human rights organizations and non-governmental agencies of the West in the past two decades. Anthropologists, social scientists and medical researchers from outside have landed in droves on Hadza land. But such attention is a double-edged sword. While in the short run it has benefitted them by enabling them to secure their basic land rights, and yielded valuable knowledge about the past and human health, it runs the risk in the long run of turning the Hadza into zoo-like entities who are mythologized and admired but whose basic right to self-determination is progressively compromised. The Hadza are an integral part of a nation and continent that is under the exploitative tutelage of the global neoliberal system. External attention is predicated upon the flawed assumption that African enigmas can be solved with philanthropy. Like the Native Americans, the Hadza are at risk of turning into communities rife with alcoholism, loss of dignity and culture, malnutrition and disease. Religion: The Hadza do not build temples or shrines. They do not conduct prayer sessions. Their society does not have priests or shamans. If religion is taken to mean an institutionalized spiritual belief system, there is no Hadza religion. Yet, in a more profound sense, a veritable Hadza religion exists. Their ingrained ethical percepts embody social equality, cooperation and grass-roots democracy. These values are complemented by a vibrant sense of living in a balanced harmony with nature. These bedrocks of Hadza ideology are intertwined with rituals and a host of myths and creation stories that feature other worldly beings and ghosts of belief system. These lend a spiritual dimension to the ideology. The fundamental, practically articulated secular tenets of the Hadza religion are social equality, cooperation, material contentment and a balanced existence with nature. Whether named or not, codified in a holy book or not, there is a de facto Hadza religion that is adhered to more faithfully in daily practice than many other religions. Furthermore, its basic ethical values and attitudes towards the environment stand in stark contrast to the norms of competition, individualism, consumerism, accumulation and disregard for the planetary ecosystem that characterize the globally dominant neoliberal ideology and socio-economic order. While the latter is propelling humanity and all living species towards a dark abyss, the former holds the keys to establishment of a sustainable, egalitarian and just mode of existence. The appalling tragedy is that instead of drawing basic lessons from these noble, resilient people, the capitalist system, at the national and international levels, has set in motion powerful forces that portend the complete demise of their autonomy and traditions. To safeguard its future, humanity has to integrate the egalitarianism of the Hadza with judicious use of science and technology. It needs the best of both worlds, ancient and modern. Yet, the Hadza are being propelled into a situation that embodies the worst of both worlds. 4.3 THE NEOLITHIC AGE As the global climate warmed some 12,000 years ago, humankind began a transition from nomadic hunting-gathering to settled living in larger groups. The discovery of agriculture and domestic rearing of animals formed the basis of this process which occurred at varied rates in different geographical regions. Some foraging societies maintained a nomadic lifestyle but lived off large herds of domesticated animals. Stable fishing communities emerged near rivers, lakes and oceans. And in places, hunting and gathering persisted for millennia. Such an admixture of modes of production was seen in many parts of Africa where agriculture was independently discovered. Catalyzed by chance observations and trials about plant reproduction, humans started growing grains like millet, corn, wheat, sorghum, rice and barley, root crops like yams, potatoes and cassava as well as beans, coffee, kola nuts, oil palm, sunflower, bananas, citrus fruits and other crops. Crops grown in one area diffused over millennia to other areas. Farming needs a stable life, fertile soil and adequate rainfall or other sources of water. In the course of a sedentary existence, people learned to tame goats, sheep, pigs and poultry. Harvest was stored to provide a stable supply of basic foods. The domesticated animals yielded meat, milk, eggs, bone, wool, hide and excrement which was used as manure. Better tools and improved farming techniques evolved. Making stone and clay pots and utensils for cooking and storage expanded. Some people weaved clothes and mats or made decorative ornaments. The discovery of metal smelting some 6,000 years ago raised the productivity of labor and enabled manufacture of new, sturdier tools and daily use items. Sedentary communities began to ferment beer, bake bread and cook a wider variety of dishes. Not everyone could do everything. Many activities required special skills that could only be acquired through experience and apprenticeship. Hence, a skill-based division of labor emerged. Some people were artisans working with stone, wood or clay; others were builders, weavers, farmers or herders. Dwellings that gave better protection from the elements were built. Villages expanded in size and began to resemble what we now call towns. Farm output and herding yields generally were at subsistence levels at the outset. But increasingly, with better tools, more productive soils and use of irrigation, some plots yielded more than what the family could consume. Initially, the surplus was distributed within the settlement by ceremonial rites and barter. Exchange of food and other items with adjacent communities occurred. The craft persons received food in return for their wares. Bartering, which entails finding someone who needs what you have and has what you need, faced limitations. Gradually, it was superseded by the use of an accepted medium of exchange. The initial forms of money were seashells, fine beads and necklaces, and colorful, shiny rocks and crystals. Money spawned the emergence of a new economic group, the traders whose sole occupation was buying and selling commodities. The value of an item was monetized, and money became a device for accumulating wealth as well. Development did not occur in a uniform, straight line process. Production, storage, construction and exchange improved slowly and unevenly. At times, it suffered setbacks due to natural disasters or conflict between communities. While more or less egalitarian social relations persisted for centuries and more, fixed living, larger population, division of labor, surplus production, trade and money formed the bedrock upon which a qualitative change in these relations evolved. Control of production and ownership of the means of production largely accumulated into the hands of a few families. Hitherto communal lands came under the control of individuals. Some family farms and herds expanded rapidly in acreage and animal numbers and began to use slaves or serfs. Gradually, a small upper stratum who lived in larger houses with multiple rooms, possessed more land and animals, began to exercise a dominant role in the community affairs. Village governance structures with hereditary chiefs emerged. The chief, perhaps with a small council, settled disputes, set the rules of conduct, and directed community activities. He and his council received gifts in the form of food, cattle and objects of decorative or practical use from the villagers. But overtime, voluntary gift giving turned into required payments of tax. The emergence of centralized city states and empires with a dominant ruler or a group of rulers, a graded social hierarchy, and standing armies who extracted economic surplus through taxation and coerced labor from the working majority and neighboring societies culminated the Neolithic era. The earliest kingdoms emerged in present day Iraq around 6,500 BC. It was a global but not contemporaneous phenomenon. Among the many empires in Africa were the Sudanese, Egyptian, Ethiopian, Ghana, Songhai, Mali, Buganda and Zulu empires. Some empires were federated kingdoms. The expansion of the knowledge base of human society was a crucial concomitant of this process. Languages flourished, writing was invented, new techniques of production were discovered, knowledge of the seasons and environment expanded, calendars were written down, and a natural science of a rudimentary form emerged. Of particular note are techniques of counting, measuring weights and volumes, and the elements of geometry. Allocation and evaluation of property and goods as well as taxation and trade implied that land areas had to be known; farm output to be measured; herds to be counted; and the value of artisanal objects known. Travelers, traders and conquest diffused such knowledge and practical skills from place to place. Yet, the Neolithic transition brought forth several untoward elements into the human society. In most places, it saw the inception of economic and social inequalities, including subjugation of women, that sharpened over time. The egalitarian hunting-gathering mode of life was progressively compromised with the emergence of an elite stratum at the top and the multitude as their vassals. Higher population density and living close to animals increased prevalence of infectious disease and emergence of ailments not seen earlier. Even as farming and herding provided more food, food variety diminished. The nomads of the earlier era had consumed a far greater variety of plants. Nutritional deficiencies ensued, as reflected in decreases of average human height. A long time was to pass before some of these health effects were reversed. It was also an era where humans began to make efficient weapons not just for hunting and fishing but also to fight against each other. Inequality and institutionalized violence gradually permeated human existence. 4.4 NEOLITHIC IDEOLOGY Changes in the technology of production and unequal economic relations were reflected in ideology and culture. Neolithic religions extended the mystical beliefs and rituals of the hunting-gathering times to more elaborate forms of cosmology and spiritual worship and developed novel institutional features. A critical difference between hunting-gathering and settled communities was how they related to the environment. The former lived in balance with nature while the latter sought to change nature. The former took what nature provided but the latter extracted materials from nature and used them to produce what they needed. Animals were bred to be domesticated, new crop varieties were introduced, and large areas were cleared. Where hunter-gatherers saw themselves simply as part of an inherently productive environment, farmers regarded their environment as something to manipulate, tame and control. (Suzman 2017b). Farming and grazing endeavors depended on seasons and adequate rainfall which often occurred in cyclical patterns. Neolithic worldviews incorporated the cycles of the sun and the moon. Heavenly bodies were deified. People prayed for life needs, rain, good fortune, harmony and deliverance from calamitous storms, floods, droughts, epidemics and pestilence. The goddess of fertility, symbolized in creative figurines, was a revered deity. She was worshipped for her power to deliver ample harvests, larger herds and family well-being. Rites for rain, planting and harvesting were performed. Each season commenced with special ceremonies. Life transitions like birth, puberty, marriage and death were marked with elaborate rituals and objects, especially among the elite. Belief in life after death became more pronounced. Burial became more common and food, drink, pots and tools for the departed one in afterlife were placed in the tombs. The deities and ancestors who protected the living and gave them sustenance were respected through elaborate ceremonies and animals were sacrificed to placate them. Merciful and harmful gods were represented using animalized figurines and other forms. Each god had his or her domain of operation. Wondrous totems denoting the magnificence of the deities were erected. Religious symbols were placed in or near homes. Exquisitely designed and painted pottery, statuettes, ornamental items and amulets with apparent spiritual significance have been found in numerous Neolithic excavation sites. A pot dated around 4,000 BCE from the Indus Civilization in India shown below is illustrative of Neolithic craftmanship and artistry. Pottery from Indus Valley Civilization, India. In the Neolithic era, a priestly stratum superseded the shamans. As the guardian of the religion, it oversaw holy ceremonies and rites. In smaller settlements, the village chief conducted such rites. But in the city states and empires that evolved later, the priests acted on behalf of the king. Large temples where people congregated for prayers and ceremonies were built. Totems and temples were made to high artistic and architectural standards that displayed a good grasp of geometry and construction technology. Under the priestly stratum, spiritual beliefs and stories evolved into a large body of intricate written narrations. Customs, symbols and rituals became grandiose. Life and natural events acquired more complex interpretation. Rules and laws reflecting an elaborate, enforced ethical code delineated good, acceptable from bad conduct and homogenized the social order. A novel function of religion emerged. The growing material inequality in society was reflected in the spiritual domain. Not just nature but society, with its hierarchical structure, was projected to be divinely ordained. The chief (the king or queen in the later times) was an intermediary between heaven and earth, deserving of veneration and obedience. The rules and laws they promulgated were blessed by the gods. Priests had the sanction of the representative of divinity; they had to be obeyed. Payment of tax became a religious obligation. Totems and religious symbols had markings reflecting the social hierarchy. The wars waged by the ruler received religious blessing. Ancient Egypt, ruled by the pharoahs, had a religion with powerful and minor gods who controlled natural phenomena. Humans were linked to the gods through the agency of the pharoah, who had a divine status. When the pharoah died, his son inherited his divine power along with the pharoahship. Grand temples containing the images and statutes of the gods were erected. They were manned by priests who had an elevated social and spiritual status and often were wealthy and politically influential personges. Only a select few could gain entry to the temples. People attended special ceremonies to honor the gods and the pharoah. Belief in the existence of a soul and afterlife together with an elaborate compendium of creation myths, stories about the nature and relationship of the gods, and hymns were central to their religious faith. People prayed to the gods and commonly consulted oracles to make important decisions and deal with life problems. The gods maintained order in the universe. By building temples to house their images and honor and communicate with them, the pharoah played an important role in maintaining social stability and prosperity. Thus, they too were venerated as spiritually powerful beings and when they died, their bodies were placed in elaborate tombs, the pyramids, with all they would need for their afterlife. The religion of ancient Egypt is a classic example of a religion that sanctified a highly stratified social order. 4.5 LESSONS We draw four important lessons from our exploration of the origin of religion: Lesson 1: In classless, mobile communities utilizing rudimentary technology for sustenance and protection, primal religion kept the group intact in times of uncertainty and risk. Intertwined with the practical knowledge base of the community, it also fulfilled their intellectual curiosity and urge to connect to a higher, protective power. Lesson 2: Religion in the economically and politically stratified agrarian and settled Neolithic societies had a special stratum of priests who were allied with the ruling class. The religious rites and rituals, and the implorations of the priests not only serviced people’s spiritual needs but also sanctioned and reinforced the extant unequal social order. The priests helped maintain civil order. On top of undertaking revenue collection for the state, they also gathered and disseminated knowledge that enhanced production methods, thus contributed to an improved the standard of life. Lesson 3: The fundamental problems facing humanity today—a vast gap between a few at the top and the multitude below, mass poverty, large scale warfare, and environmental mismanagement—were initiated in the Neolithic era. Lesson 4: The alliance of the priests and the rulers made religion culpable in the misdeeds of the rulers. The priests became objects of popular anger as well. At times, some dissident priests went on the other side or newer faith systems challenged both the priests and the rulers. Religion acquired a retrogressive and a progressive facet, a trait it continues to have to this day. CHAPTER 05: HINDUISM ↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔ My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realizing Him. Mohandas K Gandhi Hinduism the perennial philosophy that is at the core of all religions. Aldous Huxley Hinduism is synonymous with humanism. That is its essence and its great liberating quality. HG Wells HINDUISM IS THE OLDEST of the four major religions. With approximately 1.1 billion followers, it is the third largest religion in the world today. Unlike the other major religions, it is geographically restricted: about 95% of the Hindus reside in India. Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and United States each have 2 million or more Hindu residents. India and Nepal are the only Hindu majority nations. Smaller Hindu communities are scattered in virtually all parts of the world. There are about 20,000 Hindus in Tanzania, of whom nearly 12,000 reside in Dar es Salaam. This chapter focuses on Hinduism in India. 5.1 ORIGIN Hinduism does not have a founder or a specific time of birth. It is not a unified doctrine either. Historians trace its roots to the customs and belief systems of the post-Neolithic Indus Valley civilization in India around 2,000 BCE. Over time, a loose association of disparate belief systems but with similar core values, texts and practices evolved to lay the basis for modern Hinduism. The process was connected to the rise and fall of the political empires in the region. The sacred texts of Hinduism emerged over an extended period of time, but its main ideas and practices were formulated under the prosperous, stable Gupta Empire between 300 CE and 550 CE. In this era of significant progress in science, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, art and literature, pioneering texts on several subjects were written. The base-ten number system, decimal numbers and the concept of zero we take for granted today originate from that era. A system of education in which religious and worldly matters were taught developed in this period. But education was restricted to the upper echelons of society. 5.2 CORE BELIEFS AND TEXTS India is a vast nation of diverse ethnicities, cultures and traditions. Hindu holy texts, originally in Sanskrit, were later translated into other Indian languages. New texts also appeared in these languages. Each Indian ethnicity has its own mode of practicing Hinduism, its own favored gods and goddesses. Internal diversity is a central feature of Hinduism. Hinduism is a conglomeration of a variety of beliefs and practices with no one, or official, set of doctrines or religious authorities. (Sarma 2017). With that qualification in mind, it is safe to say that most Hindus regard four holy sacred texts, jointly denoted the Vedas, as the ultimate embodiment of spiritual and secular wisdom. These Sanskrit texts were likely written between 1,500 BCE and 1,000 BCE. Rigveda: Book of Hymns -- for recitation by the senior priest. Yajurveda: Book of Formulas -- for recitation by priests. Samaveda: Book of Melodies -- for chanting by priests. Atharvaveda: Book of Stories and Enchanting Poetry. The five other major Hindu holy books are: the Upanishads, the Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita. The Hindu theological canon represents a humongous collection of origin stories and myths, human and godly epics, syntheses of moral principles and strictures, depictions of ways of worship, philosophical ruminations, and explications of customs, rites and rituals. Much is conveyed through enchanting hymns and verse. The Laws of Manu is the primary manuscript for ancient Hindu jurisprudence. It also lays details rightful conduct and prohibitions for virtually all facet of life. Hinduism is an agglomeration of four major systems of belief and diverse practices: Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and Smartism. Each has its primary gods and goddesses. But these systems share a core set of beliefs: (i) Brahman (Bhagavan or Ishwar) is the supreme divine being who controls all existence; (ii) The four sacred texts, the Vedas, embody the irrefutable truth in matters spiritual and secular; (iii) A living being possesses a soul (atman) which undergoes cycles of birth, death and rebirth (samsara); (iv) Its present status arises from its conduct in the past life (karma); (v) Spiritual salvation (moksha) or liberation from the cycle of rebirth requires following principles of ethical life (dharma). As declared by Swami Vivekananda, a venerated Hindu authority: The three essentials of Hinduism are belief in God, in the Vedas as revelation, in the doctrine of Karma and transmigration. Brahman is a manifold divinity with the Trimurty (Trinity)—Brahma (Creator), Vishnu (Preserver) and Shiva (Destroyer)—its premier incarnation. Vishnu has come to rescue this world in ten forms (avatars) when it was plagued with moral disorder and chaos. Krishna, a teacher who embodies love, divine wisdom and compassion, and Rama, a role model for true moral conduct (dharma) are two exalted avatars. Other gods and goddesses with specific powers and function enrich the Hindu pantheon. The ranking goddesses are Lakshmi (wealth and purity), Durga (fierce defender of dharma), Kali (ferocious but loving mother) and Sarasvati (learning and wisdom). Varied sects of Hinduism attach different importance to the gods of the Trimurty and other divinities and worship them in distinct ways. Strict adherence to dharma (abiding by norms of pious conduct and fully discharging family and social duties) is a key belief accepted by all the Hindu sects. Hinduism defies a clear theological characterization. The presence of diverse gods and goddesses give it the flavor of a polytheistic faith while the assertion that all entities in the universe are interconnected and have a soul renders it a pantheistic faith. Yet, since the multitude of divinities represent the supreme divine entity, it is arguably a monotheistic faith system. Hinduism is so elastic and so subtle that the most profound Methodist, and crudest idolater, are equally at home with it. George Bernard Shaw Hinduism accepts a modified form of the idea of human free will: Brahman controls all existence; what you are now is the outcome of your deeds in a past life. Nonetheless, what you will be in future depends on your conduct in this life. If you abide by your dharma and seek the Truth, you will attain salvation and be liberated from the eternal cycle of samsara. A lot depends on your choices. As is a man's desire so is his will, and as is his will so is his deed, and whatever deed he does that he will reap. The Upanishads Division of society into four distinct varnas, each with a distinct spiritual and worldly standing is integral to the Vedic creed. In order, they are Brahmins (priests, teachers and scholars), Kshatriyas (warriors and administrators), Vaishyas (people in commerce or with special skills) and Shudras (farmers, craftsmen, servants, etc.). Below all are the Dalits (Untouchables, Outcasts, Harijans, Scheduled Caste) who are relegated to menial work like disposing carcasses, cleaning toilets and sweeping the streets. Varna is determined at birth. Intermarriage is shunned. Some religious rites are reserved for the upper three varna persons for whom close contact with a low caste person is an act of impurity requiring ritual cleansing. Traditionally, the Dalits have not been allowed to worship in temples or use common water wells. (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18: Text 41-45.) Abiding by the duties and expectations of your varna is a basic part of your dharma. Your caste decides your dharma. Social harmony follows when people abide by their dharma. For Hindus cow is a sacred animal. Many Hindus are vegetarians, but many are not. But slaughter and consumption of cow meat is proscribed by all Hindu denominations. 5.3 ETHICS AND MORALITY Written by unknown authors between 400 BCE and 200 CE, the Bhagavad Gita (Poems of the Lord) is a collection of 700 ballads of spiritual and secular import representing an extended discourse between Krishna and his warrior devotee Arjun at the onset of a major war between two related royal families. Originally a section of Mahabharata, a colossal rendition of human history, it is often read as an independent text. According to a Hindu sage, Gita is ‘transcendental literature,’ and the ‘essence’ and ‘most perfect’ rendition of the ‘infallible’ Vedic doctrine. (Swami Prabhupada 1986). The fundamental ethical issue tackled therein is: How can a person live a spiritually exalted life and at the same time fulfil his or her worldly duties to family and society? Do you have to be like a monk to attain salvation? We focus on this holy text to distill and summarize the main ethical and moral precepts of Hinduism. As the violent battle is about to start, Arjun sees members of his family and friends on the other side. Horror stricken at the prospect of killing them and thousands of other warriors, he reconsiders his plans. Confident though he is of victory, he deems it more ethical to lay down his bow, end the strife and avoid committing a great sin. Thereupon he receives wise counsel from his charioteer who, unknown to him, is Krishna in human guise. He descends on this planet from time to time to rescue humanity from calamity and moral disorder. The first point Krishna stresses is that the soul (atman), the true essence of a person, is indestructible. It cannot be killed. If you kill a person, you are but destroying the temporary form that houses the soul. And the soul will be reborn. Second, as a Kshatriya, it is Arjun’s dharma to fight, no matter the consequences. He must be resolute and not be swayed by impure thoughts and petty weaknesses. He is an esteemed valiant warrior. If he surrenders, his reward will be dishonor and reputation as a coward. Do thou fight for the sake of fighting, without considering happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat—and by so doing, you shall never incur sin. (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Text 38). Besides fulfilling the duties and expectations of his varna, Arjun is taught that if he avoids excessive attachment to worldly opulence and pleasure, is gentle and modest, values simplicity and cleanliness, cultivates spiritual knowledge, performs his rites and gives offerings as prescribed, controls anger and lust, is compassionate, performs charity and penance without untoward aims, is not lazy or envious, does not cheat or insult people, does not cultivate a false ego, honors his parents, is gentle and non-violent in normal life, and surrenders to Krishna without inhibition, doubts or expectation, he can attain transcendental knowledge and liberation (moksha) without becoming a yogi or an ascetic monk. Living and working according to such injunctions of the scriptures is, he is advised, the highest form of dharma. The renunciation of work and work in devotion are both good for liberation. But, of the two, work for devotional service is better than renunciation of work. (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 5, Text 2). Hinduism is a spiritually based guide to life with four key precepts: dharma (abiding by moral obligation), artha (pursuance of prosperity), kama (seeking pleasure) and moksha (attaining spiritual liberation). The bulk of the ethical values and modes of conduct it upholds are found in most other religions. Where it differs from many religions is the positing of a divinely sanctioned birth-determined hierarchy that affects how one should conduct oneself and the religious rites a person can do. But such distinctions do not carry over into the spiritual realm. For, whatever your station in life, if you faithfully abide by your dharma, you can attain salvation. By following his qualities of work, every man can become perfect. (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Text 45). 5.4 WORSHIP, SYMBOLS AND CULTURE Hindus worship (puja) at home and at the local temple (mandir) of their sect. While there are no set times for puja, there are times when more people visit the mandir. The center piece of the mandir is a shrine of a god or goddess in the form of a statue or large photo. The faithful clasp their hands in front, bow down, recite individual or collective prayer, and place flowers and scents at the feet of the deity. Oil is poured into a small fire that is kept burning and food offerings are made. The priest (pujari) oversees these rites. Hindu prayers are flavored by soothing chants and hymns (mantras) that are at times accompanied by the ringing of a bell or striking of small cymbals. Many mantras begin with the word Om, which represents the holy trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Its rendition in Hindi script is a prime symbol of the Hindu faith. Om: Brahman -- The Universal Soul The lotus flower is also an important Hindu symbol. The image of Vishnu standing on a lotus flower is associated with the creation of the world. Lord Vishnu Narayana The Akshardham Temple Complex, Delhi. About half a million small and large, plain or elaborately designed Hindu temples, many with magnificent towers and spires, are scattered across India and Nepal. With some more than a thousand years old, they constitute a staggering monument to the remarkable creativity and craftsmanship of the ancients. Small to expansive temples of grand design exist around the world as well. Pilgrimage to holy places is a key part of the Hindu tradition. Crossing points of major rivers, birth places of divinities, sites of ancient temples and cities of historical import have hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Dipping in the Ganges is a spiritually cleansing exercise. A number of important days are observed. Diwali, the festival of lights, Navratri, the festival of harvest, and Holi, the joyful spring festival, are among them. In addition to reciting special prayers, the devotees sing, dance and celebrate in colorful ways. Jointly and individually recited devotional rhythmic chants and songs (bhajan and arti) with music played on flute, sitar, vina, cymbals and drum is an ancient feature of Hinduism. The scriptures are amenable to melodious recitation. Sacred music, linked to gods and goddesses, connects with the divine. Om Jai Jagdish Hare is a frequently recited Hindu hymn. The first stanza is: Om Jai Jagdish Hare Om jai jagdish hare O Lord of the Universe Swami jai jagdish hare Mighty Lord of the Universe Bhakt jano ke sankat The troubles of Your devotees Daas jano ke sankat The troubles of Your servants Kshan mein door kare In an instant Thou erases Om jai jagdish hare O Lord of the Universe Religious music and songs unify the diverse Hindu traditions. Historically, religious music, songs, poems, chants and dance have been the principal drivers of the vast treasury of Indian culture. But in the past hundred years, cinematic and secular cultural forces have displaced religion as the fountain of culture. Classical Indian dance concretely symbolizes esoteric notions and is a key part of Hindu culture. Years of training and practice are essential in order to render a performance of grace and beauty. Sublime, intricate, rhythmic gestures convey the dissonance between the divine and secular, good and evil, joy and sadness, love and loss, serenity and temptation and the play of divine entities. Classical dance traditions are conjoined with tablas (drums), sitar and other musical instruments. Devotional, celebratory, mundane and romantic songs and dances coexist in a seamless fashion in this culture. All life is revered. The cow is a singularly sacred animal. Vegetarianism is commonly practiced, and consumption of beef and pork are considered sinful by most Hindus. Sacred texts like Bhagavad Gita also contain advice on the types of foods to eat and not to eat. Life transitions have special rites. For a newborn, a red dot (kumkum) on the forehead and a drop of honey on the tongue are placed. At the naming ceremony, the child’s hair is shaved off. When it reaches the age of puberty, a sacred thread is tied to a wrist. On such occasions, where a pujari may be present, bhajans or mantras are recited to bless the child and ward off evil spirits. Hindu marriage ceremonies extend over days. From the proposal to the wedding and beyond, colorful and elaborate rituals bedecked with flowers and incense, enjoined with chants, bhajans and music, peppered with exchanges of gifts and henna application sessions, and marked with feasts of meals and sweets occur. The center piece is a ceremony where the priest utters holy chants and supervises the bride and groom tying their scarves together in a knot, walking around a fire seven times, placing a sacred thread or necklace on the bride, saying the wedding vows and much more. Social separation based on caste is often maintained at such events. Hindus do not bury the dead. Bodies are cremated in an open fire. The accompanying rituals are simple and solemn with continuous recitation of mantras. The ceremony usually ends with a simple family meal and offerings for the poor. 5.5 EARLY HINDUISM Prior to the diversification of Hinduism, the Indus Valley civilization had fallen apart. Historians disagree about the impact of external invasion and the nature of the aftermath. Empires and city states rose and fell, merged or were conquered by rivals. Stability and instability alternated. The settlements across India were shedding or had already shed the egalitarian structures of the early and middle Neolithic times and were evolving towards hierarchical social formations comprising a ruler, his aristocratic cohorts, landowners and large traders, and the multitude of the ruled. The upper class lived off the labor of the ruled. The latter farmed the land, raised cattle, engaged in crafts, built houses, palaces and temples, worked as servants, guards and foot soldiers and maintained the surroundings. The traders who bought, transported and sold goods within and beyond the kingdom, had an intermediary social status. Owning large tracts of fertile land, the upper class exacted the surplus from dependent and independent farmers, craftsmen and traders in the form of taxes and levies. A hierarchical system cannot be sustained for long purely by the use of force. Psychological acquiescence on the part of those who labor to enable the opulence of the rulers and feed their armies is essential. Social stability demands implicit or explicit consent. The varna (caste) system emerged within such an economic structure. It was intertwined with class structure in a way unique to the social formations in India. The top caste, the Brahmins, guarded, conveyed and interpreted the religious doctrine and performed the rites. Their invocations rationalized the existent social structure. The devotee had the sacred duty to accept the mode of life since it was blessed by the supreme deity. It was his/her duty (dharma) to accept his/her status in the social order and perform required tasks with diligence. The Brahmins were the repository of not only spiritual ideas but of practical learning as well. The three varnas below the Brahmins were: Kshatriyas—administrators and military officers; Vaishyas—traders; and Shudras—farmers, craftsmen, servants. The first varna was more elevated than the second and the second was more elevated than the last. We note three key points: First, social formations and related ideologies take centuries to evolve through a non-linear process marked by random and purposeful events and contradictory tendencies. That also was the case with the social formations in India. Second, like any ideology of a class-based society, Hinduism portrays social reality in an inverted way. Without the farmer and the tool maker, people will starve. Yet, they are accorded the lowest status in society. Third, the four-fold varna system coexisted with an occupation-based system, the jati system, which divides people as traders, farmers, potters, weavers, shoemakers, etc. Numbering more than twenty-four, they are not hierarchical divisions. But it is a hereditary order that prohibits inter-marriage. The caste (varna and jati) based divisions are sanctified by Hindu beliefs and practices and form a major pillar of Hinduism. But they do not constitute the primary societal division in modern India. That division is the class divide based on wealth and relation to the means of generating it. The associated class structure consists of the upper economically dominant ruling classes, the multitude of laboring classes and an intermediate class of elite religious and secular functionaries as well as the well-off, self-employed individuals. The caste divisions operate within the interstices of class divisions and add a layer of complexity to the social relations within the nation. While caste is perceived as a hereditary group with a fixed ritual status, a social class is a category of people who have a similar socio-economic status in relation to other segments of their community or society. (Mahawar 2017). 5.6 COLONIAL ECONOMY British rule in India had a profound effect on the social function of Hinduism. It had two distinct phases. From 1600 to 1858, India was governed under a royal charter granted to the British India Company. And from then to 1947, India came under direct crown control. Colonial India included present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and, until 1937, Myanmar. As in other colonies, the primary goals were economic and geo-political. Britain sought to dominate the global commodities trade, secure cheap and reliable sources of raw materials for its burgeoning industries, find protected markets for their manufactures and constrain the rival powers—France, the Netherlands and Portugal. During the heydays of its operations, the British India Company controlled over half of the world trade, especially in products like cotton, silk, indigo dye, saltpeter, salt, tea, gold and opium. It owned a fleet of ships and had a private army of a quarter million soldiers to enforce control and protect the trading centers. The officers were British; the rank-and-file soldiers were Indian. On arrival, the British encountered a vibrant, thriving economy based on agriculture, artisanal manufacture and regional commerce. The scale, variety and quality of the fabrics made in India had no rival. Different regions were famed for weaved products distinctive in material and style. Mundane as well as elegant dresses for women and men were stitched from regular cotton, muslin cloth and silk. Cotton growing, ginning, yarn production, weaving and embroidery together with trade in these items provided livelihood for millions. The British India Company came to dominate this sector by using devious tactics. Export of Indian goods, including fine fabrics, filled its coffers to the brim. However, as the British cotton industry developed, its major competitor, the Indian weaver, had to be subdued. India had to be a source of raw cotton for the British factories, nothing more. The agricultural policies enforced by the company adversely affected food production and manufacture of fine cotton goods in India. Farmers were forced to cultivate cotton and opium instead of traditional grains. Several large-scale famines occurred. The sought-after Indian weaver and spinner became a destitute farmer, hungry and scantily clad in Lancashire cloth made from Indian cotton he so dutifully grew. The rising cotton prices in the world contributed to Indian misery as famine ensued because of all irrigable land being devoted to growing cotton instead of food. The farmers’ indebtedness didn’t shield them against rising food prices in the British-manufactured Indian famine of 1890’s in the cotton districts of India – causing millions to die. (Kashif 2016). From being the world’s major exporter of weaved clothing, India became the world’s largest exporter of raw cotton. Millions were left jobless as the vast but small-scale cotton goods production sector collapsed within a couple of decades. Company revenue came from trade, land and toll taxes, and fees for services. The taxes were onerous. Weavers had earlier got about 30% of the value of their goods; now they got a paltry 6%. Company officials looted gold and valuables of local nobles and merchants with impunity. Bribery, extortion and disregard for contractual obligations were integral to its modus operandi. Its callousness, greed and disdain for Hindu and Muslim traditions generated intense opposition. Anger towards company rule climaxed in 1857 when a contingent of Indian soldiers mutinied to oppose British rule. The revolt spread and was joined by civilians. In the ensuing ferocious fights, hundreds of British officers, officials and their families were killed but the number of Indians who perished was in the hundreds of thousands. Captured mutineers were tortured and executed by distinctively barbaric methods. Though the uprising was contained within a year, the days of company rule were over. Direct British rule was imposed in the following year. It lasted ninety years. Direct rule brought a uniform administrative and legal system, created a vast rail and road network, a modern system of education and dispensed with the arbitrariness of company rule. But the basic goal did not change. The Indian economy had to provide goods and profits for the British economy and society, be a secure market for British products and the Indian people had to live as loyal subjects of the British Empire. The economic structure of colonial India integrated capitalism with semi-feudalism. The special political status accorded to the rajas and princes entrenched the traditional zamindari system in which tenant farmers and laborers toiled for large landowners. A class of small-scale independent farmers (peasants) and craftsmen also existed. While the princes lived in luxury, the tenants, laborers, peasants and craft workers barely made ends meet. They were burdened with onerous levies and taxes imposed by the British and the princes. The latter also collected revenue for the government. The types of crops grown were affected by the priorities set by the colonial administration. Merchants and money lenders, who exacted a substantial share of the economic surplus, formed an essential intermediary connecting the rural economy to the outside world. Caste was intertwined with class. The zamindars were from the upper castes while the laboring class came from the low caste shudras and Dalits. A religious divide existed in places where the landowners were Brahmins and the toilers were largely Muslim. British companies operated in jute, cotton, indigo and tea production and owned large plantations across the territory. They were also heavily invested in mining. Workers in these enterprises garnered pitiful wages and had no benefits to speak of. In the urban centers, workers, small traders, independent craftsmen were at the lower end of the economic spectrum while a nascent class of factory owners, merchants and bankers stood well above them. Many of the latter were agents for British trading, shipping and manufacturing firms. An educated middle class formed. The new class structure first took hold in the Bengal and Bombay areas. Later it spread through the territory. The institution of private property and commercial relations came to displace the economic arrangements cemented during the Mughal rule (Chapter 8). Internal economic stratification was subordinate to external economic domination. Senior and critical positions in the administration, the railways and other sectors were monopolized by Europeans. The colonial officials and British capital were the paramount economic actors. Directing development, they ensured that the wealth generated in India was siphoned off to Britain. The impact on India was disastrous: From the world’s main producer and exporter of finished goods, it became an exporter of primary commodities. Between 1770 and 1947, eleven large scale and more minor famines were recorded in the nation. Some 35 million people are estimated to have died as a result. As World War II unfolded, the British prime minister Winston Churchill deliberately redirected food supplies in India that caused a famine and deaths of three million Indians, mostly in Bengal. After meticulously studying data on tax and trade over a two-hundred-year period, prominent economist Utsa Patnaik came to a damning conclusion: Britain drained a total of nearly $45 trillion from India during the period 1765 to 1938. (Hickel 2018). This is a staggering sum. Nearly two and a half million Indians fought for the British side during World War II. Yet, in India, the British left a society with 16% literacy, a life expectancy of 27 and over 90% living below the poverty line. (Tharoor 2017). 5.7 COLONIAL POLITICS An extensive rail and road network, a common set of laws, currency, lingua franca (English) and education system generated a unified economy and polity. People organized at local, regional and national levels to promote their interests and seek redress for grievances against the colonizers and internal overlords. Peasants facing exorbitant taxes, rent, interest rates, shortages and low prices for what they sold, especially cotton, and high prices for the essential goods they needed, rose up now and then—spontaneously but also under the rubric of region-wide sabhas. The All India Kisan Sabha was founded to represent the peasants, tenant farmers and farm workers. Workers formed local unions, which later coalesced into the All India Trade Union Congress. The Indian business community founded the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The numbers of educated Indians expanded but their economic prospects remained dim. Existing rules made it harder for them to get civil service jobs, especially in the senior ranks. The new middle class—teachers, civil servants, students, lawyers, health personnel, journalists—organized and wrote petitions demanding equality with their European counterparts. They joined broader nationalistic struggles and engaged with political parties and national civic organizations. Indian scholars, writers, poets, philosophers, doctors, scientists and economists articulated visions for a free, democratic India with a developed economy and global standing. The prose and poetry of Rabindranath Tagore, Muhammad Iqbal, Kavi Pradeep and many others elegantly captured people’s desire for freedom and a better existence. The intelligentsia provided the bulk of the leadership of the cultural, regional and class-based political parties. While they were instrumental in the germination of a national consciousness, their diverse political visions also exercised a divisive influence on the struggle for freedom. Direct rule by the British crown refined and entrenched the divide-and-rule system of the Company days. Instituted through religion, ethnicity and tribal affiliation, it fostered separatism, fortified the princely fiefdoms and buoyed the caste system. Religious antagonisms were exacerbated as well. By granting differing political status to princes, regions, religions, and ethnicities, it pitted Indian against Indian, and strove to delay the flowering of a national consciousness and Pan-India organizations. In return for lives of luxury and distinct status, the rajas and princes espoused loyalty to the British rulers, influencing their subjects to do the same. But the process could not be stifled. Unpopular taxes and levies like the salt tax, strict rules on what people could produce, and forceful suppression of groups with moderate demands catalyzed the emergence of nationalistic political organizations. At first, they sought equality and betterment within the colonial order but eventually agitated for Indian self-rule (swaraj). The Indian National Congress (INC) was the most prominent movement. Founded in 1885, and led by MK Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru after the 1920s, it was the first organization to acquire a broad base in virtually all the strata of the Indian society. From demanding fair treatment and opportunities for progress within the colonial system, its program evolved to fighting for complete independence from Britain. While the INC promoted the rights and equal status for minority, under-privileged and discriminated groups like the Dalits and women, and a socialistic form of economic system, the patronage of the wealthy classes diluted its transformative agenda. Left wing parties also played a key role in the Indian freedom struggle. Communists and nationalist radicals assumed the leadership of the All India Trade Union Congress in 1928. Becoming more militant, the union organized marches and strikes across India. Their protests as those of the peasants often sparked violent uprisings. The colonial police responded with ferocious brutality in either case. 5.8 MOHANDAS K GANDHI The course of the final four decades of the struggle for freedom in India and its outcome were inextricably linked to the life, outlook and actions of one man, Mohandas K Gandhi. He not only transformed India but also exercised a major impact on Hinduism and relations between religious groups in India. Born in 1869, Gandhi spent his childhood in Gujarat, India. His father was the chief minister of a small princely state. An avid reader of Indian classics, he was deeply affected by his intensely Hindu mother for whom daily prayers, extended fasting and keeping difficult vows were a way of life. While just an innocent thirteen-year-old, he, his brother and cousin went through a joint arranged marriage ceremony. His wife was a year older than him. When he was sixteen and still attending school, the couple had their first baby. Encouraged and financially supported by his brother, a lawyer, he went to the heartland of the British Empire to study law at the University College of London. A diligent, reserved eighteen-year-old, he often became tongue-tied when he had to speak in public. Shortly, he joined the London Vegetarian Society and came into contact with members of the Theosophical Society. It was upon their urging that he read, for the first time, the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit and English. The seeds of his social and political outlook were laid through immersion into Vedic literature and reflections on the philosophy of universal brotherhood espoused by the Society. The works of Leo Tolstoy, which he read several years later, also contributed to his ethical and spiritual vision. After admission to the Bar at the age of twenty-two, he returned to India to practice law. His reserved countenance and obstacles placed by colonial officials did not bode well for his practice. But after securing a contract from a Muslim merchant to act as the defense lawyer for a cousin in South Africa, his fortunes changed. Gandhi was expecting to spend a year in South Africa. Instead, he spent most of the next twenty-one years in a place where discrimination based on the color of skin reigned supreme. The humiliating treatment he faced from white South Africans in the street and during the course of his work and his struggles to counter the social restrictions faced by the Indians begot a new Gandhi. A politically naive family man focused on conventional legal practice morphed into a committed, charismatic leader of hundreds of millions, a man of unparalleled integrity and courage. His devotion to the philosophy of non-violence as the main tool for promoting social change turned him into a global icon for freedom from colonial rule and human equality. Upon urgings from local Indians, he extended his stay and began to take up cases of broader social import. His first major case related to a proposed law to curb the voting rights of Indians. He petitioned the British Colonial Secretary to reverse the law. From a personal injury attorney, he evolved into a social justice activist. His purview extended from purely legal matters to political philosophy. His role in founding the Natal Indian Congress in 1894 signaled his formal entry into politics. In 1906, he led a campaign to oppose mandatory registration for Indians and Chinese in Transvaal. His call for non-violent civil disobedience reverberated in mass meetings and marches. Yet, at that time Gandhi devoted his attention to the plight of the Indian community in South Africa. Apart from assisting the wounded Zulu warriors during the British assault on the Zulus, he did little to redress the plight of the African majority. His writings at times portrayed them in racist terms. But in the latter half of his stay, he began to change. He had been disgusted by the retributive treatment meted out to the Zulu people when they revolted against the British. At a public gathering in Johannesburg in 1908, he envisioned a multi-racial future: If we look into the future, is it not a heritage we have to leave to posterity that all the different races commingle and produce a civilization that perhaps the world has not yet seen? MK Gandhi (Reddy 2019). In 1912, Gandhi hailed the founding of the African National Congress as ‘the awakening of Africa’ and penned articles condemning the racist oppression of the African people, whom he designated as ‘the sons of the soil’. He also conferred with leading African activists, discussed the tactics of the struggle against their common foe, and provided greater international publicity for the ANC. As his pro-British acts during the Boer war indicated, throughout his stay in South Africa, Gandhi regarded himself as a loyal subject of the British Empire. But the unfolding events gradually chipped away into that mentality and his disillusionment with the Empire rose incrementally. By the time of his return to his homeland in 1915, he was famed as a principled nationalist and community activist. Immediately joining the Indian National Congress (INC), he made his mark. In 1917, he joined the struggles of the peasants of Bihar against local and British landlords. Forced to grow low-priced crops with poor yields, their conditions were dire. The non-violent campaign he organized secured some benefits for the rural poor. In 1918, he engaged with the peasants of Kheda affected by food shortages, flooding and high taxes. Joined by INC notables, he launched a series of broad-based non-cooperation actions. Local tax collectors were ostracized. The peasants vowed to not pay taxes. After five months of sustained struggle, the British granted some concessions. Jailed activists were set free and tax collection was deferred until the famine had ended. Uprisings by peasants and tenant farmers were a regular feature of Indian colonial life. Gandhi’s interventions into labor disputes in Indian and British owned factories also resulted in somewhat better work conditions and wages for the workers. In 1920, he assumed the presidency of the INC. Previously the elitist party had focused on writing petitions. Under him, it became a base for mass activism. Instead of seeking betterment within the system, it championed full independence. Civil disobedience and non-violent resistance (satyagraha) embodied the main strategy for securing that goal. Progress was uneven. Disputes between conservatives, moderates and radicals led to splits. Yet, the popularity of the INC kept rising. Gandhi’s aura, energy, activism, devotion to civil-disobedience, promotion of Hindu-Muslim cooperation and his desire for broad-based national unity attracted millions. Support from Jawaharlal Nehru, SV Patel and SC Bose and other prominent nationalists enhanced his appeal. Though he subsequently ceded formal office to Nehru and others, Gandhi remained the undisputed leader of the freedom struggle in India until his death in 1947. A landmark statement declaring that complete independence was the party’s prime objective was issued in 1929. But radical elements in the party were not satisfied. They perceived his stand as too gradualist and accommodating towards the colonial rulers. Philosophy + Gandhi’s philosophy was encapsulated in two words: Satyagraha (truth force) and Ahimsa (nonviolence towards all living beings). His rules for ethical and moral conduct encompassed: faith in God and the goodness of human beings; active non-violence; respect for and adherence to truth; non-possessive, simple living; honest conduct; respect for manual labor; avoiding indulgence; curtailing sexual desire; discipline and fearlessness; confronting injustice with non-cooperation and boycotts; equal respect for all faiths; and better treatment of lower caste people. His political tactics included public speeches, articles for newspapers, appeals to the people, petitioning the British authorities in India and Britain, undertaking short and long marches, breaking unjust laws and asking his followers to do the same. When appeals or marches had no effect, he fasted, often for days, becoming weak and emaciated. And often, it worked. The British realized that a dead Gandhi would be much more dangerous than a living one. They would not be able to contain the ensuing public anger, in India and abroad. It was better to give in, make moderate concessions and backtrack later on. He undertook seventeen major fasts and innumerable minor fasts in the course of his political career. The first two were in South Africa and the rest, in India. On three occasions, the fast lasted twenty-one days. Lord Mahavir: The Torchbearer of Ahimsa Gandhi’s vision and politics did not emerge overnight. His attitude and reactions to social and political issues were refined as he engaged in the struggles of his era. And, critically, they were tainted with minor and major contradictions. His religious outlook had both a positive and a negative effect on his leadership. Nonviolence: During the Anglo-Boer war in South Africa, Gandhi and fellow Indian volunteers organized a stretcher service to ferry the injured to hospitals. Though it operated from the British side, it catered to the needs of both warring factions and carried, to the displeasure of the racists, white and African wounded. The British had employed Indian soldiers not just for internal suppression but also for battles in Asia and Africa. As World War I began, large numbers of Indian fighters on fronts stretching from Europe to Africa and Asia were needed. Enthusiastic support of Indian rajas and princes was easily gained. Under the rationale that loyalty at such a time would generate concessions later on, the nationalist parties in India chimed in to support the war effort. Non-cooperation and other moves to oppose colonial rule slowed. The British Viceroy met with Gandhi to garner his support. Though Gandhi had articulated his firm commitment to non-violence with clarity by then, he now openly encouraged Indians to enlist in the British army. He justified his stand on the basis of necessary self-defense. While personally he would never fight, if the cause was just, he would not oppose others from pursuing violent means. While in England during the war, he took actions to support the British forces. Noting the involvement of more than a million Indians in a horrific conflagration that consumed tens of millions of lives, the guru of non-violence opined: Home Rule without military power was useless, and this was the best opportunity to get it. MK Gandhi (Kant 2014). But in the years leading up to and during World War II, Gandhi’s position on non-violence became unequivocal. Appealing to all nations to avoid war, he said that should a war breakout, people should use non-violent means to counter it. Despite dissent from some INC leaders and the possibility of a Japanese invasion, he espoused noncooperation with any aspect of the British war effort. He focused on ending colonial rule, not on currying concessions from the colonialists. Together with major INC leaders, he launched the mass-based Quit India Movement. In response, the authorities put him and the INC leaders behind bars. They remained there for the duration of the war. Gandhi’s vision of and adherence to Ahimsa became more consistent and inviolable in the last two decades of his life. He held that no one, not even the most brutish despot, was immune to its power. Making amiable but firm appeals to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini to desist from aggression, he urged Britons and Polish people to face the invading forces with non-violent resistance. There is no bravery greater than a resolute refusal to bend the knee to an earthly power, no matter how great, and that without bitterness of spirit and in the fullness of faith that the spirit alone lives, nothing else does. MK Gandhi (Paxton 2017). Noble as it was, Gandhi’s stand was imbued with political naiveté. Equating the habitual violence of the oppressor with the reactive violence of the oppressed, he at times admonished the latter in harsher terms. He urged them to have stronger moral resolve. That he did not resolutely oppose the execution of Bhagat Singh and his compatriots is a dour stain on his record. His critical words at times demoralized the activists and the masses and undercut unified militant struggles on the ground. A mutiny by Indian sailors in the British navy occurred at a crucial juncture in WW II. The British may well have made major concessions to the Independence movement. Yet, Gandhi’s opposition to the mutiny enabled them to delay Independence to when they could grant it on terms more beneficial to themselves. His blanket espousal of non-violence at times solidified existent communal schisms which later had singularly violent repercussions. Hindu-Muslim Unity: Gandhi was a firm proponent of a unified India in which all religions would have an equal status. In South Africa and India, he advocated unity between Hindus and Muslims. Experience and history had taught him that division between the major religions would be of detriment to both and play into the hands of the colonialists. The policy of divide and rule enabled the British to rule millions with only a few thousand of the colonizers. Hindu and Muslim had stood together in the 1857 uprising against the British India Company. Cognizant of the power of unity, the British systematically fomented communal and political antipathies in the aftermath. Around the time Gandhi returned from South Africa, the main figures of each of these communities, including MA Jinnah, GK Gokhale and AG Khan, and the major political organizations like the INC and the All India Azad Muslim Conference, stood for interfaith unity and a unified India. MK Gandhi and Abdul Gaffar Khan But religious bigots existed on both the sides. VD Savarkar, an anti-British lawyer and activist, espoused India as a nation based on the Hindu identity (Hindutva). Inspired by his writings, the Indian doctor KB Hedgewar founded the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1925. Declaring Hinduism as the national faith, the RSS favored mandatory observance of Hindu customs. India had to reject foreign cultural and religious influences, in particular Islam and Christianity. The RSS considered the stands of Gandhi and the INC as too moderate. Feeling that working within the INC would not adequately protect the civil and political rights of the Muslim community, Aga Khan III and Nawab S Khan founded the All-India Muslim League in 1906. It was also supported by prominent Muslim lawyers and leaders. Despite his close ties with the British, Aga Khan III became its first president. His advocacy of expanded higher educational opportunities for Muslims was soon embraced by the League. One of the first political tasks the League undertook was to lobby for a separate voting system and guaranteed seats for Muslims in the Imperial Council and provincial councils across India. The demands were accepted in 1909 but not to the level desired by the League. Separate electorate systems for Hindus and Muslims laid the foundation of what later became an unbridgeable gap between these communities. Until the late 1930s, the Muslim League was an elitist organization. Quite a number of Muslims activists and leaders remained within the ranks of the Indian National Congress. Until the outbreak of World War II, the students and faculty at the Aligarh Muslim University, a bastion of Muslim scholarship, had favored a united, free India. In the provincial elections of 1937, the INC won majority votes in eight of the eleven provinces while the Muslim League failed to form a government even in states where Muslims were a substantial portion of the population. The vote signified the affinity of ordinary Muslims to a united India led by Gandhi and the INC. However, the inability of the luminaries of the two parties to reconcile their differences and contain outbreaks of deadly communal riots in the 1920s took its toll. An economic basis for such strife prevailed as in some places, the large landlords were upper caste Hindus, but the tenants were mostly Muslim. Uprisings from below acquired a religious flavor. Muhammad Iqbal, a renowned Muslim poet, philosopher and senior figure in the Muslim League proposed a separate state for the Muslims of India. The year was 1930 and Aga Khan III supported it. The separatist tendency received a decisive boost after 1939 when the leadership of the INC was jailed for not cooperating with the British war effort. Differing with the INC, the Muslim League, now led by MA Jinnah, supported the colonial rulers. In return, it acquired the freedom to engage in mobilization drives and secure votes. And that paid off. In the elections held after the end of the War, the League secured virtually the entire Muslim vote. Separatism triumphed at the top and grassroots levels, and the prospects of peaceful Hindu Muslim coexistence dimmed precipitously. A catastrophic chapter in the nation’s history was about to unfold. The partition of India and formation of Pakistan in 1947 occurred in the context of a truly barbaric episode. Rivers of blood flowed as neighbor killed neighbor. Homes were looted and burned; women were raped. More than a million Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and others lost their lives. And more than fifteen million relocated—in both directions—far from their ancestral homes to distant lands. To further his goal to promote Hindu-Muslim unity, Gandhi had fasted on three occasions. The first, in 1924, lasted twenty-one days. It was ended while the Quran and the Bhagavad Gita were being read. As the partition rampage began, he fasted twice. Yet, the murderous rage went on. And a short while later, he was downed by a bullet from a Hindu extremist who felt Gandhi had compromised too much with the Muslims. His assassin remains an RSS hero to this day. Caste: In principle, Gandhi, Nehru and much of the leadership of the INC opposed discriminatory treatment of the under-privileged sections of society, especially the Dalits. Caste differences did not exist in Gandhi’s residential estate (ashram). His campaigns to enable the Dalits access Hindu temples and common drinking wells without hindrance earned him many followers. He fasted on four occasions, once for twenty-one days, in relation to the status of the Dalits in Indian society. BR Ambedkar, a Dalit and a towering statesman in the freedom struggle, did not see eye to eye with Gandhi. Untouchability had to be fought, in his view, in tandem with the struggle for national independence and with equal import and attention. For him, what Gandhi was doing was too little. Gandhi’s first fast in relation to the rights of the Dalits was to oppose a proposed law that would institute a separate voting process and reserved seats in provincial councils for the Dalits. It was supported by Ambedkar and other Dalit leaders, but Gandhi felt that it would undermine national unity and impede the attainment of national independence. The fast was a success. Ambedkar reluctantly caved in and the British removed the relevant clause from the law. Commentators from left to right shades of political opinion cite this fast as an instance of Gandhi’s lukewarm support for the Dalit people. That, in my view, was not so. The British had no special regard for the Dalits. They were simply pursuing their time honored, invidious policy of divide and rule to weaken the independence movement. Earlier, by granting special vote and seats to the Muslims, they had institutionalized the Hindu-Muslim divide in India. Now they were taking a step further and drawing Dalits within their net. The right to vote ought not to derive from religion, culture, race, gender or ethnicity. You vote as a citizen, as any citizen. Martin Luther King did not fight for special seats in the US Congress for African Americans. He fought for a system in which racist barriers in all walks of life were disbanded. It was unthinkable for a politician in the UK to advocate separate voting systems for Catholics and Protestants. Yet, in India the British had no qualms about breaching a major democratic norm. In Tanzania, the British established a racialized allocation of seats in the legislative assembly. But it was rightly opposed by the main nationalist party under the leadership of Julius Nyerere. The colonial brand of democracy differed from the home brand. By taking the stand he did, Gandhi not only upheld sound democratic principles but also was prescient. The move would only institutionalize the subordinate status of the Dalits and continue to relegate them to the bottom rungs of the society. Capitalism: Gandhi supported peasant, tenant farmer and worker struggles against exploitative conditions. He organized marches and boycotts and led disobedience drives against local and British landowners and capitalists. And he advocated improved social status for the lower caste people. Gandhi articulated his vision for the economic system for independent India with clarity in an interview with a French journalist in 1931. In response to a series of pointed questions, he declared that the princes, landowners, industrialists and bankers in India had acquired their wealth by exploiting the masses, and without such exploitation, they could only accumulate a limited amount of wealth. They had no right to live in luxury off the sweat of others. However, he opposed a violent revolution because a real change could be attained only through non-violent means. And that, he said, was what he was working for. While he did not detail his program, he opined that the socialist system in the USSR was not sustainable as it was based on coercion. He favored a system in which the wealthy would retain their wealth but, as ‘trustees’ and use it for the benefit of the masses. He also did not equate the British landlords with the Indian landlords. If I come to power, I shall certainly abolish capitalism, but I shall not abolish capital, and it follows that I shall not abolish the capitalists. I am convinced that the coordination of capital and labor is perfectly possible. I have seen it realized in some cases, and what is true in one case can become true for all. I do not consider capital in itself as an evil, no more than I consider the machine system in itself as an evil. MK Gandhi (Petrasch 1932). Gandhi’s accommodating opinion of the wealthy classes was reflected in the composition of the Indian National Congress. From its inception, it functioned as an umbrella organization integrating all economic and social segments of the Indian society. But while the lower, middle and upper classes all stood for a free India, their long-term goals diverged in a significant manner. The INC’s economic agenda was compromised by this uneasy alliance. Due to the patronage of the wealthy, and Gandhi’s association with them, it failed to place issues like excessive land rent, indebtedness of the rural poor and abolition of the zamindari system, abolition of the caste system, the sine qua non for improving the lives of the rural poor, at the center of its priorities. The INC had radical, moderate and conservative elements among its leadership and rank and file activists. Leftist activists in the INC, many drawn from the Communist Party of India that had been founded in 1925, played a prominent role in the formation and actions of peasant and worker groups. But under Gandhi’s influence, their room for maneuver within the INC was limited. Later they were expelled from the Congress, mainly due to their support for the British War effort and the right of religious and other minorities for statehood. Most senior leaders of the INC had moderate socialist orientations and stood for a social democratic system in which the state would play a major role in stimulating economic development, nationalize major industries, improve the living conditions of the masses, expand education and health services for the urban and rural poor, protect the civil rights of the minorities and the discriminated communities under a multi-party democratic political system. During World War II, the British obtained support from critical sections of the India society. Particularly, the Indian business groups who stood to profit from lucrative wartime contracts set aside their nationalistic aspirations. Indian elites within the colonial government and its institutions, like members of the Viceroy’s Council, senior civil servants, officers in the police and the army together with the rajas and nawabs, and two influential Hindu and Muslim political parties—the Hindu Mahasabha and the All India Muslim League—also sided with the colonizers, considerably reducing the support for the Quit India Movement. After Hitler attacked the Soviet Union, the Communist Party of India allied itself with the British war effort. Its leaders were released from custody, and it lost much of its credibility. SC Bose, the radical nationalist who had been the President of the INC in 1938 and 1939, went to the other extreme. Due to major differences with Gandhi over strategy, he and the radical socialist groups were expelled from the INC. His strident opposition of the British war effort led to placement under house arrest. After managing to escape, he sought the help of Germany and Japan to establish the Indian National Army to fight the British and evict them from India. A hero among radical student groups in India, he managed to set up a force of about 3,000 soldiers. But his provisional government based in Singapore could not gain a significant standing within the Indian nationalist movement. Bose died in 1946 from injuries sustained in an air crash. Gandhi and Bose opposed the British war program but adopted different ways to counter it. Gandhi wrote appeals to Hitler to change his aggressive ways. Bose thought that Germany and Japan would not only aid the fight against the British but also permit the existence of a free India once the war had ended. Both harbored illusions about the nature of fascism. A primary feature of the anti-colonial movements almost everywhere was that they were loose alliances of classes, ethnic and religious groups. Once political freedom was attained, each faction within the hitherto united entity strove to dominate the state, economy and society. The interests of the capitalists conflicted with those of the masses. Driven by the profit motive, the capitalist class thrives by exploiting the masses. It is never a benevolent trustee. In the post-colonial setting, however, the capitalist class was constrained by several inherited realities. Having been subordinated to foreign capital, it was weak. In places, socialist or communist parties had a strong popular following. And in places, the popular nationalist party leadership had strong social democratic aspirations. Nationalized and newly formed public firms played a large role in the economy. Services like health, education and water supply were free or subsidized. It was then a standard formula for economic development. The half-way social democratic policies were over time whittled away by foreign and local capital. Capital progressively asserted command over state power. Under neoliberalism, economic inequality rose precipitously. A small middle class had come into being, but the masses languished in relative and absolute misery. It is the story of modern-day Africa, Asia and Latin America. And it is the story of modern-day India as well. Gandhi’s vision of capitalists as trustees of the social wealth in a system based on traditional modes of rural cooperation and intermediate technology was not unique. It appeared in many guises in post-colonial nations. Aspects of this mode of thinking was the basis of the rise of social-democratic parties and the welfare state, the Euro-Communist movement of the 1970s, various brands of African socialism in Africa like Julius Nyerere’s policy of Ujamaa in Tanzania as well as Nehru’s policies in India. The leaders claimed they did not follow the capitalist or the communist path. But in the long run, the poor suffered and the capitalists, internal and external, prospered. Religion: Gandhi was a devout Hindu, who venerated the Bhagavad Gita, dutifully performed Hindu rites, and saw Hinduism as a particularly exalted religion. My religion is Hinduism which, for me, is the religion of humanity and includes the best of all religions known to me. MK Gandhi Gandhi conceptualized Hinduism more abstractly than Hindu sages such as Swami Vivekananda who pared it down to four essential elements: belief in the Supreme Being, the Vedas, karma and rebirth. Though venerated as a Mahatma (Great Soul) by hundreds of millions of Hindus, his Hinduism was distant from how they perceived and practiced it. When asked to define Hinduism, Gandhi distilled its essence into one key tenet: Search after Truth through non-violent means. MK Gandhi Gandhi espoused full tolerance and respect for all faiths. Upon an inquiry if he was a Hindu, he replied: Yes, I am, I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew. MK Gandhi Some prominent figures in the Indian independence movement and the INC took a rather different stand on Hinduism. Jawaharlal Nehru, later the first Prime Minister of India was, like Gandhi, a nationalist opposed to communal violence. But he was an avowed secular humanist who despised the caste system and rejected belief in life after death. While Gandhi died with name of Lord Ram on his lips, Nehru asked for a non-religious burial in his will. A keen student of history, Nehru noted that religion had two divergent facets: In the name of religion many great and fine deeds have been performed. In the name of religion also, thousands and millions have been killed, and every possible crime has been committed. J Nehru Arguing that organized religion inculcated blind obedience to authority, he called it a barrier to progress. No country or people who are slaves to dogma and dogmatic mentality can progress, and unhappily our country and people have become extraordinarily dogmatic and little-minded. J Nehru (HUK 2022). Though a strong believer in science, Nehru respected the moral principles laid down in the Hindu scriptures. With a spiritualist streak, he had high regard for Buddhism. And he was a firm believer in religious freedom. If any person raises his hand to strike down another on the ground of religion, I shall fight him till the last breath of my life, both as the head of the government and from the outside. J Nehru BR Ambedkar, also a towering figure in the independence movement and the first Minister of Justice in Nehru’s cabinet, differed more with Gandhi on the issues of religion and Dalits. Of Dalit heritage, he was a spiritually inclined humanist who felt that Gandhi’s policies on better treatment of Dalits were too moderate. Regarding Hinduism as such a barrier against equality for Dalits, he urged the Dalit community to abandon Hinduism and adopt, like he later did, Buddhism. Religion compels the Hindus to treat isolation and segregation of castes as a virtue…. If Hindus wish to break caste, their religion will come in their way. BR Ambedkar While Gandhi regarded Hinduism as an embodiment of the Truth, Ambedkar felt it was too rigid an outlook: In Hinduism, conscience, reason and independent thinking have no scope for development. BR Ambedkar Bhagat Singh, a Marxist militant who was executed by the British, stood for interfaith harmony and freedom of religion. He was particularly cognizant of the retrogressive social role of religions, including Hinduism: [All] religions, faiths, theological philosophies, and religious creeds and all other such institutions in the long run become supporters of the tyrannical and exploiting institutions, men and classes. Bhagat Singh Nonetheless, Gandhi, Nehru, Ambedkar and Singh set their theological differences aside and persevered in unison on a common nationalist platform to oust the British from India. Unity on secular and humanistic endeavors amid religious diversity is eminent attainable. But that lesson has been lost in the religiously charged atmosphere under the BJP rule in India. Women’s Rights: Gandhi’s role in the struggle for women’s rights is discussed in a later section. Legacy: Gandhi was not a saint. He was a human being afflicted with human frailties. But he was a truly exceptional human being. His commitment to the right of peoples to determine their own destiny, non-violence, removal of discriminatory barriers and promotion of a society based on equality was, despite some shortcomings, sincere, persistent and rock solid. Gandhi was a man of his words. He advocated simplicity and lived a frugal life. He was capable of extreme levels of self-sacrifice, like fasting unto death. After a fast to protest communal riots in 1921, he made a vow to fast for 24 hours every Monday until the British rule in India ended. And that he did for the next twenty-six years, until his death. Albert Einstein’s verdict on MK Gandhi sums up his unique stature: Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in flesh and blood walked upon this Earth. Albert Einstein on MK Gandhi 5.9 HINDUISM IN MODERN INDIA Presently, 80% of the Indians are Hindu; 15% are Muslim; and Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and others form the remaining 5%. In modern India, the practice of Hinduism is affected by the economic and political conditions in the nation. Economy: By any measure, India is a key player in the world economy. The annual growth rate of the Indian GDP in recent years has exceeded 6%. Its huge industrial, agricultural, service, computer and information technology, transport, mining and entertainment sectors employ millions. Some Indian corporations, especially those in the IT sector, are leading global actors. Yet, nearly 70% of the people reside in the rural areas, who mostly derive their livelihood from small-scale farming. On a per person basis, Indians in general are comparatively poor. In 2019, China’s per capita income was almost $10,000 while that of India was just about $2,000. A wide regional variation in poverty rates exists: the poorest Indian states have one-fifth of the average income of the richest states. But the most critical divide is between a small class of billionaires and multi-millionaires, and the hundreds of millions eking out a miserable existence. Economic inequality and mass poverty have afflicted India for a long time. But the neoliberal policies instituted after 1991 have dramatically magnified the gap between the rich and the poor. The major political parties and all the regional parties are wedded to neoliberalism. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) a new dimension has been added. Since 2014: [already] thriving billionaires added more billions to their net worth. Those who were not doing so well were given a helping hand to retain their wealth. Those who were not billionaires to begin with, were lifted to be included in the billionaire wealth bracket by the Modi government. (Srujana 2019). In 2012, the top 10% of the richest Indians owned 73%, and the top 1% owned 49% of the nation’s wealth. By 2019, these figures stood at 80% and 59%. There are 120 billionaires in India now, up from 9 in 2000. But it is not a tale of astute entrepreneurs leveraging market forces to their advantage. Crony capitalism, corruption, tax evasion and favors from the state divert the social wealth to the top bracket. Outright fraud is also a part of the process. Vijay Mallya, who amassed his fortune in the liquor business, fled in 2016 after charges of defaulting on dubious loans worth $1.4 billion surfaced. Nirav Modi, a billionaire engaged diamond and jewelry business with a global reach, featured in a bank fraud case amounting to $1.8 billion. And that is just the tip of an iceberg. There were more than 5,000 businessmen who had defaulted on loans worth nearly $9 billion from public sector banks in 2017. Such misdeeds are rarely pursued by the authorities as many culprits have strong ties with the state and the political establishment. During the first five years of BJP rule, the wealth of M Ambani rose from $23 billion to $55 billion, and of Modi’s close associate, G Adani, went up from $2.5 billion to $12 billion. Timely change of regulatory rules, major state contracts, concessionary, restructured loans with long payment periods, new pricing systems, official pitches in foreign nations, over-invoicing, and undue dismissal of fraud cases have enabled their companies to expand rapidly and raise their assets. If we are counting the beneficiaries of five years of BJP rule, one must not forget Baba Ramdev. Unlike others who have been billionaires before Modi came to power, the PM can claim credit for singlehandedly turning this baba in to a billionaire. (Srujana 2019). Baba Ramdev is an internationally famed yoga guru whose TV shows attract millions in India and abroad. The owner of two large yoga training campuses, he has taught yoga to prominent personalities from many nations. His family company packages a range of common and esoteric consumer goods. A decade ago, he initiated a high-profile campaign against official corruption and illegal financial transactions that rattled the corridors of power. But the misdeeds of the business sector got sparse attention in the campaign. In the 2014 elections, he threw his weight behind Modi and the BJP, thus influencing the votes of millions of his followers and viewers. Their victory altered the fortunes of his company. Its product line expanded, and sales skyrocketed. Marketing Ayurveda medicines and other goods claimed to be reflecting Hindu values is a major selling point. Extensive acreage of public land and facilities at below market rates and free security services boosted company profits. By 2019, Ramdev was a newly minted billionaire with assets worth $6 billion. He had also advised the Modi government on policy issues like education and health care. His efforts to project a positive image of the rule of N Modi are well appreciated. As the billionaires reap ample rewards and the middle class sees its income grow, the 800 million Indians at the bottom face deprivation and insecurity. Unemployment and underemployment are high. Recent initiatives to employ the rural poor, provide basic services and improve sanitation are dented with substandard practice and symbolism. While the country is a major exporter of medicinal drugs and destination for medical tourism, most ordinary Indians lack access to basic health care. High medical costs push millions into poverty. Infant mortality rates in the poorest Indian states are higher than in sub-Saharan Africa. Child labor and child marriages continue. Rural indebtedness is a biting concern. In the recent years, it has led to about 250,000 farmer suicides. About a third of the Indians are functionally illiterate. Abysmal conditions, discrimination and anger against external projects in some areas have fueled armed rebellions. Strikes involving tens of millions have demanded payment of minimum wage, and improved work conditions. The Human Development Index (HDI) combines factors relating to quality of life, longevity, mode of living and education. In terms of HDI, in 2019, India ranked 129th out of 189 nations. China ranked at 85. Politics: India is reputed as the world’s largest democracy. Constitutionally, it is a secular state. Though four-fifths of the population is Hindu, India does not have an official religion. The basic law of the land supports religious pluralism. And it is against the law to conduct political campaigns on religious grounds. Yet, religion plays a major role in Indian politics. Of recent, the influence of religion in politics has broken historic bounds. The key player behind that process has been the BJP under the leadership of Narendra Modi. The BJP is the political wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Founded in 1925 with the aim of promoting the Hindu identity (Hindutva), the RSS is now a formidable organization with 50,000 chapters throughout India. Deeming the religious diversity in India a product of foreign contamination, the RSS and BJP aim to make Hinduism the official religion of India. In a nation with 780 languages, they want to make Hindi the national language of India. The tentacles of the RSS extend to the major trade unions, farmer unions and charity groups in the nation. Manned by half a million dedicated activists, it runs thousands of primary and secondary schools. The millions of young minds in RSS schools form a captive audience for its ideology. N Modi is a long-time member of the RSS. Yet, as everywhere, politics in India is primarily affected by the economic relations in the society. The intrusion of money in politics has had a profound impact on its democratic system and the policies of the major political parties. In particular, the religious aura of the BJP stands atop a strong pro-corporate neoliberal agenda that reflects the interests of the wealthy sectors of the Indian society. And they bankroll Modi and the BJP. The total annual income of the main Indian political parties in 2018 was about $200 million. But lack of transparency shrouds the source of four-fifth of the amount. Undoubtedly, much of it is from the corporations and the rich. The main beneficiary of corporate largess has been the BJP as some 70% of the corporate donations in the 2019 elections are estimated to have gone to it. Adequate financial resources enable a party to mount a publicity blitz and sway the voters. And it enables deployment of underhand tactics like creating smaller parties to undermine the opponent’s vote. The BJP and its leader were also the prime beneficiaries of free sympathetic airtime and print space in the mainstream corporate media. For the corporate sector, the returns on investment are worth it. Lucrative contracts, corporate friendly regulations, appointment to key governmental posts and more ensue. Indian corporations and business moguls exercise a decisive influence on policy and public opinion via control of the main media outlets, leveraging other media through advertising as well as by funding NGOs, film and holy festivals, think tanks and university research. A massive, unrelenting barrage of laudatory messages from its parent body (the RSS) and financially weighty sources have managed to convince many Indians that N Modi is the savior the nation badly needs. Traditional democracy has not worked. India needs a strongman who will do what he says. Modi is the man to tackle mismanagement, corruption and inefficiency. His welfare programs show the way to development. He will raise the profile of India in the world. And so, they voted for him in massive numbers. The Congress and the left parties lost as never before, even in their long-time strongholds. Influential regional parties also wilted under the Modi aura. The rise of authoritarian rightwing rule is a global trend. But it is more than a political trend. Everywhere it brings retrogressive and divisive tendencies that portend a bleak future. Use of religion has been a principal factor in that process. The agenda of the RSS is to extricate India from external cultural and religious influences (Islam and Christianity) and form a nation governed by Hinduism. The policies of the BJP government are aligned to this agenda. This issue is elaborated in a point-by-point manner below: Supremacy of Hinduism: Taking strong action on issues over which Hindus and Muslims have long standing disputes is a key plank of the RSS/BJP strategy. The Babri Masjid (mosque) in Ayodhya, built in 1528, is a critical flashpoint. Hindu ideologues claim that the site on which it stands was the birthplace of Lord Ram. The existence of a Muslim house of worship at the site was thus sacrilegious. From the early days of Independence, they made return of that land to Hindu control a major political issue. After years of agitation, and in alliance with the RSS, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), an extremist Hindu organization, instigated a frenzied mob to descend on the site with axes and hammers to demolish the mosque. The attack generated riots that left about 2,000 people dead. Most were Muslims. As the BJP made the issue into an electioneering point, its popularity soared. For the first time, it became a force to reckon with in the parliament. Ten years on, upon a verbal altercation between Hindu passengers and Muslims at a station platform in a city in Gujarat, a burning object was tossed into a train compartment. Fifty-eight people died from burns or suffocation. Most of the dead were RSS supporters who had gone to the Masjid site to rally for the construction of a temple at that site. With state governmental approval, RSS members paraded dead bodies in the street of Ahmedabad, the largest city in the state. The outcome was predictable. Enraged Hindu mobs descended upon Muslims. Homes were pillaged and families were attacked. Women were raped and murdered, and pregnant women had their bellies sliced open. Schools were not spared as children were set alight. One elderly Muslim politician was stripped, marched through city streets and dismembered. And, in an ugly historic novelty, Hindu women took a direct part in the plunder of Muslim shops. The systematic, persistent nature of the attacks bore the signs of advance planning and official backing. N Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujrat at the time. As he did nothing until the situation was about to get out of hand, many human rights groups have accused him of encouraging the assaults. The riots dragged on for nearly three months; when they were over, as many as two thousand people were dead and nearly a hundred and fifty thousand had been driven from their homes. The ethnic geography of Gujarat was transformed, with most of its Muslims crowded into slums. One slum formed inside the Ahmedabad dump, a vast landscape of trash and sewage that towered hundreds of feet in the air. ….. After the riots, Modi’s government did almost nothing to provide for the tens of thousands of Muslims forced from their homes; aid was supplied almost entirely by volunteers. …… In the following months, there were indications of substantial government complicity. …. A few officials claimed that the decision to encourage the riots came from Modi himself. …. But there was not much political will to pursue the evidence against Modi, and his accusers did not stay in the public eye for long. …. For Modi, the riots had a remarkable effect. The US and the United Kingdom banned him for nearly a decade …. In Gujarat, though, his prestige grew. Rather than seeking reconciliation, Modi led a defiant Hindu-pride march across the state, which was met with an outpouring of support. (Filkins 2019). Today Narendra Modi is the undisputed, popular leader of India. He is said to be a modernizing politician who wants to rid India of the ills of corruption and inefficiency. Much of the Indian business community stands behind him. The leaders of the West vie for his attention and contracts to operate in India. The mountain of evidence of his complicity in serious violations of human rights has now been swept under the rug. Many of his detractors in India—journalists, academics, editors and officials—have faced harassment or worse, including murder. Yet, former US President Barack Obama painted him as a great reformer and dynamic leader of a nation on the march. This case of the Babri Masjid site lingered before the Supreme Court of India for years. A unanimous verdict rendered in November 2019 directed that it be reserved for the Ram temple. The Muslims were compensated by allocation of a plot some distance away for the construction of a mosque. Modi hailed the ruling as a symbol of the maturity and peaceful nature of the Indian people. Empirical evidence to support the claims about Lord Ram and where he was born is shaky at best. It is mostly a matter of belief. Independent experts questioned the legal basis of this verdict. It was seen as a sign of the extent to which that hitherto esteemed institutions of India have succumbed to the influence of the Hindu fundamentalism. But the Muslims did not riot, even as their legal appeal was denied. Had the decision gone the other way, the consequences are hard to imagine. Fascist Leanings: MS Golwalkar, the second RSS leader, had declared in 1939 that India was a Hindu nation and anyone who was not a Hindu was an enemy of the nation. His rejection of a multicultural society was inspired by the Nazi doctrine: Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindustan to learn and profit by. MS Golwalkar (Democracy Now 2019). During the struggle for freedom in India, the RSS mostly stood in the side lines. It perceived the Muslims and socialists as greater foes than the colonial rulers. It promoted the idea of India as an unblemished theocratic state in which religious affiliation is the basis of citizenship. Golwalkar, who firmly supported the caste system and The Laws of Manu, cofounded a sister radical Hindu organization, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) in 1964. Ever since, the VHP has worked hand in glove with the RSS on issues like protection of cows, opposing conversion of Hindus and the Babri Masjid mobilization. Reminiscent of the Brown Shirts, the Nazi Party’s paramilitary youth brigade and the ultra-racist Ku Klux Klan of the USA, the RSS has an organization (Bajrang Dal) of about 50,000 militants who get martial arts training with a heavy dose of the RSS ideology. Drawn from diverse walks of life—poor and middle class, educated and uneducated, civil servants and professionals—what brings them together is devout Hinduism. With military style drills, yoga and training in combat with long wooden poles, they form a fearsome, disciplined contingent who can be called upon quickly as needed. The Dal enables the RSS to enforce the precepts of Hindutva and Hindu Shastra (Hindu nationhood) through intimidation, violence and retaliation against opponents of the BJP. One issue it has adopted with gusto is the cow. Hinduism venerates cows as sacred beings. In the past, cows formed an integral part of the rural economy. Some Hindus consume meat, but not cow’s meat. Cow slaughter is forbidden in several Indian states. But Muslims and Christians, like hundreds of millions of people in the world, eat beef and beef products. The RSS and the BJP have placed the cow at the center of their agenda. Anyone endangering the life of a cow is seen as equivalent to a terrorist. As a result, Muslims and Dalits who handle carcasses find themselves at the receiving end of the stick. Often those in the legitimate business of leather processing are falsely accused of killing a cow when in fact the animal had died naturally. Beaten up by members of the Dal, some have died. Such murders usually go unpunished. +++ Yet, as the Hindu celebrations in Nepal indicate, Hinduism has a paradoxical relationship with animal slaughter. There are, percentage-wise, more Hindus in Nepal, a mountainous nation on the northern flank of India, than in any other nation. Until 2008, Hinduism was the official religion. Though about a fifth of the people are non-Hindu, Nepal has not suffered from major inter-faith conflicts. Yet, it is a land with a litany of retrogressive traditions and practices that include a rigid caste system, economic exploitation of ethnic minorities, local and international trafficking of young girls, denigration of women, sweatshop and child labor, and more. Of interest here is the fact that Nepal is the home to a Hindu festival in which the world’s largest sacrifice of animals occurs. Animals ranging from rats, birds, chicken to pigs, goats and buffaloes are slaughtered in public ceremonies held every five years. Local devotees and pilgrims from India congregate to witness butchers ceremonially kill the animals with swords and knives. Some 200,000 animals were sacrificed in 2014. And the devotees pray to the goddess Gadhimai for resolution of the problems they face in life. Though the practice was banned in 2015, the Hindu community has not relented. Official disapproval notwithstanding, the festival was once again celebrated in December 2019. Muslims: The centerpiece of fascist ideology is to single out minorities whose ‘polluting’ presence causes social ills. The nation must be purified; they have to go. In Nazi Germany, it was the Jews, Roma people, people with disabilities and communists. In the Hindutva worldview the undesirables are Muslims and Christians. Hindu zealots spread the paranoia that the great Hindu nation is under an existential threat from Islamic terrorism. The RSS activists advance unfounded claims about Muslims seducing Hindu women and turning them into prostitutes. Hysteria is whipped up and violent assaults ensue. Hindu-Muslim unions are condemned, at times with tragic results. When Muslims are lynched, Modi typically says nothing, and, since he rarely holds press conferences, he is almost never asked about them. But his supporters often salute the killers. (Filkins 2019). In 1947, West Bengal and East Bengal (Bangladesh) experienced large-scale partition related massacres. Hundreds of thousands moved from one side of the border to the other, where they remain as undocumented refugees. Bitter memories persist as no serious attempt at reconciliation has been launched on either side. The BJP government has put this issue on the front burner by alleging that the Hindus in West Bengal face a major threat from the Muslims refugees. The ‘infiltrators’ and ‘termites’ have to be identified, corralled and deported. Under the rationale of identifying illegal immigrants, a law to institute a National Register of Citizens (NRC) was passed by the parliament in 2003. Pre-tested in Assam from 2013, it identified some 1.8 million ‘undesirables.’ As many more Hindus than Muslims were caught in the net, it caused an outcry. The Citizenship Amendment Act was passed in December 2019 to address this problem. It grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsees and Christians who had fled from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Muslims from these nations are excluded, as are Tamils from Sri Lanka, Rohingya from Myanmar and Tibetans from China. They are left out because they allegedly do not face persecution in their place of origin. A BJP minister has categorically declared that no Hindu will face deportation under this law. The new law reflects the spirit of former US President Trump’s edict to ban immigration from designated Muslim nations. Local and international human rights organizations and independent academics say that it is discriminatory and a threat to the secular basis of the Indian constitution. As unease and fear spread among Muslims, protests arose in Assam, West Bengal and elsewhere in India. University students in many cities took to the streets. The police responded with tear gas, baton charges and live ammunition. Death counts rose. The chief ministers of two states, West Bengal and Kerala, opposed the law. Yet the BJP government went full steam ahead. Kashmir, India’s only Muslim majority state, has for decades been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan. Its people have been brutally suppressed by the Indian army and denied their right to self-determination. The BJP went a step further in August 2019 by revoking the constitutional status of the state. This was followed by the arbitrary detention of thousands of Kashmiris and activists, house arrest of prominent leaders, widespread torture, and extrajudicial killings. Schools were closed; Friday prayers at the mosques were banned. A virtually total information blackout was instituted by cutting off cellphone and Internet services and restricting external journalists. Compliant mainstream media outlets were used to present a false image of the conditions in the state. Understandably, the move was condemned by Muslims and human rights organizations in India and abroad. It is feared that Modi aims to transfer Kashmiri lands and property to Hindu settlers from other parts of India. There are strong parallels with the aggressive actions of Israel towards the people of Palestine. Religion is not the primary factor in these conflicts. Land and resources are the primary drivers. Religion provides an ideological mask. Christians: The presence of Christianity, the third largest religion in India, dates back to the European colonial era. Christian missionaries were the benign face of colonial domination. But they influenced the passage of laws prohibiting widow immolation, female infanticide, and encouraged education for girls. With about 40 million adherents, Christians were only 2% of the total population in 2019. Catholicism and most Protestant branches are present. In many areas of India, Hindus and Christians have lived amicably for decades. Explicit strife between the two groups has been rare. From 1964 to 1997, about two anti-Christian generally small and localized attacks per year were recorded. As the RSS labeling of Christianity (and Islam) an ‘invader religion’ gained a foothold, violence against Christians rose. Reliable figures do not exist; estimates vary from between several hundred to thousands of attacks against Christians and churches on an annual basis after 2014. At times, more than one factor is at play, as when Dalit Christians are assaulted, or Christian women are gang raped. Rumors that Christian missionaries use underhand means to convert Hindus, especially in the tribal areas, often spark off such attacks. Dalits: The RSS stand on Dalits is a convoluted one. At nearly 17% of the population, the Dalits form a major voting bloc in India. They also form the base of some regional parties. Election calculus calls for a party holding or seeking power at the national level to bring them under its fold, at least during the voting season. The INC takes credit for articles in the Indian constitution that prohibit discrimination against Dalits and for programs to provide jobs and improve education and health care. But these were partial measures and the situation of Dalits remains dire. Discrimination against them persists in rural and urban areas, and economically, they remain at the bottom. The middle class disfavors the affirmative action programs for Dalits, akin to the white middle class opposition in the US of the affirmative action programs for African Americans. For the BJP, there is an additional conundrum. Its theological parent, the RSS, is inextricably wedded to Hinduism, the basis of the caste system. Even though India has had two Dalit presidents, a major change in the status of Dalits is unthinkable without a fundamental revision of the tenets of Hinduism and the economic structure of the society. But accumulating votes is essential. Making pro-Dalit pronouncements is one way. By pointing to events like a meeting between the Dalit champion BR Ambedkar and RSS luminaries during colonial rule, it is opportunistically claimed that the RSS has always stood for Dalit rights (More on this later). Modi has encouraged his party members to spend two nights in a Dalit home. In its first term, the BJP under Modi promoted more public service jobs, free supply of cooking gas and construction of toilets in Dalit and other minority areas. But the programs had mixed results. Many incidences of cow-based violence and attacks on their leaders made Dalits reduce their participation in RSS training camps and slackened their support for Modi. Dalits are caught between a rock and a hard place. Bitter experience has made them aware of the duplicity of national politicians. And they have been let down by the leaders of regional Dalit parties, who are mostly a corrupt bunch focused on filling their own pockets and making unethical deals with the wealthy. They lend support to whichever party that rules at the national level to secure minor benefits for their constituents and shore up their own political position. The projection of Modi as a different brand of politician who promises not to take or give a bribe, who decries waste and mismanagement, and who champions programs to benefit the poor affected the Dalit outlook. In the May 2019 election season, Dalit support of the BJP grew for both the national parliament and state assemblies. In December 2019, the main segments of the working class in the UK placed their hopes on a man famed for bending facts, promoting divisive politics and serving the interests of the billionaires. The Dalits in India have pinned their hopes on a man whose party functions along similar lines. In so doing, they are clutching at straws. Over 95% of the rural villages and most urban communities adhere to the caste system, treat Dalits in demeaning ways, and deny them the statutory minimum wage. Thousands of attacks on Dalits occur each year. Even their marriage processions are not spared. Convictions for such crimes are rare. In 130 villages in Gujarat, their situation is so precarious that they have now been placed under police protection. Revisionism and Suppression: Capitalism adroitly manages to confine the dominant narrative on history and current reality within acceptable bounds through the mass media, education system, cultural activities and other institutions. When fascistic tendencies begin to take root, the process sheds off its masks and assumes a blatant form. Accordingly, the BJP and RSS have operated on several fronts to champion the Hindutva mode of thinking. The education system is the primary target. Pliant scholars have been tasked to write and rewrite textbooks that support the RSS vision of history. Books infused with unfounded, false assertions replace old and new books based on sound research. At the Chhatrasal stadium event in February [2019], [Home Affairs Minister] Amit Shah told the crowd that the BJP wanted [Baba] Ramdev to join them in reforming the Indian educational system. One of the party’s new priorities is an ambitious effort to rewrite Indian school textbooks to assert Hindu primacy. Mahesh Sharma, India’s culture minister and an avowed follower of the RSS, has said he hopes to rewrite the conventional narrative about India as a multicultural tapestry, and to inculcate the belief that the ancient Hindu scriptures are historical facts, not legends. (Worth 2018). Eminent historians and scholars of religion are sidelined in the academy and governmental curriculum making bodies. And appointment of people inclined towards Hindutva to key academic posts is on the increase. Publishers who bring out books critical of this ideology and RSS face intense pressure from Hindu nationalists. Some have been forced to withdraw such books. The few academies like the Jawaharlal University that fervently uphold academic freedom face the threat of loss of state funds and support as well as police intrusion onto their campuses. Unwarranted attention from the tax authorities is used to silence critics of the ruling party. Stringent laws have been enacted to curtail funding from abroad for human rights organizations in order to undermine the critics of the BJP government. And it goes further. Mobs inspired by the Hindutva doctrine invade and damage the offices of human rights activists. Some are attacked physically, and a few died as a result. They have been detained under ludicrous charges of sedition. If you complain about injustice or expose official misdeeds, it is you who ends up being investigated. The organs of the state charged with upholding the rule of law have been compromised to an unprecedented extent in the recent years. Prime Minister Modi, who, in an apparent violation of existing rules, ran his own TV channel during his reelection bid has, like Donald Trump of the US, a penchant for bashing the media. And it has an impact. Fear of loss of advertising revenue from the government and pro-Modi corporations, denial of access to information sources as well as their own self-interest have brought much of the main media in line. Self-censorship is on the rise. Some prominent journalists have faced violence and death. The pronouncements by Modi glimmer with half-truths and extremist religiosity but they escape critical exposure in media channels that reach the majority of the people. The case of Feroz Khan illustrates the anti-Muslim bias in education being promoted via the Hindutva doctrine. With fine academic credential in his vitae, in 2019 he secured appointment as an assistant professor of Sanskrit literature at the Banaras Hindu University. Yet, a rightwing student group was enraged. Declaring that a Muslim has no right to teach the classical language of Hinduism and for other spurious reasons, they raised strong objections to his appointment. They ignored historical facts: The Mughal emperors had supported the development of Sanskrit and Muslim scholars had penned important works in Sanskrit. And just in 2019, a Muslim scholar, Mohammed HK Khan, was given the fourth highest civilian award of India for his contribution to Sanskrit studies. The Banaras Hindu University was founded in 1916 with resources and funds from Hindu, Muslim and Sikh princes. With Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, a multi-talented Indian nationalist, intellectual and educationist the leading light among the small elite group of founders, the foundation stone was laid by the senior Sikh guru of that time. Pandit Malviya’s vision for the institution was unreservedly multi-cultural and multi-religious. India is not a country of the Hindus only. It is a country of the Muslims, the Christians and the Parsees too. The country can gain strength and develop itself only when the people of the different communities in India live in mutual goodwill and harmony. Pandit MM Malviya (www.bhu.ac.in). The 1915 document establishing the Banaras Hindu University reads: The University shall be open to persons of either sex and of whatever race, creed, caste or class, and it shall not be lawful for the University to adopt or impose on any person any test whatsoever of religious belief or profession in order to entitle him to be admitted therein, as a teacher or student, or to hold any office therein, or to graduate there at, or to enjoy or exercise any privilege thereof, except in respect of any particular benefaction accepted by the University, where such a test is made a condition thereof by any testamentary or other instrument creating such benefaction. (Source: www.bhu.ac.in). Further, among the multiple enacted powers of the University are: [To] promote the study of religion, literature, history, science and art of Vedic, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Islamic, Sikh, Christian, Zoroastrian, and other civilizations and cultures. Some university departments focus on the study of classic Hindu scriptures and Sanskrit and are involved in establishment of the general Hindu liturgical calendar. But for the most part, it is a modern, conventional higher education institution offering degrees in the arts, sciences, management, medicine, etc. and which ascribes to the spirit of academic freedom and excellence. Feroz Khan is not a Muslim in the traditional sense of the term. He hails from one of several syncretic communities in India where people simultaneously practice Islam and Hinduism. And his academic credentials are not in doubt. He is eminently qualified to teach Sanskrit. Yet, the vociferous campaign based on misinformation and fear took its toll. Fearing for his safety, Khan was initially forced to go into hiding. Later, despite support from fellow academics, he was propelled by the force of the circumstances to tender his resignation. It is not known if he will ever be able to resume teaching at this university. As another scholar commented: A university which was constructed with a vision and contribution of various personalities of the time comes to a point where religion is evoked for the appointment of an assistant professor. …. If religion is the deciding factor of the country’s education system and language becomes the battle ground of communal battle against identities, I believe that even gods can’t save the people of this country. (Rajdev 2019). But the theocratic rightwing students and some senior figures at University have set aside the inclusive vision of the founder. As the website of the University now prominently proclaims, the focus has to exclusively be on the study and promotion of Hinduism and Hindu culture. In the process, one of India’s leading academic and research institutions, a longtime bastion of academic excellence and free inquiry, is being sucked into the quagmire of demagogic, hate-driven philosophy. Manufactured Narratives: Under the BJP government, official statistics have been manipulated to project the view that the economy is on track. Data gathering methods and definitions are changed in order to enhance the good and downplay the untoward trends. Farmer suicide and unemployment data, for example, have been suppressed or are not published. More than 100 respected economists penned a letter of complaint that alluded to data distortion. But it was ignored. In the past, 1 kilometer of road was recorded as 1 kilometer whether it had one lane or more. Now, if there are two lanes it will count as 2 kilometer, three lanes as 3 kilometers, and so on. (Croucher 2019). The RSS had stood at the fringe in the struggle against British rule. It saw the Muslims as bigger enemies than the colonizers. But now the RSS and BJP promote a new history. One tool to serve that end has been to alter the narratives about the leaders of the Indian freedom struggle. MK Gandhi, BR Ambedkar and R Tagore are proclaimed as heroes whose ideas resonate with the Hindutva stand. That Gandhi was assassinated by an RSS extremist and the RSS was banned for a while have been expunged from school textbooks. BJP leaders now attend ceremonies marking Gandhi’s birth and use his image for programs to clean up streets and neighborhoods in the cities and villages. In the process, they cover up his promotion of a unified India based on compassion, Muslim-Hindu unity, and multi-culturalism. India indeed needs clean toilets, streets and neighborhoods. But Gandhi in Noakhali, as Manubahen described in her diary, cleared with his own hands, the dung and human excreta thrown into the streets by Muslims opposed to his visit. He cut through social prejudice against manual scavenging in an atmosphere of distrust. Gandhi's idea of cleanliness included the cleansing of hatred from people's hearts. (Bhattacharjee 2019). Muslim-Hindu harmony was central to the vision of India’s founders like MK Gandhi, J Nehru, BR Ambedkar, V Patel, SC Bose and R Tagore. The latter five also laid the philosophical and practical foundation for making India a secular state. Now their ideas are being remodeled to suit BJP politics. In a tactic to shore up Dalit support, BR Ambedkar has received glowing praise from Prime Minister Modi. The RSS proclaims that his ideas and the ideas of other Dalit champions like JG Phule resonate with the Hindutva doctrine. Public ceremonies to honor them are held and attended by senior BJP ministers. Ambedkar was a visionary who aimed to annihilate the caste system. Every ruling party in India has just taken baby steps in that direction. And some of them have been counterproductive. Ambedkar’s belief that there was no future for the Dalits within a society dominated by Hinduism was so strong that he converted to Buddhism and took millions of Dalits along with him (see Chapter 6). But such uncomfortable truths do not exist for the BJP. 5.10 STATUS OF WOMEN Hindu scriptures contain many powerful goddesses. Some women played a prominent role in the Indian struggle for independence. Sarojini Naidu served as president of the INC party during that time and later became a state governor. India has had a woman Prime Minister, a woman President and a woman Speaker of Parliament. And there has been no dearth of female law makers and politicians in India. In several states, the legislature is 50% or more female. In 2014, the government of Prime Minister Modi had a record six women cabinet ministers. Two of them led key ministries, Defense and External Affairs. In 2018, there were eight women billionaires in India. The first woman president of the UN General Assembly was an Indian. Many women have been at the helm of important organizations, professions and companies in India. Indian women have excelled in music, literature, dance, medicine and science. Many are national and international celebrities. The constitution of India prohibits gender discrimination. Laws that protect women’s rights at work, home and society exist. Since the 1950s, women in India have made significant progress in all walks of life. The practice of killing female newborns has virtually been wiped out, and the number of childhood marriages has dropped. Women participate in all arenas of life in significant numbers. Higher education is one marker: In 2018-2019, women accounted for slightly more than a half of the undergraduate degree awards, and about two out of five doctoral degree awards. But that is a part of the picture. Despite presence in upper echelons of society and theoretically adequate legal protections, most women and girls in India have extremely arduous lives and face major social barriers. Modern India is a highly unequal society. The inequality is reflected and magnified at the gender level. Girls from families in the top 20% income bracket average nine years of schooling while those in families of lowest 20% are lucky to get any education. Premature cessation of school attendance is an emblematic issue, as more than 23 million girls, mostly from poor families, drop out of school each year. Low finances, domestic work, caring for babies and the elderly and lack of hygiene facilities in school detach them from education. Most women and girls, more so in the villages, have yet to attain a decent existence. Water is a major problem. Decades of poor planning, resource use and limited construction of piping systems have made the collection of water for household use a daily chore for many women. Requiring travel on foot over long distances with water carried in buckets and cans, it is a back-breaking, feet damaging task which puts them at a high risk for water borne diseases. Multiple trips over kilometers in hot weather are common. And that is a part of the multiple domestic responsibilities they shoulder. Malnutrition and poor access to health care services plague young girls and pregnant and breast-feeding women. The social status of hundreds of millions of lower-class women is a dismal one. Gender ratio at birth is an indicator. Globally, for every thousand male births, there are about 990 female births. In India, the number is about 930 females. Here, India stands among the lowest five nations. Determination of sex before birth and selective abortion is the prime motor of lowered gender ratio. Considerable state-wise variation exists. In Kerala, it is nearly one-to-one but in Gujarat it is 900 to 1,000 and in Punjab, it is 800 to 1,000. The physical and psychological trauma of the women forced to undergo abortion receives little attention. Dowry payment, cost of education, job opportunities and economic hardship stand behind the lowered ratio. And, despite laws prohibiting it, about one in seven girls are married at a young age. Some are as young as ten. The unemployment rate in India is higher than it has been for decades. Ten civil service job openings attract more than ten thousand applicants. The situation for women is particularly dire. In the age group of 15 or more years, about one in four women are formally employed. In comparison, nearly 4 out 5 similarly aged men have a job. And when employed, on average a woman earns two thirds of what a man doing comparable work earns. As measured by the Gender Inequality Index, India ranked 122 out of 162 nations in 2018. Sexual Assault: Rape, sexual harassment and domestic violence are serious dangers affecting women across the nation. Approximately 250,000 serious crimes against women—rape, murder, trafficking and sexual abuse—have been recorded in every recent year. About 35,000 of these crimes are rape cases. Some four out of ten rape victims are minors, and, in most cases, the perpetrator has ties with the family. As such cases are often not reported, statistics on rape and sexual abuse are underestimates. And when they are reported, conviction rates are low. The young victim is labeled ‘damaged goods’ and in order to reduce the associated social stigma, she is at times forced by her family to marry the rapist. Burning of women for dowry problems continues. International surveys rank India as one of the four most dangerous places for women. Now and then, particularly horrendous cases of gang rape capture the headlines and generate widespread protests. Women fear venturing out on their own. Some measures to protect women, like female only train cars in the major cities, have been instituted. The central government and several states have allocated over $150 million in programs to enhance the security for women, but significant changes are yet to be observed. India is in denial of the fact that a majority of its women do not feel safe alone on the streets, at work, in markets, or at home, even though they have learned how to cope with this existential anxiety. (Narayan 2018). Role of Religion: Does religion help promote equality, well-being and safety of women in India? The current status of women in India has roots in history, culture and religion. According to some scholars, the first sacred texts of Hinduism, the Vedas and Upanishads accord an elevated position to females. But later texts like Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita downgrade them to a subordinate status. The revered Laws of Manu decree that ‘a woman must never be independent’. When young, she submits to her father; afterwards, to her husband. If her husband dies, the control passes on to her sons. A wife’s sacred duty is to bear children, rear them in the traditional way, perform household chores and uphold the family’s reputation. A faithful, obedient wife has to be treated with respect. However, mistreatment of wives by husbands and mothers-in-law is commonplace. Widows in the rural areas who remarry tend to face much hostility from the community. Wife, son and slave – all these three, tradition tells us, are without property. Whatever they may earn becomes the property of the man to whom they belong. The Laws of Manu, Chapter 8, shloka 416. (Ali 2020). Some changes countering these traditions have transpired since the colonial times. A sizeable group of educated middle class women has emerged of recent. They are more able to chart their own future and overcome traditional barriers. Yet, the weight of the tradition and misogyny also bears down on them. Attaining gender equity remains an uphill battle. Priesthood and Temple Access: Hindu women participate in religious ceremonies in large numbers, generally outnumbering the menfolk. But what they can and cannot do is restricted by custom. Only men (Brahmin men) can become priests and lead religious worship and rituals. And some places in the temple are out of bounds for women. Cases challenging the restrictions on females in temple access and temple duties have been before the courts. In October 2018, the Indian Supreme Court issued a path-breaking ruling that extended the scope of religious freedom for women. But it was blasted by hardline Hindu priests as unwarranted state intrusion in religious affairs. And, in a defiant mood, they prepared to hold their ground. The case of the Sabarimala temple in Kerala is apropos. For most of the time since 1947, Kerala was ruled by a communist party. It outranks the other states in India in terms of literacy rate, education, gender ratio and key health indicators. Girls in Kerala have better opportunities for higher education and professional employment than in most of the other states of the nation. Yet, women of menstruating age were not allowed to enter the venerated Sabarimala temple. The prohibition is justified on the grounds of protecting the celibacy of the temple deity. The Supreme Court ruling arose specifically from this ban. But it incensed the priests and rank-and-file Hindus in Kerala. When a dozen women led by a female law professor attempted to enter the temple, tens of thousands took to the streets to block them. Violence ensued. One protestor died. Most Hindu women in the area did not support the ruling, saying that it violated their right to practice their religious customs. The women who had tried entry faced physical attacks. Their homes were vandalized. And after receiving death threats, the professor and her family went into hiding. Petitioned by hardline Hindu groups, the Supreme Court is set to reconsider the ruling. Yet, in a few parts of India, senior priests have blessed the participation of females in Hindu rituals. In Maharashtra, thousands of women have been trained in priestly work. But they conduct religious ceremonies in homes, not at the temples. At a temple of repute in Tamil Nadu, women oversee religious rites even in the most sacred areas. The state government of Tamil Nadu gave formal imprimatur to this practice in September 2021 by proclaiming that women who had completed required priesthood training could perform priestly duties in temples. The state of Tamil Nadu leads on this matter. Change is afoot in Kerala as well. The ancient Tirunavaya Temple in the state has launched a two-year training program for women priests. The first batch of twenty-two graduates of the program were formally inducted into priesthood in October 2021 by KV Subhash Thantri, the senior pujari at this temple. Another batch of graduates is in the making. However, these priests are to conduct sacred rituals in people’s homes only. But as they improve their skills and garner greater public support, it is hoped that they would perform priestly duties in temples. An ancient temple in Maharashtra has two ordained female priests. But their range of duties is limited. A few temples in the diasporic Hindu communities in the West have also launched systematic programs to train and ordain women for priesthood. The Hindu temple in Berne, Switzerland, has gone the furthest. But there is an age divide. Young Hindus tend to initiate and support ordination of women while the elders disapprove. The path to equality for women in Hindu liturgy is a long and arduous one. Stigmatization of Menstruation: Hindu custom deems menstrual blood as impure. Its effect transcends access to temples. In parts of India but more so in Nepal, women who are on their periods are placed in complete seclusion. Called chhaupadi, it obliges women to live in makeshift, isolated huts for days each month. Some are left in dung-filled barns with goats and cows, unable to use communal water sources. Women who have given birth are forced to stay away from their homes for up to ten days after delivery as well. Making them susceptible to respiratory infections including pneumonia during winter, it is a serious health hazard. The tiny straw huts put them at risk from snake bites and other dangers. Yet, in rural Nepal, the ancient custom is rigidly followed. Though banned by the Nepalese Supreme Court in 2005, the practice has not abated. After the much-publicized deaths of three girls during chhaupadi, the parliament passed laws specifying fines and jail terms for anyone who forces a woman into such huts. But no monitoring and enforcement mechanism was put in place. When a few activists teamed up with the police to destroy the huts, it backfired. More resources and effort are needed to eliminate a deeply ingrained, scripturally sanctioned tradition. Raised living standards, universal education, enhanced job opportunities and general empowerment of women are the key. But can the pseudo-democratic regimes wedded to neo-liberal programs that favor the wealthy embark on such a path? Attacks on Muslim Women: Brutal gang rape and murder represent the extreme form of dangers faced by women in India. When the assault has a religious flavor, the animosity between Muslims and Hindus is aggravated. In the outbreaks of communal violence in Gujarat in 2002 and Uttar Pradesh in 2013, deadly rape was a weapon to terrorize the targeted minority groups. As there has been no accountability for these crimes, sad memories linger, and the fuel for future conflict accumulates. An eight-year-old girl from a nomadic Muslim tribe in Kashmir was gang raped and killed in early 2018. Normally, such an incident would elicit across the board condemnation. But in this case, the issue was politicized. Hindu extremists insinuated that the tribe had brought on the attack because it had slaughtered cows. Large Hindu crowds gathered to demand the release of the accused, one of whom was a police officer. Before this brutal case made to national and international news, the Bakarwal community struggled with pressure from members of the Hindu majority not to make noise about it. The family and their lawyer were repeatedly threatened not to speak out; some members of the community left early for the mountains. Her parents were forced to take her brutalised body to another village to bury because baton-wielding locals did not allow them to lay her to rest in the place where she used to live. (Salim 2018). BJP leaders were slow to react and when they did, it was in muted tones. One female academic ventured to apportion the blame onto some ‘jihadists’. When a 27-year-old Hindu veterinarian was abducted, and gang raped in Hyderabad, senior politicians urged ‘fast-track’ trials for the accused. The protestors outside their detention site angrily demanded instant punishment. The contrast between the two cases could not be sharper. Women and Social Activism: Throughout history—precolonial and postcolonial—Indian women made a distinctive contribution in the drive for freedom, justice and enlightenment. Sarojini Naidu who grew up in a family of poets, artists and scientists in the late 1880s, acquired basic and higher degrees from Indian and British universities—then a rare feat for an Indian woman. Her evocative, vibrant poems and prose on personal and social issues earned her international acclaim and the title, ‘Nightingale of India’. And she was at the forefront of the fight for freedom from colonial rule and a champion of equality for women and minorities. She supported inter-caste and inter-regional marriage when it was a major taboo. In recognition of her vision, dedication and support for Gandhi’s ideas and methods, she was elected the president of the Indian National Congress in 1925. MK Gandhi and S Naidu, 1931 Salt March Sarojini Naidu was one of many. Since independence, Indian women have excelled in the arts, sciences, business, politics, entertainment, medicine, literature and social activism. Indira Gandhi, Lata Mangeshkar, Vandana Shiva and Arundhati Roy feature among the thousands who scaled the top heights of their fields. In these times of the ascendance of the RSS and BJP, women activists continue to champion peace and justice. We look at two contrasting examples. ANHAD: Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD) is a women-led NGO co-founded by Shabnam Hashmi after the 2002 intercommunal strife in Gujarat. It operates in several states to promote religious harmony, civil rights, female empowerment and awareness of suppression of vital data like that on farmer suicides and the financial contributions to political parties. Addressing the myriad of problems faced by women, Dalits and workers in India is a central part of its agenda. Besides grassroots advocacy, female literacy drives and vocational training, it holds well-attended meetings, press conferences and workshops, and issues periodic reports on important issues of the day. ANHAD has worked to expose hate crimes against minorities and the ill-treatment of the people of Kashmir. It was a principal organizer of the April 2019 march to protest the BJP policies that foment bigotry and violence. Some 30,000 women took to the streets on that day. ANHAD knows that it is crucial to protect and amplify the voices of minorities, forge alliances with different groups and facilitate conversations between them, highlight regional concerns, and bring environmental issues to the forefront. Their strategy includes political training at the community level — hundreds of training camps have been conducted over the years. (Matheswaran 2019). In a clear stratagem to silence the critics, the BJP government passed a law in 2016 that drastically reduced access to foreign funding by Indian based NGOs. Human rights groups, including ANHAD, saw a large shortfall in their budgets, and scrambled for internal alternatives. The resounding victory of the BJP in the May 2019 election dampened the morale of progressive organizations. Far fewer marches and practical campaigns are initiated now. And when meetings are held, attendance is dismal. The popularity of the Hindutva doctrine has momentarily stifled dissenting voices. However, when a spark is ignited, as with the passage of the new citizenship law or the farm law, fires begin to rage across the nation. Durga Vahini: The VHP, an RSS linked fundamentalist Hindu group, runs a sizeable women’s branch called Durga Vahini (the Battalion of Durga). In the Hindu canon, Durga is a powerful goddess who fiercely combats evil. The aims of Durga Vahini are to uphold Hindu culture and protect safety, morality and equality among Hindus. In 2019, it boasted a membership of 35,000 across India. Married and unmarried women from traditional families have joined this close-knit group of mutually supportive, confident women that operates in a disciplined, no-nonsense manner. It is a social force to reckon with. Durga Vahini conducts two-week in-residence training camps in many cities. Between 15 to 35 years old, the participants are grounded in ideas of social service, personal safety and Hindu culture. After prayers sessions, they learn the VHP version of Indian history. The realities of Moghul rule in India are distorted and episodes from history are selected to drive home the point that Islam is the major enemy of the nation. Operating in military style, the curriculum of the camps covers physical exercise, martial arts, handling a gun and how to defend oneself against sexual predators. They are taught that protecting the Hindu nation requires both the ability to love and to fight. Durga Vahini women find power while holding onto their traditional, submissive roles. As trainers, they teach young girls how to be submissive, devout role models. The women often serve as moral police in their communities, attempting to prevent interfaith relationships and monitor inappropriate clothing and behavior. Their first line of defense — calling someone's parents. (Jain 2019). Protecting Hinduism and Hindu women from Muslims is high on its agenda. When communal violence breaks out, Durga Vahini women support the Hindu side through moral support and giving food to the Hindutva extremists. Gandhi and Women: In their first twenty-five years together, Mohandas Gandhi and his wife Kasturba were a typical couple. His immersion into civil rights struggles had, however, convinced him that effective and efficient service to humanity required living a chaste, simple life. In 1906, at the age of 38, he took a vow of strict celibacy. Kasturba, as a devoted wife, appears to have concurred. But it was a unilateral decision. Her true feelings remain unknown. Kasturba was not just a traditional Hindu wife. The man who confronted a mighty empire with confidence had to tread with care in dealing with her strong, independent personality. Kasturba was also dedicated to the struggle for freedom for India. From her days in South Africa to later life in India, she took part in the marches and civil disobedience campaigns led by Gandhi. She was arrested five times, once in South Africa and four times in India. Of her, he said: If anything, she stood above me. But for her unfailing co-operation I might have been in the abyss. …. She helped me to keep wide awake and true to my vows. She stood by me in all my political fights and never hesitated to take the plunge. In the current sense of the word, she was uneducated; but to my mind she was a model of true education. MK Gandhi on Kasturba Gandhi. Gandhi’s attitude towards sexuality was restrictive and bizarre. For him, sex, a result of ‘animal passion,’ was for married couples only, and only for the purpose of procreation. He believed that excessive sexual activity led to maladies like constipation and that conserving the vital semen gave a person ‘unfailing power’. And he adamantly opposed use of contraceptive devices, a stand that would be a public health hazard in the world of today. That was not all. Ascribing the lack of unity and resolve in the struggle for freedom to his personal moral failings, he embarked on experiments to test and enhance his control of sexual desires. The experiments were perverse. Many women lived in his ashram and performed the daily duties. A few were his personal assistants. At night, he had some of them sleep in the same bed with him while he lay completely naked. He was bathed while naked by a female assistant. The subjects of his experiments included two of his seventeen-year-old nieces. No record of objections to his requests exists. It appears that there was a degree of competition among the women at the ashram for his attention. He made no secret about it. Many prominent Indians and senior leaders of the independence struggle were dismayed. But it did not become an issue. Yet, there is no doubt that here Gandhi was abusing the immense moral authority and respect he commanded among his followers. That said, Gandhi was at the same time a consistent advocate of equality for women and men in the private and public spheres. He held that women could be effective public leaders as well as devoted wives with domestic duties. His political and social campaigns in South Africa and India and his vision inspired women by the tens of thousands from all strata in society. At a time when the status of women in civic affairs, education, work and other spheres of life in the Western nations was low, his stand on these issues was a more progressive one. And it had results. With his backing, Sarojini Naidu became the president of the Congress Party. And many other women went on to occupy senior positions in the freedom movement, a tradition that continued and was extended in independent India. Gandhi forthrightly condemned child-marriage, prostitution, polygamy, ill treatment of widows, the dowry system and wearing of purdah—the bane of Indian society then and now. He deplored unequal treatment of women under law or in the home. In my opinion [a woman] should labor under no legal disability not suffered by man. I should treat daughters and sons on a footing of perfect equality. MK Gandhi (Kaur 2019). The women residing at his ashram had more freedom than women in the broader society. Visitors were surprised at the confidence and independence they exhibited. Gandhi felt that the unconditional love and ability to sacrifice for their children reflected women’s superior inner moral strength. Woman is more fitted than man to make explorations and take bolder action in Ahimsa. For the courage of self-sacrifice woman is any day superior to man as I believe man is to woman for the courage of the brute. …. If by strength is meant brute strength then, indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man’s superior. …. If non-violence is the law of our being, the future is with women. MK Gandhi (Kaur 2019). Though unhappy about his inability to persuade Kasturba to abandon caste-based customs, Gandhi held that women had a critical role in overcoming caste and communal barriers. In the event of a violent confrontation between Hindus and Muslims, he asked women on both sides to go on hunger strikes and refuse to cook food for the men engaged in ‘dirty communal squabbles’. So long as considerations of caste and community continue to weigh with us and rule our choice, women will be well-advised to remain aloof and thereby build up their prestige. Women workers should enroll women as voters, impart or have imparted to them practical education, teach them to think independently, release them from the chains of caste that bind them so as to bring about a change in them which will compel men to realize women's strength and capacity for sacrifice and give her places of honor. If they will do this, they will purify the present unclear atmosphere. MK Gandhi (Thakkar 2019). When Gandhi inveighed against the fashionable attire adorned by Indian women, he was not just taking a cultural stand. It was a major part of his swadeshi (economic self-reliance) strategy. He wanted women (and men) in India to put on locally designed clothing made from home spun cotton. And when he urged Indian women not to wear imported bangles, they listened. In defiance of ancient custom, married and single women across the land broke their bangles. Using the principle of ahimsa, Gandhi combined the struggles for self-rule, inter-religious harmony, economic independence, removal of caste barriers and empowerment of women into an integrated whole. While one may question his tactics at various junctures, there is no doubt about his dedicated pursuance of this strategy. Despite the egregious nature of his personal experiments, he consistently talked about and worked for equality and empowerment of women. In terms of advocating leadership roles for women in politics and society, he had few peers. Modern India is a long distance away from attaining equality and fair treatment of women. The situation of the poor women in rural communities is particularly dire. But to ascribe, in any manner, the blame for that on Gandhi is a gross perversion of fact and history. 5.11 NEOLIBERAL RELIGIOSITY Hinduism, like other religions, is not a static entity. Its beliefs, interpretations, emphases and practices changed over its initial period, the colonial era and beyond. Offshoot branches appeared. Some historians divide pre-colonial Hinduism into three doctrinal phases. The first phase focused on sacrifice rituals when only priests had access to the Vedic texts. The second phase emphasized meditation and ascetic living. The last phase promoted wider temple worship, symbolism and reading of the holy texts. Some emergent ideas at first challenged existent social norms but were later coopted into the mainstream. (Arni 2009). The evolution of Hinduism towards a more unified entity received a major boost in the colonial times. Facing a common adversary, Hindus of varied traditions joined hands and their ideas coalesced. The nature of Hindu beliefs and rites evolved as well. Thus, while Hindu holy books display ambivalence towards violence, Gandhi made non-violence a central, inviolable tenet of religious, personal and public life. In the new millennium, India remains a nation beholden to religion. In the early 2000s, it had 1.5 million schools and 75,000 hospitals but over half a million places of worship. Tens of millions of Indians travel long distances to pray at holy shrines and temples or secure blessings from a swami each year. Throngs of poor folk trek miles on foot. In December 2019, about 20 pilgrims died from exhaustion and dehydration while going to the Sabrimala temple in Kerala for a major festival. Surveys consistently show high, rising levels of engagement with holy rituals among all the religious groups in India. For Hinduism, a qualitative change is afoot. The penetration of neoliberal globalization and wide utilization of information technology (IT) devices have spawned a market driven, nationalistic variant of Hinduism. It is not the vast numbers at the low rungs of society, but a newly expanded social group, the middle class, that is enamored by this new variant. Higher education and income, to the surprise of scholars, correlate with higher rate of attendance in religious activities. The middle class includes well-educated persons in medicine, academy, social services, media, engineering, IT sector, business services, the huge entertainment industry, and the multitude of the NGOs together with senior civil servants, ranking military and police officers, regional and national politicians, prosperous traders, farmers and small-scale manufacturers. It is estimated that they (and their families) form roughly a sixth of the nation, or around 200 million people. This class is identified by ownership of TV sets, computers, smart phones, two or four wheeled vehicles and ability to access decent health care and education for their children as well as travel abroad. It is also intertwined with the diasporic Indian communities in the US, UK and elsewhere. Despite a modicum of nationalistic ambivalence towards foreign culture, middle class Indians strive to speak English in the American style and follow Western norms in attire, food and entertainment jointly with Indian culture and practice. Imbued with the individualistic ethos, they espouse a strong faith in the ‘free market’ and oppose any brand of socialism. With a weak sense of ‘citizenship and social responsibility,’ they display little concern for the depravation and inequities in India (Nanda 2011, page 67). Analysts had expected that cosmopolitan orientation and immersion into lives inundated with products of science and technology would make them gradually shed religiosity and embrace a secular vision. Nothing resembling this expectation has transpired. India today is teeming with millions of educated, relatively well-to-do men and women who enthusiastically participate in global networks of science and technology. The Indian economy is betting its fortunes, at least in part, on advanced research in biotechnology and the drug industry, whose very existence is a testament to a thoroughly materialistic understanding of the natural world. And yet, a vast majority of these middle-class beneficiaries of science and technology continue to believe in supernatural powers supposedly embodied in idols, divine men and women, stars and planets, rivers, trees and sacred animals. By all indications, they treat the supernatural beings and powers with utmost earnestness and reverence and go to great lengths to please them in the hope of achieving their desires. (Nanda 2011). Not only is the bulk of the middle class fervently religious but its religiosity has grown with the growth of the globalized economy. Noting that it is not restricted to India, Meera Nanda, in a data packed, cogently analyzed book, The God Market: How Globalization Is Making India More Hindu, describes the key features of this process. New Temples: A large number of temples and shrines of exceptionally grand design, some of which can accommodate thousands of worshippers, have been constructed of recent. The new temples have statues of new gods who are hybrid versions of old gods. New Rituals: Newly invented rituals are performed on demand for a sizable fee. If you can afford it, you join a procession around the perimeter of the Meenakshi temple in Madurai in a gold-plated car with the statue of the temple goddess. Chanting priests and elephants bless you and your family. Other temples have emulated this innovation. For those seeking a spouse, more elaborate rites are available for a fee. Scientific Spirituality: Packaged spirituality that liberally uses the words of science and technological devices is peddled by the old and new gurus and swamis with a view to attract educated, middle income Indians and Western audiences. Some swamis own wealthy religious-commercial empires. Two internationally influential gurus, Deepak Chopra and Bikram Yoga, adroitly blend spirituality with the individualist capitalist ethic and formulate guidance for life and work. Commanding large TV and Internet audiences, their books and videos are in high demand. Language: English-speaking priests with academic training are now hired by businesses and wealthy people to conduct fire-based holy services to bless staff and families on astrologically auspicious days. Public Worship: Rites mostly done in the temple or home in the past are now being held on large open fields. Sponsored by wealthy individuals and major politicians, they attract tens of thousands. The ceremonies they conduct refine traditional ceremonies. Many more instances of repackaged, extended or reformulated versions of traditional rites that emphasize different aspects of the Hindu doctrine are given in Nanda’s book. A priestess in Pune declares: Nowadays I conduct a lot of marriages in English because Indians who go abroad increasingly marry foreign partners. But they're keen on having an Indian wedding. And Indian parents who live overseas often want their children to learn about their culture. But the children don't understand Marathi. So, I conduct the thread ceremony – a rite of passage for boys - in English. (Phalnikar 2010). Holy consumerism has penetrated new domains. Computers, cell phones, printers, T-shirts, stickers and office items are embossed with the images of deities Ganesha, Shiva, Krishna, Lakshmi and religious symbols. Ownership of religiously branded goods is a marker of your devotion to the faith. For the devotee with an overloaded life, online pujas are available. With a subscription payment, she can participate in electronic pujas for wealth, health, peace, marriage or conception or celebrate special holy days via the laptop computer or smartphone. You recite your prayers while glued to the work desk. A Laptop Puja (Arni 2009). Diwali (the Festival of Light) is a joy-filled occasion for decorating the house with flowers, preparing sumptuous food and sweets, lighting candles and incense, offerings to the gods and impressive fireworks. Hindus take stock of their lives and pray for resolution of personal and family problems. Wealthy merchants traditionally hold a prayer called Chopda Puja (accounts prayer) to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity during Diwali. The practice has gained a foothold among students, office workers, shopkeepers and professionals of recent. Hindu temples in the US conduct the Chopda Puja for thousands of worshippers during Diwali. For the accounts puja, participants must first pray to Lord Ganesha, the elephant god, to clear their minds and hearts of any distractions that could interfere with prayers. A fistful of rice yellowed with turmeric powder and a bright silver coin of Goddess Lakshmi are placed in a stainless-steel plate. A priest then blesses the offering along with the devotees' accounting books. At some temples, people bring their laptops, iPods, stethoscopes, power tools or any other business essentials to be blessed. (Singh 2009). The Hindu scriptures are not consistent on accumulation of wealth. Some parts proscribe it while other parts deem it acceptable for the merchant caste. Their economic prescriptions reflect a social structure based on feudalism and the five-fold caste system. The working people are thereby not expected to raise themselves economically. Even a capable Sudra must not accumulate wealth; for when a Sudra becomes wealthy, he harasses Brahmins. The Laws of Manu, Chapter 8, shloka 129 (Ali 2020). Gandhi held an ambivalent attitude towards capitalists. He recognized their exploitative ways, yet he deemed them trustees of the nation. The super wealthy and middle-class of India today have cast the ambivalence aside. Individualism and accumulation are as much a part of their moral creed as is demonstrative religiosity. Hindutva does not endorse economic inequality in explicit terms. Yet, the authoritarian neo-liberalism of the BJP government, which has spawned a vast chasm between the rich and the poor, stands on the Hindutva doctrine. The widening chasm is a potent potential grassroots unifying factor. It is then imperative to deflect the attention of the masses onto hot-button cultural and religious matters. Divide and rule is integral to the capitalist system. Hindutva politics are facilitated by the weakened state of the traditional left and social democratic parties, especially the INC. When in power, they had peddled pseudo-socialist agendas, compromised unduly with the business sector and promoted a corporate globalization agenda. Undue focus on identity politics and internal bickering had further eroded their political base. Feeling betrayed, the working masses cast their alliance onto political parties that frame their policies in ways that had a direct appeal for them. Politics at the state and national levels is now more flavored with religious, caste, ethnic, regional and nationalist rhetoric. Caste politics were a key feature of the 2019 elections in India. It is surprising, given the assumption that seven decades of independence and rapid economic growth along with affirmative action to help disadvantaged groups [in India] would have broken down caste barriers. But it is not just a reality in rural areas, but also in urban areas, forcing candidates to reveal their caste identity. (Himanshu 2019). The Laws of Manu, the primary manuscript for ancient Hindu laws, endorses caste, occupational and gender inequalities. But during the first four decades of the Independence era, promotion of social equality was a national policy. Education for women was emphasized and affirmative action in education and employment for Dalits and disadvantaged minorities was instituted. Sensing political repercussions, the RSS, BJP and other Hindutva-oriented political organizations had refrained from directly invoking this text in their campaigns. But with the reinforced reign of the BJP, some BJP luminaries are openly citing The Laws of Manu to justify their religiously and culturally divisive rhetoric and attack affirmative action programs. Nanda (2011) identifies the state-temple-corporate (STC) complex as the major force strengthening divisive, diversionary and intolerant religiosity in modern India, and especially under the BJP government. Development of a reciprocal, mutually beneficial relationship between the temples and the public sector is a basic feature of the STC complex. In the early post-Independence era, revelations of priestly corruption led to the establishment of public bodies to regulate and oversee temple affairs. But of recent, external regulation over temple affairs has been relaxed. Land grants, virtually cost-free use of public buildings and other devices have diverted more public funds to the already wealthy temples and Hindu groups. Hindu temples often earn sizeable incomes from donations, in kind and cash, as well as fees for the services they provide. They possess large tracts of land and social service facilities like libraries, training schools, clinics and rest houses. Thus, the land holdings of the parent organization managing the Tirupati Balaji temple in Andhra Pradesh are valued at $1.5 billion. It owns shopping complexes and properties across India and Nepal. Like other temples it owns a large amount of gold and valuables. Some is kept on the premises and some is deposited with the banks. The BJP government has appealed to the temples for to use their savings to assist in ameliorating India’s balance of payments problems. In response, the Tirupati Balaji temple has begun to invest in the booming stock market. Other temples are following the suit. +++ Over 500,000 temples in which a couple of million priests, pujaris, pandits, gurus, conduct prayers, render spiritual and worldly guidance, perform birth, coming-of-age, marriage and funeral rites exist in India alone. Add to this the perhaps 100,000 Hindu temples spread across the world, the demand for trained Hindu priests is clearly a large one. Traditionally, religious training was imparted by the spiritual master (guru) to his student or apprentice (chela). The esteemed guru, a model mystic and a fountain of wisdom, had absolute authority over the chela. But much has changed. Religious education now occurs mostly in schools and academies. Their programs not only cover the Vedas, Sanskrit, priestly duties, astrology, history and priestly duties but English fluency, computer literacy and basic accounting as well. While modern technology—computers, projectors and Internet sources—is used liberally, critical thought is off the agenda. A large number of such programs exist. Temples in India and abroad vie to employ their graduates. Traditional training was diverse, varying from guru to guru. The RSS and allied groups are partnering with the BJP government to standardize such training across India. A diploma-holding professionalized priesthood promoting the Hindutva version of homogenized Hinduism is in the offing. Religious institutions are major beneficiaries of the policy of privatization of health and education. Fee charging private schools and universities have sprung up by the thousands of recent. Many are operated by organizations linked to the RSS or the temples. Some are run by eminent swamis. The BJP allied newly minted billionaire Baba Ram Dev runs a yoga training, herbal medicine dispensing and merchandizing empire. He is also an advisor to the Modi government on educational policy. The Tirupati Balaji temple group is a veritable educational powerhouse. It runs 12 colleges enrolling about 30,000 students. About 600 degree holding pujaris graduate from its colleges each year. It also runs scores of hospitals, health clinics and charitable service institutions. Privatized education has engendered minimal regulatory oversight over educational quality and content, and official blessings for dilution of scientific rigor associated with university education. It is not unusual to find universities that offer basic and advanced degrees in astronomy and astrology, medicine and Ayurveda, yoga and physiotherapy, and natural sciences and Vedic sciences. Disciplines of contradictory foundations coexist in the same place. The RSS affiliated colleges offer up to PhD level degree programs in the Vedic Sciences in which the students get training to conduct pujas and Hindu rites. To attract students, some public universities are also offering such courses. Major corporations stand behind such policies by funding the RSS, BJP and other Hinduist organizations and by direct support for the temples, their activities and private and religiously oriented schools and colleges. The scale of the support is masked, except when a billionaire or corporate executive appears as the guest of honor at the ceremonies held by the temples and religious colleges. Senior politicians are also present at such events. Religious tourism is now a multi-billion-dollar industry in India. Take one case: In the first phase of the year 2019 41-day annual pilgrimage period, the Sabrimala temple in Kerala collected over US$21 million, an increase of 50% over the collection over a similar period in 2018. This booming sector is a major avenue for collaboration between the temples, business firms, and the state and central governments. Tens of millions of devotees from India and abroad visit venerated shrines. The tourists in the high-income brackets have increased. That generates high incomes for the temples as well as the shopkeepers, airlines, hoteliers, tour guide agencies and corporate providers of equipment and consumer goods. And the government benefits from the associated tax revenues. The three-way STC partnership in a key economic sector serves to bring the Hindutva doctrine more into the mainstream and legitimize the neoliberal state and corporate policies. It is a public relations boost for them. The goal of making India a pure, strong Hindu nation that holds its own status in world affairs is brought closer. Yet, the inevitable corollary is to magnify communal prejudices and create an atmosphere of hate towards all who are perceived to be in the way of attaining that goal. Under the BJP, incidents of religion related violence have been on the rise. +++ Indian companies are major investors in all parts of the world, including the US and Europe. In the communications and information technology sector, they stand head-to-head with the global giants. This reality underlies a key aspect of the state-temple-corporate complex: The projection of India as an important, powerful player in global affairs. In the Nehru era, India was a leader in the block of non-aligned nations. While the other states with nuclear weapons did not rule out the first use of such weapons, India stood with China in affirming a no-first-use policy. The BJP Defense Minister R Singh signaled a reversal of that policy in August 2019. India may now initiate a nuclear conflagration, a threat to Pakistan and China. Prime Minister Modi is also charting a course towards a firm alliance with the US in business and military affairs. During his visit to the US in 2018, the ten-year ban placed on him after the Gujarat massacres was set aside. Now a respected global statesman, he addressed a joint session of the US congress. His stand on fighting ‘Islamic terrorism’ and fostering business ties elicited standing ovations from the legislators. Former US President Trump sat in the front row as he addressed a 50,000 strong cheering crowd of Indian Americans in Texas. Calling Trump ‘my friend, a friend of India, a great American president,’ Modi justified his unilateral action in Kashmir as a step to combat ‘terrorism’. Trump called Modi America's ‘greatest, most devoted and most loyal friend’. (Brennan 2019; Ratcliffe 2019). As the audience wildly applauded them, a first ever tri-service military exercise between the US and India was announced. Modi and Trump are birds of the same feather. Their core support base is far-right nationalists and religious fundamentalists. Espousing anti-Islam policies, they fume against independent media, twist facts, display disregard for democratic norms, and come across as strong nationalists who want to make their nation great. Yet, a thick line sets the two apart. The Hindutva doctrine wants to cleanse his nation not just from Islamic influence but also from Christian influence. Attacks against Christians and Christian churches have increased during BJP rule. This troubling fact was not lost among Christian evangelical leaders in the US. Many expressed unease at the reception accorded to Modi but did not protest. The RSS leaders in India as well had little complaint about unfair treatments of minorities (including Indians) in the US or about strong ties with a leader firmly backed by evangelical Christians who deem other religions, including Hinduism, akin to pagan worship. And it is not without reason. Both Trump and Modi provide unprecedented benefits to the corporate sector and the class of ultra-rich individuals. That is their primary creed. It is thus understood that in case of a conflict between religion and business, the latter has the priority. Despite appearances to the contrary, the corporate arm is the dominant, driving arm of the state-temple-corporate complex. 5.12 REFLECTIONS Hinduism, a complex system of beliefs and rituals, has an expansive sacred pantheon that ranges from the Vedas to the Mahabharata and beyond. These holy texts reveal a supreme being, Brahman, manifested in the form of three elevated deities. A conclave of paramount gods and goddesses comprises his divine cortege. The four main branches of Hinduism have a set of shared beliefs and rites but differ in the importance they attach to the deities. Unlike Christianity and Islam, no record of major conflict between the branches and subdivisions of Hinduism exists. Hindus believe that all living beings possess a soul that is reborn after death. Liberation from the cycle of rebirth requires spiritual and practical conduct appropriate to one’s station in society. The key ethical precepts of Hinduism—honesty, respectful conduct, compassion, diligence, avoidance of greed and lust—are akin to those in the other major religions in the world. Unlike Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, Hinduism has a scripturally ordained system (varna) that divides people into five hereditary groups (castes). Each caste has its own function in society. Only those in the upper caste may be priests. The lower castes are further subdivided by occupation. Traditionally, the Dalits, the lowest of the low, were forbidden to enter temples or use communal water sources. Like other religions, the Hindu code of ethics bonds people, harmonizes conduct and enhances social stability. It has sanctioned a hierarchical social order and rationalized the status and privileges of the ruler and the dominant class. You are what you are because of your deeds in the past life. You attain salvation only by faithful adherence to what is decreed for your station in life. To Hindus, Hinduism is not just a mode of worshiping the divine but a way of life as well. Hinduism has generated a humongous, impressive cultural edifice in the form of sacred texts, general literature, songs, poems and hymns, music, dance, paintings, ornaments, colorful holidays, and hundreds of magnificent temples, statues and shrines. Prohibition of eating meat has occasioned the innovation of tasty, nutritious, mouthwatering vegetarian dishes of the Hindu culture. The absence of proselytization zeal and other historic factors confined Hinduism mostly to where it first emerged. It has been an influential force in India for millennia. The state-temple-money complex has ancient roots. But the character of the relationships among its constituents has changed over time. In the colonial times, that linkage was significantly altered. The British fomented political divisions between Hindus and Muslims with horrific consequences for the future. Hinduism has displayed both retrogressive and emancipatory tendencies. Gandhi and the INC did not discard Hindu heritage while struggling against colonial rule. While championing harmony between religious communities, they promoted equality of men and women, and removal of discriminatory practices against Dalits and minorities. The Hindutva promoting RSS, on the other hand, detached itself from the freedom struggle, espoused affinity to fascism and declared Muslims as the main enemies of the nation. Officially, India is a secular nation, not a Hindu nation. The Constitution of the Republic of India forbids the state to favor one religion over another. It prohibits discrimination against women, Dalits and minorities. Effectively, it reverses what is written in the Hindu scriptures. Despite political and social limitations, the initial decades after Independence saw significant progress towards fair, equal treatment of religions, minorities and women. Though, tensions between Hindus and Muslims (as well as Hindus and Sikhs, Hindus and Christians) did not subside. Minor mostly localized riots occurred almost every year. A few major, deadly riots also broke out. Yet, generally there was a marked level of peaceful coexistence and intermingling between these communities. The influence of Hinduism and Hindu groups on official policy was curtailed, though more at the national level than the state level. In the neo-liberal era, and more so under BJP rule, those positive trends are being reversed. Religion is intertwined with politics in previously unseen ways. With handsome backing from large corporations and the super-rich, the RSS and other Hindutva espousing organizations have gained a strong foothold not just in national and state politics but also in education, social services, media and the entertainment industry. Instead of addressing the structural problems in the Indian economy, the expanding gap between the rich and the poor, and abject levels of poverty of the fourth fifths of the population, politics now revolves around religion and fomenting inter-religious antagonisms together with entrenching customary practices that disadvantage women and minorities. The doctrines of religious purity and separatism are being institutionalized by policy, law and official actions. Virtually all strata in society are affected. The degree of religiosity of the relatively well-off middle class is a surprising fact of neo-liberal life. The rural and urban working poor, the Dalits and tribal peoples have historically been quite religious. But their interests have garnered minimal attention from the major and minor parties, including the parties on the left. Disenchanted and betrayed, they too are being swept up by the Hindutva socio-political storm. Nonetheless, despite all that has transpired under the ascendance of the RSS and during BJP rule, progressive voices and activism in India have not been silenced. A small segment of the middle class—students, academics, writers, artists and poets, media and film personalities, political and social activists—men and women—speak out and often take to the streets despite official harassment or worse. They are active in civil society organizations that champion human rights, social and economic equality, better conditions of work and wages for the workers, elimination of the exploitative practices of landowners, improvement of the status of women and low caste peoples, and other causes. But they remain fragmented and have yet to constitute a political block of national import. Recent trends indicate the presence of a broad-based undercurrent of disaffection with the BJP and Hindutva doctrine. Belief in the divine, however intense, cannot displace the desire for food, health care, shelter, education and security. Even the most devout are not oblivious of the vast gap between the few at the top and the hundreds of millions at the bottom. The majority does not harbor a natural animus against followers of different faiths. As ongoing exposés of corrupt politicians in the ruling party reveal, the BJP boasts of clean governance has failed to deliver. Lack of jobs, inflation, reduced incomes and farm crises affect most states. Thus, the BJP and parties associated with it experienced electoral setbacks in several states during 2019. The level of mobilization, tenacity and diversity of the protests against the National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that took off at the end of 2019 caught the BJP government by surprise. It was on a scale not seen since India became independent. Young and old, men and women, lower and upper caste, students and working people—Muslim and Hindu—staged sit-ins and marches for days by the thousands across India. Male and female students at several university campuses were at the front line. Despite bans, penalties and police repression, they persisted. Yet, a queer paradox prevails. While dissenting forces mobilize hundreds of thousands if not tens of millions to protest specific policies of the BJP government, when it comes to the elections and the ballot box, the BJP often prevails. Left parties with programs and track records that appeal to the masses have become a rarity. The virtual relegation of Muslims, comprising 20% of the population, to second class status has drawn international criticism. For the first time, the BJP government has faced words of regret, if not condemnation, from its allies in the Western world. Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan have rejected the offer of Indian citizenship granted by the new law. As the protests against the CAA were raging across India, J Nandakumar, the senior RSS leader and prominent expounder of the Hindutva creed issued an unqualified declaration: Multi-culturalism divides the society, and not unites it. On the other hand, ours is a universal concept. It is a manifestation of unity. J Nandakumar (News 18 2019). Surprisingly, he cited none other than BR Ambedkar to support his stand. But his case rested on selective and shaky evidence. And it was presumably issued to counter the multitude of anti-CAA protestors who have held large posters with Ambedkar’s photo. The principal drafter of the Constitution of India and an uncompromising advocate of the rights of Dalits, women and minorities, Ambedkar was a firm multiculturalist. His position on making India a religious state was unambiguous: If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country. No matter what the Hindus say, Hinduism is a menace to liberty, equality and fraternity. On that account it is incompatible with democracy… BR Ambedkar (Rehnamol 2019). While Gandhi was more of a traditionalist, he too had no affinity with religious bigotry and divisiveness. Though he held on to Hinduism, he had a flexible stand on Hindu traditions. Traditions that did not accord with humane values and equality of all peoples were dispensable. It is good to swim in the waters of tradition, but to sink in them is suicide. MK Gandhi (Thakkar 2019). The subordination of women to men in the home, workplace, religious affairs and public sphere in the cities and villages is a retrogressive tradition that needs continued dismantling efforts. Positive changes have transpired in the past seventy years, but much remains as well. The situation of poor women in the rural areas remains particularly dire. Religious institutions need to discard the remnants of anti-female bias and fully embrace gender equality in all aspects of religious practice, including full ordination of women priests. Another important social institution that needs annihilation, as BR Ambedkar put it, is the nefarious caste system. It and its religious basis need to be dumped into the dustbin of history. Elimination of inter-religious strife, especially the strife between Hindus and Muslims, and grassroots unity that transcends religion is a prerequisite for tackling India’s multitude of economic, educational, health and social problems. Thus far, those at the helm of the neo-liberal order have managed to keep the common people divided along religious lines. Attainment of the theocratic vision of MS Golwalker, the RSS luminary of yesteryear, is their ultimate goal: Ever since that evil day, when Moslems first landed in Hindustan, right up to the present moment, the Hindu Nation has been gallantly fighting to take on these despoilers. The Race Spirit has been awakening. MS Golwalker (Roy 2019). The hold of that vision among the common Hindu folk is a tradition has to be broken as well. Recent events have pointed to emergence of unifying trends among the youth. And quite a number of Hindu leaders have proclaimed that the Hindutva doctrine goes against the essence of Hinduism. But their voices are muted. Whether they and the progressive Indians will join hands and mobilize the masses to roll back the Hindutva steam roller, dethrone the BJP and institute non-neoliberal governance is an open question. India is at the crossroads. Will it go towards a nation where Hinduism is the state religion, where people of other faiths are second class citizens, or will it become a secular society where all faiths are accorded equal legal status and promotion of interreligious tolerance is the governmental policy? Will the Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians of India be able to live harmoniously in the same neighborhoods? Will their children attend the same schools and play with each other just as children? Will India be driven towards authoritarianism or socialistic democracy? Those are the burning questions of the day. Without a broad-based movement that aims to transform the economic foundations of the present system, close the gap between the rich and the poor and institute policies that will uplift the living conditions of the masses, there will be ample room for divisive, hate-mongering, diversionary religion-based politics. History and current global trends attest to that assertion. CHAPTER 06: BUDDHISM ↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔ Everything changes, Nothing remains without change. Gautama Buddha To really do nothing, with perfection, is as difficult as doing everything. Buddhist Philosopher Alan Watts Dharma isn't a belief; it isn't dogma. It is total appreciation of impermanence and change. Buddhist Nun Pema Chodron BUDDHISM, THE BELIEF SYSTEM based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, has 500 million followers worldwide. At 7% of the global population, it is the fourth largest religion. Most Buddhists live in Asia. They form the majority religious group in Bhutan, Cambodia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Laos, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Some 40% of the Buddhists reside in China and Japan. Though in India, the land where it was born, less than 1% of the population is Buddhist. 6.1 ORIGIN Gautama Buddha was born presumably in a Nepalese royal family some five hundred years before the Christian era. Disillusioned by a secluded life of comfort and luxury and distressed at the suffering he encountered upon venturing beyond the palace gates, he abandoned family, wealth and power in a quest to comprehend the essence of human existence and find a path to spiritual tranquility. He was 29 years old. In the first stage of his wanderings, he successively became a pupil of two esteemed masters of meditation. Though he excelled with both, the spiritual prize he was seeking eluded him. Subsequently, he joined a group of ascetics who led lives of extreme deprivation and self-inflicted pain. That produced pain and weight loss, not insight. Legend says that after meditating under a fig (Bodhi) tree, he was eventually enlightened. He spent the rest of his life travelling across northern India spreading the insights he had gained. Attainment of mental bliss and purity through meditation and mindfulness, and practicing lovingkindness towards all humans as well as animals formed the core of message. Buddha Meditating Under a Bodhi Tree It was a time of extensive social and economic change in northern India. Production, commerce and construction were expanding. Urban centers were growing in size and population. Crafts flourished. Yet, a sense of disquiet prevailed. While wealthy merchants and landowners exercised an influence in societal affairs, the prevailing caste system continued to accord them a low status. The lowest castes were uneasy. The existent Vedic doctrine was rigid and antithetical to social mobility. The wisdom of the sagely Buddha who favored an egalitarian social order and did not attach birth right to the spiritual, social standing of a person found a receptive audience in this atmosphere. With his pronouncements denoting a viable mode of spirituality, his following increased. Devout disciples were ordained as monks. Communities of lay followers under the mentorship of a group of monks (sangha) took shape. By the time Buddha died at the age of 80, the principal beliefs, tenets and rites of Buddhism were in place. In the centuries to follow, it evolved further, spread to distant lands and spawned multiple variations. A year after his death and during the 4th century and 3rd century BCE, the First, Second and Third Councils of Buddhism were convened. These councils generated greater formalization of the doctrine. During this period, Buddhism diverged into the two main denominations: Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism. Two smaller offshoots, Tantric Buddhism and Zen Buddhism, emerged in 5th century and 13th century, respectively. By this time Buddhism had spread southward down to Sri Lanka and eastward to Korea and Japan. While recognizing the authority of Buddha, each branch has its own interpretation of his teachings as well as its own texts, customs and practices. Other minor branches were also founded. 6.2 CORE BELIEFS AND TEXTS At its inception, Buddhism accepted, but in a modified form, some ideas and practices of Vedic Hinduism and rejected others. Buddhism dispensed with immortal souls (atman), the numerous Hindu gods and goddesses, and the caste (varna) based division of society. The Vedas and other holy Hindu books were not viewed as spiritually authoritative texts. Buddhist cosmology posits that the universe has no beginning or end. It cycles in four phases—creation, operation, disintegration and emptiness— over billions of years. Composed of six realms with deities, sub-deities, humans, animals, ghosts and hell-dwelling beings, it is a flat, interconnected, whole in which each entity, life bearing or not, is in a state of perpetual flux. Nothing is static. Under Hinduism, the Supreme Soul (Brahman) underpins the grand unity of existence. In Buddhism, overall unity is an integral property of nature. But in partial concordance with the former, it asserts that Karma, the law of cause and effect, is the driving force of transformation. What you are is influenced by your past deeds and what you will be is affected by your deeds in this life. But the Vedic notion of a permanent, distinct self (soul, atman) is held to be an illusion. Buddhism accepts the notion of rebirth, but what is reborn is not the soul but an element of cosmic consciousness. The other basic Buddhist precept is that human existence is stamped by Dukkha, a state of psychological anguish and alienation, possibly linked with physical distress. It is both caused by, and a result of, skewed visions of reality and negative emotions like hatred, greed and anger. The goal of life is to overcome Dukkha and attain Nirvana, a state of tranquil bliss and wisdom, here and now, not in an external domain. This vision is enshrined in the Four Noble Truths: (i) Dukkha exists; (ii) Dukkha emanates from desire; (iii) Dukkha is staved off by subjugating desire; (iv) the Noble Eightfold Path embodies the modality to block Dukkha and achieve Nirvana. Multiple lives of strict adherence to this path give freedom from the cycles of rebirth and attainment of a spiritual status akin to that of a demigod. Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Noble Path The Eightfold Noble Path (the essence of Dharma) has psychological, ethical, and intellectual components. They advocate the cultivation of (i) right view, (ii) right intention, (iii) right speech, (iv) right action, (v) right livelihood, (vi) right effort, (vii) right thought, and (viii) right concentration (mindfulness). Buddha proclaimed that his vision was the Middle Way, a balanced but disciplined mode of life between the two extremes of total renunciation of worldly pleasures and undue attachment to material extravagance. The Four Truths and the Noble Path are depicted in many striking, multi-colored pictorial designs. Above is one standard examples. After Buddha’s death, his close disciples collected his teachings, and formulated and memorized them in a uniform way for oral conveyance from generation to generation. Their collections cover a broad range of issues, events and stories abounding with rhythmic phraseology and paradoxical ruminations. Recitation of relevant portions during rituals, meditation, gatherings and instruction became customary. It took centuries of effort for the Buddhist scripture to be compiled into written texts. The main Buddhist canon, the Tripitaka (also called the Pali Canon) is arranged in three parts. They feature stories and illustrations about Buddha’s path to Nirvana, rules (vinayas) for the monks, guidelines for organizing monastic communities (sangha) and schematically ordered renditions of Buddha’s teachings (sutras). These voluminous texts integrate extensive comments and reflections on the different aspects of the Buddhist faith. The multiplicity of Buddhist traditions that emerged in the two and half millennia since the founder’s death have each spawned their own bodies of venerated texts. They have varied interpretations of Buddha’s teachings and contain novel ideas, beliefs, rituals and symbols. By now, Buddhism boasts a gigantic compendium of elegantly rendered doctrine, philosophy, stories, devotional material and guidance for the organization of the monastic way of life and social institutions. The schism between Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism was the key stimulus of the flowering of the Buddhist canon. The latter school brought forth the Mahayana sutras, a large collection of sutras that hitherto were thought to have been revealed to just a few enlightened disciples. The sutra form was very popular. As Buddhism spread from country to country and spawned distinct sub-traditions, a vast collection of sutras evolved. Each Asian nation where Buddhism has a significant standing has its own body of texts that place distinct emphases on the ancient and newer theological ideas, and its own collection of sutras. Some of the popular Mahayana sutras are the Lotus Sutra, Heart Sutra, the Diamond Sutra, and the Vimalakirti Sutra. Both Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism proclaim fidelity to the original wisdom of Buddha. But they differ on three major grounds. The former largely retains the nontheistic flavor of Buddha’s teachings, but by acceding to the existence of divinities, the latter has acquired a polytheistic character. The Mahayana texts posit multiple universes (realms), each with its own Buddha. Theravada Buddhism stresses personal salvation through meditation, but Mahayana Buddhism is more attentive to the alleviation of collective suffering. Accordingly, diligent devotion, compassion, meditation and reflection can enable a devotee to attain Buddhahood. In other words, he or she can become a bodhisattva, an enlightened person who can be reborn into a sacred realm after death but who, for compassionate reasons, opts to remain on earth to assist others in their spiritual quest. The Buddhist creed declares that depending on your accumulated deeds (karma), you can land in one of the numerous diabolical realms (Naraka) of extreme heat or cold. You may experience excruciating pain, rupture of the skin, bleeding and much more. These realms are described in graphic forms. Your residence in a Naraka may last from 1012 to 1021 years, at the end of which you can attain Nirvana. Rebirth into these realms can be prevented by accepting the Four Noble Truths and following the Eightfold Noble Path. 6.3 ETHICS The essence of Buddhist ethics is embodied in the Noble Eightfold Path, the path to Nirvana. The four segments of this path that pertain to ethics are: Right Action, Right Speech, Right Living and Right Thought. Right Action enjoins one to desist from injuring or killing living entities, theft, consuming intoxicants, extramarital sex and accumulating material goods; Right Speech prohibits lying, rumormongering, and insulting talk; Right Living promotes charity, simplicity and non-violence, and discourages harm-generating work; and Right Thought implores freedom from greed, anger, hatred, ill-will, hostility and delusion. And sharing and empathy are elevated precepts in the Buddhist sacred texts. Give, even if you only have a little. Gautama Buddha In whom there is no sympathy for living beings: know him as an outcast. Gautama Buddha The other four segments of the Noble Path promote development of will power, meditational skills, mindfulness and gaining insight and wisdom via understanding Dukkha and the transitory nature of everything including the self. The Buddhist ethical creed stresses strong moral discipline and noble intent in all actions. It also stresses non-violence and elimination of hatred. The Eightfold Noble Path is symbolized by the eight spokes of the Wheel of Dharma (Dharma Chakra). Etched on ancient statues, the Chakra represents the cosmic spinning of a moral order that leads towards wisdom and insight. Seen in many colorful pictorial and objectified forms, it is encountered in Hinduism and Jainism as well. Dharma Chakra The basic ethical tenets of Buddhism resemble those found in the Hindu scriptures. Such tenets also exist in most religions. While the formulations, specifics, emphases and prohibitions diverge, their basic components reflect a great degree of overlap. 6.4 WORSHIP, SYMBOLS AND CULTURE Buddhists worship in temples and monasteries, at sacred shrines, revered places and festival sites as well as in private domains. Many magnificent Buddhist temples, some over a thousand years old, stand across Asia, and of recent, in other parts of the world. The compounds of many monasteries contain remarkable structures. Some monasteries contain splendid gardens, statutes, symbolic pillars, stupas, and recreational spaces. A few statutes of Buddha and other Buddhist shrines in the Asian nations are made partly or entirely of gold. Forms of worship vary by denomination. Other than for special days, no preset times or days of worship are observed. You worship alone or in a group while seated barefoot on the temple floor; you walk in circles around a shrine; you meditate, stand or bow down in silence. You absorb the chants and recitation of sutras by the monks. Soothing instrumental music may serenade the ceremony. You partake in prayers for the dead and living. You pay homage to Buddha and bodhisattvas and pray to local gods and spiritual protectors honored by your sect. Burning candles and incense, dispersal of decorations and flowers, wearing special amulets, and twiddling rosaries are typical practices. Meditation: The healers and shamans of ancient and traditional religions were the precursors of the priests, gurus, imams and monks of modern religions. They were revered for their power to mediate between the natural and heavenly domains. Communication with the spirits and the ancestors occurred through them. Guiding the tribe in times good and bad, they also helped resolve health and family problems. Besides prescribing herbs and charms, and casting spells, they chanted, danced and entered a trance-like state. They were able to induce such a state in their consultees as well. The modalities for attaining soothing altered mental states became more refined and less restrictive over time. They formed the basis for the mystical tendencies of faith systems like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islamic Sufi orders, Bahaism, Sikhism, Judaism, Christianity and Taoism. Today, these modalities are collectively known as meditation. The spiritual bases, rationale and actions associated with meditation vary widely. The efforts of psychologists and scholars of religion notwithstanding, no standard definition of meditation exists. However, meditation generally implies an endeavor that (i) instills mental discipline and ability to control random thoughts, (ii) induces a state of profound calmness and relaxation, (iii) involves focusing on a single word, phrase or deed to attain sustained mental silence, and (iv) enhances spirituality and union with divine beings. Some schools combine internal meditative efforts with leading an ethical life. Different religions place different emphases of these four components of meditation. Christians meditate by focusing on a Biblical idea or event to express their love of God. Sufi mystics partake in extended, intense sessions of chanting, inner reflection and concentration to express submission to the will of Allah. A Hindu meditator aims for a state of mental equipoise and closeness to Brahman. Religious meditation involves singular attention to the breath and gently calming thoughts, emotions and sensations to attain a state of psychic tranquility, emotional equipoise and spiritual bliss so profound that it evades verbal description. A major pillar of Buddhist thought and practice, meditation is addressed in several sections of the Pali Canon. Elaborations appear in later day texts. While it stands out among the major religions in the emphasis placed on meditation, Buddhist meditation is a progeny of the Hindu tradition. Buddha, who was enlightened through meditation, posited it as an indispensable vehicle for attaining Nirvana. The Buddhist and Hindu forms have much in common. Both teach that persistent effort involving appropriate posture, regulation of breathing, singular focus, stilling the mind and anaesthetizing the senses engender an elevated, sublime state of consciousness. Suppression of logical thought and mundane ideas transports you to a realm beyond common perception. Hindus meditate for unification with Brahman, for purification of the soul. But to the Buddhist, the self—individual soul—is an illusion. The reality is an illusion, but an ever-changing one. Only an effusive, cosmic consciousness, akin to utter emptiness, exists. Buddhists meditate to curtail craving, reduce suffering and attain wisdom and enlightenment, an understanding beyond words and rational discourse. Some Buddhist schools stress mental control to end desire and pain, and other schools stress gaining insight into the nature of reality. In the modern era, meditation is linked with developing mindfulness, that is, the ability to control unhealthy mental tendencies and calmly adapt to one’s surroundings in a non-judgmental manner. Buddhism has a large collection of chants (mantras) for meditative purposes. A range of positions to be adopted in a calm setting exist. Initially, they may pose a challenge, but through practice, they become conducive to mental stillness and immersion into infinitude of the universe. The time spent on meditation varies. Pre-dawn meditation is often recommended. A meditation session may involve adopting a composed lotus position in a calm setting; deep and rhythmic abdominal breaths; suppressing random, diversionary, pleasurable or troubling thoughts; and repeating, in silence or with sound, a word or phrase with devotional connotations (mantra). The Buddhist mantras derive from the teachings of the Buddha and the revered texts. The Shakyamuni Mantra is a popular mantra. Shakyamuni Mantra Om O universal sound Muni Muni The wise, wise sage Mahamuni The supreme sage Shakyamuni Sage of the Sakyas Svaha Hail to thee! Meditational practice has been criticized on two grounds. One, it leads to a hallucinogenic trance akin to that of psychoactive drugs. Meditation gurus counter that while drug effects are transitory and associated with harmful side effects, meditation produces a sustained state of mental calmness and has no major adverse effects. Two, meditational practice implies withdrawal into the inner self and abandoning humanity. Buddhists assert that mental relaxation, stability, control and insight, make you abandon the individualistic notion of the self and enable you to practice loving-kindness in an automatic, unrestrained form. Self-realization does not alienate you from reality, rather it unifies you with humanity and the universe. +++ When attending prayer and instructional sessions at the temples, devotees bring donations in the form of food, robes and other items for the monks. Cash and property donations to the monastery are also made. Buddhist monks are identified by their robes. In the early days, monks used robes made out of rags and discarded cloth. But that tradition died out as Buddhism blossomed, spread to distant lands, acquired distinct national characteristics and the sangha accumulated vast riches. Presently, monks adorn robes of many designs that vary from nation to nation. Orange, saffron or maroon robes are the norm but robes in other colors and multi-colored robes are also found. Some robes are sleeveless; others cover the arm. Some monks wear a shirt and a skirt; some put on an additional top layer. Robes are made from cotton, silk and other material. The basic robe is a single piece of cloth draped over the body, but more elegant robes have multi-layered garments and are laced with holy symbols and inscriptions. Ceremonial robes sparkle with elegance and beauty. Robes are considered sacred items and are venerated by the laity. 6.5 EARLY BUDDHISM As a result of his tolerant stand, Buddha’s sermons attracted people from all strata in society. Buddhist communities with merchants, landowners, civil administrators and low caste people emerged in town after town. Some joined the sangha as monks, but many were lay followers. It was a time of expanding production in agriculture and crafts, and growth of local and long-distance trade. The prevailing Vedic creed accorded a low status to the merchant class. To the wealthy traders, Buddhism provided an avenue for elevating their social status and the chance of attaining salvation that hitherto was the prerogative of the Brahmins. Early texts say that fifty-five of the first sixty of the Buddha's followers were from wealthy and powerful merchant families. (Patheos Editors 2019). At the outset, Buddhist monks who travelled across the land to spread the word depended on charity for survival. This practice underwent a profound change as more wealthy individuals joined the sangha. These prosperous converts donated land to the sangha and built monasteries for education and meditation. Residences were built. The sangha was gradually transformed from a group of itinerant monks into an organization of settled monks with elaborate rules of personal conduct and institutional administration. As time passed, many sanghas became owners of large tracts of land and property. The monks no longer lived the life of relative deprivation. Converted traders took monks along in their trips to distant lands. Migration and proselytization facilitated the spread of Buddhism into the Asian landscape. With its stress on responsible, ethical conduct, local rulers saw Buddhism a vehicle for promoting social harmony and a means of resolving disputes. Adorning himself with the socially egalitarian tapestry of the new faith and dispensing charity, the king could project an image of a fair, benevolent ruler. His status was enhanced as he engaged Buddhist monks as advisors and emissaries. The conversion of King Ashoka to Buddhism around 270 BCE was the major turning point in its geographical expansion and the codification and elaboration of its doctrine. His empire spanned the Indian subcontinent. He incorporated aspects of the Buddhist dharma philosophy into his system of governance and built monasteries, elegant stupas, shrines, Buddha statutes and massive pillars inscribed with the teachings of Buddha across his dominion. Local and itinerant monks obtained dwelling quarters. Gatherings of respected monks were organized to reflect on the teachings of Buddha. Ashoka was the primary driving force behind the Third Buddhist Council held sometime around 250 BCE. Composition of Buddhist texts accelerated under his patronage. He was also known for promoting tolerance between Vedic and Buddhist monks, and for donations to other religious orders. The Buddhist monks he dispatched to Sri Lanka and central Asia made a lasting impact. As powerful kings converted, Buddhism acquired permanent roots. Ashoka’s mode of rule, which embodied a secular, not a divinely blessed relationship between religion and the state, became the model for other rulers in Asia. The Ashoka Chakra, with 24 spokes denoting twenty-four Buddhist laws of origination and termination, was created under his reign. Etched on pillars and shrines, it also reflects the Buddhist cycle of change and time. Today, it adorns the national flag of India. The Ashoka Chakra The flowering of general culture was an important concomitant to the spread of Buddhism. Language and writing developed in the course of translations of existing texts and extension of the doctrine in new texts. Kings and wealthy merchants in lands with vibrant urban trading centers sponsored mammoth literary and poetic endeavors. A few large monasteries became major centers of education, enrolling thousands of monks from distant areas who desired to learn the intricacies of the doctrine. In an atmosphere of relatively open-minded discourse, distinguished scholars produced varied works of philosophical import. Attendees from distant lands used their knowledge to spread the Buddhist doctrine. Some monks became respected scholars, and some were seen as possessors of special powers. Religion expanded concurrently with the blooming of artistic endeavors like painting, sculptures and statues. As in Hinduism, culture was inextricably intertwined with religion. Cultural activities and discourse that did not carry religious flavor and meaning occurred but rarely. It is estimated that if just the Tibetan Buddhist canon was translated into English, it would extend over 200,000 pages. The entire collection of Buddhist holy books may extend over a million pages! The Diamond Sutra produced in China in the 8th century is the oldest printed book in the world. A collection of some 700 one-and-a-half meter slabs in a Buddhist stupa in Myanmar, each etched with verses from the Tripitaka, is considered to be the largest book in the world. +++ Along with cultural development, a key feature of Buddhism emerging from this era and continuing onwards is that it became intertwined with wealth and political power wherever it took root. That association was particularly strong in Cambodia, Japan, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Tibet. Many Buddhist orders became fabulously wealthy, constructed massive temples, elegant statutes and residential buildings, and became major actors in the economy of their areas. Thus, in 12th century Sri Lanka: [considerable] economic resources were directed to the sangha through royal patronage which often took the form of land grants to individual monasteries, with the result that these became, collectively, the major landowner on the island during this period. (Skilton 1997, page 152). Many a sangha exercised major influence in public and political affairs and served as mediators in disputes between competing royal families and traders. In places, they became translators and advisors to the king and state officials. Monastic life became more regimented with detailed rules of order and personal conduct. Large monasteries had monks who specialized in memorizing and reciting sutras and revered texts, and in teaching and meditation. Monks functioned as administrators, educators, accountants, property supervisors, caretakers of wandering monks and purchasers of items for the monastery. Some supervised the laborers and slaves serving the monastery and oversaw farming and other productive activities. Monasteries supported themselves by different means in different countries. Some received support from the state. In Tibet and China, large monasteries often owned substantial lands (sometimes at a great distance from the monastery itself) that would be leased out to tenant farmers; monks were prohibited by the vinaya from tilling the soil because they might inadvertently kill insects. The Indian monastic code contains detailed instruction on how funds for permanent endowments to the monastery may be loaned at interest, a service monasteries elsewhere also provided. Other monasteries supported themselves by providing services for the dead, while others, located on a sacred mountain or possessing a famous image would benefit from donations of pilgrims and tourists. (Lopez 2001, pages 153--154). Inevitably, as its secular component grew, the sangha was corrupted by the ills of the prevalent social order. In nation after nation, it partook in political intrigue among feuding royal clans, amassed wealth and property, was involved in lawless acts, imported the local mode of social stratification into its own setting and exacerbated existent social tensions. Monasteries that charged interests rates on loans bordering on usury faced public censure. For such and other political reasons, many monastic orders underwent cycles of prosperity and stability followed by persecution and decline. Popular images of Buddhism as a spiritual endeavor detached from mundane affairs and of Buddhist monks as sage-like persons who live austere lives, depend on charity, engage in meditation and contemplation, and do not partake in worldly affairs do not reflect the historic reality. 6.6 MODERN BUDDHISM This section presents, in a summarized form, the social, political and spiritual dimensions of Buddhism in Tibet, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and India. Tibet + Buddhism was brought to Tibet in the 8th century by two esteemed monks from India. Working under the patronage of the king of Tibet, they set up monasteries and translated major Buddhist texts into Tibetan. Eventually, Tibetan Buddhism evolved into a religion that combined the basic tenets of Mahayana Buddhism with beliefs and practices derived from Bon, a folk Tibetan religion. Under the inspiration of venerated sages, five different Tibetan Buddhist traditions came into being, with the latest one emerging in the West after the 1950s. The lama is the Tibetan equivalent of the Buddhist monk. Regarded as teachers, the lamas live in thousands of monasteries under a strict hierarchy. The authority and power of the senior lamas far outstrip that of the bulk of the regular lamas. During the two centuries prior to 1959, Tibet was ruled by a Dalai Lama who is seen as an incarnation of a bodhisattva of compassion. Though formally he leads the largest of the five Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the Dalai Lama exercised supreme authority in political and secular affairs in the nation and is deemed the most senior figures in Tibetan Buddhism. When a Dalai Lama dies, his incarnate successor is selected through an intricate process. Tenzin Gyatso is the 14th and current Dalai Lama of Tibet. With its distinct beliefs, multiple texts, elaborate rituals, dress styles, music and organizational set up, Tibetan Buddhism is a distinct brand of Buddhism, unlike that found anywhere else. Before the 1950s, Tibet had a hierarchical social formation partly akin to European feudalism. It had a history of violent conflicts arising from infighting within the ruling class over succession and division of property, or between the different sects for theocratic supremacy and control of resources. Major uprisings from below occurred but rarely. The system was relatively stable. China invaded Tibet in 1959. The 14th Dalai Lama was exiled to India and the Tibetan society underwent fundamental changes. For the US, the Chinese intrusion was an opportunity to extend its policy of isolating, vilifying and destabilizing China that was initiated a decade earlier when the forces led by Mao Zedong liberated China from the twin yolks of feudalism and imperialism. Through the 1950s and beyond, CIA, the US spy agency, covertly funded the exiled Dalai Lama government and trained fighters to infiltrate Tibet and oppose Chinese rule. An image of the Dalai Lama and Tibet took hold in the western mind that was far from actuality. The mainstream media portrayed him as a peaceful, genial and deeply spiritual person who had ruled his land in a fair, even-handed manner. Tibet before Chinese takeover was depicted as a Shangri-La, an oasis of tranquility, contentment and bliss. Tibetan Buddhism was portrayed as a non-dogmatic, humanistic creed which focused on attainment of spiritual tranquility. And popularity of Buddhism in the West grew. It was a veritable cacophony of politically divergent vibrations in which the anti-establishment alternative cultural groups of the 1960s unwittingly united with mainstream scholars, journalists, film and TV stars and political hotshots. A new brand of Buddhism distinct from the historic tradition began to emerge. Before proceeding with our analysis of Buddhism in Tibet, it is important to clearly state that the people of Tibet have the inalienable right to determine their own destiny. Whatever the social, economic benefits it has produced, and these are many, Chinese rule in Tibet is a colonial imposition. Yet, adopting a critical stand towards the Dalai Lama and the situation in Tibet under his reign should not be conflated with an endorsement of the Chinese domination of that nation. Prior to 1959, Tibet was a society of extreme inequality. The ruling class of the Dalai Lama, the ranking Lamas, major landowners and merchants lived opulent lives in a land rife with squalor, malnutrition and disease. The average lifespan was barely 30 years. Drepung monastery, on the outskirts of Lhasa, was one of the largest landowners with 185 manors, 25,000 serfs and 16,000 herdsmen. (Neuss 2009). While scholars debate the character of the mode of the social formation in old Tibet, there is no doubt that it was a brutally enforced, theocratic system of immense privilege for a few and extreme misery for the many. In old Tibet there were small numbers of farmers who subsisted as a kind of free peasantry, and perhaps an additional 10,000 people who composed the ‘middle-class’ families of merchants, shopkeepers, and small traders. Thousands of others were beggars. There also were slaves, usually domestic servants, who owned nothing. Their offspring were born into slavery. The majority of the rural population were serfs. Treated little better than slaves, the serfs went without schooling or medical care, they were under a lifetime bond to work the lord’s land–or the monastery’s land–without pay, to repair the lord’s houses, transport his crops, and collect his firewood. They were also expected to provide carrying animals and transportation on demand. Their masters told them what crops to grow and what animals to raise. They could not get married without the consent of their lord or lama. And they might easily be separated from their families should their owners lease them out to work in a distant location. (Parenti 2007). The Tibetan state was conservative in the extreme. Apprehensive of their potentially destabilizing effects, the rulers opposed the introduction of basic things like schools, health clinics, industries and wage labor. Life had to remain as it always had been. A major portion of the national wealth was consumed by religious activities. All echelons of society were steeped in a complex version of Buddhist beliefs, rituals and practices in which the Dalai Lama had a status akin to a divinity. Tens of thousands of monks manned hundreds of elegant temples to oversee that everything went according the scriptures and the proclamations of the Dalai Lama. Tibetan Buddhism generated social stability in an effective manner. While some bonded workers ran away, and in cases of blatantly egregious behavior by the master, some—individually or in a group—damaged his property, collective, sustained forms of rebellion against the rulers were rare. Punishment for transgressions was brutal. Despite the gravity of injustices, one’s spiritual outlook suppressed questioning the social order. Rebellious thinking and action were evil, karma violating acts. To act out of line with the wisdom of Buddha and the Lamas was to flout one’s dharma and negate his or her chance of attaining Nirvana. It was an invitation for rebirth in a hellish realm. Life in an insecure, harsh and isolated environment with no options had conditioned people to meekly accept things as they were. The poor and afflicted were taught that they had brought their troubles upon themselves because of their wicked ways in previous lives. Hence, they had to accept the misery of their present existence as a karmic atonement and in anticipation that their lot would improve in their next lifetime. The rich and powerful treated their good fortune as a reward for, and tangible evidence of, virtue in past and present lives. (Parenti 2007). The Chinese occupation of Tibet did not face grassroots opposition at the outset. The system of bonded labor and back-breaking taxes was abolished; schools and health clinics were built; piped water systems were constructed; the property of the landlords was confiscated; and land and livestock were distributed among the tenants. Yet, Chinese rule was marked by unpopular authoritarian acts. Many monasteries were closed. Chinese officials looked down upon Tibetans. Slightest dissent invited serious consequences. Tibetan culture, language and religion were portrayed disparagingly in the school educational material. Collectivization was introduced without consulting the rural residents. And after the egalitarian policies of the Mao era were replaced by unchecked capitalism from the 1980s, the divide between the Chinese administrators and the few well-off Tibetans, mostly from the former aristocratic families, on the one hand, and the rank and file Tibetans, on the other, deepened. The limited social security that was in place earlier began to whittle away. From 1989 to the present, Tibet has been rocked by small and large expressions of opposition to Chinese rule. Monks are on the frontlines on many occasions. The authorities respond without mercy. Unarmed civilians have perished from bullet wounds. But the people are not subdued. The monks self-immolate to publicize their cause. Over a hundred and fifty monks have set themselves afire since 2010. While the Tibetan leaders in exile have vacillated, the basic demand of the internal forces is total independence from Chinese rule, not just regional autonomy. During his years in exile, the Dalai Lama has reinvented himself and has begun to espouse liberal values like respect for human rights, democracy and non-violence. But prior to 1959, he was the leader of a profoundly unjust, authoritarian society. Sri Lanka + About 70% of the population of Sri Lanka is Buddhist. Hindus, Muslims and Christians respectively form 13%, 9% and 8% of the population. Religion largely overlaps with ethnicity. The Sinhalese, who form about 75% of the population, are mostly Buddhist. Some 15% of the population is Tamil (Sri Lankan and Indian). Most of them are Hindu and some are Christian. The Moors (about 9% of the total) follow Islam. Yet, even as three out of ten Sri Lankans are not Buddhist and all religions have constitutional protection, Theravada Buddhism is the now the official religion of Sri Lanka. During much of history, the diverse ethnicities and faiths of Sri Lanka lived in a general state of harmony. For over two thousand years, Sri Lankan Buddhism had been intimately linked with wealth and power. But during the nearly two centuries of British rule, it was a subjugated entity. Pained by the denigration of their culture, customs and institutions, Buddhist monks joined the struggle for freedom. They backed the nationalistic cause without forming religion-based political parties. However, they did not rally against the deftly executed colonial policy of divide and rule. The British used the Tamils as middlemen between them and the people and granted them minor favors. The policy worked. Attempts to form a united front against colonial rule were thwarted for the most part. Ethnic and religious tensions between the Sinhalese and Tamils were thus not diffused in the course of the freedom struggle. The consequences were predictable. After independence in 1948, moves by some politicians to forge national unity on the basis of equal rights for all citizens regardless of ethnicity or religion were stalled by adamant Sinhalese politicians and extremist monks. Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike was killed in 1959 by a hardline Buddhist monk for allegedly being too conciliatory towards the Tamils. Politics slowly acquired a sectarian flavor. The civil rights of the Tamils dimmed and official and unofficial discrimination in education and other walks of life reared its ugly head. The use of the Tamil language in schools and workplaces was restricted. As tensions mounted, a series of ethnic riots, in which the Tamils suffered the most, broke out. As religion and ethnicity gained more import in public affairs, Buddhist monks began to play a more direct role in the political sphere. The trend was catalyzed by two monks—W Rahula and GS Thero—who had gained international reputation as distinguished Buddhist scholars. Abroad they pontificated on harmony and spirituality but at home they fanned the flames of ethnic, religious divisiveness. Sri Lankan politics became more polarized along ethnic, religious lines in the 1970s. With the Tamil community being marginalized in all walks of life, a militant Tamil party launched an armed struggle for autonomy. In 1983, a horrific 25-year civil war began. Tamil fighters encountered utmost brutality from the state forces. An estimated hundred thousand people, most being Tamil civilians, were killed. Their bodies were often dumped in rivers. As villages were ravaged, thousands disappeared, tens of thousands were injured and many more were displaced. A third of the Sri Lankan Tamils became refugees in distant lands. The Sri Lankan army stands accused of committing major war crimes. Yet, no judicial intervention and accountability has occurred. Despite frequent resort to tactics that did not discriminate between fighters and civilians, the monks blessed the army’s campaigns. Ignoring Buddha’s teachings on compassion and non-violence, prominent Buddhist monks extolled the warrior mentality as a virtuous credo for the defense of Buddhism. Apart from this civil war, independent Sri Lanka has a long record of political violence and assassinations. In the course of an armed struggle launched by a communist party in the 1970s, many journalists, students, human rights activists, academics, and state officials were killed either by the government death squads or by the communist party. The defeat of the Tamil fighters in 2009 did not herald an era of political tolerance. On the contrary, the Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalist parties were emboldened. According to their creed, which resembles the Hindutva creed of the RSS in India, the Sinhalese are the exclusive historical owners of Sri Lanka. All others are aliens who have corrupted the ancestral Sinhalese-Buddhist culture. Their venom is directed at the Hindu Tamils, Muslims and Christians. The strident crusade is led by Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) under the helm of GAG Thero, an outspoken, militant, charismatic monk with a wide following. The large anti-Muslim rallies held by BBS have spawned violent riots. Scores of Muslims died. Mosques are under siege. Homes and shops were torched. In the drive to ban the sale of halal meat, butcheries owned by Muslims are vandalized. False rumors that Muslims have a preference in the education system are used to drum up public support. And Christian missionaries are wrongly accused of conducting deceitful drives to convert Buddhists to their religion. Attacks against Buddhist temples and shrines by Muslim fanatics in Bangladesh and Afghanistan pour fuel on the fire. The BBS has also forged an alliance with extremist, anti-Muslim Buddhist factions in Myanmar. As the tectonic plates of Buddhism and Islam collide, a portion of Buddhists are abandoning the peaceful tenets of their religion. …. Buddhist nationalist ideologues are using the spiritual authority of extremist monks to bolster their support. (Beech 2019). Divisive politics are flourishing on the foundation of a neoliberal economic policy that cements a vast economic divide. While the top 20% of the Sri Lankan population earns over 50% of the national income, the bottom 20% gets only 5%. The income divide exists across regions, and between the capital city and the rural areas. A small number of Sri Lankans command millions to billions of dollars in wealth. The very wealthy have strong political ties and backgrounds. Top politicians and state officials have been a party to major corruption scandals with local tycoons and foreign firms. A modicum of economic growth has come along with greater economic uncertainties for the majority. The fabulous Buddhist shrines and temples are now popular tourist destinations that earn valued foreign exchange. The political space is increasingly constrained as leaders of the past human-rights violating military campaigns now hold the top positions in the state. Thus, in early 2020, the Sri Lankan government reneged upon its earlier promise to cooperate with the UN mission investigating human rights violations during the civil war and withdrew from the exercise. Making an appearance in the monasteries, offering alms, or hobnobbing with the monks is an honored way for the politicians to sanitize and uplift their public image. Extremist religious-ethnic nationalism is no longer a fringe entity. A large and growing segment of the public has come to believe that Sinhalese Buddhism is under existential attack from internal and external adversaries and needs to be vigorously defended. The pungent anti-Islamic propaganda coming from right wing politicians in the West has found a receptive audience in Sri Lanka. As more monks become involved in politics and their popularity increases at a fast pace, the state takes little action to contain religious fanaticism. The few monks who advocate peace and reconciliation are marginalized and condemned by the hardliners. Open minded journalists find it harder to do their job. Journalists, writers, academics and the few monks who criticize the divisive rhetoric and espouse pluralism find themselves under assault from fanatics. A small deviation lands a person in trouble, as a short story writer put under arrest for ‘disrespecting’ Buddhism found out. In this toxic atmosphere, a small group of Islamic extremists carried out a series of terrorist attacks on civilian targets. A luxury hotel was blown up by Islamic suicide bombers in April 2019. About 250 people died. The cycle of violence turns faster and deadlier. As in neighboring India, authoritarian, intolerant politics based on religion and ethnicity is demolishing the remnants of the secular, democratic polity established in the early post-Independence days. In the unstable setting, only the super-rich are reaping major benefits. Yet, by early 2022, Sri Lanka was in the throes of an economic crisis more severe than any since Independence. Prices of basic goods and services and rents skyrocketed, hospitals faced an acute shortage of medicines and even paper for newsprint and school examinations was scarce. Families by the tens of thousands were suddenly propelled into destitution. Economics spilled over into politics as streets were filled with protestors demanding the resignation of the hitherto popular ex-military President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, his brother, on grounds of misrule, incompetence and corruption. The entire Cabinet tendered its resignation. In a major turnaround in a nation divided by religion and ethnicity, Sinhalese Buddhists, Hindu Tamils and Muslim Moors jointly called for accountability and good governance. People are fed up with the toxic, divisive, xenophobic nationalism of the ruling politicians and the extremist monks. It does not feed hungry stomachs. But thus far, the authorities have responded with force and batons only. Many rank and file monks have come out in the streets and senior monks are urging the national leaders to show restraint and heed the demands of the people. Senior Christian clergy has joined the chorus for change as well. One can only hope that the protest movement will mature beyond demanding removal individuals to questioning the neoliberal system underlying their predicament. It is not far from the truth when we state that the best way to strengthen the freedom gained with such sacrifices is to go for a radical change in our national agenda. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith (Gomes 2022). Perhaps the Buddhist sangha of Sri Lanka will now firmly disassociate itself from the hate-filled bellicosity of the extremist monks and revert to Buddha’s philosophy of universal compassion. Myanmar + About 70% of the population of Myanmar (Burma) is of Bamar ethnicity while the rest comprises several ethnicities. Some 88% percent of the people follow Buddhism. Christians are about 6% of the population and Muslims, about 4%. Though there is no state religion, there is a clear bias towards for Theravada Buddhism in official and unofficial practices and institutions. Especially in rural areas, life revolves around the monastery. Monks are held in high esteem. Children grow up immersed in Buddhist rites. Praying to the local deity to bless their village is central to their spiritual life, and celebration of Buddhist festivals are the most important occasions for the families. Historic Myanmar was a land of ancient civilizations and prosperous city states, and a key crossing point for Asian trade. Buddhism was introduced by traders and monks in the fourth century. After gaining the patronage of royal families, it was adopted by a large segment of the population. Over the past 2,000 years, Myanmar has experienced the rise and fall of numerous kingdoms, internal warfare, armed intrusion in adjacent lands, and external invasion. But there were extended periods of stability and progress during which thousands of Buddhist temples and pagodas were built, and Buddhist colleges and libraries were founded. Buddhist literature flourished as well. As in India and Sri Lanka, monastic control of large tracts of land and resources, usurious lending and ill treatment of the peasantry fed into social strife and instability. Britain colonized Myanmar at the end of the 19th century. At first, they ruled it as a province of India. Finding the place awash in mineral resources, forestry products, oil as well as blessed with fertile soil, the colonizers single-mindedly went about instituting a social order that would enable them to reap the rewards at minimal cost. Major changes ensued. A top-down system of administration was set up. A transport system to serve the import-export economy was built. Educational and industrial development was restricted to the needs for the colony to function. High taxes on land and produce were imposed, workers got very low wages and health services were introduced at a minimal level. In no time, Myanmar became the world’s largest exporter of rice, with the profits mostly accruing to British trading houses. Other production activities and exports gathered pace over time. The economy grew but the people derived little benefit. As George Orwell wrote in his firsthand account: [The] British are robbing and pilfering Burma quite shamelessly. … Although Burma has developed to a certain extent since the war, already the peasant there is poorer than he was twenty years ago. (Orwell 1929). Instead of using local personnel, the British imported large numbers of traders, craftsmen, low level civil service cadres, laborers, money lenders, policemen and soldiers from India to run internal commerce, staff essential services and administration, carry out construction and other work as well as maintain law and order. It was a highly unpopular move that would have long lasting divisive consequences. While promoting Christianity, the education system downgraded local culture and Buddhism. The civil service was dominated by Indians and Anglo-Burmese. In the latter stage of their rule, and after much internal discord, the British instituted a local parliamentary system. Yet, it was a democracy in name only. For key decisions and policies, the parliament and local officials had little say. As in India, the British Governor was the final authority in all matters, small or large. In line with their customary policy of divide and rule, the British employed ethnically organized administrative systems to run the territory. Minority groups were administered through the Frontier Area system under which ‘disloyal’ leaders were ejected and replaced by compliant leaders. Non-cooperative villages were burned down. After the nation gained freedom, this divisive system had grave consequences. An identity card system based on ethnicity and religion ingrained the divisions along these lines. The struggle against colonial rule in Myanmar evolved through a long, convoluted history. For here, it suffices to say that Buddhist organizations and monks played a prominent role in this effort. Many monks sacrificed their lives through hunger strikes and other tactics while a few monks led an armed rebellion. But democracy in independent Myanmar did not last long. For most of the recent five decades, the nation has been ruled with utmost brutality by a military junta that has put the nation’s resources in the hands of foreign companies. Use of slave-like labor in various projects has been common. Any form of opposition is suppressed by massive force. The army has also been fighting long-standing insurgencies in the indigenous areas. Military rule ignited a vibrant, broad-based pro-democracy movement. While the junta projected itself as a champion of Buddhism, a large number of Buddhist monks played a prominent role in the anti-military struggle. They engaged in civil disobedience practices like sit-downs and refusing to accept alms from military personnel. Invading monasteries, soldiers savagely beat monks, and placed them in custody. Many were disrobed and tortured. Though elections were held periodically, when voters favored independent parties, the military nullified the results. Starting from the 1980s, and especially after a major uprising in 1988, the anti-democracy movement became unified under a de facto charismatic leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), gained wide support and scored major electoral victories. But that only earned her detention and house arrest. She spent about fifteen of the next twenty years as a political prisoner. In that time, her fame and popularity skyrocketed, at home and abroad. The Buddhist monks in Myanmar were a major base of support for Suu Kyi. Her steadfast, non-violent Gandhi-like campaign to abolish military rule earned her many international honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. The anti-military struggle was marked by progress and setbacks. In 2015, her party won a landslide electoral victory. This time the military conceded, and she assumed a post akin to that of prime minister of the government of Myanmar. But effective power remained with the military high command. Democratic rule was a façade. Yet, the US lifted the economic sanctions it had imposed on Myanmar. Western companies rushed in to compete with Chinese companies that had provided economic support to the regime and enabled the generals to become wealthy tycoons. While calm returned to the towns and cities, the army did not cease its attacks on minority ethnicities. Now its operations focused on the Rakhine State, home to the mostly Muslim Rohingyas. The potential for lucrative infrastructure and extractive investments fueled military aggression. One thing led to another. After a small Rohingya faction launched defensive armed attacks on police stations, the army began a systematic campaign of merciless violence. Since early 2017, hundreds of villages have been turned to ash. Thousands of Rohingyas have died. Over 750,000 have sought refuge in neighboring Bangladesh. Islamic buildings, mosques and homes have been destroyed. Labeling it a genocide, human rights organizations have called for war crimes investigation and prosecution. But the refugees have received little international support. Food is scare; living conditions in the camps are squalid. Even their existence is not recognized as the usage of the term Rohingya has been prohibited by a 2014 law. In the past, many Buddhists in the nation had supported the attacks on the Rohingya. It was expected that under the premiership of Suu Kyi, sanity would prevail and there would be calls on the military to cease its brutal onslaught. Yet, nothing of that sort transpired. On the contrary, the monks who just recently had espoused peace and human rights joined the military bandwagon. Media images of monks silently and serenely standing up to armed soldiers was replaced by images of monks demanding firm war-like measures against the perceived foes of their religion. Monks often led armed mobs attacking Rohingya villages. Esteemed monks depicted Muslims as uncivilized people who posed a threat to Buddhist culture and religion, and loudly called for a ban on headscarves worn by Muslim schoolgirls and the killing of animals during Islamic holidays. Accusing Muslims of being rapists, they sought to restrict inter-faith marriage. In the name of Buddhist cultural purity, they urged people not to conduct business with Muslims or allow their children to play with Muslim children. And they quoted stories and passages from Buddhist texts to justify discriminatory, violent acts against the alleged enemies of Buddhism. The central role played by the Buddhist monks in the persecution of the Rohingya and minorities has surprised and shocked many observers. Suu Kyi, for her part, initially maintained a discrete silence, refusing to condemn the military and describing media reports as exaggerations. A once-upon-a-time admirer laments: Not only has she snubbed and obstructed UN officials who have sought to investigate the treatment of the Rohingya, but her government has prevented aid agencies from distributing food, water and medicines to people displaced or isolated by the violence. Her office has accused aid workers of helping ‘terrorists’, putting them at risk of attack, further impeding their attempts to help people who face starvation. (Monbiot 2017). Suu Kyi condoned the military crackdown on the media and journalists. Ironically, some of them had campaigned for her freedom during the time she was under arrest. Her government abided by and strengthened the laws that discriminate against minority groups. Under the pretext that they do not belong in Myanmar, it is against the law to use the term Rohingya. Suu Kyi also refuses to use that term. Fellow Nobel Laureates, including the Dalai Lama, have urged her to oppose the attacks on the Rohingyas. Noting the gross, abusive violations of their human rights, the UN General Assembly voted in December 2019 by a 134-9 margin with 28 abstentions demanding urgent cessation of the criminal attacks on the Rohingya people and other minorities. But all that has fallen on deaf ears in Myanmar. The Rohingya simply do not exist. After hearing the case launched by the government of Gambia, the UN International Court of Justice issued a major ruling against the government of Myanmar in January 2020. It effectively called on the latter to abide by the UN Convention on Genocide and provide adequate protection to all the oppressed minorities. Yet, Suu Kyi not only attended the proceedings as the representative of the government but also strongly defended the actions of her government and the military. Her avoidance of the term Rohingya spoke millions. The spectacle of an erstwhile icon of freedom and non-violence somberly rationalizing a genocidal pogrom shocked the world. A large group of her former supporters in the West have called for a revocation of her Nobel Peace Prize. (Further developments in Myanmar are covered in Religion, Science and the Pandemic.) Thailand + The relationship between Buddhism and politics in adjacent Thailand, where 95% of the 60 million-strong nation follows Theravada Buddhism, is similar to Myanmar. We make a short note. The history of Thailand is awash with rise and fall of regional kingdoms. Due to a tacit agreement between the France and Britain, Thailand did not come under formal colonial rule, but its economy came to be dominated by the Western nations. Rule by the King was replaced by a constitutional system in 1932. The monarch remained the formal head of state. But intense rivalries between factions of the political elite, wealthy tycoons and senior army officers generated a succession of military coups. Military decrees ruled the nation. Exemplary constitutions were drafted only to be abrogated within a short time by military takeovers. Over the past eighty years, Thailand has been one of the most politically unstable nations in Asia. A fragile quasi-democratic, military dominated political order prevails at the moment. The economy is dominated by a class of local multimillionaires and foreign investors. The gap between the rich and the poor, and between urban and rural residents is wide. Political strife, street demonstrations and violent scuffles have become regular features of Thai society. As a part of its long-term war of aggression in the region during the Cold War years, the US strongly backed the Thai military, and established its own military bases. When student activists and the Communist Party of Thailand opposed these moves and initiated an armed struggle, it was countered with indiscriminate massacres. Like Myanmar, Thailand has several ethnic groups with long standing social and economic grievances. Decades of discrimination, assimilation drives, disenfranchisement and poverty have fueled armed insurgencies. The situation is especially tense in the southern Muslim dominated areas. In 2004, several small armed groups launched attacks on police and army outposts. The Thai military then unleashed a ferocious crackdown on these communities. Over 6,500 people, some 90% of whom were unarmed Muslim civilians, died. Buddhists residing in the areas have been displaced as well. And as in Myanmar, the Buddhist monks allied themselves with the army, and advocated violent attacks on minorities perceived to pose a threat to Buddhist culture. Some monks with military training are posted in the conflict zone to guard the temples with guns under their robes. Discriminatory laws and practices against Muslims resembling those in Myanmar were instituted. Prominent monks proclaim that for every monk who is attacked, a Muslim mosque should be burnt down. In a nation deeply divided by politics, public support for such measures is unified. At less than 5% of the population and concentrated in remote areas, these minorities do not, by any stretch of imagination, pose a threat to the Thai society and culture. What they desire is fair treatment, improvement of their lives and a degree of autonomy. But instead of advocating just policies for Muslims and minorities, and promoting social harmony, the monks favor suppression of their basic rights. Toxic rhetoric only fuels violent aggression, emboldens authoritarianism, and retards the transition to a democratic, peaceful order in Thailand. India + Buddhism flourished across India in the first one thousand years of its existence. The multitude of large, striking shrines, temples and statutes that dot the landscape attest to that history. Subsequently it underwent a gradual but sustained decline to the extent that it was barely visible at the beginning of the 20th century. The decline was caused by external as well as internal factors. They included loss of kingly patronage after the fall of supportive dynasties; opposition from the dominant Hindu religion, especially the Brahmins who were averse to its caste-free spirit; post-12th century Islamic incursions; and gradual assimilation into the Hindu culture. Further, as the monasteries accumulated wealth and property and turned to money lending, agriculture and commerce, strife intensified and the sanghas garnered public disrepute and censure. The idealistic appeal of the founder was diminished. The 20th century witnessed a slow reversal of that trend. Astonishingly, it was on a single day in 1955 that Buddhism in India received its primary boost. That mammoth transformation was not initiated by a guru or a swami, but a secularly inclined intellectual, BR Ambedkar, a senior statesman in the struggle against colonial rule in India. Born into a modest Dalit family, Ambedkar experienced extensive bigotry and abuse while growing up and in his work life. Yet, he excelled in school and secured degrees from Bombay University, Columbia University and London School of Economics while also obtaining admission to the UK Bar. It was a rare feat. But he set aside his career as a reputed jurist, economist and academic for activism in the fight for freedom in India. Combining erudition, eloquence, charisma and populism with sound reflection, he soon became one of the captains in the anti-colonial circles. His secular, social-democratic outlook allied him with Jawaharlal Nehru, later the first Prime Minister of India. He subsequently served for four years as the first Minister for Law and Justice in Nehru’s cabinet. An eminent expert in constitutional law, he was the lead figure in the framing of the Constitution of the Republic of India. What distinguished BR Ambedkar from the other leaders was his firmly expressed stand that the struggle for freedom from external domination had to be waged concurrently with efforts to combat internal oppression and discrimination. He stridently championed the rights of the under privileged strata in society, especially the Dalits (Harijans, Untouchable, Outcaste) and women. On this issue, he did not see eye to eye with MK Gandhi. In his view, the proposals advanced by Gandhi to accord equal status to the Dalits, like allowing them unhindered access to temples, were too moderate since they remained within the ambit of the rigid, religiously enshrined caste system. Nothing short of the complete annihilation of the caste system was in order. The social and economic status of the Dalits in India was, in his view, akin to that of the African Americans in the US. Ambedkar was a prolific writer. His subjects ranged from economics, law, social affairs, political philosophy to religion. Naturally, his views evolved over time. There is now a sizeable body of debate on the nature of his stand on various issues: Was he a socialist or a liberal democrat? Did he espouse a secular philosophy or one with a spiritual essence? Upon developing a powerful critique of capitalism and the caste system, Ambedkar came to favor an egalitarian social system for India. In his framework, the state would own the main means of production and finance; the exploitative Zamindar system would be abolished, and land redistributed. Farming would be done along collective lines. The underprivileged sections of the society like the Dalits would get special dispensation in education and employment at the outset. A central plan would guide the economy. Private enterprise would function but within the confines set by the state sector and policy. At the same time, he favored a parliamentary political system based on liberal democratic ideals. The state would not have an official religion and religious freedom would be protected. Privileges acquired by birth, rank, religion or race would be abolished. But he clearly distanced himself from Marxism. Many progressive leaders of the anti-colonial parties in Africa and Asia held similar views. ‘One man, one value’—that was the essence of his political creed. The caste system, religious violence and personal experiences of anti-Dalit humiliation had alienated Ambedkar from Hinduism from an early age. Yet, he felt that spirituality was an essential component of human life. Purely secular socialism may provide equality but would lack liberty and fraternity. He thus embarked on a decades-long scholarly, reflective venture into diverse religions and philosophies. Ambedkar tested every big and small, old and new religion available to Indians, trawled through the texts and tenets of Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians and indeed made himself an entire career as a scholar of comparative religions alongside his enormously busy public life as a mass leader, a politician and a scholar. (Shah 2019). His quest, during which he met Buddhists from many nations and attended Buddhist conferences, landed him firmly within the embrace of Buddhism. He saw that the principles contained in the original teachings of the Buddha were based on compassion and social egalitarianism. He viewed Buddhism a path for emancipation not just for an individual but for the community as well. But perceiving that Buddhist traditions had been co-opted to provide justification for greed, power and violence, he did not accept the views, rites, customs and organizational ways of any existing Buddhist school. If a modern man who knows science must have a religion, the only religion he can have is the Religion of the Buddha. BR Ambedkar He framed a new vision of Buddhism consistent with his secular egalitarian outlook. Calling it Navayana Buddhism (or neo-Buddhism), he felt that it was in line with the original philosophy of the Buddha. He founded the Buddhist Society of India in 1955, and in the following year, he formally converted to Buddhism. His advocacy of and conversion to Buddhism exercised a profound and lasting impact in the Dalit community, which deemed him as its principal champion. Officiated by a Buddhist monk, it took place in a large public gathering in Nagpur, India in October 1956. On the same occasion, nearly half a million of the gathered supporters took traditional Buddhist vows. Two days later, he oversaw the conversion of 300,000 more Indians to Buddhism. Just in a few months, the Buddhist community in India had a million new members, a pace of religious conversion rarely seen in history. But that momentum suffered a setback in a short while as BR Ambedkar passed away from complications of diabetes in 1957. His plan to establish the Republican Party of India to champion socialist principles and the rights of the minorities and women was, however, realized a few months after his death. Conversion to Buddhism in India, especially among the Dalit people, has continued steadily since then but a slower pace. In the recent years, due to the upsurge of fundamentalist Hindu organizations and political parties, notably the BJP, and the rise in the violent attacks and discriminatory acts against the Dalits and rape of Dalit women, it has intensified. Yet, the Dalits are in a difficult situation: Upon conversion, a Dalit sheds his or her inferior social status, but stands to lose the preferential services, job and educational opportunities accorded to marginalized peoples. Buddhism in rural India, furthermore, has a flavor that is distinct compared with that in the urban areas. In the latter areas, Buddhist there are activist groups who abide by the secular vision of Ambedkar and champion the rights of the poor and the disadvantaged. But in the rural areas, where the majority of Indian Buddhists live, a syncretic outlook predominates. Here, the Buddha is revered as one of the Hindu gods, and Ambedkar is their bodhisattva. Dalits, forming about a fifth of the population of India, constitute a critical voting bloc. Several Dalit based political parties exist. But apart from formal programs, they have shed Ambedkar’s egalitarian, humanistic vision. Mired in political jockeying, thuggery and crony capitalism like the major political parties, their charismatic, corrupt leaders have amassed extensive wealth, and are keener to retain their ideological stranglehold on their followers than anything else. Currying favor with those in power is a basic practice. And they comfortably function in the same ambit of the neoliberal system as the BJP and the Congress Party. The leadership of the BJP, for its part, has tried to curry favors with the Dalit parties by paying homage to Ambedkar and visiting Buddhist shrines in India and elsewhere. They project the view that while Islam and Christianity are foreign entities, Buddhism is a branch of Hinduism, and is acceptable within the Hindutva framework. The level of political hypocrisy is unrivalled. Of recent, Ambedkar has been rediscovered in his homeland. Called one of the founding fathers of India, his statues and pictures adorn official and unofficial sites. Colleges and streets are named after him, his birthday is celebrated more widely, his writings and life are depicted in the main media and many scholars have devoted extensive effort to analyze them. But in practical politics and policy making, his vision of an egalitarian, socialistic, caste-free India is all but forgotten. Yet, there were limitations to the steps Ambedkar took at the end of his life. Upon realizing that there was little chance for Dalits and other minorities to attain equality and better their lives so long as Hinduism remained a strong force in society and politics, he sought a solution in another religious creed. Instead of working for an overall transformation, he sought a separate path of liberation for the Dalits. He effectively refrained from tackling capitalism, the root of social inequality. In that respect, his vision was as misguided as that of Gandhi. Inequalities based on caste, race, religion and identity-based factors form the interstices of a social, economic system characterized by the existence of a small enormously wealthy class and a multitude of deprived, powerless majority at the bottom. Conflicts based on cultural factors divert attention from the principal contradiction in society and serve capitalist interests. 6.6 MEDITATION & MINDFULNESS Meditation is a totally nonviolent, nonaggressive occupation. Pema Chodron From the 1800s to the 1950s, Chinese laborers, US soldiers who had fought in Asia, visitors, monks and scholars carried Buddhism into North America. Buddhist masters from Japan and Sri Lanka lectured and spread the religion. Buddhist texts were translated into English. A further influx of charismatic Buddhist teachers in the 1950s and 1960s boosted the popularity of Buddhism in the West. Buddhist and Zen centers sprang up in major cities. In an era of cultural ferment, the social atmosphere was ripe. A large segment of the youth had become disenchanted by racism, patriarchy, consumerism and militarism—particularly the brutal US war on Vietnam. They were also disillusioned with traditional politics, the education system and Christianity. Students, feminists, workers, African Americans, Native Americans and Latinos fought for their rights and social justice. A minority adopted the ideas of revolution and socialism. Martin Luther King, Malcom X, Muhammad Ali, Che Guevara, Cezar Chavez, Noam Chomsky, etc., symbolized the anti-establishment spirit. As poets, writers, singers, film directors, and social and natural scientists generated creative endeavors in the arts and all disciplines, the counterculture movement blossomed. Some cultural rebels resorted to hallucinogenic drugs to resolve their spiritual angst. But a good many cast their gaze towards esoteric eastern traditions. Under the enticing spell of luminaries like Ram Das, DT Suzuki, Timothy Leary, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Alan Watts, they reached out to yogis, swamis, monks, Sufi mystics and Taoist masters. Movie stars, musicians and celebrities embraced yoga and meditation. The International Hare Krishna Society, the Shambala International and eastern spirituality creeds established branches in many Western cities. It was a veritable ideological avalanche. In Be Here Now, Ram Das’s first book for the masses, which has sold over 2 million copies since publication in 1971, he offered seekers an engaging, unconventional, slightly zany roadmap for finding a spiritual path and a more enduring connection to higher consciousness than a tab of acid could bring. (Oliver 2019). A decade on, such spiritual practices filtered into the mainstream. By the 1990s, Zen Buddhism, meditation and yoga were in vogue across the US and Europe. Deepak Chopra was a ubiquitous presence on TV and radio. Almost every major Western city now boasts a Buddhist center, yoga and meditation classes, and Hare Krishna chanters who roam the main streets. Thousands of books, websites, apps and blogs on Buddhist philosophy and practice exist. Buddhist spirituality is now projected as an essential tool for personal, professional, educational, corporate and political wellbeing. The Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh are the most prominent dignitaries of Buddhism in the Western mind. The former is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize while the latter was nominated for that prize by Dr Martin Luther King. Given high honors in many nations, the Dalai Lama comes across as a friendly, wise, humble, charming, and deeply spiritual person who stands for universal peace and justice. Civil society, governmental and business leaders seek his attention. The main media treat him with respect akin to veneration. Opinion polls conducted in the US and Europe have ranked him among the five most popular leaders in the world. His bestselling book, The Art of Happiness (Lama 2009), is touted as a profound text in psychology. Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist Zen master from Vietnam who passed on in January 2022, wrote over a hundred books on Buddhism and its importance to personal well-being, education, politics, business and the environment. He promoted his message of peace, ethics and spirituality with elegant poetry and calligraphy. Seen as a devout person and activist, he was a much sought-after international speaker and garnered scores of honors and accolades. His two works Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life and The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation (Hanh 1992, 1999) played a major role in stimulating the mindfulness movement that has swept across the Western world. In 2012, some 4% of the adults in the US reported having meditated in the past 12 months. By 2017, it had risen to 14%. The corresponding percentages for children were 1% and 5%. The popularity of meditation and mystical spirituality has occurred in the context of a faster pace of daily life and weakening of family and communal bonds. Modern capitalism has accelerated technological change, induced instability in the economy and insecurity in the job market and weakened the social security net. It instills anxiety and feelings of loss of control. Despite having a lot, people are dissatisfied. The sense of a fulfilling, moral existence eludes them. The appeal of Buddhism is enhanced by the perception that it is not like a traditional religion with a rigid allegiance to a holy text. It is also not a cult. Instead, it is seen as a flexible secular, humane philosophy based on peace and connecting with nature and the inner self, a potent potion for countering Dukkha and cravings. The quintessential notion signifying Buddhism in the West is mindfulness, the sense of being in the present, focused and attentive yet non-judgmental. Meditation anchors life and gives it meaning. Classes on relaxation, meditation, yoga and mindfulness are popular and are being utilized in health care, psychotherapy, counselling, education and social services. Several techniques, ancient and modern, are available: Mindfulness, Transcendental Meditation, Jing Zuo, Qi Gong, Zen, Kundalini Yoga, Breath Awareness Meditation, Loving-Kindness Meditation, Progressive Relaxation, Stress Reducing Mindfulness and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. They are applied in varied settings—indoor or outdoor, online or in person, group or individual format, and supervised or autonomous. Some programs combine physical activity and dietary advice; some are adjunct to medicinal drugs and psychiatric counseling. Hundreds of evaluations of the efficacy of meditation and mindfulness training and practice have appeared in the scientific literature. Nearly 1,400 scientific papers on its neurological and clinical effects have been published. Systematic reviews of these studies concluded that despite concerns of about their scientific quality, meditation and mindfulness is a useful, effective and low-risk adjunct to conventional therapies for the treatment of a wide variety of psychological and chronic physical ailments and for improving emotional well-being among patients and healthy persons. In particular, it does not risk the debilitating adverse effects associated with many medicinal drugs, puts people more in charge of their own welfare and enhances self-esteem. The benefits of meditation and mindfulness do not carry religious baggage. Whatever his or her religion, a person can derive benefits from meditation and mindfulness-based therapies. +++ But there is another side to the story. In the neo-liberal era, meditation and mindfulness has been commodified, corporatized, militarized and spiritually disembodied. It now is a multi-billion-dollar enterprise that employs slick promotion campaigns in the main media and its own turf. Buddhist centers compete for trainees, contracts, sales and prestige for a large share of a lucrative market. About a million Americans adopt mediational practices associated with Buddhism and Hinduism every year. One can enroll in local classes, special retreats, or ‘authentic’ courses conducted by traditional monks in Asian countries. A dazzling paraphernalia relating to eastern religions in the form of necklaces, bracelets, rosaries, rings, prayer flags, mats, cushions, gowns, meditation attire, mandalas, decorative tapestry, painting sets, Buddha statutes and figurines, lotus flower images, crafted bowls, incense burners and sticks is available. There are thousands of books on these subjects. Humans seek happiness and freedom from suffering. Buddhism in its ancient form teaches that the way to attain those goals is to conquer desire. Happiness does not arise from wealth or possessions. Consumerism, on the other hand, implies that the more you have the happier you will be. It is the very opposite creed. But meditation and mindfulness, its modernized progeny, proclaims that one can do both. It seamlessly marries Buddhism to consumerist norms. Like pricey lattes at Starbucks cafes, meditation is a trendy act. The tool to subdue consumerism has been subdued by consumerism. Meditation and mindfulness is now an integral segment of the trillion-dollar global wellness industry. The ‘Western Buddhist’ meditative stance is arguably the most efficient way for us to fully participate in capitalist dynamics while retaining the appearance of mental sanity. Zizek (2001). Some conservative Christian groups in the US have opposed the practices derived from eastern religions. In the state of Alabama, they had sufficient clout to make the Board of Education pass a rule in 1993 banning yoga, meditation and hypnosis in public schools. A move by some legislators to partially lift the ban succeeded in May 2021. But some restrictions remain. Major US corporations hold mindfulness training sessions for rank-and-file employees and executives. Articles in scholarly business journals credit it for boosting attention and efficiency, elevating employee moods, lowering the harmful effects of information overload and reducing absenteeism. [In] today’s hyper-paced work environment, mindfulness practitioners know the importance of recharging in order to regain productivity. And mindfulness research is convincing many managers that investing in reflection, openness, and thoughtfulness will have a positive impact on employees and on the bottom line. (Schaufenbuel 2015). The corporate sector is adapting the works of famed Buddhist authorities for its own requirements. Google, the corporate behemoth that is mindfully and systematically casting a large shadow on the personal affairs of billions, has offered a catalogue of mindfulness training schemes to its staff since 2007. The aims are to enhance emotional aptitude, resilience, focus and geniality. General Mills, the global processed foods giant, offers similar courses to its workers. Intel, the technology conglomerate, has conducted meditation and mindfulness sessions from which employees report an increase in creativity, clarity, more engagement with company goals, happiness and friendliness towards colleagues. Target, a multi-purpose retailer with huge sales outlets across the US, offers meditation and mindfulness instruction to its workers. Aetna, a global insurance giant, facilitated research on mindfulness and stress reduction programs and now offers them in an online or in-person format to its clients. Healthy clients mean less insurance payouts and higher profits. Some companies hold meditation and mindfulness retreats for the workers and their families. Educational institutions use meditation and mindfulness to raise student attentiveness and scores. Hospitals, public and private, conduct meditation and mindfulness sessions for nurses and doctors. Enhancing mindfulness for nurses is now an integral part of the UK National Health Service. But a critical academic with practical experience observes: Having previously worked for an NHS trust, I have genuine concerns about these new trends of corporate-based mindfulness training. I do not doubt that nurses are faced with increasing pressures and are suffering terribly from stress. But we must recognize that this is largely due to their working conditions. Nurses are generally overworked, over-managed, underpaid, understaffed and under-appreciated! Cohen (2017). Modern corporation practices generate work tension, stress, burnout and absenteeism. Meditation and mindfulness is a key psychological device to control their mood, conduct and output. Governments implement austerity measures that induce stress, burnout and low efficiency among teachers, nurses, doctors and social workers. And then they contract meditation and mindfulness dispensing firms to make them content with the high demands and accelerated schedules they face. Meditation and mindfulness functions as a shock absorber to save the capitalist system from its excesses. The market driven economy has generated an epidemic of social isolation and loneliness. Just before the onset of the corona pandemic, about 40% of adult Americans felt lonely. In the 1980s, only 20% had felt that way. A third of people over the age of 65 live alone, and the proportion increases with age. Overall, one in six Americans has no residential partner. People with poor health status, low income or without a college degree are more vulnerable to social isolation, loneliness and absence of close contacts. Being isolated and lonely increases the risks for a wide range of physical and mental ailments and early death. As others celebrate major holidays, their sense of isolation intensifies. Studies indicate the prevalence of a similar situation in the UK and other European nations. Even among those who are not isolated socially and revel in social media connections, the market economy induces detachment from society. People become competitors, not compatriots with a common cause. In their hearts, they are consumers, not citizens who can unite to control their own destiny. Cynicism, political apathy and low voting levels prevail as people regard the existing state of affairs as unchangeable. Karl Marx described the dominant psychosocial mindset under the rule of capital as ‘alienation’. By extolling individualism and competitiveness as virtues, capitalism fragments social bonds. As norms of the market take hold of all arenas of life, dehumanization gathers pace. States privatize and liberalize. Public services are slashed to the bare minimum. For example, in the UK, more than 100 public libraries, 500-day care centers for children, and many centers for domestic abuse victims, people with dementia, and children with learning disabilities have been boarded up. Social alienation generates pathologies and anomalies. Meditation and mindfulness programs are devised to assist the afflicted. Compared to the gap created by neoliberal cutbacks, they are a drop in the bucket. The message is: Life will improve if you control your thoughts and emotions and have a positive attitude. Meditation and mindfulness will connect you with the universe, give you peace and freedom. This is our culture of self-help, where we must meditate ourselves out of loneliness by being more mindful or pick ourselves up by going for a run and a yoga class. It is not a culture where we think about our responsibility for each other and for the systems of social and health care that were built to protect people at their most vulnerable – systems that are now being pulled apart. …. Loneliness is not only something that happens to an individual, it is something structural that permeates a society, as it is permeating ours right now. (Sarner 2018). By wedding individualism with consumerism, meditation and mindfulness makes one forget that: Individual wellbeing is inseparable from collective and ecological wellbeing. (Purser 2019a). Compassion towards sentient beings is a key tenet of Buddha’s teachings. He accorded the same spiritual worth to animals and humans; a fly was perhaps a human being in a past life. A monk may not kill an insect, even inadvertently. Meat consumption is discouraged; vegetarianism is promoted. Some texts forbid a monk to kill even to save his own life. Compassion has to be extended towards the enemy as well. The classic Buddhist view on violence is captured in a scriptural verse: Everybody fears being struck by a rod. Everybody fears death. Therefore, knowing this, feeling for others as for yourself, Do not kill others or cause others to kill. Classic Buddhism contains little moral basis for violence. It impairs spiritual balance, instills hatred and begets more violence. It brings physical suffering and poisons the psyche of the community. As a destroyer of inner calm, it is a barrier for spiritual progress. Compassion, on other hand, propels people towards Nirvana. This is the image popularized by Buddhist circles in the West. The vast majority of introductory books on Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy do not mention Buddhist violence. Instead, they associate Buddhism with pacifism and non-violence. (Jerryson 2017). The reality, both in terms of doctrine and actual conduct, is complex. In the first instance, Buddha himself advised a powerful king that under certain circumstances war was justified. As Buddhism was adopted by kings and made the state religion, it came to rationalize military campaigns. Buddhist sacred texts contain stories of monks counselling powerful ruler on matters diplomacy and war, and describe cases where force was appropriate. A war must have a just cause. Specifically, protection of the religion, sangha and state were valid, just grounds for war. But war driven by envy, avarice, ill will, hate or revenge is not justified. Attacks on disarmed soldiers and civilians are prohibited. It was a slippery slope. Gradually all deeds of the monarch were depicted as just and beyond reproach. Aggressive war was rationalized in spiritual terms, and deaths of tens of thousands dismissed, as the affected were non-believers. Execution of prisoners, torture and capital punishment received religious sanction. Religion cloaked the deeds and misdeeds of the ruler. Eventually, Buddhist monks were personally drawn into violent action. China has a long history of monks taking up arms for the emperor and to further the cause of the sangha. The Japanese Samurai warrior underwent a training like that of a monk, meditated to fine tune his skill and focus, and resorted to Buddhist beliefs to sanctify his profession. In the process of adapting to real world conditions, Buddhism turned into its opposite. Intent, not the act, became the gauge. If the intent is pure, one may kill people who persecute Buddhists. The Buddhist monks of Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand who have supported and participated in violent rampages against Muslims and others in the recent times claim that these groups pose a threat to the survival of Buddhism. A notion that is patently absurd in practical terms now drives the hardline Buddhist parties and, increasingly, state policy. Protective violence transmutes into aggressive violence and is masked as self-defense; identity politics supersedes the noble notion of universal compassion. For example, monks in Thailand were implored not to get involved in politics, yet their leaders issued politically framed messages such as declaring that it was not sinful to kill communists. From the late 19th century up to, and during, the Second World War, Zen Buddhism in Japan became integrated into the ideology of the state. As Japan extended its colonial rule in Asia and fought a war against Russia, a new brand of Buddhism linked religious and nationalist ideas. Japanese Buddhism attained a special, elevated status. It held that the other Buddhist schools had decayed spiritually. Apart from a lone dissenting voice, all the venerated Zen masters acceded to the atrocities of the imperial forces in Korea and China. The emperor was accorded a divine supreme status, fascist conduct was praised, and war was portrayed as integral to Zen practice. Japanese fighter planes were emblazoned with Buddhist images. And many monks served as military chaplains. Distinguished Buddhist teachers like DT Suzuki and HD Sogaku, who popularized Zen Buddhism in the West either jumped on the patriotic bandwagon or adopted an ambivalent stand towards the horrific acts of mass murder, rape and destruction committed by the Japanese forces in Asia. The Zen Buddhist orders in Japan have yet to fully acknowledge and offer apologies for their complicity in wartime barbarism. The association of Buddhism with imperial militarism did not end with the War. In the Cold War era, Buddhism became firmly enjoined with the US foreign policy in Asia. In many Asian countries, communist parties had either led or played a central role in the fight against the Japanese fascist forces during the war. One major goal for the US and UK in the aftermath, which became more urgent after the victory of Mao’s forces in China in 1949 and the defeat of the French in Vietnam in 1954, was to vanquish the progressive movements and roll back their gains. Post-war US policy in Asia became more defined after the visit of Vice President Richard Nixon to Southeast Asia in 1954. Firm, direct military intervention would continue. Relentless, merciless bombing of North Korean towns and villages killed nearly 3 million people, mostly civilians, and caused extensive injuries and destruction of civilian facilities. In South Korea, US forces regularly opened fire on unarmed civilians and decimated thousands of lives. In Vietnam and adjacent nations, US military aggression escalated and eventually took over five million lives, again mostly of innocent civilians. Toxic chemical weapons and millions of cluster bombs dropped over a vast area produced horrific health problems and environmental damage. They kill and maim children and farmers and produce birth defects to this day. US policy makers realized that violence by itself would not suffice. Covert and overt diplomatic and political support for right-wing forces in the Asian nations was essential. US agencies worked with them to replace neutral, democratically elected governments with US friendly authoritarian, military regimes. They backed the military coup in Indonesia which led to a massacre of over 750,000 ‘communists,’ including teachers, trade union leaders, students, workers and farmers, and their families. Cooperating with the coup leaders, the US embassy in Jakarta provided them names of individuals to be targeted. The third important plank of the US strategy was on the psychological and cultural front. It aimed to create public perception that the US was a freedom loving, altruistic nation which gave humanitarian assistance and supported indigenous cultures against ‘godless communism’. In Asia, it meant, among other things, support for Buddhism. Under the auspices of the Foundation for Religious Action, a semi-official, secretive group, US dollars poured into conservative Buddhist organizations. US agencies like the CIA and the US Information Agency funded studies to devise clandestine programs to win over Buddhist monks and the public to their side. American Christian groups operating in Asia provided willing support to and vital information for these programs. The Asia Foundation, secretly financed by the CIA, launched a multi-pronged drive involving research, education, rural development and support for monasteries so as to create a social base of Buddhist monks and laity to counter communist influence. Presented as private initiatives to promote religious freedom, these endeavors sought to nullify the influence of brave monks in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar who were standing up to the crimes of US supported regimes. The Asia Foundation was particularly active in Thailand where hundreds of monks were trained to present a reformed face of Buddhism, work in development efforts and propagate anti-communist messages in the countryside. It was effective in preventing the Thai Buddhist leaders from aligning with progressive monks in neighboring nations and instead supporting the US war on Vietnam. Similar drives were launched in Myanmar and elsewhere. In Myanmar, the CIA secretly funded what at that time was the world’s largest Buddhist publishing house. In Tibet, the US provided diplomatic support and funds to the Tibetan government in exile led by the Dalai Lama after the Chinese takeover of the nation. The CIA armed and trained Buddhist exiles and assisted them to infiltrate Tibet to carry out sabotage and attacks. With the complicity of the main Western media, a rosy image of Tibet prior to the Chinese invasion that was totally at variance with reality was created. That Tibet was a feudalistic society with grotesque exploitation of the rural folk including children; that it had no social services for the poverty stricken masses; that the ruling class, senior monks and military brass enjoyed opulent lives; that it had been a scene of frequent, bloody infighting between the various Buddhist orders for control of power; that it had a section of monks who were also soldiers; in other words, that it had been a social system bereft of the Buddhist tenet of universal compassion was erased. The Dalai Lama, who had overseen this oppressive system, was reborn as a kind, loving, gentle, tolerant, wise, peace loving, spiritual personage for whom freedom of his people was the main priority. And that image was a major factor in clouding the historic and contemporary reality of the association between Buddhism and violence. Under US support, progressive Buddhist and secular voices in the region endured brutal crackdowns while narrow-minded, intolerant voices became more entrenched. After the neoliberalism generated economic insecurity and instability (like the Asian economic crisis of 1997), the forces of hate and intolerance gained larger ground, made major political gains and, in places, attained a standing in the state institutions. That trend has been accompanied by widespread serious violation of the human rights of minority populations in these nations. An aggressive, retrograde version of Buddhism has infused the public mentality in key Asian nations. And it is making its presence felt elsewhere as well. The US raises tepid human rights concerns, bans a few individuals but eschew its historic responsibility in laying the foundation for this state of affairs. The ultimate irony has transpired with the incorporation of Buddhism into the US military operations. Meditation and mindfulness are now tools used by the military to combat stress and enhance field performance. US marines stationed in Japan visit Buddhist temples to learn meditation. Mindfulness techniques are used to treat the post-traumatic syndrome. Further, there are nearly 5,000 soldiers in the US armed forces who identify themselves as Buddhist. They are counseled by Buddhist military chaplains whose insignia is the Dharma Wheel. A similar situation prevails in the UK armed forces. The bodhisattva has compassion for all beings, but did the Buddha teach meditation so that the designers of cruise missiles, the dealers of genetically modified corn, or the marketers of Pokemon could relax and feel good about themselves? Does a meditation club at the Pentagon represent the pacification of the military-industrial complex or the concentration of the warrior mind? (Patt 2011). The incorporation of Buddhism into the rapacious neoliberal system, the rise of fanatic Buddhist orders in Asia and its incorporation into the world’s largest purveyor of systematic violence have rendered the humanistic teachings of Buddha into shreds. Buddhists who are opposed to these diversions are few. Unless they speak up loudly, and act firmly but peacefully to reverses these trends, the future for Buddhism as a noble religion is bleak. Being critical of the commercialization, corporate abuse and militarization of Buddhism does not imply a rejection of meditation and mindfulness. Of value in tackling varied psychological and physical ailments, it can also assist social justice activists to maintain emotional poise, strengthen resolve and embrace a long-term perspective. 6.7 WOMEN AND BUDDHISM There are two distinct pictures about the status of women in Buddhism. Mainstream books and websites read that despite practical shortfalls, in principle it gives equal status and rights to women and favors education for them. These sources highlight supportive passages from Buddhist scriptures and mention nuns from various nations who became eminent scholars and teachers and rose to saintly ranks. Feminists, on the other hand, declare that women have had a low status in Buddhist communities and were derided for their allegedly promiscuous proclivities. They focus on history, not scriptures. Buddhist women, including nuns, have faced harsh discrimination by Buddhist institutions in Asia for centuries. (O’Brien 2019). Buddhism emerged in a society that was permeated with prejudice against women. Women were denigrated and mistreated in family and public life. The sacred texts of Hinduism placed the woman at par with the sudras, the lowest caste. She had no autonomy. Her sole duty was to fulfill the needs of parents, husband and community. Widowhood was a nightmare; some women were burnt to death along with the corpses of their husbands. A newborn daughter was a cause for dismay. At its inception, Buddhism attracted many female lay followers, some of whom studied and abided by the teachings of Buddha. Nonetheless, while he rejected the existing caste system, Buddha had reservations about giving equal status to women. He accepted that through diligent dharma they could be enlightened just like men. Yet, because they were morally tainted, they did not merit the same spiritual standing as men. He did not allow them into the sangha because their presence would compromise adherence to his teachings. Female charms epitomized desire and formed an impediment to the attainment of Nirvana. Reportedly, he changed his stand after a dialogue with a senior monk who was also his cousin. The transformation was sparked by the actions of his elderly activist stepmother. Buddha repeatedly rebuffed her entreaties to ordain women. Yet, she did not relent. To press their demand, she and five hundred female compatriots shaved their heads and embarked on an arduous march exceeding a hundred miles to the monastery where he held his sermons. This was the first women’s rights march in recorded history. (Rinpoche 2018). The discussion with his cousin in which Buddha changed his mind was prompted by this march. After seeing that ordained nuns managed the affairs of the sangha as well as the male monks and could attain high levels of learning, he gave them more responsibilities in the sangha. But the sangha nuns occupied inferior positions, faced stringent restrictions and had limited powers. A nun had to study twice longer than a monk in order to be ordained. Nuns had to live in close proximity to a male sangha. Monks could criticize nuns, but nuns were not allowed to criticize a monk. And monks were implored to resist the charms of lustful, vain females. Else, they would be entrapped in the cycle of rebirth. The factual basis of the story about his conversion notwithstanding, in the subsequent centuries, Buddhist orders run by nuns flowered across India and beyond. The female sangha became famed for discipline, orderliness, stress on learning and service to the needy. Despite the limitations imposed on them, the very existence of a religious order run by females was a bold, radical step in the context of the misogynic environment of the era. Some nuns became venerated teachers, learned scholars and authors of important texts. The records note lay Buddhist women from wealthy families serving as patrons of the sangha and facilitating the spread of the faith. Nonetheless and eventually, the female sangha succumbed under the weight of obdurate patriarchy. In place after place, the ordination of women was curtailed through deprivation of basic resources and archaic rules. It managed to survive, but mostly at a limited level, in China, Korea, Vietnam, Nepal and Taiwan. Some Buddhist schools in India explicitly banned the ordination of nuns. Later day Buddhist texts were more chauvinist, declaring that women are born with bad karma. While women were encouraged to embrace Buddhism as it would make them docile, submissive and loyal, they were denied autonomy and leadership roles. In most Buddhist communities and nations, women remain subordinate to men in social and religious activities. But in some places, their status has risen to a remarkable degree. And in a few places, they have outpaced men. We look at specific nations to illuminate the character of inequality between the sexes under Buddhism. Tibet + In the archaic semi-feudal Tibetan society that placed little value on the lives of ordinary people, poor rural women fared the worst. On top of poverty, ignorance and disease, they endured discrimination from their masters and husbands. Sexual abuse of women by monks and lamas was common. Their children were forcibly removed from their homes for service in the temples. But some upper class women obtained Buddhist training and became lamas. Women in Tibet, lay or nun, rarely held position of authority prior to 1959. The establishment of a large Tibetan exile community in India and the West after the Chinese takeover led to significant changes in the status of women among the exiles. The decadent edicts and customs of the old order could not be sustained under the watchful eyes of the media that were extolling Buddhist Tibet as an ideal, dream-like society. Consequently, with Western funds and support from feminists in the West, exiled women obtained basic and higher education, and worked as competent professionals. The Dalai Lama set aside the patriarchal customs of his predecessors and began to champion education for women. In 2005, he acceded to the possibility of full ordination for women. In a 2015 BBC interview, he was asked why there was no gender equality in Tibetan Buddhism and if a woman could become the next Dalai Lama. In reply to the first question, he stated that women and men had the same rights in Tibetan Buddhism, and that in his abode of exile in India, they had equal educational opportunities. He ignored historical reality. His own words had implied that female education was initiated to placate his supporters in the West. Under his theocratic rule in Tibet, he and other senior lamas had rejected modern education, both for men and women. In the interview, he accepted that the next Dalai Lama could be a woman, but qualified his standby saying that to be effective, the female Dalai Lama should be ‘very attractive’. Feminists branded it as a retrograde proposition that objectified women and contradicted the efforts to promote equality for women. In Chinese ruled Tibet, education and health services expanded greatly. Over 95% of eligible girls obtain primary education. Many secured advanced training in a range of professions. Women are represented in good numbers in the political hierarchy as well. Yet, there are only a few women in the upper echelons of the Buddhist religious hierarchy inside Tibet. Tibetan people desire independence from Chinese rule and the right to practice their religion without restriction. But neither male nor female Tibetans seek a return to the oppressive, misogynist lama-ruled way of life. Japan + Religious practice in Japan blends Buddhism with Shintoism, the ancient Japanese religion. Both are infused with the patriarchic norms of the broader society. By custom, women were groomed to be submissive and loyal to the family, parents, in-laws and elders and were expected to be courteous, charming, elegant and demur. Japanese Buddhism portrays the female body as unchaste, spiritually debased. Yet, monks frequently broke the vows of celibacy, married in secret and fathered children. The nuns cooked, served food, stitched robes, and maintained temple facilities. Performing religious functions or meditating was not a priority for nuns. And assigning them positions of authority was out of the question. Yet, there were extended periods during which women rose in public and religious life. A few women became distinguished Zen masters. But after Japan rose as a regional imperial power from the 1800s, women increasingly saw their status undermined. Until the 1950s, their rights were restricted by law. Some rights were legally recognized, but it had little impact on practice. Rules limiting their access to temples, shrines and holy sites were abolished in 1872. But it took long before they were implemented. Women could not join the parades carrying religious shrines until 2001. Unlike Taiwan, China and Korea, Japan has a weak tradition of female sanghas, or women led Buddhist orders. Japanese women have made major gains in education and employment since the 1950s. Though, on average, they still earn less than men and hold few managerial positions. Many have part-time or low-level service jobs. They also shoulder the onus for cooking, child-care and family affairs. The march towards gender equality is a long one. And on the religious front, they have a longer path to traverse. Sri Lanka + Like other nations in the region, patriarchy dominates Sri Lankan society. But it has a fine history of female participation in Buddhist life. For several centuries after Buddhism was established, sanghas populated by women operated across the island. Nuns were ordained; some rose to high ranks. But as social and economic inequalities enlarged and more stringent forms of patriarchy materialized, the status of women in Buddhist practice suffered as well. About 1000 years ago, ordination of nuns was curtailed and women only sanghas became extinct. Until recently, nuns only had domestic types of responsibilities in the monasteries. The year 1960 saw the first election of a woman prime minister in the world. It occurred in Sri Lanka and the woman was Sirimavo Bandaranaike, a Buddhist. She served three terms over a long political career. But this elite-level event did not have a major impact on the equality between the sexes on the ground. And the Buddhist hierarchy remained as conservative as in the past. Of recent, a vocal group of Buddhist women in Sri Lanka has been fighting to regain the ancient right to be fully ordained nuns. The first modern-day ordination of Buddhist nuns occurred in 1996. Three years later, more than one hundred and fifty nuns were ordained. Yet, unlike the male run temples, those run by women do not receive government grants. Women aspiring to get monastic education face an uphill battle. And due to opposition from powerful monks, female ordination has an uncertain future. Overall, Sri Lanka remains a strongly male-dominated society. Thailand + Thailand is a male-dominated society in which Buddhism is a core aspect of life. But women have progressed in education and the professions in recent decades. Though they won the right to vote in 1932, their representation in the upper echelons of power has been marginal. Democratic politics have been distinctly rocky in this military dominated system with a constitutional monarchy. Fabulous natural sites, beaches, temples, shrines and cultural practices have made Thailand a favored destination for global visitors. Tourism now accounts for nearly a fifth of the Thai GDP. But it is an industry with a moral taint. Despite prevailing religiosity, the nation is a key center for international sex-tourism and sexual trafficking of women and children. Though forbidden by law, prostitution thrives in brothels, massage parlors, hotels and street solicitation. Thailand was a principal vacation spot for US soldiers fighting in Vietnam in the 1960s. Sex trade then expanded from a small-scale activity into an international industry. The soldiers left behind a legacy of rampant sexually transmitted diseases and antibiotic resistance that later spread across Asia. Their temporary partnerships bred many children, a large number of whom were abandoned. Presently an estimated 200,000 sex workers operate in Thailand. Basic necessity leads poor families to surrender their children to crime gangs. The high-end establishments specifically cater to foreign visitors. Top politicians, higher echelons of the military and big business are complicit in this lucrative sector. Under the table payments to the police are common. The Buddhist hierarchy, which is integrally aligned with the state, has not rallied against sex trade and tourism. Monks are not allowed to have direct contact with women. Thai Buddhist teachings deem women as lustful beings prone to sinful activity due to their karma. Prostitution is a sin but is explained away as a matter of fate. There is also a perfidious side here. Pra Chai, a distinguished Thai monk was the leader of a child trafficking network that enticed teenage boys from broken families and street kids for sexual acts. A small amount of cash and petty gifts sufficed to buy their silence. Police investigators had a hard time obtaining evidence against him due to his high social standing. He was finally convicted in 2015 and given a long prison sentence. Prior to this case, five other monks had been found guilty of sex crime. It is likely that some other predatory monks continue such practices. Ordination of nuns is illegal since 1928. A few Thai women circumvented the law by securing ordination abroad and returning to practice as nuns. The first time this occurred was in 2001. While these nuns are not prosecuted, they face social opprobrium and even death threats as they go around, just as male monks do, begging for alms and food with a bowl in hand. Unlike monks, they are not eligible for state educational, health care and transport assistance. With external support, some Thai feminists are struggling to improve the position of women in the social, political and religious arenas. They were instrumental in founding the International Association of Buddhist Women. Bangkok also hosted the first international Buddhist women’s conference. But it is more of an elitist than a grassroots movement. Progress is slow. A nation with more than 250,000 monks still has less than 300 nuns. Myanmar + In this patriarchic society infused with cultural and religion-based prejudice against women, no Buddhist nun has secured ordination for centuries. But women have become active in political affairs. Many took part in the pro-democracy struggles led by Aung San Suu Kyi. But now their activism has assumed a different agenda as many participate in the institutions run by the ultra-nationalist groups which aim to preserve and protect the culture and values of Buddhism against alleged onslaught by foreign influences like Islam. These groups operate on two fronts. On the political front, Buddhist leaders issue incendiary pronouncements fomenting hatred against the perceived enemies of Buddhism. They canvass for laws that discriminate against minorities and Muslims. They and their followers take a frontline part in burning down villages and killing and expelling the Rohingyas. On the social front, the militant Buddhist groups undertake charitable work like feeding the poor, providing education for young people from low income strata, and assisting people affected by natural disasters. However, such assistance is not extended to the non-Burmese ethnic groups, whatever their plight. Thousands of Buddhist women participate in both types of activities. They collect donations and organize and distribute essential supplies to the needy. Some volunteer to teach marginalized youth, some provide pro-bono legal assistance, and some give talks on Buddhist doctrines. They also organize and undertake drives to gather signatures for anti-Muslim petitions and other planks of the extremist Buddhist agenda. The role of the Buddhist monks and nuns in the extremist programs has taken people of goodwill everywhere by surprise. Women members of these hardline groups fervently back the genocidal pogroms against the Rohingya people. The burning and destruction of villages, rape, torture and killings have internally displaced tens of thousands. Many live in encampments. And over 700,000 have fled to Bangladesh and Thailand. The Rohingya live in absolute squalor and misery in the internal refugee camps. But they received no assistance from the former government led by the Nobel laurate Suu Kyi or the current military government. A few NGOs from abroad try to provide basic necessities and services like health care and education, especially for the children. Yet, nationalist Buddhist women have led protest campaigns and placed physical barriers to block aid supplies from reaching the displaced people. They claim that the ‘refugees’ are being favored at the expense of the local people. Women ‘will actively stop heavily pregnant Rohingya women from getting to the nearest hospital,’ a seasoned representative of an international aid organization working in the area told us, speaking anonymously due to fear of reprisals from the government. ‘I’ve worked in many complicated places around the world, but I had never experienced this’. (Augilar 2018). Detested in their own nation, the Rohingyas are unwanted anywhere else. Despite declarations about crimes against humanity by the UN and human rights groups, their future remains bleak. At present, it seems that hostility towards the Rohingya population is one of few things binding together Aung San Suu Kyi’s NDL party, the army that once opposed her, and the majority of people in Myanmar. Whichever direction the movement takes next, it seems likely that women will remain at its forefront. (Augilar 2018). In hierarchical societies with distinct and disjoined marginalized groups, the ruling circles play off one against the other by granting minor favors here and there and using one to oppress the others. Buddhist men and women in Myanmar have succumbed to the same tactic. Instead of uniting to fight against militarism and for the establishment of a just, democratic society, as they did earlier, they have thrown in their lot with the military and fascistic forces to brutalize the most brutalized among them. After the military takeover of power in February 2021, and detention of Suu Kyi, the situation took another turn. Many Buddhist monks and nuns once again turned against the military but their stand against Muslims and the Rohingyas is unchanged. China, Taiwan and South Korea + Despite the prevalence of patriarchy, the nations of China, Taiwan and South Korea have a more permissive attitude towards the ordination of Buddhist nuns. With a good economic standing, ordained nuns there preach, instruct and conduct services alongside the monks. Many female orders in these nations practice ‘socially engaged’ Buddhism by supporting schools, low cost health facilities and centers for the care of orphans and disabled people. In pre-revolutionary China, women had little choice but to live under the control of men. Foot binding, dowry payment, arranged marriage, polygamy and dominant in-laws produced lives of rank drudgery for most women. Laws enforced since 1949 have ended most degrading practices. The majority of adult Chinese women now have at least a secondary school level education. Some 70% are in the work force. In 1959, Indian and Chinese women were not far apart in terms of social and economic status. Today, Chinese women have outpaced their Indian counterparts by many miles. Some 74% of the Chinese people follow Chinese folk religion, 16% follow Buddhism, 7% follow Taoism, 2.5% follow Christianity, and 0.5% follow Islam. Among the Buddhists, women have made good progress since 1949. In monasteries, monks and nuns undergo similar ordination rituals, adorn similar robes and are given similar names and titles. Nuns oversee religious rites, participate in monastic decision making and attain mastership rank at the same level as the monks. Negative aspersions on their virtuosity are not common. Yet, given the Buddhist vision of the role and spiritual status of women, a glass-ceiling at the senior levels exists. Some 35% of the population of Taiwan is Buddhist, 33% is Taoist, 19% is irreligious, 4% is Christian, and 9% follows traditional religion. Of the Asian nations, gender equality in general and within Buddhism has made the greatest strides in Taiwan. The process accelerated by leaps and bounds after 1952 when nuns were fully ordained for the first time. Of the nearly 30,000 ordained Buddhist priests now, three-quarters are women. Buddhist women run the largest charitable civic organization. Nuns are at the forefront of educational, media and publication organizations and endeavors. Many have college level and advanced degrees in religious, professional and scientific fields. Taiwanese nuns are well respected by the community. They focus both on overall social welfare and gender equality. Yet, some leading conservative monks want to turn back the tide. Despite the remarkable success story of the Taiwanese nuns, patriarchic Buddhism has not been subdued. South Korea is another Asian nation where women have made major strides in the social, economic and religious arenas since the 1950s. A surprising 56% of the population is irreligious, 27% is Christian, 16% is Buddhist, and 1% follows other religions. Buddhist women in the nation have made major strides towards gender equality. Many monastic orders run by nuns have been revived of recent. As in Taiwan, nuns run monasteries, oversee religious affairs and are among the most respected groups in society. Their educational gains are reflected in the fact that nuns with doctoral degrees in Buddhist studies outnumber similarly qualified monks. Nepal + Nepal, the birth land of Buddha, had a monarchic system of rule until about a decade ago. With some 80% of the population Hindu, 10% Buddhist, 4% Muslim and 6% other, Hinduism was the official religion. Hinduism and Buddhism in Nepal exist in a syncretic form together with indigenous beliefs and customs. In a culture infused with religion, the landscape is dotted by temples and shrines. The town where Buddha was born draws pilgrims from all over the world. Inter-religious strife has been rare in this multi-cultural nation. Nepal has a vibrant secular side. For decades, the fight for social justice and democracy was led by a coalition of communist parties. Subsequently, the violent campaigns of the past were replaced by massive street protests. The monarchy was deposed, and a constitutional democracy instituted. Now there is no official religion. Popular for their welfare programs like elderly and widow support and unemployment benefits, the coalition won elections and ruled for a while. But their policies did not deviate far from neoliberal recipes, and the conditions of the masses hardly changed. Economic uncertainty and vast inequality have made the political landscape quite fragile. The magnificent cultural façades of Nepal mask an appalling reality. It is a place with a large gap between the few haves and the mass of have nots. The latter have no voice in local and national decision making. The caste system is entrenched; the Dalits and minority people are discriminated in all walks of life; and women and children, especially in poor families, risk a range of life damaging abuses. Nepal is strongly misogynistic with extremely harmful anti-women norms. Menstruating women and women who have given birth are secluded under highly risky conditions. Religious obstinacy and dysfunctional policing have prevented implementation of laws banning the practice. Women and girls in growing numbers face abuse, violence, rape, kidnapping and even murder, in the home and outside. Complaints to the police do little to stem the tide. Poor children live precarious lives, hungry, malnourished and ill. Illiteracy is common. Families scrap a living from a patch of land and few livestock. Jobs are scarce. Most are arduous and pay sweatshop wages. All avenues of making a living entail grinding poverty. Girls are worse off than boys. The benefits of the flourishing tourist industry do not trickle down. It is a fertile ground for making Nepal a center for international trafficking of children—mostly girls but boys as well. Seductive promises by recruiters from criminal gangs induce hard up families to hand over their children for a paltry sum and promise of good jobs in local towns, India or the Middle East. Some children are kidnapped. Each year between 5,000 and 10,000 girls and young women from Nepal are smuggled into India. Most face sexual exploitation in massage parlors, bars, brothels, spas and dance venues. A number of girls land in the Arab nations as low-paid, overworked domestic workers. Some of those sent to India are forced into organ harvesting surgery. Internal trafficking for sexual exploitation and cheap, risky work is rampant. Thousands contract diseases like Hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS. Victims of child trafficking mostly come from the Dalit and marginalized communities. Other than Nepal, majority Buddhist nations like Cambodia and Thailand are major sources for trafficked children. Of recent, Japan has emerged as a rising point of origin, transshipment and destination for sexually exploited girls. Poverty and ingrained patriarchic beliefs and practices are major barriers towards preventing abuse of women and children In Nepal. The leaders of Hindu, Buddhist and traditional religions have yet to denounce the injustices and take strong measures to address them. The role of women in Nepalese Buddhism is a diverse one. Most nuns get minimal training and effectively are the under-paid labor force of the monasteries. They attend to domestic duties—cooking, laundry, cleaning, buying supplies, and doing whatever the monks assign them. They abide by monastic rules but lack religious responsibility. A few nuns are fully ordained. A few liberal monasteries provide education in Buddhist scriptures to nuns and allow them to lead prayer sessions. They also benefit from secular education. Some nuns are trained in business matters and operate the guest houses, shops and restaurants owned by the monastery. A handful of nunneries that follow Tibetan Buddhist traditions exist in the remote mountainous areas of Nepal. Most were set up or revitalized recently. In contrast to pre-1959 Tibet, they provide a complete monastic training of a Tibetan brand to women students. One nunnery offers a seven-day retreat, two have a three-year study program and one has a comprehensive nine-year program. Enrollment in these residential, full time programs ranges from 7 to 150. A couple of these institutions have a primary school within their compounds. One nunnery attracts trainees from abroad. The funds for such nunneries come mainly from Buddhist foundations and supporters in the US and Europe. Some Nepalese nunneries trace their lineage across centuries. A few Nepalese woman run monasteries go beyond their normal calling to engage in social work. A couple assist former and potential victims of child trafficking. At-risk girls are sheltered and trained in Nepali language, hygiene and Buddhist doctrine and practice, and later enrolled in public schools. The activist nuns also do environmental sanitation tasks like picking litter. A few nunneries address the issue of anti-female violence and rape. Besides mounting educational campaigns, they conduct Kung Fu style self-defense training for nuns and other women. Each year, over a hundred nuns, some from India, undertake this training. Some of the well-trained nuns go into rural areas to raise awareness about child trafficking and teach martial arts to young women. They have garnered international recognition and awards for their exemplary work. Activist nuns from progressive monasteries joined the demanding search, rescue, supply and rebuilding efforts after a deadly 7.8 scale earthquake struck Nepal in 2015. Trekking on foot with heavy loads, they penetrated the hilly terrain to bring badly needed supplies to remote villages. Despite the fine work done by dedicated, socially engaged nuns, their effort suffers from basic limitations. Consider the case of Dhamma Moli, a large nunnery led by two eminent Buddhist nuns. With parental consent, it houses young girls from poor families and teaches them language skills, Buddhist doctrine, personal hygiene and secular subjects to enable them to live independent lives. Some are just six years old. A key aim is to prevent the girls from becoming victims of human traffickers. The leaders recognize that poverty and cultural denigration of women form the base of the problem of child trafficking and proclaim that such practices are incompatible with Buddhism. In a wide-ranging interview with an American Journalist, Sister Dhamma Vijaya, one of the two leaders, had the following response to a key question: Question: Do you know of other Buddhist organizations working to fight human trafficking? Reply: We believe that there are many Buddhist organizations fighting human trafficking, but we do not know of them specifically. (Compano 2013). The reply typifies NGO work in the Global South. While the issues they deal with are serious, the focus is on those issues that resonate with funders in the Western nations. Often scores of NGOs attend to any particular issue—human rights, press freedom, women rights, child health, education, human trafficking, etc. Some secure funds from private and governmental agencies in the US, some from Norway, some from the European Union, and so on. Each NGO works independently; coordinated efforts are rare. While most NGOs are secular groups, a number are linked to a religious institution. The latter have a faith-based agenda, namely, to gain converts. Assistance to people facing life difficulties often increases conversion rates, but at times draws criticism from other religious groups and communities. NGO reports are biased; success stories are spotlighted; other tales are swept under the rug. Despite outstanding results achieved by some NGOs, overall, they can only make a minor, often short-term, dent on a problem that is structural and national in scope. Dependency on external funds affects the activist nunneries and influences their priorities and mode of operation. Like the Kung Fu-trained nuns, they win international prizes but are hardly known among the common people at home. In any case, instances of progressive monastic work are exceptions; they do not reflect the overall situation in the Buddhist monasteries of Nepal. The dance and music programs staged by nuns for US audiences would, for example, hardly meet the approval of the traditionalist monks. The basic issue is that NGO efforts, including those of the Buddhist nuns in Nepal, do not question and mobilize against the system that produces mass misery, patriarchy and inequality. They work within the system. And effectively, they act as a shock absorber of the system. Foreign funds foment nepotism, opportunism, and corruption. With shallow roots among the local people, the NGOs often serve to neutralize movements that fight for fundamental change. Nepal is famed for its mountain ranges that include the highest peak in the world. Scaling their heights is risky, to say the least. On Mount Everest alone, nearly 4,500 have summited successfully to date, and about 350 died trying. The World Peace Prayer is an annual event that combines promotion of global peace and wellbeing with a commemoration of the heroic spirit of the mountaineers. Sponsored by the World Buddhist Religious Association, the Bhadracharya Monlam Foundation in Lumbini (birthplace of Buddha) and the Nepalese Mountaineering Association, the three-day program is held in a prime tourist location. A wide variety of inexpensive and pricey souvenirs to mark the occasion and the usual array of merchandise for tourists and visitors are on sale as well. The third World Peace Prayer was observed in March 2020. The final program was preceded month-long prayers at many Buddhist monasteries. Handing over the peace torch by a leading Buddhist monk in Lumbini marks a high point of the event. Designed to promote tourism in Nepal, it attracts 25,000 people from all walks of life. Hundreds of Buddhist monks, lamas and nuns are present. But the outbreak of the corona virus disease limited the number of international visitors in 2020. On the last day, all attendees are blessed by venerated Buddhist priests. Senior state and provincial officials, including leaders of the communist party also attend the final sessions. The World Peace Prayer denotes an NGO-based curious admixture of religion, tourism, spirit of adventure, commerce and politics the likes of which occur elsewhere in these neoliberal times. The aim is to promote peace, yet no educational sessions on the actuality of militarism in the world are held. It promotes human welfare without addressing the basic causes of poverty and misery. Ani C Drolma + A household name in Nepal, Ani C Drolma passionately promotes education for girls and denounces domestic violence. The Nuns Welfare Foundation she set up runs a school giving cost free residential training for some eighty girls from poor families. The saffron-clad students learn science, computer basics, mathematics, Nepali and Buddhist doctrine. She also funds a specialist hospital where hundreds of people with kidney diseases receive free dialysis every month. In recognition of her endeavors to improve the lives of girls, combat the scourge of domestic violence and stage events to assist victims of natural calamities, she was appointed the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador to Nepal. Besides the year 2017 Freedom Award from the US based Atlantic Council, she has garnered honors at Harvard University, Stanford University and other educational institutions. Remarkably, Ani Drolma, who grew up under difficult circumstances, is an ordained Buddhist nun. Known as the singing nun, not just in Nepal but well beyond, she has sixteen and counting best-selling albums to her credit. She is arguably the top Buddhist music performer in the world today. Fusing a multiplicity of global styles with Nepalese and Buddhist meditational styles, her music represents a genre of its own. Her dignified poise, soothing, exquisite elocution and sublime intensity complement the skill of her musical accompanists to provide an experience to behold. She intersperses her Nepali singing with moving life stories and gentle explanations of the history and meaning of the traditional and modern Buddhist mantras and hymns she evokes. She passionately speaks about her sisters in Nepal, about gender discrimination, about freedom from anger and hate, about love and compassion. Her English is flawless, and her smile is endearing. She promotes music as a means to develop spiritual capacity. Always draped in the robes and scarf of a nun, her concerts in the US, UK, Brazil, Germany, China, India, Japan, Taiwan and Romania are filled to capacity. Yet, she enjoys a posh lifestyle that is as far as it can be from that of her Nepali sisters. Wealthy beyond their dreams, her classy automobile and house are the talk of the town. For her, no inconsistency between words and deeds exists. She disagrees that a nun should live a cloistered, reserved life. Poverty is not a thing to celebrate. Buddhists may prosper in the world but should use their wealth to help the needy. What she does for the Nepali girls and kidney patients justifies her musical career and earnings. Popular and respected among the people, many venerate her as a saintly bodhisattva and consider her a national treasure. Her messages of salvation through spirituality and charity resonate well within the context the global neoliberal system. Her 2017 Freedom Award was from an organization that is directed by luminaries of the US political, business and military elite and whose main goal is to promote US leadership (read US imperialism) in the world. Like the mindfulness movement, Ani Drolma exemplifies Westernization of Buddhism and its redirection towards serving the needs of the capitalist system. People mired in poverty and desperation need the emotional solace her music brings. But it also has to motivate them to stand up for their rights and be active in transformative work. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case. The Mosuo + Tucked away in a remote mountainous enclave in south-west China, the Mosuo follow a traditional form of Tibetan Buddhism. Unlike Tibet, they have no monks, lamas or temples and no landlords or high rulers. Buddhism is practiced via a shared belief in the Buddha and communal rites and customs. Veneration of sacred mountains and female deities is intertwined with the Buddhist doctrine. The Mosuo live in a matrilineal-cum-matriarchal society where women head households and control family affairs. General communal affairs are also under their control. Marriage is an informal union between a woman and a man. A woman is free to choose her partner. The union may last long or be dissolved in a while through consent by both parties. But the children stay with the mother who controls the family property. Women own and inherit property, sow crops in this agrarian society, and run the households – cooking, cleaning and child-rearing. The men provide strength, ploughing, building, repairing homes, slaughtering animals and helping with big familial decisions, although the final say is always with Grandmother. (Booth 2017). This social system, which survived through centuries including under the turbulent transformative onslaught of the 1960s Cultural Revolution, is now undergoing a slow but definitive change in this era of neoliberal globalization. Like the Hadza of Tanzania (Chapter 4), the Mosuo people have received much publicity in China and the West. Their land abounds with spectacular sights, colorful traditions and friendly people. More and more tourists come each year and tourism has replaced agriculture as the principal economic activity. Predictably, social inequality is on the rise and patriarchy is creeping in. Business establishments like hotels and taxis are generally run by men who decide key business issues. They represent the community in dealings with the outsiders. As the traditional sexual freedom is abused, prostitution, sexually transmitted diseases and crime are on the rise. Like the Hadza of Tanzania, the Mosuo are exotic objects for the tourists, to be photographed for a fee. But as their traditions are glorified by scholars and journalists in the Western outlets, their community turns into a symbolic shell of its glorious past. Sadly, it stands no chance against the hydra of capitalism that transforms or devours all cultures that come along its path. Navayana Buddhism + The Indian statesman BR Ambedkar was a principled champion of women’s rights. Responsible for inserting clauses in the constitution of the Republic of India that protected the rights of women, as the first Minister for Law and Justice, he was also the prime mover of the bill that provided specific benefits like paid maternity leave to women. When Prime Minister Nehru did not accord it due priority, he resigned from the government. Two quotes from his speeches on the issue are significant: I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress women have achieved. I strongly believe in the movements that are run by women. If they are truly taken into confidence, they may change the present picture of society which is very miserable now. In the past, they have played a significant role in improving the conditions of weaker sections and classes. BR Ambedkar (Fll Team 2016). The Navayana Buddhist order he founded in 1956 gave Dalit men and women an honorable avenue to detach themselves from their low social status and chart their own path. But his death a year later robbed the nascent movement of a bold, learned leader of national stature. Instead, the Dalit parties that emerged later, while claiming to follow his philosophy, are run by charismatic, but unprincipled, well-to-do and corrupt personalities for whom politics is device for lobbying for favors from the main parties and holding on to their positions. A few women occupy the top positions in these parties. But they have done little to advance the status and conditions of Dalit women in general. The Navayana Buddhist order functions, especially in the rural areas where most of the adherents live, as a syncretic adjunct to Hinduism and has adapted to its misogynic tendencies. United States and Europe + Western Buddhism has a more progressive record on gender equality in comparison to the Asiatic Buddhist sects. It has largely dispensed with the sexist tenets of the venerated Buddhist texts and the discriminatory practices of the Asiatic monastic orders. Women hold senior positions in the Buddhist centers of the US. They are as well credited with policies that promote social justice, welfare of poor families and environmental awareness. The US has more Zen masters than Japan. Buddhist women in the West consider institutional sexism to be a vestige of Asian culture that can be excised surgically from authentic Buddhism. A few Western monastic orders are co-ed, with men and women abiding by the same rules. The list of distinguished, western women Buddhist masters and teachers is long. Pema Chodron is a leading voice. After training by Buddhist monks, in 1981 she became the first American woman to be a fully ordained num. Her books and speeches on noble living, meditation, peace, spirituality and nonviolence have a worldwide audience. A sampling of her views is indicative of her philosophy: Life is like that. We don’t know anything. +++ Let your curiosity be greater than your fear. +++ Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity. +++ The ego seeks to divide and separate. Spirit seeks to unify and heal. Pema Chodron Chodron led the Shambhala Buddhist order and was honored with the Global Bhikkhuni Award. Her foundation now supports Buddhist communities and nunneries across the world. Unlike traditional Buddhist nuns, she is married and has three grandchildren. There is as well a dark side to Western Buddhism. The lamas and monks in a host of Tibetan Buddhist centers in Australia, France, California and the UK have faced charges of rape and sexual abuse. Several have been convicted, jailed and compensation was paid to the female and male victims. Sexual misconduct accusations have plagued the leaders of the Triratna Community Trust, the most influential Tibetan Buddhist School in the West. Spread across 26 countries, its properties have an estimated value in excess of 100 million UK pounds. It maintains some thirty centers in the UK alone. Its income mostly comes from retreats, meditation courses, sales of Buddhist books and material, and contributions from members and external sources. The centers run bookshops and cafeterias. Members work on a voluntary basis or for minimal pay. As a registered charity, it is eligible for tax breaks. The Trust has influential linkages with the political establishment. Its senior leaders were involved in the production of a key policy document on the use of mindfulness for stress reduction among state employees and treatment of mental ailments in the UK. Notwithstanding its spiritual repute, undercurrents of sexual misdeeds permeated the Trust centers. In what was dubbed a ‘bombshell’ report, some one in ten members, male and female, had either been subjected to or had observed inappropriate sexual practices. Many of the charges were levelled at the now deceased founder of the Trust. Nuns of a similar disposition to Pema Chodron exist in the West. But in general, there are more men than women in the leadership. Buddhism in the West is big business and has yet to extricate itself from the sexist tendencies in the society. Genuine gender equality is still a distant goal even in Western Buddhism. Overall + Buddha initiated, albeit reluctantly, measures that lifted women to a degree from the misogynic Hindu culture. Allowing nuns to be ordained, he accepted that women could attain enlightenment. But he did not categorically proclaim spiritual equality of men and women. The Buddhist scriptures after his death by and large portray women as sinful beings. A few centuries on, ordination of nuns managed to survive only in a few places. The status of women in Buddhism today spans the gamut from total subordination to near equality. Thailand typifies the former while the US and Taiwan represent the latter. Conservative voices generally control the Asian landscape. Buddhist schools give minor credence to the enlightenment of women, let alone the issue of females being admitted into the sangha. That reality is obscured by popular images of Buddhism in the West. Scholars of Buddhism neglect the issue as well. By declaring that the sagely Buddha stood for equal rights for all, the embarrassing historical and modern-day realities of the superior status of monks in comparison to nuns are masked. The pronouncements of Thich Nhat Hanh and the Dalai Lama to promote gender equality are taken at their face value. The advocates of equality are often silenced. The complete silence on the subject of misogyny so firmly entrenched in the Buddhist scriptures, and traced to the Buddha, is quite remarkable. (Pattanaika 2016) A leading Buddhists scholar concurs. After noting the ambivalent but mostly unfavorable depictions of women in the teachings of Gautama Buddha, he declares that ‘Buddhists texts are replete with negative portrayals of women’ and further draws a key conclusion: [Regardless] of the textual sources that may be available, the presence of Buddhism in any given society has not materially improved the status of women, though nunneries have often provided a welcome refuge for women. (Lopez 2001, pages 161,163). Buddhist women are struggling to change the misogynist culture. In places, they have made large gains. The important question is will the striving for gender equality be associated with the hate mongering trends in Buddhism, as in Myanmar or will it express itself within socially engaged Buddhism, as in Taiwan, and even go towards questioning the structure of the system that promotes all the types of inequalities? Attaining equality so as to participate in the oppression of other people or join violent institutions like the military is a morally depraved goal unworthy of those who profess allegiance to the noble path laid down by Gautama Buddha. 6.8 BUDDHISM: A RELIGION? Since its inception, Buddhism as perceived and practiced by the majority of the followers has included the idea of a supernatural realm and supernatural beings. That along with its varied communal customs and rites and the body of venerated texts make it a religion as defined in Chapter 3. Westernized Buddhism and Navayana Buddhism, where the philosophical and secular components predominate, are two partial exceptions to this rule. Buddhism is the most idealized religious belief system in Western nations. Numerous books and websites portray it as a secular philosophy of prime relevance to the multitude of personal, social and environmental problems faced by humanity. Some authors project that the principles of Buddhism can be applied to construct a humane form of capitalism. These versions of the Buddhist doctrine deemphasize what is in the basic texts and ignore the historical and current realities of the practice and social function of Buddhism in the world. The contradictory, inconsistent and at times, incoherent segments of the doctrine and the gap between doctrine and actuality, are effaced. It is said that Buddhism has dispensed with the Vedic ideas of soul and rebirth, and Christian visions of heaven and hell. But Buddhist scriptures talk about being reborn into a divine realm or a hellish realm. It depends on your deeds in this and the past life. They contain graphic descriptions of eight excruciatingly hot hells, eight incredibly cold hells and other unpleasant hells. When asked: ‘If there is no soul, what is being reborn?’ the typical Buddhist response is: consciousness, or cosmic consciousness. Yet, what does that really mean? Is it not an entity beyond the natural realm? If it is an entity consignable to a divine or a hellish afterlife, can it experience pleasure and pain in the manner humans do? To see Buddhism as a purely secular ethical philosophy is to overlook the fantastic creation myths, magical events and the plethora of gods and demigods that feature in its texts. Most Buddhists accept them. One finds statements to the effect that in the early cycles of the universe, humans were able to fly and had a life span of 80,000 years which, over successive cycles, will decrease to ten years. Like the reincarnations of Vishnu accepted by Hindus, the Buddha periodically lands among humans to guide them towards the true path. The next Buddha is expected to appear 5 billion years from now. Some stories say that Gautama Buddha started walking immediately after birth and wherever he stepped, a lotus flower bloomed. The Buddhist canon is steeped with hundreds of such tales that are held valid by devotees. Like any religion, actual Buddhism is intertwined with supernatural events, objects, stories and beings. And like the other major religions, it is divided into denominations that differ according to the holy books they venerate, their interpretations, and their religious and cultural practices. 6.9 REFLECTIONS The massive Buddhist canon, its numerous stunning monasteries, shrines, sculptures and artwork; the diversity of entrancing monastic rituals; the captivating, calming hymns, sutras and chants; the colorful attires of monks and nuns; the resonating musical instruments lending serenity to chanting and meditation, and the festivities associated with Buddhism represent a remarkable, valuable component of human culture. Buddhism has enriched life wherever it has taken root and provided comfort, solace and meaning to hundreds of millions. The rationale for spiritual living, the code of ethics and guidelines for conduct embodied in the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Noble Path present an elevated, admirable portrait of a civilized, just and harmonious mode of living and for organization of society. Meditational practice and the tenets of compassion and loving kindness are psychological modalities of import to daily living. Helping to attain focus and mental balance, they are useful therapies for a wide range of mental ailments and stress reduction as well as devices for promotion of harmony among human beings. Buddhism emerged within a social formation based on a rigid social hierarchy and strict patriarchy. The dominant religious doctrine with gods and goddesses who oversaw human affairs declared that the fate of the soul depended on living in conformity with the ordained functions of your birth caste. Gautama Buddha challenged the hierarchical caste system and the religion that sanctioned it. As it opened up chances for a freer, improved life, disaffected social strata and women were attracted to Buddhism. But it did not take long for the religion of the underprivileged to undergo a metamorphosis and become linked to wealth and power. As it expanded across Asia and spawned a vast variety of subdivisions and sacred texts, such a linkage became crucial for its survival and development. Adoption by the rulers bifurcated its social function. While it provided comfort, emotional support and meaning to the adherents it as well helped buttress the existent hierarchical structure and endow a spiritual standing to the ruler. Yet, there also were adherents who invoked Buddhist ethical values to oppose unjust and oppressive rulers. This chapter has provided a snippet of the complex history of Buddhism. It has several examples from the past and present that illustrate these starkly contradictory tendencies. The most striking case is that of Buddhist monks in Myanmar who valiantly but peacefully defied the military dictatorship in the pro-democracy struggle but later joined hands with the same military in the onslaught on the Rohingya people. Some Buddhist communities have made significant progress on the issue of gender equality. But for the most part, Buddhism remains intertwined with a misogynist culture. The growth of Buddhist practices in the Western world, especially the US, occurred in a way that reflects these dualistic tendencies. Embraced by the counterculture movement of the 1960s, Buddhism became a vehicle for expressing an alternative lifestyle that, among other things, rejected the US military aggression in Vietnam and adjoining nations. Yet agencies of the US and their front organizations gave financial and political support to orthodox Buddhist orders to combat the anti-imperialist and communist groups in Asia. This support was a key factor in the evolution of modern-day hate spewing nationalist Buddhist monks and parties in the region. The monks of the past who made it acceptable to kill communists have been replaced by nationalist monks who foment violence against Muslims and other minorities. The popularity of Buddhism in the US and Europe has contradictory features. On the one hand, meditation and mindfulness practices assist people in combatting stress, attaining mental equipoise, and give health care professionals a relatively safe way for treating an array of psychological ailments. Yet major corporations use them to reduce workplace disharmony, increase efficiency and protect the bottom line. Governments utilize them to alleviate the overwork and angst caused by cutbacks of essential services and the military deploys them to boost combat efficiency. Like other religions, Buddhism is increasingly serving as a prop for the neo-liberal system across the world. It is a vehicle for groups that marginally tackle the symptoms, not the basic causes, of social problems. And it has become an ideological plank for extremist political tendencies that portray ‘the other’ as the cause of national and global problems. While many Buddhist orders partake in charity work, Buddhist movements and activists that challenge the system as such are a rarity. The Buddhist counterpart to the vibrant liberation theology of Latin America (see Chapter 7) has yet to make its presence felt. On the one hand, Buddhism gave rise to the superb, sublime, entrancing musical performances and meditational chants of the Nepali Buddhist nun Ani C Drolma. (see the links in Drolma 2020). On the other, we see the erstwhile global icon of non-violent, pro-democracy struggles, Aung San Suu Kyi, a devout Buddhist supported by thousands of Buddhist monks, take the podium to defend a genocidal pogrom. David Patt captures this duality well: Is modern capitalism, with its retinue of social injustice, militarism, and environmental destruction, ultimately incompatible with the Buddhist way of being in the world? And if it is, what is a good Buddhist to do about it? (Patt 2001). The most eminent scientist of the 20th century had high expectations of Buddhism: The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. The religion, which is based on experience, which refuses to be dogmatic. If there's any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it will be Buddhism.... Albert Einstein Was Albert Einstein aware of the actualities of Buddhism in Tibet? Did he know about the support given by Zen masters to the rampages of fascist Japan in Asia? What would he have said of the participation of Buddhist monks in the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people? Hundreds of millions of unquestionably decent Buddhists go about their ordinary, often challenging, lives today. Like other humans in the same social crucible, they feel joy as well as pain. They need to pose and address these questions. Resorting to the ruminations of Pema Chodron is not enough. The answers they will give and how they will act are crucial not just for retaining the reputation of Buddhism as a religion of compassion and spiritual growth but also for the progress of humanity. CHAPTER 07: CHRISTIANITY ↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔ The fruit of faith is love, and the fruit of love is service. Mother Teresa Let us care for one another and let us be loving custodians of creation. Pope Francis When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, 'Let us pray'. We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the land. Bishop Desmond Tutu If Jesus were alive today, He would be a guerrillero. Camilo Torres Restrepo CHRISTIANITY IS THE RELIGION based on the teachings and deeds of Jesus Christ, also known as Jesus of Nazareth. About one of every three persons in the world is a Christian. With nearly 2.4 billion followers in 2015 scattered in every corner of the globe, it is the dominant religion in the world, and outranks all religions in terms of material and financial resources and political influence. The Bible, its holy book, has been translated into more than 2,000 languages. Freely available in print and electronic forms, it is also the book with the largest number of copies ever printed. Christianity has three main denominations—Roman Catholic (50%), Eastern Orthodox (20%) and Protestant (30%). The Protestants are divided by varied traditions—Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, etc. Doctrinal divisions—Charismatic Christianity, Pentecostalism, Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism—also prevail. About 40% of the Christians live in North and South America, 25% in Europe, 25% in Africa, and 10% in Asia and the Pacific region. Nearly one of eight, some 250 million, Christians lives in the US. It is the nation with the highest number of Christians in the world. 7.1 ORIGIN Two thousand years ago, Palestine, a province of the Roman Empire, was a highly differentiated society with Roman administrators, large landowners, wealthy merchants and high priests at the top and farmers, herders, artisans, fishermen, servants, manual laborers and slaves at the bottom. A middle stratum of innkeepers, small traders, tax collectors and others also existed. A few landlords owned enormous tracts of land. There was a large Jewish presence in the area. Roman rule was oppressive and exploitative. High taxation intensified poverty; famines and epidemics occurred frequently. Consequently, mass uprisings against the Romans and the upper echelons were common. Each time, the imperial legions reacted with brutality and crucified captured rebels. It was in these circumstances that Jesus Christ was born in a carpenter’s family. The bleak times had many itinerant sermonizing orators. Instead of taking up his father’s trade, Jesus became one of them. And he stood out. His magnetic rendition had a unique emotional appeal. He talked against social injustice and the misconduct of the Jewish priests. Within a short time, his message caught on far and wide. By the time he was just in his twenties, he became: [a charismatic] healer and teacher who initiated an egalitarian social movement [that was] critical of religious elite and favorable to those who [were] poor, humble and socially despised. (Woodhead 2014, pages 8 and 13). Touring the land with twelve devoted disciples (apostles), he spread the word that the Kingdom of God was imminent. Many people, especially those at the bottom rungs of society, were attracted to it. But to Jewish priests and the Romans it was an incitement to rebellion. Three years on, he was placed in custody, tortured and killed by crucifixion. Far from relenting, his close followers ventured into other parts of the Roman Empire reiterating his teachings and proclaiming that Jesus was the Son of God who had been resurrected after death. Within decades, Christian communities existed in the Middle East and the Mediterranean lands. As its doctrines were elaborated and adorned with chronicles by the apostles like Peter and Paul, a mature form of Christianity evolved. In an era when people were drenched in esoteric beliefs, the Christian tales of miracles and divine events like resurrection found a fertile audience. That was a time when even in Rome and Greece and still more in Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt, an absolutely uncritical mixture of the crassest superstitions of the most varying peoples was indiscriminately accepted and complemented by pious deception and downright charlatanism; a time in which miracles, ecstasies, visions, apparitions, divining, gold-making, cabbala and other secret magic played a primary role. It was in that atmosphere, and, moreover, among a class of people who were more inclined than any other to listen to these supernatural fantasies, that Christianity arose. (Engels 1894). At inception, Christianity functioned as an adjunct of Judaism. Gradually, while retaining a key segment of the Judaic canon, it shed the customs and traditions of the parent faith and bloomed into a vibrant, autonomous belief system with its own sacred text, liturgy, rituals and institutions. Within a hundred years of the crucifixion, the principal elements of the Christian canon were in place. The image of a fish, symbolizing Jesus Christ the Savior and Son of God was used by some Christian communities in the early days. Fish – Christian Symbol The first Christians faced a mixture of tolerance and intolerance from the authorities. As a sect of Judaism, they could practice their faith and preach. Christian evangelists traveled across the Empire to spread the Gospel. The kind of stories they told, and the unique social services provided by Christian communities swelled the ranks of the converts. But as its departure from Judaism became pronounced, Christianity began to face legal sanction. A central feature of the prevailing polytheistic Roman religion was the numerous public festivals and feasts honoring its multiple gods. Other belief systems were tolerated so long as they did not openly display disloyalty to the state. Festival participation and burning incense for the Emperor were required for all living under Roman rule. With their strong belief in one god, Christians often refused to do either. God, for them, was above the state. Such defiance combined with the fact that Christianity had many followers from the lower classes and slaves, and its predictions of calamities caused by sinful behavior raised the ire of the authorities and non-Christians. Christianity was originally a movement of oppressed people: it first appeared as the religion of slaves and emancipated slaves, of poor people deprived of all rights, of peoples subjugated or dispersed by Rome. (Engels 1894). In consequence, they faced sporadic persecution in some provinces of the Roman Empire, not just from the state but from other people as well. By 250 CE Christians faced empire-wide bans. During the four prohibitions that were enacted, prominent Christian missionaries and lay persons were executed, Christians were disbarred from public service, their churches were reduced to rubble, and their books were burnt. An estimated 1,000 Christians were put to death by the Romans during the first three centuries. A fundamental change occurred in the initial years of the 4th century after Emperor Constantine I became a convert and legalized Christianity. Feeling that it would stabilize his empire, he urged Christian theologians to cease their doctrinal disputations and provide clear articulations of Christian beliefs. In 325, Constantine convened the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in Asia Minor, the first council to include bishops from both the eastern and western regions of the empire. The Council issued a creed that affirmed the doctrine of the Trinity. The Nicene Creed, which summarizes the core of Christian belief, is seen as authoritative by all main branches of Christianity. (Patheos 2019). In 381 CE, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Once an ideology of the underprivileged, it transmuted into a doctrine that could rationalize despotic rule. Eusebius of Caesarea, an influential and prolific Christian theologian and historian of that era, elevated the spiritual status of the Roman Emperor: And surely monarchy far transcends constitution and every form of government; for that democratic equality, which is its opposite, may rather be described as anarchy and disorder. Eusebius of Caesarea (Woodhead 2014, page 43). Christianity asserted its designation as the official doctrine of the Empire in an uncompromising manner. When Christianity came to power in the empire of Constantine, it proceeded to almost viciously repress all non-Christians and all Christians who did not line up with official Orthodox ideology, policy, and practice. (Wikipedia (2021 - Religious Fanaticism)). By the end of the fourth century, Christianity had landed in Europe, North Africa and the regions adjacent to India. The Roman Empire disintegrated shortly. The western portion descended into disarray, but stability reigned in the regions surrounding Turkey. As it spread across Russia, the Church experienced a slow, inexorable partition into two major denominations, the Catholic Church and the Russian-based Orthodox Church. 7.2 CORE BELIEFS AND TEXTS Christianity is a monotheistic religion whose primary tenets are: (i) There is no god but God; (ii) God is a perfect, ever present, most powerful and all-knowing being; (iii) God created the universe and human beings out of nothing; (iv) God exists as the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit; (v) God sent his son Jesus to the world to save humanity from sin and damnation; (vi) Jesus was resurrected and ascended into Heaven; and (vii) Jesus will return to earth on the Day of Judgment. These tenets are synthesized in the Apostle’s Creed which is accepted by almost all the branches of Christianity and recited frequently in church services. The Apostle’s Creed I believe in God, the Father almighty; creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell. On the third day, he rose again, descended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen. (Woodhead 2014, page 22). Christians believe that Jesus Christ was sent by God to convey His wisdom to people and save humanity. Stories about his life and work form a basic part of Christian belief. After virgin birth, Jesus apparently displayed amazing learning at an early age. He walked on water, healed people who had serious diseases, fed thousands from little food and performed miracles. Conveyed in the Bible, these stories combine enticing morality tales with paradoxes and edicts. But there is considerable dissent and variation among the various over the veracity and interpretation of these stories. The story of Adam and Eve is a primary feature of Christian belief: First God created the universe out of nothing. Then He placed the first human, Adam, together with plants and animals in the Garden of Eden. Eve, his companion, was created later from his rib. It took God six days to finish his work. On the seventh day, He rested. To respect God, Humans should also desist from worldly work on the seventh day of each week and spend it in prayers. Provided everything they needed, Adam and Eve were told by God not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge. But because they violated His rule, they condemned themselves and their descendants to lives of pain, suffering and death. This Original Sin taints humans with a proclivity to commit sinful and evil deeds. While suffering and sin characterize human living, Christians hold that in His unlimited compassion and love, God has given humans a path out of that blight. Humans have the ability to choose between living according to God’s will or pursuing their own desires and indulging in sin. The cardinal principle of a Christian life is to love God unconditionally and follow His laws. It is the sole avenue for redemption and salvation. Else, you will land in eternal Hell. Christians believe in the Devil who diverts people away from God. Resisting the sinful temptations of the Devil is a basic Christian duty. Christians should lead lives of faith and morality. If you commit sin but confess, repent and ask for forgiveness, God, in His divine grace will forgive you. By sacrificing His son, Jesus Christ, He showed that His love for humans has no bounds. Jesus paid the price for our sins. (The Christian notions of suffering and redemption resemble the Buddhist ideas of suffering (dukkha) and Nirvana.) Christians differ in the interpretation of the Biblical tales. Some consider them the literal truth, some regard them as a source of inspiration, and some hold they are symbolic stories. The main Christian holy book, the Bible, has two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The first part came from the existing Jewish canon. Originated by various authors in the seven decades after the death of the apostles of Jesus, the New Testament took centuries to be compiled. It consists of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John plus a section on apostolic history, the letters of Apostle Paul and others, and the Book of Revelation. All Christians do not attach the same importance to the Old Testament and differ in the interpretation of the New Testament. Several versions of the Bible circulated for centuries. The King James Bible, an official English language version, was published in 1611. Different Christian traditions venerate other texts of spiritual import. Three among them are: The Confessions of Saint Augustine, The Rules of Saint Benedict and John Calvin’s Institute of the Christian Religion. The Bible, like the holy texts of all the major religions, displays a lack of consistency in descriptions of important events and elucidation of the tenets of morality. Details about the life of Christ vary between sections. Selective citation of verses and parables of the Bibles can justify views and deeds that contradict each other. If a Christian has been assaulted, how should he or she react? Consider two passages from the holy book: …thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. The Bible, Exodus 21:23-25 …ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. The Bible, Matthew 5:39 At one point, the Bible was employed to permit slavery, and at another, to oppose it. As William Shakespeare opined in The Merchants of Venice: ‘The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose’. Such ambiguities and contradictions have spawned extensive doctrinal dissensions from the early days. Theologians have churned out volumes to interpret and reinterpret the passages of the Bible. A dictionary is needed to disambiguate a pile of arcane phrases and disentangle coessential from consubstantial, homousian from homoiousian, for example, to navigate through this literature. Medieval Christian scholasticism, epitomized in the works of Thomas Aquinas, marked a high point of that endeavor. Much has been said about the futility of the issues dissected in minute detail by the scholastics. But it was not in vain. The arcane disputations influenced the development of a rigorous, logical mode of reasoning that fertilized the growth of science and mathematics in the later centuries. At the same time, they represented an ideological endeavor to rationalize, in Christian terms, the existent feudal order and the dominance of monarchs and the Pope. A sizeable group of Christian theologians today cling to the outmoded tradition. But their mental peregrinations and squabbles generate more heat than light and are inconsequential for the beliefs and lives of the laity. Plainly, they are a pseudo-scholarly diversion from the real concerns and fissures of modern Christendom. 7.3 ETHICS AND MORALITY The principal moral and ethical precepts of Christianity, which are meant to govern the outlook, lifestyle and conduct of the faithful, derive from a two-fold primary commandment: (i) A deep, unconditional and unrestricted love for God, and (ii) To love your neighbor as you love yourself. This forms the foundation for the specific edicts about good and bad deeds laid down in various parts of the Bible and their elaborations in other Christian holy texts. The Ten Commandments 01 Do not have gods other than God. 02 Do not make idols. 03 Do not take the name of the Lord in vain. 04 Keep the Sabbath day holy. 05 Honor your father and your mother. 06 Do not kill. 07 Do not commit adultery. 08 Do not steal. 09 Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. 10 Do not covet. The Ten Commandments, inherited from the Jewish canon, encapsulate the Christian ethic. The Bible contains two versions of the Commandments, whose formulation also evolved over time. A common rendition is shown above. The Seven Heavenly Virtues and Seven Cardinal (Deadly) Sins provide another formulation of the Christian moral code. The former are (a) justice and fairness, (b) self-control and moderation, (c) wisdom and discretion in practical matters, (d) strength, diligence and endurance in life, (e) faith in God, (f) hope for a divinely decreed future and (g) expression of love and charity. The Cardinal Sins are vices commonly listed as (a) sloth (apathy and laziness), (b) wrath (undue anger and hostility), (c) gluttony (over-indulgent way of life), (d) envy (jealousy) (e) lust (for sex, wealth and power), (f) greed (unlimited desire for material goods); and (g) pride (feeling of superiority and self-importance). Christian ethical precepts encompass the full range of human emotions, drives and behaviors. Jesus taught that abiding by them is the only way to attain salvation. I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Bible, John 14:6. Invariably, this proclamation generates two questions: Are the belief systems and ethical codes of other faiths as exalted as Christian beliefs and codes? Will God save non-Christians too? Christian sources that explicitly say yes to both these queries are rare. One stand ambiguously holds that God may save whomever He wishes yet no salvation outside the Church is possible. The other stand unequivocally declares that the Christian ethic and belief system are superior to any other. Muslims believe that moral norms are arbitrary, a product of God’s decree, and therefore can change as God chooses. Marxists and Secular Humanists rely almost exclusively on their economic or naturalistic philosophy to determine ethics. Postmodernists argue for a morality based on shared ‘community’ values and Cosmic Humanists assume that everyone acts morally by following inner truth determined on an individual basis. Christians, on the other hand, believe that moral norms come from God’s nature or essence. Rather than believing in some passing fancy bound to society’s ever-changing whims, as Christians we are committed to a specific moral order revealed to us through both general and special revelation. … Christian ethics and the Christian ethical system are both like and unlike any other system ever postulated. Every ethical system contains some grain of the truth found in the Christian code, but no other system can claim to be the whole truth, handed down as an absolute from God to humanity. (AAGM 2020). An objective examination of other major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam—and minor religions like Sikhism, Judaism and Shintoism, does not support such views. Like the Bible, the holy books of virtually all religions contain contradictions and inconsistencies that make it difficult to precisely pin down their ethical codes. Having said that, it also is true that a great overlap between the ethical codes of all religions prevails, and, under an objective standard, none appears superior to another. Where the religions differ is in relation to specific cultural issues like consuming meat and pork, dress code, divorce, adultery, alcohol intake, and homosexuality. But even Christian denominations differ on such matters. 7.4 WORSHIP, SYMBOLS AND CULTURE The primary Christian ritual consists of church service and Bible study on Sundays (observance of the Sabbath). A typical Sunday church session has recitation of verses from the Bible, a sermon from the priest, solicitation of donations, communal interactions and perhaps, a shared meal. The service may be interspersed by singing of hymns and devotional music by a choir or a band. Consumption of a token amount of bread and wine (communion), symbolizing Christ’s Last Supper, is integral to Christian worship. Christians pray at other times and at home as well. The Cross, expressing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the principal Christian symbol. Different denominations have different versions. The most basic form is the Latin Cross. Christian Cross Christian denominations operate under structures that span the gamut from a centralized hierarchical system to grass-roots democracy. The global Catholic Church has a single leader, the Pope (Bishop of Rome) who is based in Vatican City. He also heads the city state of Vatican. In a top-down system of governance, he is the superior bishop among the more than 5,000 bishops spread out in all the continents. A local bishop oversees the clergy and churches within his region. The Church of England, a part of the global Anglican Communion, is formally headed by the British monarch and has two Archbishops as the senior executives of the church. A consultative structure in which senior lay members participate with the ministers in the decision-making process exists at the local level. Some branches of Christianity like the Baptists have no central authority and function under a localized, democratic system. There is a wide range of modes of organization with a bewildering set of titles, authority and responsibilities for the church officials within many denominations and branches. At the parish level, church activities are in the hands of fulltime clergy—priests, pastors, ministers, deacons. Conducting communal prayers and education sessions, they also perform key rites like marriage, baptism and funerals. They maintain church property and administer church affairs. At times, they follow the directives of their superiors and, at times, decisions are taken in consultation with the congregation. Many live on church grounds. An extensive variety of Christian clerical costumes exists. In the Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican traditions, the clergy adorn elegant cassocks or robes with caps and distinctive neck collars, neck bands and waist bands as set by denominational rules. Some robes are simple, single layered; some are multi-colored, multilayered. Senior clergy have embroidered robes made with fine cloth and intricate designs. In many Protestant traditions, the clergy wear simple gowns and a neck collar, but otherwise dress like the congregants. Some priests just wear what people generally wear. The church grounds and buildings are venues for Bible study sessions, meetings for communal and church affairs, organizing evangelical and social service types of actions, and play and educational activities for children. Baptism, the formal entry of a young or new person into the Church, is a basic rite. A priest sprinkles water on the initiate or dips his or her head into water while reciting a prayer. The essence of a Christian marriage involves the couple taking the vows of marriage as guided by a priest and recitation of prayers to bless the newly wed. In the Catholic tradition, a Christian who thinks that he or she has sinned can approach a priest in confidence, confess the sinful deed, repent and ask for forgiveness from God. As in Buddhism, some Christian denominations run monasteries and nunneries in which the devotees live an austere, secluded life. Wearing plain robes and spending their days in prayer, meditation and study, they may also provide social and educational services to the needy. In all societies where it has taken root, Christianity has had a major, if not decisive, impact on culture and customs. Elegant, often expansive churches and religious buildings spread across the landscape strikingly testify to a tradition that values beauty on a grandiose scale. Church construction in the early days improved building tools, techniques and craftsmanship and induced the use of novel material for walls, roof, doors, and windows. The major churches, cathedrals and shrines of Christianity stand among the architectural wonders of the world. Their external and internal layout, grand wall murals and decorations, glazed windows, majestic doors, ornate furniture, gorgeous tapestry, symmetric lay out of the pews and altar, and the spiritually ennobling ambiance are breathtaking. Notre Dame de Paris The Last Judgment by Michelangelo Two among the thousands of such products of human ingenuity are the centuries old Notre-Dame cathedral of Paris and the grand, intriguing wall mural, The Last Judgment, painted by Michelangelo in the Vatican City’s Sistine Chapel. Christianity played a lead role in the refinement of the visual arts including painting, sculpture and embroidery in Western nations. Famed painters—Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Raphael, Rembrandt van Rijn, El Greco, Jean-François Millet, Bartolome Esteban Murillo and Salvador Dali—whose exquisite works now fetch millions of dollars, benefitted from church sponsorship. Many of their heralded paintings derive from religious imagery or inspiration. The grand repertoire of Western classical music owes an incalculable debt to Christianity. Hymns, sacred songs, psalms, carols sung by the choir or congregation, at times accompanied by tunes from a piano, pipe organ or other instruments are integral to Christian worship and festivities. Works of the master composers—Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, George Handel, Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Vivaldi—derived from ecclesiastical inspiration and support. Christmas carols and music are now a world-wide tradition adopted by non-Christians as well. Spirituals that merged African folk music with religious hymns rose in the time of slavery. Soulfully expressing the anguish and expectations of African Americans, they have bloomed into a distinct, vibrant repertoire of hymns and gospel music that reverberates in their present day church services. Christianity was a key factor in the maturation of language and flowering of literature, poetry and technical writing in Europe. Galvanizing novel writing styles, it improved writing material quality and book production techniques like the printing press. Picture books with elegant designs first appeared under a Christian purview. The King James version of the Bible is regarded as one of the greatest works of English literature. Towering works of fiction, philosophy, theology, history, and general subjects emerged from Christian influence and patronage. Education institutions in Europe were an extension of monastery-based learning. Universities, many of which exist to this day, were founded with support from the Church and Christian rulers. Many nations, Christian majority or not, now observe holidays of Christian origin. The Easter Holidays (March or April) and Christmas (December) are the main ones. The former celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the latter celebrates his birth. The Easter egg hunt is a cross-cultural affair. In the modern era, hyper-commercialization has undercut the spiritual import of these holidays. Televangelism, the promotion and practice of religion for an audience of millions via radio and television, is a distinct Christian innovation. The US leads the nations where televangelism prevails. 7.5 CHRISTIANITY UNDER FEUDALISM We jump a millennium ahead from the collapse of the Roman Empire to Europe in the 13th century. By the turn of the millennium, the slave mode of production had been replaced by feudalism in most of Europe. The feudal system had a strict hierarchy with the monarch at the top followed by the nobility, clergy, traders, independent craftsmen and serfs in that order. The serfs, comprising over three quarters of the population, tilled the land owned by the landlord. Bonded to the land, the serf could not exit the place without the master’s consent and payment of fees. He had a few acres of land on the master’s manor for growing food for his family. But a half or more of his work time was spent on the master’s farm, for which he did not get payment. A part of the produce from his own land was for the landlord and another part for the local church. He paid levies and fines for special occasions and acts. His wife and children were obliged to cook, bake, brew wine, weave cloth, clean, care for the livestock and do other work for the master. The manors were owned by the aristocrats, the monarch or the church. A wealthy aristocrat possessed many manors. The Church owned about a third of the land in almost every country in Europe. And the enormously wealthy Papacy in Rome wielded considerable political influence in all the nations. By this time, Christianity had largely lost its vestiges of being a movement of the underprivileged. Notwithstanding the existence of monastic orders where priests lived simple lives of service and prayer, Christianity was, doctrinally and practically, embroiled in a profoundly unjust social system. Christianity gave the laws and rules of the system a holy imprimatur. As almost the only learned group in society, the Christian clergy had a decisive say in matters of custom, law, philosophy and even science. All writing and pronouncements had to conform to its doctrine. A minor deviation risked major punishment. Questioning the idea that the earth was flat, for example, was heresy. Heretics faced the wrath of the Inquisitors. And by teaching the poor to view poverty as a blessing, it consecrated the feudal order. The Church provided administrative and general support to the aristocrats and kings. Mired in decadent lifestyles, the priests competed with the nobles for a bigger share of taxes and levies and sought additional payments for basic religious services. Yet, trends that would eventually undermine the feudal system were in motion within its interstices. Production of agricultural and other goods was increasing. Innovations like mechanical clocks, gears, efficient methods of forging iron tools and cut stone, carts of improved mobility and larger ships fed into the expansion of the economy. Trade, local and interregional, grew. Urban areas whose governance deviated from the manorial system grew in size and population. As their wealth grew, traders, bankers and crafts guilds desired abolition of the restrictions on credit, production, and exchange set by the feudal order. A new ethic of accumulation was emerging. Laborers and serfs ran away in greater numbers from rural areas to towns in the hope of a better life. Wars and outbreaks of epidemics reduced the labor supply. Many manors could not function well and were abandoned. Imposition of the poll tax raised the public anger. The serfs responded by forming collective organizations to confront the landlords. Armed uprisings occurred. The bonded labor system withered away gradually, paving the way to a system based on free wage labor. And opposition to orthodox doctrines grew within the Catholic Church. John Wycliffe, an English clergyman, was a key dissident. Disillusioned by Rome’s dogmatic stand on benefits and tax allocation, he and his followers petitioned the parliament and wrote documents that castigated the clergy for betraying the true teachings of Christ and neglecting charity. They decried rites that reeked of idolatry, scandalous behavior, and payment for religious ceremonies. By translating the Bible from Latin to English, Wycliffe diluted the monopoly of access enjoyed by the priests. Yet, he made his case not as an outsider but as a devout Christian advocating a return to authentic Christianity. The Pope and the English bishops did not see it that way and soon, he faced their wrath. Excommunicated by the Pope, he was charged with seditious teaching by an archbishop and was summoned before the King’s council. But more than twenty lower clergymen allied with him, including John Ball, an influential clergyman who wrote verses backing the peasants’ cause. Wycliffe and Ball inspired a peasant uprising that initially had much success but was eventually put down with extreme brutality by the King’s army. Ball was hanged and Wycliffe was forced into retirement. Ball’s body was later exhumed and burned. But their influence grew. Oppositional voices of this sort proliferated in other European nations too. Aghast at the wealth accumulated by the Church, charismatic radical reformers underscored the poverty of Jesus of Nazareth and promoted an egalitarian mode of life. Their anti-clerical fervor spawned mass uprisings. Palaces of the nobles were set afire. Believing that God was on their side, the peasants faced superior armies with assured fervor. As the movement for reform expanded, the days of the supreme status and power of the Catholic Church and the Pope were numbered. A nascent secular outlook that came with the growth of scientific knowledge contributed to this trend as well. Martin Luther, a German theologian and scholar, struck the decisive blow to Papal authority when he published his Ninety-five Theses in 1517. The widely circulated document lambasted the sale of religious services by the clergy and practices that enhanced the revenue for Rome. It questioned the Biblical basis for the secular and religious authority of the Pope and declared faith in Jesus as the only way to achieve salvation. The invention of the printing press by Gutenberg promoted social literacy and Luther’s translation and printing of the Bible into German facilitated the spread of his ideas. Independent reformers like John Calvin in Geneva generated diverse anti-papal doctrines. Despite expulsions and excommunications of the leaders, the movement was unstoppable, flowering in country after next. Breakaway factions of Christianity emerged. Though now grouped under the banner of Protestantism, and known as the Reformation, the challenge to Papacy was not a unitary process. From inception and over time, it had theologically and organizationally distinct branches. What united them was rejection of Papal authority over religious and secular affairs, emphasis on faith, and acceptance of the Bible as the supreme authority. Constituting nearly 40% of the Christians, Protestants are now found in all areas of the world. Their main denominations are Adventists, Anabaptists, Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostals and Reformed Church. Numerous minor branches also exist. Many of them lack a central authority. 7.6 CHRISTIANITY AND CAPITALISM The rise of Protestantism was contemporaneous with the beginning of a new social formation, capitalism, and the imperial incursion of European powers into Africa, Asia and the Americas. It was an era of discoveries in all domains of science and technology. A phenomenal stream of innovations boosted efficiency in industry, agriculture, sea and land transport, construction of buildings, roads and canals, and warfare. Overseas ventures brought tea, sugar, tobacco, cocoa, cotton apparel and other items into wider circulation. With manufacturing plants run on steam power and complex machinery like the cotton loom, commodity production attained hitherto unthinkable heights. These developments in the forces of production did not occur in a socially benign, autonomous process. They occurred at a humongous cost in human suffering and proceeded in tandem with major changes in the relations of production and the dominant world outlook. Brute physical force as well as massive economic force employed by the state and the capitalists hastened the transformation of feudalism into capitalism. The Enclosure Movements across Europe that rendered asunder communal property, enshrined private property, and detached massive acreages of land from the small holder to large commercial farmers formed the backbone of what Karl Marx called the primitive accumulation of capital. Landless families by their hundreds of thousands were driven to industrial centers to work for bare subsistence under dangerous conditions and to live utterly miserable lives. Wage slavery of children and adults in Europe went together with the capture, transport and enslavement in Africa at the cost of millions of lives. Colonization in the Americas initiated the genocide of indigenous peoples, and conquests in Asia and Africa exacted a massive toll on local industry and peoples. As Marx succinctly put it: If money … ‘comes into the world with a congenital bloodstain on one cheek,’ capital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt. (Marx 1867). Capitalism could not function on the basis of the institutions and outlook of the feudal era. Laws and political and state institutions to guard its short- and long-term future were needed. It had to have its own ethic, a vision of nature and society, and validations of its norms and practices. It needed an ideology to psychologically lubricate and maintain the system. Capitalism is inconceivable without science and technology. It entails a diffusion of the scientific outlook in society. The need for skilled workers and tasks that require expenditure of mental effort fostered the education system, high levels of literacy and numeracy, and wider distribution of written material like newspapers and books. The relentless drive for profits, and competition among capitalists and between capitalist nations need continual innovation. Yet, the growth of capitalism and science did not lead to the abatement of Christian belief. On the contrary, by sanctifying an ethic and conduct consonant with the capitalist vision, Protestant churches grew in numbers and influence. In the early days, prominent scientists were deeply devout, or viewed science and spirituality as separate domains. Isaac Newton, the co-discoverer of calculus and a towering physicist, whose laws of mechanics revolutionized science, was a distinguished theologian. Apart from his mammoth scientific output, he wrote books on interpretations of the Bible and spirituality. In his vision, the laws of nature revealed the magnificence of the mind of God. The capitalist outlook which posits the pursuit of profit via the market as the prime goal spread. It held that as entrepreneurs compete for market share and profit, goods are produced efficiently and the society benefits. The path to progress is through individualized pursuits, not state intervention. It is imperative, especially in the nascent stages, for the entrepreneurs to save and reinvest profits to the maximum possible degree. Hard work, individual initiative and thrift form the gateway to success. Protestant churches generally stressed aspects of the Christian ethic that buttressed the emergent capitalist ethic. They reinforced individualism by holding that the path to spiritual salvation was through personal faith in God, not communal rituals. Advocating a virtuous life, they praised diligence, self-control, moderation, wisdom and discretion in practical matters and decried laziness, and over-indulgence. Hard work in secular endeavors and thrift were elevated as acts of spiritual worship. When approached with a positive fervor, they not only made life fulfilling but also heralded the dawn of peace and prosperity referred to in the Bible. And by emphasizing and conducting training for practical skills, the Protestant churches added to the manpower needed for industrial development. The capitalist ideology projected the view that if one is not doing well in life, it is a personal failing due to laziness, overspending or poor attitude. If one is well-off, it is due to hard work, frugality and prudent living. By stressing precepts that reflected the capitalist ethic, religion became psychologically fused to capitalism for both the poor and the wealthy. But it was under the incursions by the developing capitalist nations into distant lands that the integration of Christianity, of both the Protestant and Catholic variety, into the affairs of a market based social order became most pronounced. From the end of the fifteenth century, the rulers of Portugal and Spain dispatched legions of soldiers, officials and missionaries to the West Indies and the Americas seeking gold, territory and loyal converts. With large ships, canons, guns and horses at hand, they expeditiously laid to rubble the civilizations they encountered. Violence and deceptive diplomacy preceded the establishment of governance structures and missions. The clergy in their cortege recruited indigenous souls for the church and cemented their roots in the area. Protestant laity and missionaries, who at first landed in North America, soon followed in their wake. The colonies in the Americas and the Caribbean required cheap, docile labor for sugar, cotton, tobacco, rice and coffee plantations, silver and gold mines, construction, forestry and domestic servitude. Fierce resistance from the indigenous people and high mortality rates due to imported diseases ruled out the use of local labor. Poor immigrants from Europe did not meet the demand. From the early 1500s and for nearly four hundred years, millions of people were thereby captured in Africa, put in chains and transported across the Atlantic to serve the needs of capitalism. Short of brutal torture, disfigurement and outright killing, nothing is more morally repugnant than converting humans into commodities who can be used as the purchaser desires. Slavery represents the denial of the humanity of the enslaved person. At every stage, it is a barbaric process. It is estimated that some 13 million Africans were put on slave ships. About a tenth perished during the arduous voyage. Those who died during capture and those who fled to avoid capture probably ran into the millions. And since the healthy and young were preferred, the long-term effect of removing the most productive individuals in villages ravaged by the slave traders was horrendous. African civilizations were set backwards by centuries. The Roman Empire was founded on the slave mode of production. In Rome and the provinces, slaves performed the essential tasks in the economy and society. Slavery underwrote the prosperity and stability of the empire. Without any legal rights, the life and death of a slave were dependent on the whims of the master. The Old Testament and the New Testament have multiple references to slavery. Their passages and stories delineate different types of slaves, their social and spiritual status, the relationship between slaves and slave owners, acceptable and proscribed ways of treating slaves. Scholars have for long pondered over these passages to ascertain if the Bible justifies or prohibits slavery. The holy book has contradictory passages that can be deployed to argue either case. Early Christian communities included slaves and slaveholders. It is fair to say that overall, the Bible views slavery as a fact of life. The relationship of the slave to the master is akin to that between man and God. The former must be faithful to and obey the latter, and the latter should not treat slaves harshly. The standard for what is deemed harsh treatment is low. It is an offence if a slave dies immediately after being beaten by the master. But if he recovers in two days, then by law, no wrong has been done. In general, Christian texts do not only accept slavery as a reality and avoid protesting for a change of this inhuman practice, but also remind all members of the household – including slaves – of their duties for the harmonious existence of the Familia. (Kirchschlaeger 2016). The question of whether slavery was compatible with the Christian ethic resurfaced centuries later as slaves in their millions were shipped from Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas. Citing verses that enjoined the slave to be submissive and obedient, the slave traders and slaveholders held that the Bible was on their side. Christian priests depicted Africans as descendants of the accursed sinner Ham (Bible, Genesis:9) who deserved to be enslaved. Others opined that Africans should be thankful for being enslaved as it brought them closer to Christianity, affording them the chance of saving their souls. Slaves should worship, but in segregated churches. It would make them submissive and diligent and accept life as divine destiny. A few clerics disfavored slavery but their voices carried little weight. Bishop Stephen Elliott of Georgia took the opponents of slavery to task by asserting that slavery made ‘a semi-barbarous people’ learn the norms of civilized behavior. He estimated that there have been: [millions] who have learned the way to Heaven and who have been made to know their Savior through the means of African slavery! (Roe 2018). In the heyday of American slavery, Protestant and Catholic priests, in the US, Europe and England and their colonies either remained silent on or actively defended slavery. Public opinion also favored enslaving people with dark skins. The abducted Africans and their progenies did not discard their ancestral religious beliefs. Many resisted conversion. Those who did convert adhered to both forms of beliefs. But slowly and particularly during the 18th century, slaves in the US and elsewhere adopted Christianity. At the same time, they distanced themselves from the churches of the slavers and racists to form independent churches with distinct modes of worship. As slaves escaped, formed solidarity networks and engaged in open revolt, these new churches became a prime vehicle in the struggle for the abolition of slavery. The rank brutality on slave plantations induced Nat Turner, a former slave turned priest, to organize an emancipatory rebellion in Virginia in 1831. The uprising caused the deaths of over 50 white men, women and children. In retaliation, about 120 black men, women and children were killed by white mobs. The uprising was put down by state militias and federal forces; some 50 rebels, including Turner, were executed after perfunctory trials. In the aftermath, laws were passed making life more restrictive for free and enslaved blacks in the state. Getting an education was made more difficult and preaching on the plantations was banned for a while. Denmark Vesey was the key organizer of another church-based slave uprising. Disgusted by the insulting, discriminatory conditions imposed on black congregants in existent white dominated churches of South Carolina, he and Reverend Morris Brown established an independent church in the area sometime around 1817. About 4,000 ex-slaves joined in. The attendees were attacked by whites; the church premises were subjected to intrusive inspections. It could barely function. Drawing inspiration from the anti-slavery Haitian Revolution that had occurred two decades earlier, Vesey made plans for a major slave uprising. But it did not materialize; a leak had alerted the authorities. Vesey and his sixty-six compatriots were arrested. He was hanged together with thirty-four others and the rest were exiled. Though never convicted, Reverend Brown was imprisoned for a year. Later, the church building was burned down by a white mob. Yet, the church continued to operate underground. It came into the open after the US Civil War as the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. With numerous branches across the nation, it now is an important African American institution. State and church authorities in Europe occasionally passed decrees to free the slaves in the colonies. But little was done to enforce them. After the 1750s, three factors enhanced the momentum to abolish slavery. One, persistent resistance leading to major revolts as in Haiti reduced profits and required funds for military expeditions. Two, in the southern parts of the US, slaves absconded, set up solidarity and support channels, and catalyzed a national drive to abolish slavery. Most white Christians and their conservative churches supported slavery, but the African American and progressive white Christian churches assisted anti-slavery struggles. And three, the dominant political circles and business groups came to see that slavery had become an impediment to profit. From being a source of start-up capital, it now generated barriers to the maturation of industrial capitalism. It was in that environment that the abolitionist movement in England and America came to the front. In addition to the multitude of African American churches, the Quaker groups and the Methodist churches in the UK and US took the lead role. Through a convoluted process, including a civil war in the US, slavery became illegal almost everywhere in the world by the end of the 19th century. But in some areas, it has continued in hidden forms. By this time, Africa was viewed by the great powers as a vast source for cotton, rubber, oil, tea and other raw materials and goods for their factories and consumers; a market for the output of manufactured goods and a place where they could establish a strategic presence to counter rival imperial powers. The ensuing scramble for Africa led to the partition of the continent, with Britain and France securing the largest shares. Colonial military and commercial intrusions in Africa were preceded by or worked in tandem with missionary drives to institute a Christian presence in Africa. The colonial state first aimed to firmly secure the colony. Any resisting community had to be defeated, with massive brutality if needed. A pacified populace laid the basis for a colonial administrative system that oversaw the production of agricultural raw materials and minerals for home industries, a tax system, an adequate supply of labor, an internal commercial network to export local produce and market goods imported from Europe, and a transport infrastructure. The low plantation wages and crop prices did not meet basic subsistence needs of the workers. People resisted colonial directives. But use of force to quell dissent was not a viable long-term proposition. A missionary conversion effort was more effective in subduing the local populations and making them pliable to the colonial reality. The missionaries said that their aim was to ‘civilize’ the African. But there was more to the story. David Livingstone, the inspirational architect of missionary endeavor, portrayed Africa as a place of suffering souls to be saved from sin and damnation. His conception of redemption was, however, material and spiritual. Africa was in need of commerce as well as Christianity. (Hirji 2019). Beginning in the coastal areas, Christian denominations from European nations established mission outposts on lands granted by the colonial state. Some were funded by business groups. These stations held Bible education and conversion sessions, and trained catechists to spread the word of God to distant areas. They also ran large farms, kept poultry and animal herds, and engaged in construction work. The work was done by low paid converts. Besides literacy and religious training, the missions provided training in carpentry, masonry, and other crafts to the locals. The graduates of the mission schools manned the junior rungs of the colonial administration and provided the skilled labor for the settler farms and other sectors of the economy. But their major contribution was in the creation of a mindset that induced the locals accept the mandates of the colonial state and participate more fully in the economy. The state and the missions did not always see eye to eye and at times came into conflict. But their overall roles were complimentary. And for major banks, commercial houses, shipping companies and industries of Europe, the colonial ventures provided huge benefits at a low cost. The Christian missionaries were as much a part of the colonizing forces as were the explorers, traders and soldiers. There may be room for arguing whether in a given colony the missionaries brought other colonialist forces or vice versa, but there is no doubting the fact that missionaries were agents of colonialism in the practical sense whether or not they saw themselves in that light. (Rodney 1972). Nothing could extinguish people’s desire for freedom and self-determination. They struggled in varied ways. And they turned tools that had been employed to pacify them, Christianity and education, into weapons against foreign rule. Many leaders of the African independence struggles emerged from Christian (and Muslim) ranks and many churches became focal points for organizing against Apartheid in South Africa and anti-colonial struggles in the continent. 7.7 CHRISTIANITY SPREADS From the start of the 20th century, Christianity spread to all the corners of the world and became the dominant global religion. This section compares the impact of Christianity in the USA, South America and the Philippines. United States of America + With about 240 million followers, the US has more Christians than any other nation. About two-thirds of adults in the nation identify as Christians. About 25% belong to evangelical Protestant denominations. The other main Protestants groups and the Catholics each account for about 20%. The rest are dispersed among varied smaller denominations and non-believers. The long history of slavery, genocide, ethnic and racial discrimination is reflected in all walks of American life. Housing, area of residence, education, health care, income, employment and religion are affected by a deep, de facto racial and ethnic divide. About a half of white America is Protestant and a quarter is Catholic but nearly three quarters of the Latino Americans are Catholic and only a fifth is Protestant. While 80% of the African Americans are Protestants, they are mostly congregated in historically black churches that operate only in their areas. Christianity has played an influential role in the political and economic affairs of the nation. The current version of the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States, recited in congressional sessions, schools and many venues, reads: I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Despite the clauses mandating the separation of state and religion in the constitution, the US views itself as a Christian nation. The phrase ‘In God We Trust,’ engraved on US coins and printed dollar bills, is the official motto of the nation. In a nationwide poll conducted jointly by main media and polling groups, more than 90% of the Americans favored the placement of this inscription on US currency. US Quarter Dollar Historically, the leadership of the major political parties, business entities, elite universities and foundations has disproportionately been wealthy and white, from Episcopalian or Presbyterian Protestant denominations, and often of British decent. John F Kennedy and Joe Biden are the only two Catholic presidents. Yet, the picture of different religious groups in the corridors of US power is more complex. We first consider this issue in relation to the operations of the security agencies of the US after World War II. In the immediate aftermath of the war, all the major imperial powers and the USSR either lay in ruins or were deeply wounded. The US, on the other hand, was virtually unscathed, economically or otherwise. In the post-war era, its foreign policy envisioned a global order under which US military, economic and political hegemony extended to all the corners of the globe. All rivals, existing or emerging, had to be subdued. As the horrendous atomic carnage unleashed on two Japanese cities demonstrated, any means could be deployed. Obstacles hindering the free operation of US corporations and institutions were to be dismantled. And to protect the global capitalist system against the looming socialist threat, the economies of the major allies—the UK, Germany and Japan—were revived but as surrogates of the US. A large-scale effort to dismantle the Soviet empire was initiated. The nationalist movements that were sweeping the dominated nations had to be steered so that they remained within the ambit of the global capitalist order. Nations and movements that showed signs of moving in the direction independence were to be brought to their knees through massive firepower. Thus began an era of massive mayhem in North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Latin America, and Africa during which dictators and brutal regimes received full American political, economic and military support. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was a crucial element of that exercise and religion was a critical aspect of CIA operations. Near the end of World War II, US General William Donovan, the head of the agency that was the forerunner of the CIA, received a prestigious and rarely bestowed papal knighthood from Pope Pius XII. A devout Catholic, he had provided funds and other support to Pro Deo, a Catholic intelligence group based in Europe. Its regular reports to the Vatican from bishops across the world were an invaluable source of information. Donovan used his links with Pro Deo to infiltrate the Vatican. Among other things, he obtained information that assisted the US military in selecting the bombing targets in Japan. The award ceremony cemented the ties between the Vatican and US intelligence agencies that subsequently bloomed in the years of the Cold War. Unlike the presidency, four of the most influential directors and three out of five directors of the CIA prior to 2016 were fervent church going Catholics and often, members of secretive and elitist Catholic organizations. It was not a case of the Vatican directing US foreign policy. Conversely, the anti-communist fervor of the higher Catholic clergy provided links to the CIA to recruit sympathizers and agents worldwide. The diverse and recent immigrant background of US Catholics was another plus. Many of America’s first spies were missionaries or came from missionary backgrounds. Often enough, they were the only Americans who had lived abroad—not just among locals but as locals. While other American spies learned about the world through books and couldn’t really grasp its full range of quirks and complexities—’like tourists who put ketchup on their tacos,’ as Sutton [2019] puts it—missionaries spoke several languages and knew the subtle differences between local dialects. They understood local cultures and faiths from the ground up and knew intuitively how to navigate between them. They knew, in short, ‘how to totally immerse themselves in alien societies’. But they always identified first and foremost as Christians and as Americans, and when they were called to serve the nation, they did not hesitate to do so. (Preston 2019). After the war, the US closely collaborated, overtly and covertly, with the Vatican to prevent the popular Italian communist party from winning the first major election. To foment a favorable atmosphere, right wing Italian groups received $350 million for military and general programs. Secret funding was deployed to spread falsehoods, intimidate leftist politicians and destabilize their parties. Catholic missionaries from the US and within Italy joined in. And it worked. A pro-Western, Vatican-friendly coalition assumed power. Ties with other religions and Christian denominations were also cultivated to the extent they conformed to the US goals. A one-of-a-kind congressional investigation in 1976 revealed that the CIA had recruited US media personnel and Christian missionaries for intelligence gathering tasks. The agency agreed to discontinue the practice, but loopholes like permitting use of part-time and voluntary services from reporters and clergy remained in place. And foreign media, religious institutions and other groups remained fair game. The Mormon Church + The Mormon Church was founded in 1830 in the US by Joseph Smith after receiving visions from God, Jesus and John the Baptist. He originated The Book of Mormon which with the Bible and two other texts constitute the sacred canon of the Church. Mormons regard Smith as the founding prophet. While they claim they are Christians, many Christian churches point to their distinct values, ideas and practices, and declare that Mormonism is not a Christian denomination. Mormons stand out by their adherence to a strict, disciplined lifestyle that prohibits use of intoxicating drugs, alcohol, tobacco, tea or coffee, and a code of conduct that values the family and service to the needy. Missionary work and respect for authority form an integral part of the Mormon ethic. The Church is run by a hierarchy under the current prophet, who is also the president for life. Though mostly based in the US, it spans the globe with a total of about 15 million followers. In the US, they form less than 2% of the population. With a strong missionary and service tradition, it is a rapidly expanding faith. More than 150 million copies of The Book for Mormon are in circulation today. The Church runs a vast business empire that spans the gamut from agriculture, ranching, real estate, shopping malls, newspaper, radio, TV, Internet and publishing companies, insurance corporations, consultancy and investment agencies that operate in North and South America and as far as Australia. Their total worth is in the tens of billions of dollars. What is particularly apropos is the relatively large presence, in the past and at present, of Mormon officers in US security agencies—FBI, CIA and Department of Homeland Security. Disciplined work habits, knowledge of other languages, practical experience in other nations and a willingness to serve make them ideal recruits for these agencies. Mormon candidates generally do not face difficulties in getting a security clearance. The main Mormon university, Brigham Young University, has been a traditional recruiting ground for the CIA and other agencies. A similar picture can be painted for Lutherans and Presbyterians. But the presence of missionaries and religiously based personnel in the US agencies is just half of the story and not the most important one. The key factor is that since the advent of the Cold War, religion has been regarded by US policy makers as a potent weapon in the battle against nationalist and socialist movements and states. The use of Buddhism in this context was detailed in Chapter 6, and the case for Islam appears in Chapter 8. Here, the focus is on various denominations of Christianity. We deal with two areas: Eastern Europe and Latin America. A major strand of the popular literature on the linkage between the Vatican and the US government and its agencies falls in the realm of ‘conspiracy theories’. It holds that the Vatican is a powerful entity with secretive elite groups aiming to dominate the world. Selective evidence and omission of key socio-economic factors are used to make a case which does not hold up to critical scrutiny. By branding it a ‘conspiracy theory,’ mainstream outlets dismiss any evidence, however plausible, of a link and sideline the relevant socio-economic issues. This book rejects both approaches. There is a strong relationship between religion and US foreign policy. And it arises from the long-term interests of US capitalism and projection of US imperial power. The US is the driving force. Indeed, conspiracies and competing rivalries are at play and much is clouded in secrecy and deception. But that bipartisan policy arises from the operation of the systemic factors. The US government does not have a permanent preference for or hostility towards any religion or creed. Depending on the conditions at the time and place, if some religion can promote the strategic US policy goals, it will be used. And when that stand becomes counterproductive, it will be discarded. Besides religion, the media, publishing firms, student groups, trade unions, entertainment and cultural entities are also covertly employed as needed. It is not a conspiracy; it is a part of the standard operational policy. Eastern Europe + The 1980s were years of turbulence in the USSR and the allied Warsaw Pact nations. Having failed to live up to popular expectations, their authoritarian systems were under severe strain. Under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the US worked to hasten that process, aiming to bring these nations into the world capitalist system, but under the American fold. Internal US government assessments indicated that the days of the Soviet bloc were numbered, and the USSR did not pose an existential threat to the US. The Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, made unprecedented overtures for a peaceful resolution of differences and genuine nuclear disarmament. Yet, instead of sitting at the negotiating table, and in a major boon to the US weapons manufacturers, Reagan ratcheted up the rhetoric of ‘evil empire,’ raised the military budget, shredded existing disarmament agreements and funded new weapons systems while reducing the budget for basic services like health care, education, and support for the needy. In 1982, Pope John Paul II, a native of Poland and fervent anti-communist, entered into a secret agreement with Reagan which aimed to destabilize Eastern Europe, particularly Poland. The US embarked on a multipronged strategy that combined covert operations with providing economic aid for pro-capitalist ‘reforms,’ isolating the USSR, funding radio stations beaming propaganda at these nations, and using US labor unions and the Catholic Church in support of its aims. In this venture, [the] key [Reagan] Administration players were all devout Roman Catholics -- CIA chief William Casey, Allen, Clark, Haig, Walters and William Wilson, Reagan's first ambassador to the Vatican. They regarded the US-Vatican relationship as a holy alliance: the moral force of the Pope and the teachings of their church combined with their fierce anticommunism and their notion of American democracy. (Bernstein 2001). Some 95% of the Poles were Catholic. The Polish Catholic Church was an autonomous cultural and social counterforce to the state. Yet, there was fairly tolerant atmosphere towards the church and religious practice in Poland under socialist rule. The emergence of an independent labor movement, Solidarity, led by Lech Walesa, altered the political equilibrium. Going beyond traditional union issues, it campaigned for the removal of civil restrictions and institution of an electoral process. The state reacted with a vigorous crackdown in which ten activists were killed, and senior leaders were placed in custody. Later, three security police killed a popular priest. They were prosecuted and jailed. But no mistreatment of jailed dissidents occurred. Yet, declaring that it was a sign of a hitherto unseen evil, the US mounted an extensive propaganda and covert action program to destabilize the Polish government. [Until] Solidarity's legal status was restored in 1989, it flourished underground, supplied, nurtured and advised largely by the network established under the auspices of Reagan and John Paul II. Tons of equipment -- fax machines (the first in Poland), printing presses, transmitters, telephones, shortwave radios, video cameras, photocopiers, telex machines, computers, word processors -- were smuggled into Poland via channels established by priests and American agents and representatives of the AFL-CIO and European labor movements. Money for the banned union came from CIA funds, the National Endowment for Democracy, secret accounts in the Vatican and Western trade unions. (Bernstein 2001). By the end of the 1980s, the USSR and the Soviet bloc were history. Contrary to the rhetoric about the ‘evil-empire,’ the rulers ceded power to the popular forces peacefully, without much bloodshed. Latin America + The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 categorically proclaimed that the US would not tolerate any interference in the affairs of the nations of South, Central and North America by any external power without its blessing. Latin America was an exclusive US domain. A key plank of this policy has been support for the dictatorial regimes giving a free reign to US companies to exploit the natural resources and labor. In an area of vast economic disparities, land ownership is concentrated in a few local families and US companies. The rural dwellers own small plots of land or toil as tenant farmers on large estates. Urban areas are blighted by poverty ridden slums. The horror filled ventures of the US banana companies typify the actualization the Monroe Doctrine. During the Spanish and Portuguese colonial era, indigenous cultures and religions of South and Central America were decimated and often people were pressed to convert to Catholicism. An estimated 90% of the population of the region is now Christian. More than 70% is Catholic. Pentecostalism is the main Protestant denomination in most nations. Brazil is the world’s most populous Catholic nation. The Catholic Church enjoyed spiritual and material eminence. As one of the largest landowners in the region, it operated plantations and ranches and had significant urban real estate holdings. The Jesuit order controlled mines and factories in Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. Allied with landowning aristocracy, the Catholic Church formed an integral part of the economic and political system and allied itself firmly with right-wing factions. Thus, when the generals deposed an elected government in Brazil 1965, and instituted twenty-five years of unbridled terror, they did so with support from the US, local upper classes, the local Catholic leaders and the Vatican. [The] new dictatorship was swiftly endorsed by the Bishops’ Conference of Brazil in June 1964: ‘while giving thanks to God, who answered the prayers of millions of Brazilians and freed us from the communist danger, we are grateful to the military, who, at serious risk to their lives, rose up in the name of the supreme interests of the nation’. (McDonnell 2018). In addition to profits from many commercial ventures, the Church generated revenue from fees for services like baptism, and marriage and funeral rites. The special privileges granted to the clergy, the distance between them and the people, and the opulent lives of the senior clergy often drew popular ire. Its proclivity to partisan politics of the ruling elites produced discord between the church and the state in several countries and made their relationship unstable. Often it functioned in harmony with the ruling circles but now and then, it faced persecution. Some governments passed laws to restrict the privileges of the clergy. Occasionally, they were violently attacked by mobs and church property was looted. During the civil strife in Mexico between 1926 and 1934, over 40 priests were killed, more than 3,000 were exiled, and churches were desecrated. On the whole, the state and the church in South and Central America functioned in a complementary basis. From the 1950s, grinding poverty, political powerlessness and social exclusion fermented unrest in rural and urban areas. The state responded by brutally suppressing the organizations of the poor. Reformist governments introducing mild land redistribution were deposed by the army with aid from the US. Most opposition was driven underground. Increasingly, leftwing parties began to adopt armed struggle as the means to fight for a social order based on justice and equality. A growing segment of the lower ranks of the Catholic clergy who were in daily, direct contact with the suffering masses were disenchanted by the alliance of the senior bishops with the rich and powerful, and the tepid aid the church provided to the poor. A few senior bishops were distressed as well. The wide discontent gave birth to a new school of Catholicism. Called liberation theology, it pointed to Jesus Christ as the savior of the poor, and stressed compassion over personal salvation. God is not just a distant, heavenly being but has a direct presence in human affairs. Liberation theology transcends traditional forms of reformism by holding that charitable assistance is insufficient. The social system that produced poverty and inequality must be transformed. And by advocating active participation in the struggle for change, it repudiates the customary separation of religion and politics. Its radical stance brought liberation theology into close association with left wing ideas, especially Marxism. And ultimately, it morphed into a novel blend of Christian beliefs and Marxism whose principal text is the 1971 book, A Theology of Liberation by Father Gustavo Gutierrez of Peru. Archbishop Helder Camara of Brazil (Bishop of the Slums) was another architect. His much-quoted statement, found in varied versions, succinctly encapsulates the essence of liberation theology: When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist. Don Helder Camara Paulo Freire, the innovative Brazilian educationist and author of the globally renowned Pedagogy of the Oppressed, sympathized with liberation theology. The victory of the Cuban revolution was a major inspiration. Some Protestant clergy and social scientists worked in concordance with its leading proponents. Later the civil rights, anti-war, anti-colonial and feminist groups in the US and beyond formed alliances with promoters of liberation theology. An outgrowth of progressive practical struggles in the fight for social justice and progressive interpretation of the Bible, liberation theology embodied the egalitarian spirit of early Christianity in a unique manner. An iconic moment in the development of liberationist Christianity was the death of Camilo Torres, a priest who organized a militant popular movement and then joined the National Liberation Army (ELN), a Castroist guerrilla movement in Colombia, in 1965. For Torres, ‘the Revolution is not only permissible but obligatory for Christians’. He was killed in 1966 in a clash with the Army, but his martyrdom made a deep emotional and political impact on Latin American Christians. (McDonnell 2018). The maturation of liberation theology was an extended reflective endeavor involving scores of theologians, clergymen and social justice activists across the world. Interestingly, the first congress of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians which ultimately led to the formulation of the final overall framework of liberation theology was held in 1976 in my hometown, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The bulk of the local Catholic leadership and the Vatican were hostile to the doctrine from the start. Pope John Paul II and senior Vatican figures denounced it for invoking Marxist ideas, tolerating armed struggle and linking the church with politics. Ludicrous claims that liberation theology was a tool of the KGB, the Soviet secret service, were circulated. The fact the Latin American churches had often sided with violent regimes oppressing the poor and had been engaged with elitist politics was ignored in this discourse. In an era of broad activism in South and Central America, intellectuals, students, journalists and priests joined hands with workers, trade unions, indigenous communities and peasants to fight for democracy, human rights, justice and equality. Armed guerrilla groups operated against dictatorial, aristocratic regimes. Clergy inspired by liberation theology organized thousands of grass-roots groups to discuss scriptures from the liberationist perspective and campaign for social action. The local regimes and US countered with unleashing brutal attacks on peaceful and armed advocates of change. Even moderate governments aiming to implement mild reforms, as in Guatemala and Chile, were deposed. Tens of thousands of indigenous people and rural residents, at times whole villages, were massacred in El Salvador and beyond. In Chile under Augusto Pinochet, around 80,000 people were imprisoned, tens of thousands were tortured and some three thousand students, journalists and activists were executed. More than 200,000 people, the majority civilians, died in the strife in Guatemala. Of these, more than 93% were killed by the government forces and right-wing death squads. The CIA assisted the regimes to establish a regional alliance of security agencies to locate and assassinate dissidents at home and elsewhere, including the US and Europe. Some 60,000 people died in the ferocious onslaught. The US was in the forefront of destabilizing progressive governments and fighting leftwing organizations in Central and South America. It was the key player in the overthrow of the democratically elected socialist or reformists governments in Chile and Guatemala. The non-aligned government of Cheddi Jagan in Guyana was undone by British and US machinations. The US formed and armed the Contras, a rightwing terrorist group, in order to destabilize the socialist government in Nicaragua. The modus operandi of the Contras was to kill health staff, teachers, activists, and cooperative union leaders in the rural areas and disrupt development projects. The democratic government of Father Bertrand Aristide in Haiti was repeatedly deposed by US forces. On top of armed invasions, draconian economic and diplomatic sanctions were imposed on socialist Cuba. But dictatorial regimes in El Salvador, Honduras, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic were funded and armed by the US or its proxies and given a free reign to unleash massive violence on any opposition, unarmed or armed. The process continues to this day. A government that strays from the Washington decreed policy is sanctioned, destabilized and ultimately removed from power. Only Cuba has managed to survive, and that with a tremendous cost to its peoples and economy. During the Cold War years, more than 300 priests in the region were killed by state agencies and right-wing death squads. Some prominent bishops who championed the rights of the poor were gunned down in broad day light. Over 15 senior local and foreign Catholic priests in Guatemala were killed or forcibly disappeared, ten of them in 1981. Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, an outspoken backer of liberation theology was assassinated by a death squad while saying mass. Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi of Guatemala was killed in 1998 by military officers after he submitted a detailed report on human rights violations in the country. More than 40 of his parishioners and church workers had been murdered earlier. It was a veritable reign of terror facilitated by US funds, technical and military assistance and diplomatic support. As atrocity after atrocity came to surface in Central and South America, the Reagan administration continued support. Dictators like Augusto Pinochet of Chile who projected themselves as devotees committed upholding the true Christian values were Reagan’s principal allies in the region. The influence of progressive traditions like liberation theology on social movements declined sharply after the fall of the USSR and the institution of neo-liberal economic policies. Instead of uniting for change, people turned to individual solutions. Religions that stressed personal salvation over compassion gained more traction. People in South and Central America gravitated from Catholicism to Pentecostalism. Pentecostal churches based in the US were instrumental players in this process. Reagan’s anti-communism was distinctly ruthless. It meant ‘constructive engagement’ with the inhumane Apartheid regime in South Africa and support for the virulent rebel forces in Mozambique and Angola. No alliance was unthinkable to prevent ‘godless communism’ from securing a foothold in Africa. The RENAMO fighters of Mozambique, financed by the racist regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia, routinely burned villages and killed hundreds of civilians. Renowned for using child soldiers inducted into its ranks after being forced to kill their parents and relatives, RENAMO was a terrorist force. Yet, Reagan received the RENAMO leader at the White House, declaring his fighters ‘freedom fighters’. Several churches in the US raised funds for RENAMO. Many instances of the grossly immoral nature of Reagan’s anti-communist creed can be given. Latin America provides a major example. 7.8 TWO FORMS OF CHRISTIANITY Ronald Reagan had no words of remorse for the barrage of human suffering the US unleashed in South and Central America. Yet, he was a devout Christian. His speeches advocated recitation of prayers in school, placement of the Ten Commandments in public places and renewal of Christian values to combat the evils of adultery, abortion, pornography, teen sex, and addictive drugs. His address to a major Christian convocation in 1984 epitomized his vision: Politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality's foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide. We need it because we are imperfect, and our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they're sinners can bring to democracy the tolerance it requires in order to survive. Ronald Reagan Protestant evangelical groups formed a key segment of Reagan’s political base. A cursory examination of the role played by conservative Christians in US elections and the stand on religion of the US presidents after Richard Nixon, seems to show that religion played a major, if not a dominant role, in US electoral politics. Right wing organization, at the state and national levels, promote (Christian) family values, disparage feminism, demand a ban on abortion, condemn homosexuality, brand Islam a threat to America and decry the teaching of the theory of evolution in schools. Their platform coincides with that of Reagan. They are organized, galvanized and well-funded. They want a president, senators, congresspersons, state governors, legislators and Supreme Court judges who will implement their agenda. Liberal politicians in the Democratic Party often espouse Christianity but adopt a more inclusive stance. But viewing US politics from a primarily religious based perspective is a misleading exercise. Due to its history, the US society has deep social schisms not just along religious lines (evangelical Christians versus others) but also along race and ethnic (Native Americans, African Americans, Latino Americans and White Americans), gender-based, and nationality-related (locals and immigrants) lines. These divisions sit atop the most fundamental schism of the US society, namely that based on wealth and income. The US is one of the most unequal nations in the world and the level of inequality has risen sharply in the past three decades. In recent years, the upper 10% of the earners garnered more than 50% of the total income while the top 1% secured 20%. The divide is sharper in terms of wealth. In 2019, the US had 621 billionaires, and the total wealth of the 400 richest among them was $2.9 trillion. With a total fortune valued at $250 billion, the three richest Americans had more accumulated wealth than the 50% of the people at the bottom combined. Inequality translates into pain and suffering. The income of the bottom fourth of the workers—waiters, store clerks, nurse assistants, cleaners—puts them below the official poverty level. They often lack employer-funded health insurance, sick leave or pension benefits, and juggle between two or three part-time jobs to make ends meet. Electoral politics and the legal system are predicated upon preservation and enhancement of the fortunes and power of the plutocrats and the corporations they control. The political seesaw between Republicans and Democrats places almost insurmountable barriers for other parties to gain seats in state and federal legislative bodies. Major presidential candidates raise billions of dollars for advertising and other campaign costs. Campaigns for other offices need tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars. Both parties are financed by major corporations which generally donate to from both parties. No independent electoral body, at the state or federal level, exists. Political debates are organized by a private entity composed of Democrats and Republicans. Independent and alternative voices are almost completely shut out in the debates and by the media. Both the dominant parties are solidly bonded to the capitalist system, the wealthy upper class and aggressive militarism on the global front. Yet, real and apparent acrimonies and bitter rhetoric on social issues maintains the appearance of a vibrant democracy. It is a style of politics that keeps people bitterly divided over single issues. Either you support affirmative action or you do not, either you support a woman’s right to choose or you do not, either you are for fair treatment for immigrants or you are not, either you support voucher schools or you do not, either you oppose teaching the theory of evolution in schools or you do not—a veritable litany of wedge issues keeps Americans so divided that they do not entertain the notion of uniting on the basis of the critical problems—inadequate health care, high cost of college education, job insecurity, poor pay, excessive work hours, inadequate benefits, old age income and support and so on—that plagues all of them. Religion based divisions play an important role in this equation. The early days of the US republic witnessed a vigorous debate between those of who wanted to make Christianity the official religion and those who promoted of the separation of the church and state. The latter prevailed: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. First Amendment to the US Constitution Yet, the influence and role of Christianity in social and political affairs did not abate. Racial divide was a key factor. White churches were often associated with anti-black, segregationist elements while black churches strove for racial equality. For example, in the 1930s, Catholic Father CE Coughlin spewed emotive fascistic, anti-Semitic, racist, anti-socialist diatribe from his Detroit radio station on a daily basis. At its zenith his program captured an audience of some 30 million. The 1950s era McCarthyism fomented artificial fears of encroaching ‘godless’ communism in the government and society. Senator McCarthy was a Catholic. As his anti-communism became vociferous, prominent Catholic clergy and news outlets lent him support. While his excessively wide dragnet backfired, and he fell into disrepute, his legacy of making anticommunism a central plank in American domestic and foreign policy endured. Reverend Billy Graham, a conservative Protestant, was the main front man of the crusade. His fiery oratory in the 1960s drew tens of thousands to his rallies and his radio audience was in the millions. His vision was forthright: Graham’s message was principally one of fear: fear of a wrathful god; fear of temptation; fear of communists and socialists; fear of unions; fear of Catholics; fear of homosexuals; fear of racial integration and above all, fear of death. But as a balm for such fears, he promised listeners eternal life, which he said was readily claimed through acceptance of Jesus Christ as one’s savior. (Bothwell 2018). Reverend Graham condemned the civil rights and anti-war movements and lauded the police attacks against them. Starting from the Korean War, he stridently supported every war waged by the US. He went to Vietnam to boost the morale of the US troops. His support for pro-US dictators in Latin America and elsewhere was unabashed. His extremist position on issues like nuclear weapons, and suppression of anti-colonial movements brought him into regular contact with US presidents. Deemed the high priest of US imperialism and forerunner of modern-day Christian fundamentalism, he had bold business acumen. His commercial empire and brand name were worth millions. And moguls of oil, arms manufacturing and other corporations featured among his close allies. Reflecting his uncompromising preaching, right wing politicians and religious groups castigated moderate welfare policies like provision of food stamps, child support and services for the needy. They saw these measures as signs of nascent communism. Poverty, they said, emanated from a lack of family values. As good Christians, the not well-off should seek betterment through prayer and work, not state charity. The National Rifle Association, a broad-based and immensely influential lobby group, which saw the right to bear military style arms as a god given constitutional right, was closely allied to these conservative groups. Jerry L Falwell, head of a Virginia mega-church and founder of the Moral Majority, carried on Graham’s legacy with gusto. He opposed desegregated education, secular public education and presided over racially exclusive academies. His televised sermons attracted tens of millions. Moral Majority became a weighty political lobby group and was credited with delivering the presidency to Reagan. With avowed racists as guests on his radio program, Falwell opposed Dr Martin Luther King and the US civil rights movement and backed the South African Apartheid regime not just in moral terms but also by promoting investment in the Apartheid economy. In his eyes, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, was a ‘phony’. His views on Islam were distinctly negative. Today his son, Jerry Falwell, Jr, carries on that legacy and remains firm supporter of the mendacious Donald Trump. While the Protestant and Catholic churches generally sang the same tune with regards to communism in the international arena, apart from issues like abortion, the Catholic Church had more liberal policies in domestic affairs. On the matters of racial equality and justice, the Protestant African American churches parted company with the white evangelical churches. Progressive Christianity + African American churches played a lead role in the struggle against racial discrimination and for civil rights in the US. Dr Martin Luther King was no doubt the premier progressive American Christian activist and thinker of the twentieth century. Coming from a line of African American activists, Christian and secular, his steadfast commitment to racial equality and social justice made him the unofficial but undisputed leader of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The movement included numerous priests, African American as well as from other racial and ethnic groups. Black churches have played a complex role in the social justice struggles in the US. During the slavery and post-Civil War eras, they actively promoted civil and political rights of African Americans. Subsequently, they receded from the frontlines. Even as segregation, disenfranchisement and lynching of African Americans persisted, the Black clergy for the most part adopted an ambivalent stance. When Black radicals and socialists were persecuted, they were silent. Reflecting more the visions of a rising middle class than the interest of the masses, they did not venture far from extolling Christian tenets like prayers, humility, and loving God and one’s neighbor. At best, they envisioned reforms, not fundamental change, within the capitalist and racist US system. The conformist bloc was countered by a tradition that views Christianity a force for social change. Now known as the Black Prophetic Tradition, it was initially a minority within the African American clergy. But after WW II, it gathered pace and evolved into a significant progressive force in American society. Dr King was the premier embodiment of this tradition. He prayed but also boldly spoke up, marched and acted. I prayed for freedom for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs. Fredrick Douglass (Barber 2017). King was globally admired for his unwavering dedication and for the tactic of direct, non-violent civil disobedience. Drawing inspiration from MK Gandhi, he was in the streets, starting from the bus boycott of 1955 to his final days in 1968. Mounting rostrums to denounce racism and promote equality, his oratory attracted millions. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Yet, the FBI hounded him, branding him a communist and subjecting him to a vile campaign of slander and rumor. His later day agenda encompassed global peace, opposition to the US aggression on Vietnam, promoting racial and economic equality and ending poverty. Courageously calling the US government ‘the greatest purveyor of violence in the world’ and boldly stating that it had ‘committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world,’ he recognized the criticality of systemic transformation. Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That’s the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system. Martin Luther King Ralph Abernathy and influential leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) who were sympathetic to Dr King’s vision met in early 1968 to initiate the Poor People’s Campaign. Aiming to pressurize the government and the Congress to implement programs to address the lack of jobs, poor housing, discrimination and other problems faced by people at the bottom rung of the economic system, it would demand the passage of a 12-billion dollar Economic Bill of Rights. It envisaged enlisting people from all racial and ethnic groups in a nation-wide civil disobedience drive leading up to a massive gathering in Washington DC. Addressing class-based issues in a multi-racial effort marked a major transition for the civil rights movement. But King’s expanded agenda drew the ire of important African American civil rights leaders and influential clergy. Content with pursuing civil rights within Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program, they accused King of harming the fight for racial equality. But King marched on. Assassinated soon after launching the Poor People’s Campaign, he remains an icon for humans everywhere. His birthday is an official holiday in the US. Memorials in his honor abound. But the Poor People’s Campaign petered out in the 1970s. Today, apart from Reverend William J Barber and Cornel West, hardly any African American Christian voice attends to the true legacy of Martin Luther King. Barber, who now heads a revived Poor People’s Campaign, reminds religious and secular activists to comprehensively challenge racism, poverty and militarism—the ‘triple evils’ of US society identified by King. But in this era of identity politics, such voices have yet to gain political traction, In addition to the progressive African American pastors, there was a small but significant progressive trend in other American churches. Dorothy Day was a lead figure. A journalist and social activist, she embraced a faith-based socialist outlook. A cofounder of the pacifist Catholic Worker Movement, she edited its influential magazine, The Catholic Worker, for nearly fifty years. In addition, she joined civil disobedience campaigns and guided direct action for the poor and homeless. While decrying Marxist politics, she supported Latin American radicals like Father Camillo Torres, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. A multiplicity of arrests did not reduce her activism. It only ceased upon her death at a ripe old age. Father Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit priest and intellectual, was a courageous inspirational figure in the Christian social justice movement of the 1960s. He refused to pay taxes because it contributed to U.S. military spending. Along with leaders of other faiths, including Dr Martin Luther Kind, he founded several pacifist groups. His strident opposition to the US war on Vietnam took him on a visit to North Vietnam in 1968. In the same year, he, his brother Philip and seven other Catholic activists broke into a military recruitment facility and destroyed military draft board files. The statement they issued is telling: We confront the Roman Catholic Church, other Christian bodies, and the synagogues of America with their silence and cowardice in the face of our country's crimes. We are convinced that the religious bureaucracy in this country is racist, is an accomplice in this war, and is hostile to the poor. Father Daniel Berrigan and Associates He was arrested and sentenced to three years behind bars. But his work had a major impact on the tactics employed by anti-war activists in the US. After the end of the war on Vietnam, he founded the Ploughshares Movement which called for total abolition of nuclear weapons. In 1980, he, his brother Philip and six associates secretly entered a nuclear missile site, damaged nuclear warheads cones and poured blood on the documents in the facility. Arrested and charged on many counts, they spent nearly ten years in prison. In his later days, Father Berrigan assisted people afflicted with AIDS. Father Roy Bourgeois, a Catholic priest who was defrocked by the Vatican for conducting proscribed ordination of women, founded the School of the Americas Watch which publicized the training given by the US military to the militaries of the dictatorial regimes in Latin America. Their annual vigils outside the training facility and investigations played a key role in unmasking the details of this dastardly practice. Earlier he had been deported from Bolivia, where he had worked with social justice activists to oppose the ruthless regime of Hugo Banzer, a graduate of this school. On returning to the US, he lived at a Catholic Worker facility to assist the poor. But he remained a vocal opponent of US policies in Latin America and helped document the role of graduates of the School of the Americas in the murder of US and local nuns and priests in El Salvador. He was arrested on several occasions and spent a total of nearly four years in prison. Other Christian progressive organizations have also originated from the US. One of them is the American Friends Service Committee. Founded by Quakers, its goal is to promote peace and social justice. It is well known for giving assistance to injured civilians and combatants on both sides of the conflict. In the US, it has worked to promote the rights of the minority communities and oppose militarism and weapons production. A 2005 nationwide poll of about two and a half million 2005 asked who was the greatest American. Dr Martin Luther King was ranked third in the final list. Though much has to be done to eradicate persistent institutional and attitudinal racism in the US, the outcome attests to the distance travelled in that direction since the 1960s. Yet, Ronald Reagan, who by objective standards should have faced charges of major crimes against humanity, was ranked first. The ethically mixed outcome reflects how imperial hubris, jingoistic nationalism, superficial moralizing, media bias and immersion into consumerism can triumph over humanism and truth. 7.9 NEOLIBERAL CHRISTIANITY Christianity spans the world. The survey of its societal function in this chapter leaves out many areas in Africa, Asia, the UK and Europe. The subject is too vast but some of these areas are covered in the next chapter that in which the relationship between Christianity and Islam is explored. This section looks at Christianity in the US under the presidency of Donald Trump. The religious landscape of the United States has undergone a significant transformation over the past decade. Professed loyalty to religion has been declining. Fairly large sample surveys by the Pew Research Forum indicate that in 2009, 77% of the adult population identified themselves as Christians but a decade on, that declined to 65%. Earlier, regular church attendees outnumbered occasional attendees. Now the situation is reversed. That trend is more pronounced among white Americans than among African Americans or Hispanic Americans. While the decline is seen for Protestant and Catholic denominations, it is marked in the former. Several factors are at work. Higher rate of college attendance, lower rate of marriage, an increase in single parent families, weaker traditional family ties, longer work hours, novel recreational and lifestyle routines, reduced rhetoric about ‘godless communism,’ decline of the religious consensus forged by the Cold War, shocking exposés of widespread sexual abuse of young boys by junior and senior Catholic priests, accusations of sexual molestation leveled at key Protestant figures, and the progressive stand of Pope Francis on social and economic issues are posited as contributory causes of reduced allegiance to the traditional Christian churches. The proportion who lack a religious affiliation (atheist, agnostic or nothing) rose over the same decade from 17% to 26%. But religions other than Christianity have seen a modest growth in absolute and relative terms. A marked generational effect is evident. While more than three quarters of the older age persons regard themselves as Christians, only half of the younger adults do so. Of the latter, some 40% identify with the unaffiliated and 10% follow faiths other than Christianity. This trend is at odds with the perception that in the past few years and especially under the presidency of Trump, religion has played a major role in elections. Christian evangelicals exercise a greater influence on key state and federal policies and more politicians who brand themselves as devout Christians are taking up office. Several analysts argue that these trends are not discordant. Since the early 1900s, religiosity in the US has followed a cyclical pattern of ups and downs but the basic bond between religion and politics remains. Weakened Christian identification does not necessarily imply adherence to rational, secular humanism. It often heralds an immersion into spirituality and esoteric beliefs. One survey found that a greater proportion of atheists and agnostics than the religious believed in aliens from other planets who had visited the earth in unidentified flying objects. And no matter the current trend, among all the affluent nations, the US is still the most religious nation, and among all the most religious nations, it is the most affluent. Traditionally, churches provide free services like childcare, education, counselling and food and shelter for the homeless. Women participate in Sunday schools, assisting the elderly and looking after children in greater numbers. Such activities strengthen loyalty to the church. Surveys on religion either leave out or pay minimal attention to economic factors. Neoliberalism has progressively weakened the social security net, and increased low-pay and low-benefits jobs. Decent, remunerative jobs with adequate vacation, sick leave, health insurance and retirement pension are scarce. The median income and poverty level have been virtually static, but inequality has mushroomed. Young adults have bleaker prospects compared to their parents. Pensions are now tied to the vagaries of the stock market. Newer technologies and corporate monopolies have accelerated the demise of established businesses. These disconcerting trends are compounded by headline grabbing mass shootings, catastrophic weather events (storms, fires, hurricanes, extreme heat), ratcheted propaganda about Islamic terrorism and now, the corona pandemic. For most Americans, it is an age of anxiety. The dominant political parties remain in a fervent embrace of neoliberal policies that entrench corporate power and magnify economic inequality. Political subservience to money has been an integral part of the American republic since its inception. But now that has reached unabashed, blatant dimensions. For Clinton and Bush, Obama, Biden and Trump, corporate and plutocratic interests and militarism triumphed above all else. The more united they are on economic matters, the more divided they stand on social issues. And that becomes the basis of their electoral campaigns. Aware of the business-oriented loyalties of the politicians on both sides of the aisle, the people have little trust for government, political bigwigs, banks and major companies. Realizing that economic reality will not vary no matter which party wins, voters favor politicians who are more likely to deliver on their favored social issues. As a consequence, antagonisms along lines of religion, race, immigration, abortion and gay unions reach a feverish pitch. Attached to groups like Moral Majority, Focus on the Family and the Christian Coalition, white evangelicals are more energized than ever. It is a strong, stable base of activists whose religiosity remains undiminished. The percentage of Americans who attend church more than once a week, pray daily, and accept the Bible as wholly reliable and deeply instructive to their lives has remained absolutely, steel-bar constant for the last 50 years or more, right up to today. (Stanton 2018). This strong core of devout, well-funded Christians votes regularly. In a setting of general voter apathy, their votes often determine the outcome. Televangelism + Televangelism conveys sermons and holy tidings from Christian pastors and ministers to sizeable regional, national and international audiences via radio, TV and Internet channels. The faithful attend church service without going to church and converts accrue without a face-to-face encounter. It first bloomed in the US in the 1920s. Hundreds of Christian radio stations, some run by networks controlled by charismatic preachers, dominated the airwaves by the 1940s. Their audience base was in the tens of millions. From the 1950s, such stations mushroomed in Latin America and Europe. A decade on, they were present in Africa and parts of Asia. Today they rule the radio spectrum in many nations. In some African nations, a half or more of the radio stations are run by Christian organizations. Southeast Christian Church, USA Televangelism is now a multi-billion-dollar enterprise employing satellite and cable TV networks and the Internet. Famed, savvy evangelists operate from lavish megachurches and have virtual audiences that extend to all the four corners of the planet. US televangelism has long standing ties to the centers of economic and political power. Many televangelists operate from megachurches that can accommodate thousands of worshippers at a time. The megachurch attendee and the remote viewer typically get a dose of passionate Biblical oratory interspersed with castigation of abortionists, liberals, homosexuals, same sex marriage, feminists and ‘America haters’. Denigration of Islam and Muslims marks some sessions. And the faithful also obtain worldly rewards. Ministers proffer advice on health, self-help, finance, investment and exercise and give answers to personal issues. In the name of Prosperity Gospel, modern televangelism spiritually elevates the neoliberal capitalist ethic and equates financial success with blessings from God. Some televangelists stage faith healing sessions in which the afflicted is embrocated with healing ointments and prayed for. Physical and mental illnesses are treated. At times apparent miracles occur as wheelchair bound persons start to walk unaided. The congregants connect to the Holy Spirit by entering a trance and speaking in tongues. Televangelist channels feature news, political commentary, sports and entertainments programs. It is not necessary to switch channels. Moreover, these programs are rendered in a Christian perspective. Books by famed televangelists can be ordered from the same source. Some of these books have sold in the millions. One description of a spiritual session goes: Over on God TV - part of a global TV network - Dr Rooney Howard-Browne is performing his Great Awakening in a Texas church. He touches people on the forehead and shouts: ‘Fire of God!’ They fall on the floor and writhe around. The audience laughs. He interviews whimpering, post-Fire-of-God supplicants, and the audience laughs. People speak in tongues, and everybody laughs. (Dowling 2007). Televangelists raise revenue through donations, subscriptions, sale of books and religious, paraphernalia, infomercials, investments and varied business ventures. Desperate folk facing serious illness, financial ruin, emotional angst and life crisis mail checks, maybe in three to four figures, in order to be prayed for by the evangelist and the congregation. Prayer has power. And they too desire a miracle. But, one undercover investigation revealed that in some ministries, the checks are cashed but the rest of what is in the envelope is dumped in the garbage. Some ministries encourage credit card donations. Religion friendly tax rules are employed liberally to protect their revenue stream. The dominant players in this field are Trinity Broadcasting Network (the largest Christian media group in the world), The God Channel, and Christian Broadcasting Network. We list some of the leading American televangelists. Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, the CEOs of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries, have a net worth over $750 million. Their 1500-acre campus in Texas has a megachurch, a private airstrip and a sumptuous residential bungalow. A jet plane for the Ministry and three jets for their private use are anchored at the site. Kenneth Copeland and Jesse Duplantis, also a televangelist, reportedly avoid travel on commercial planes as those planes are full of ‘demons’. Pat Robertson, a veteran televangelist, chancellor of Regent University and guru of the Christian Broadcasting Network champions conservative political causes. A confidant of US presidents, he is a best-selling author on politics and spirituality. His long-standing talk-show program, the 700 Club, features Christian causes and rightwing politics. Despite his age, he remains a presence on this show. He has also set up other TV programs. At one point, his cable TV programs had over 60 million subscribers in the US. His interests extend to other media firms, mining and food companies. In addition to operating philanthropic and relief agencies, he has backed US imperial ventures since the 1960s. Among other things, he gave diplomatic and material support to ruthless tyrants in Africa like Charles Taylor of Liberia and Mobutu Sese Seko of Congo. In turn, he won lucrative diamond mining contracts from both. He was a fund raiser for the US backed terrorist force, the Contras, that strove to depose the Sandinista socialist government of Nicaragua, a supporter of the Apartheid regime in South Africa, and at one point, a trumpeter for the assassination of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. His sermons condemn homosexuality, abortion, pagans, feminism, liberal professors and advocates of civil liberties. Bandying the notion of a global Jewish conspiracy, he has called Hinduism a ‘demonic’ creed and expressed a strong aversion towards Islam: [Islam is] a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination. Pat Robertson (Wikipedia (2020 – Pat Robertson)). By secular standards, he has done well. His net worth has been put between $200 million and $1 billion. Benny Hinn, a traveling evangelist, leading icon of the Prosperity Gospel and author of books on faith healing conducts healing summits (Holy Spirit Miracle Crusades) in large, packed stadia in the US and abroad. With annual attendance in the millions, the summits regularly feature on major Christian TV networks. His ministry owns a jet plane and his personal wealth is about $60 million. But of recent, he has been embroiled in multiple financial, tax-evasion, marital and miracle misrepresentation scandals. Since he has run into financial difficulties, he has issued contradictory verdicts on the power of the Prosperity Gospel. Joel Osteen preaches from one of the largest megachurches in the US. His services are streamed live on various Internet platforms and heard on his own radio station. A popular spiritual advisor, author of block buster books and sought-after speaker, he is worth around $50 million. His primary residence is valued at $10.5 million. Creflo and Tafi Dollar are the senior pastors of the non-denominational World Changers Church International. The main campus of the church is in Atlanta, Georgia. Their Sunday services promote the Prosperity Gospel and stream to twenty churches in the US, one church in Canada and one church in Australia. Around the year 2006, their church had 30,000 members and annual income of about $70 million. Creflo Dollar is also in demand as a speaker at conferences and corporate venues. Owners of a jet plane, two Rolls Royce cars, multi-million-dollar properties, their net worth is about $30 million dollars. Billy Graham, a veteran evangelist broadcaster who passed on in 2018 was a true heavyweight in the field. An advisor and friend of many US presidents, his national and international outreach exceeded that of any other American evangelist. His overall lifetime listenership on radio and TV is estimated to have topped 2 billion. Some of his over 20 books on the Christian creed and lifestyle made publication history in terms of initial printing volume and sales. He wrote a newspaper advice column that appeared for over sixty years. Loudly decrying homosexuality and feminism, he vociferously denounced communism and supported US foreign policy and the war on Vietnam. But he parted company most evangelists on the issue of racial discrimination. He supported the civil rights movement of the 1960s, held desegregated worship services and befriended Dr Martin Luther King. But when Dr King spoke out against the US aggression on Vietnam, their relationship soured. He also promoted inter-faith cooperation. When he died, his estate was valued at over $25 million. Jesse Duplantis, founder of Jesse Duplantis Ministries, is a seasoned televangelist, author, and a forceful presence in Christian broadcasting. Besides promoting the conservative Christian agenda, he is a prominent supporter of Israel and the US policy in the Middle East. He has a 3-million-dollar residence, a part of which is used for church related activities. His net worth is around $20 million. His ministry has a private jet that he uses for his national and international evangelical peregrinations. He has a theological justification for that practice. I really believe that if Jesus was physically on the earth today, he wouldn't be riding a donkey. Think about that for a minute. He'd be in an airplane preaching the gospel all over the world. Jesse Duplantis (Wikipedia – (2020 Jesse Duplantis)). Other financially successful American televangelists include Rick Warren ($25 million), Franklin Graham ($25 million), TD Jakes ($18 million) and Joyce Meyers ($8 million). And there are more. Televangelists in the US today spiritually energize millions of souls with their passionate sermons. Controlling hefty bank accounts and financial portfolios, they live like the super-rich. Venerated by millions of believers, they dispense all manner of questionable health advice such as avoiding vaccination and chemotherapy. They benefit from major tax exemptions, and lax tax audits. Modern evangelists not only preach the Prosperity Gospel, they live it and set an example for others to follow. Inspired by American Christian televangelists, televangelism has become a global phenomenon, and is also being embraced by Hindu and Muslim denominations. Wealthy religious TV and radio networks led by charismatic indigenous preachers command large audiences in Latin America, parts of Africa, India, Australia and the Middle East. Their operations resemble televangelism of the US, though their grandiosity has yet to catch up. Many foreign Christian stations carry programs of US origin. Traditional churches have for long run charity programs assisting the poor and homeless and women and children in distress. Many operate schools, colleges, hospitals and nursing homes. In the course of providing such services and church activities, they use business strategies for advertising, fund raising, setting priorities and resources use. Televangelism has further entrenched the tentacles of capitalism into the spiritual domain. Marketing has become an accepted, routine manner of conducting church affairs. Commercialization of religion within an unjust system is epitomized by Christmas celebrations. An annual shopping bonanza in the US and Europe, it is a make-or-break event for the economy. Besides the billions spent on buying gifts, more than 25 million Christmas trees with lighting decorations and trinkets are sold each year in the US alone. While those who can afford it get a live tree, others make do with artificial trees. For many, it is a time for feasting and being merry. Yet, more than one of five children in the US are officially poor; many go to bed hungry, even during Christmas. Many depend on charity programs to make the Christmas holidays bearable. An organized force + The senior leaders of evangelical churches and denominations in the US do not function in an autonomous manner. They covertly cooperate to attain their long-term goals. Their main umbrella group, The Family, has operated from the 1940s. Presently led by Doug Coe, the elite, fundamentalist group operates through a series of foundations. Its several thousand members include military officers, members of the judiciary including the Supreme Court, influential senators and congress persons, state governors, corporate executives, media personalities and think tank experts. With indurated ties to aerospace and energy companies, it has also cultivated relationships with political and social leaders across the world. Adroitly christened Jesus Plus Nothing, its ideology calls for dismantling the constitutional edict mandating the separation of the church and state, making the Ten Commandments the basis for the US legal code and displaying them in schools and public places, banning abortion, and ostracizing secularists. Holding that the nation has sunk into a morass of immorality, this ideology has little regard for democratic governance. It favors rule by an enlightened Christian leader with strong authority. Thus, the Family supported brutal dictators like Papa Doc of Haiti, General Suharto of Indonesia, General Costa de Silva of Brazil, and General Park Chung Hee of South Korea. Held in awe by many of his followers, Doug Coe is deemed a spiritually advanced person close to Jesus Christ. On the economic front, The Family promotes a robust neoliberal program stressing privatization and free markets and proscribing state interference in the economy. Denouncing welfare programs, public education and health care reforms, it rallies against labor unions everywhere. But wedded to US imperial designs and ventures, it has no issue with increasing governmental expenditure on the military. The Family operates discretely. Membership is not made public. Media coverage is scant. Its cells in the military and other institutions, which hold prayer and planning sessions, are secret. Its financial affairs, weighty as they are, rest on murky grounds. But it wields influence. Reputed as the most influential religious group in the nation’s capital, it owns a place of residence where US lawmakers put up at highly subsidized rates during congressional sessions. The Fellowship Foundation, a subsidiary of The Family, organizes what maybe the most important ecclesiastic-political national event—The National Prayer Breakfast. In association with the Congress, the event has been held each year in February since its inception in 1953. It is usually addressed by the US President in office. In addition to priests, the 3500 invitees include cabinet members, congresspersons, federal and state officials, foreign and UN diplomats, European Union legislators, top executives from American and foreign firms, students, politicians and dignitaries from 100 nations. Two or more foreign heads of state grace the event. Mother Teresa once attended the Breakfast. The attendees, many of whom fork out the $425 fee, are treated to a standard morning meal in a five-star hotel followed by prayers, seminars based on the theme of Christ’s message, and lectures on varied topics for several days. The Prayer Breakfast is more than a religious event. It is where business, political, social and cultural heavyweights of the nation and beyond cement their relationships, make lucrative deals, plan future projects and lobby for their products. Under a holy imprimatur, it is a distinct venue to further the interests of US capitalism and promote the neoliberal agenda. Another impactful faith-based front is United in Purpose led by Bill Dallas, a convicted felon who was imbued with religiosity while in prison. Claiming that a holy visitation implored him to form a network of pastors, he embarked on a series of ventures towards that goal. With financial backing from major business figures, his drive evolved in 2010 to form United in Purpose, an entity now connected via satellite to thousands of churches and conservative ministers in the US. United in Purpose is chaired by Ken Eldred, a multi-millionaire activist conservative who runs a major Silicon Valley technology firm and strives for the full integration of faith with work and life. It receives large donations from the military and security industry. With high-profile right-wing Christians in its board of directors—some of whom are in The Family— United in Purpose has now come to occupy the apex of the top faith-based political groups. Though its basic motto is ‘Biblical values above all,’ its real backbone is a cadre of experts that manage it as a sophisticated marketing and voter mobilization entity. Allied with seasoned pollsters, they use state-of-the-art statistical data collection and processing methods to formulate and promote the United in Purpose message. The data are gathered from church records, congregants and opinion polls. The main task is to support local, state and federal office candidates who seek to unite faith and politics on the basis of the traditional right-wing Christian agenda. Election of judicial officers with a conservative mindset is a key aspect of this endeavor. United in Purpose has compiled a massive database of 200 million files with information that gives clues to the voting preferences of US voters. For each person, an index indicating his or her alignment to conservative beliefs and voting potential is computed. Those with high index values are targeted to bolster support for preferred candidates. The actual work is done by a battalion of volunteers from associated churches and sympathetic Christian bodies. The database is used to generate an electronic software package that is provided to pastors to enable them to monitor the extent of registration for voting and to track the past and current voting pattern of the church members. Pastors were enlisted in a systematic drive to mobilize 75% of the congregants to vote in the 2020 presidential and congressional election. Its operative strategy features a media blitz in right-wing outlets, participating in religious events and political summits and awarding prizes to conservative opinion makers. Though its work is effectively partisan and political, United in Purpose and similar groups get tax exemptions as nonprofit corporations. And, despite this, they function in largely impenetrable secrecy. 7.10 AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY IN THE AGE OF TRUMP Prior to being elected the president of the United States in 2016, Donald Trump was a real estate mogul owning and holding interests in hotels, casinos, skyscrapers, golf courses and a wide range of business entities operating in the US and across the world. With his net worth estimated to exceed $2 billion in 2020, he was the first billionaire president of the US. Trump entered the presidential fray at a critical juncture in US capitalism. The mega financial crisis of 2008 had shaken its major pillars. The actions of the US Treasury and Federal Reserve to bail out debt-ridden corporations had stimulated economic growth, expanded the job market, and stabilized international trade and finance. Investors celebrated as stock markets in the US and abroad resumed their upward pre-crisis ascendance. But disquiet prevailed within the traditional global power houses—the US, Europe and Japan. Potential competitors—China, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Brazil—were coming of age. The meteoric development of the technological capacity of China, the extent to which its products were selling across the globe, the scale of its investments Africa, Asia and Latin America—all posed a veritable threat to the dominance exercised by Western and Japanese corporations. The rise of China was based on growth in productivity in the real economy while the economic expansion in the US derived to a significant degree from the financial sector. The US dollar is the international reserve and trade currency. The power of the IMF, World Bank and World Trade Organization that had enabled the West to reign in recalcitrant nations and advance its agenda no longer sufficed in the new setting. The unrivalled military muscle of the US has but limited effect, though the military sector significantly buoys up the US economy. The corporate behemoths and the two major US political parties that serve their interests understood that something had to be done to ensure US global dominance far into the future. Yet, the economy was still riding on a huge debt bubble—public, credit card, student and business debt. New jobs were lower pay jobs bereft of benefits. Health care and higher education costs were a worry to even the middle class families. Urban rents and mortgage costs had gotten beyond the means of graduates from leading universities. Income and wealth equalities had spiraled out of control. Disaffection was rising in all political sectors, from the left to the center and the right. Edged on by rightwing media, people blamed the Washington elite, globalization and big business for their problems. Policy makers in the West were in a quandary: Should they work within the multilateral arrangements put in place after the fall of the Soviet Union, form regional alliances, or chart out their own path? Should they cooperate with Russia and China, or isolate them in global economic and diplomatic affairs? Trump represented the faction that favors ditching multilateral trade and investment agreements in favor of bilateral deals, alliance with Russia and aggressive isolation of China on the economic and political arenas. Trump formulated his message in a populist style of appeal to the middle class and low class voters. He condemned globalization and unpatriotic corporations for transfer of jobs abroad, denounced uncontrolled migration for its negative economic effects, and proclaimed that unlike others he would not just talk but act firmly and decisively. That, together with other aspects of his social agenda, was sufficient for him to secure enough votes to gain the White House in 2017. Running on the Republican ticket but having changed party affiliation three times before, he was a political novice with diffuse loyalties. He was famed as a shrewd business operator, boisterous TV talk show host, co-author of a bestselling book on his life and strategy for entrepreneurship and an ostentatious lifestyle punctuated with scandals. With rambling oratory, divisive agenda, litany of scandals, and proclivity for garbling facts, he was expected to lose at each stage of the election process. But he charted his own course. Alienating prominent figures in his own party, raising the ire of media pundits, mounting a thinly veiled racist campaign, lambasting the Washington elite, decrying immigration and denouncing globalization, he pledged to tear up international treaties, stand up to China, build a wall at the border with Mexico, bring back jobs and ‘Make America Great Again’. And it worked. Puncturing traditional Democratic strongholds, he smoothly sailed through each stage of the electoral process to land into the White House with a kingly grin on his face. The white working class and rural population without a college degree formed the principal base of support for the billionaire candidate. They were strongly disaffected by the character of the economic expansion of the previous three decades. The economy had grown at a reasonable rate, and the jobless rate was low, but the new jobs paid lower wages, had fewer benefits and were insecure. College education, health care and childcare costs had risen precipitously, rents in cities had become unaffordable and personal debt had risen. They distrusted all politicians, especially the Democrats. But Trump was seen as an outsider who would deploy the tactics of a corporate boss to clean up the mess in Washington. In their quest for a tough guy, the voters brushed aside his improprieties, indiscretions, chicanery and lies. The light shone on him by the ‘liberal’ media was taken by them as nothing more than a confirmation of the ‘elite conspiracy’ to derail their candidate. Guided by rightwing, white nationalist, anti-immigrant, religiously extreme advisors, his rallies drew huge crowds. His populist agenda resonated with the jingoistic vision—that the US is an exceptional nation chosen by God—that has dominated American thinking and discourse since the end of WW II. With favored showings from white, male, older, non-union, conservative, anti-immigrant, anti-Islam, evangelical, Republican voters, he carried the day in the Electoral College. His repulsive remarks about African Americans, women, Mexicans, Muslims and people with disabilities hardly dented their faith in him. What mattered to his constituency was that he would defend America against the threats of Islamism and unregulated immigration and protect American jobs. For the top 1% and the corporate sector, whether Trump or Hillary Clinton ascended to the presidency was fundamentally immaterial. Either would promote the domestic and international interests of US banks, financial firms, energy conglomerates, technology and communication giants, military industries, agribusiness, big pharma and major retail chains. That is a given facet of US politics. While some elements of the corporate sector expressed disquiet over his anti-globalization talk, they knew it was far from the rousing anti-corporate program of the socialistically inclined Bernie Sanders that widely resonated among young voters. Derailing the candidacy of Sanders was a critical factor in this election. The victory of Trump reflected a global trend. The political spectrum was swinging towards ultra-nationalism and authoritarianism in all continents. Hardline rightist demagogues and parties were in control in Brazil, India, Poland, Hungary, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, Myanmar and Israel. Elsewhere, they were making gains. The Brexit vote in the UK reflected that nationalistic, exclusive outlook. Democracy was a façade in many African nations. The theocracies of the Middle East held their ground. State capitalism in China held on to authoritarian control. Successful popular uprisings, as in Sudan, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Chile, Egypt, Tunisia and Argentina, faced a strong backlash and were being reversed by neoliberal policies forced down their throats by the international financial agencies and Western powers. Christians for Trump + Far right politicians typically form an alliance with fundamentalist religious movements. Trump was no exception. He won over evangelicals to his side with promises to end the perceived marginalization of Christians, nominate judges who would restrict abortion, uphold the death penalty, favor torture of terrorism suspects, oppose gun control and punish states where marijuana for medical purposes was legal. Convinced that their faith faces an existential threat from secularism, materialism, permissiveness, liberalism, feminism and Islam, they saw in Trump a savior who would combat social immoralities like rising pornography, drug abuse, suicide rates and children born out of wedlock. When he ascribed mass public shootings to the prevalence of moral turpitude, not guns, they nodded. During his campaign and throughout his presidency, eminent televangelists like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell Jr, Eric Metaxas and Franklin Graham lauded him as a defender of religious freedom and rights, upholder of Christian values and the man to stave off ‘brown-shirted, fascist’ Democrats. Some 81% of the evangelicals cast their vote for him. He reciprocated by espousing conservative values in his speeches, appointing faith-friendly judges and signing executive orders to curtail gay rights. A huge majority of evangelical Christians has lined up behind Trump, as have white Catholics. …. Trump has repaid them with devoted attention to issues such as abortion, school vouchers, and religious liberty. (Graham 2020). Fervent evangelicals occupied key positions in Trump’s circle of advisors and senior cabinet appointees. Cabinet meetings included prayers led by a cabinet member. Mike Pompeo, his Secretary of State, gave a graduation day speech focusing on Christian leadership style and, with disregard for the constitutional separation of the church and state, posted it on the official State Department website. Senior members of his administration were prone to extremist declarations on contentious social issues. They all advocated a constitutionally Christian America. According to Jerry Falwell Jr, the prime policy items for evangelicals are ‘[support] for the state of Israel; strong national defense; traditional family values; and pro-life’. (Sherwood 2018). Trump did well by them by moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and backing the annexation of the West Bank to Israel. He hiked up the US military budget to $725 billion in 2020, which is more than a third of the global military spending, four times the Chinese and ten times the Russian spending on the military. Trump brazenly continued the Obama initiated illegal drone strikes that often killed civilians. In alliance with Israel and Saudi Arabia, he mounted a drive to destabilize Iran on economic, military and diplomatic fronts. And he unceremoniously tore up critical arms control, climate change and trade agreements, and gave the greenlight for a program to militarize space. Formally, Donald Trump is a Presbyterian. But unlike Ronald Reagan, his faith-based credentials are next to nil. His sexual profligacy makes a mockery of any attachment to family values; his dubious business deals do not jive with the Biblical tenet to eschew greed; his routine of tweeting lies hardly marks him an honest person; his abhorrent decision to separate families and place young immigrant children in hazardous internment camps cannot mark him a merciful person; and more. Yet, just a few evangelical pastors publicly queried his standing as a good Christian. When asked whether Trump was a moral person, Jerry Falwell Jr, the son of the founder of the Moral Majority and president of one the largest and wealthiest Christian universities, said: Absolutely. Ever since I’ve known him, he’s been a good, moral person, a strong leader, a tough leader – and that’s what this country needs. Jerry Falwell, Jr (Sherwood 2018). To the evangelists and their followers, he was at worst a sinner like every human. The litany of lies he spewed, even if indisputably exposed, did not affect their loyalty. They dismissed allegations against him as machinations of the elite, liberal media. On the contrary, the mounting evidence of his disregard for the rule of law energized them. +++ While they were his firmest backers, Trump’s support among religious communities extends beyond the evangelicals. Melanie Trump, the First Lady, is a Catholic. In the 2016 election, the Catholic vote was almost equally split between him and his rival, Hilary Clinton. During his presidency, the proportion of Catholics who viewed him with favor fluctuated. By early 2020, it showed signs of decline. Trump’s immigration policies, especially the wall between the US and Mexico, mistreatment of families of undocumented of migrants and more rapid pace of deportations dissuaded the mostly Catholic Latino community in the US. These policies were criticized by prominent American archbishops and Pope Francis. But lay Catholics and their leaders supported his anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality drives and saw in him a champion of religious freedom. In early 2020, about a third of the American Christians viewed Donald Trump as a religious person and just about a fourth of the Catholics held that view. Race was a central factor. Support for Trump among white Christians—Catholic or Protestant—was much higher than support from African Americans of the corresponding denominations. The Jewish vote for Trump was divided. Leading Jewish organizations were enamored by his solid support for Israel’s continued oppression of the people of Palestine, and the aggressive measures he took against Iran. Yet, his tweets smacked of anti-Semitism. The Trump presidency emboldened extremist White nationalists, who have a history of anti-Semitism. Jewish communities took note of the paucity of condemnations from Trump against the recent violent attacks of Jewish congregations. While his Democratic successor is as pro-Israel, he is not associated with the anti-Semitic crowd. Domestic considerations may swing more Jewish votes away from Trump. American Muslims hardy approved Trump policies. However, due to his alliance with Narendra Modi, India’s Hindutva demagogue, his rating among Hindu Americans was high. +++ The major priority of the Trump administration was to protect the power of US corporations at home and abroad. Towards that end he made China the number one enemy. He imposed blockages on operations of Huawei and other large Chinese firms, provided incentives to US companies to move their operations to the US soil, threatened sanctions for maintaining ties with China, restricted cooperation between Chinese and US academics, and initiated aggressive military moves against China. His attacks on multilateral institutions was followed by moves to initiate bilateral agreements that would give US companies greater power and advantage. Internationally and domestically, his economic program abided by the classic neoliberal tenets—extensive privatization, defunding social services, reducing taxes on the wealthy, diluting environmental and other regulations on corporations, disempowering trade unions, defunding agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, broadening the scope of operations of banks, financial enterprises, mining and energy firms, and firmly opposing measures to genuinely tackle the problem of global climate change. That his measures were wrapped in populist rhetoric and accompanied by outlandish tweets left even his most ardent supporters totally baffled. The US establishment was strongly divided on the issue of relations with Russia. Trump favored allying with Russia, striking decisive blows on China and tackling it later. But a major faction wanted to isolate and tackle Russia and China at the same time. They were uneasy about the rapid pace at which he attacked the multilateral agreements that have well served US corporate interests. Hence the acrimony between him and his opponents was not an issue of the basic goal but how to achieve it. For both, Henry Kissinger’s elucidation of globalization is as much a truism beyond doubt as the literal truth of the Bible is to the evangelist. What is called globalization is really another name for the dominant role of the United States. Henry Kissinger (Smith 2017). Trump squarely placed US capital on a warpath with Chinese capital. No middle ground was possible. Trump is the best student of neoliberalism because he applies its principles without concealment. (Milanovic 2020). Combining free market fundamentalism, hyper-nationalistic populism with anti-Islamic, anti-immigrant, racially tinged tirades and measures that emboldened white nationalists and evangelical extremists, Donald Trump and his administration represented a curious and dangerous spectacle of the kind the world has rarely seen. Astonishingly major policy measures were intertwined with a barrage of obvious lies. In the light of their espoused adherence to high standards of morality, by aligning with such a president, evangelicals, their leadership and other religious groups became intertwined with a litany of immoralities and criminalities that defy justification. In the 1960s, the presence of right-wing evangelical Christian leaders like Billy Graham who actively supported US imperial ventures like the war on Vietnam was counterbalanced by progressive Christian voices like Dr Martin Luther King and Father Daniel Berrigan. In the Trump and Biden eras, retrogressive Christian leaders have bloomed but the voice of progressive Christians is barely audible and their footprint, not discernible. 7.11 THE PHILIPPINES Philippines—a nation of 100 million scattered in over 7,600 islands in 2015—is one of the two Asian nations where Christianity is the majority religion. It is also the third largest Catholic nation in the world. With no official religion, the government is constitutionally mandated to respect all religions equally. It has two official languages, Filipino and English. While data from varied sources conflict, it is fair to posit that 92% of the population is Christian (81% Catholic, 11% Protestant and others), and 6% is Muslim. The remaining 2% practice folk religions, Buddhism, syncretism, or no-religion. Most Muslims, who predominantly are Sunnis, live on Mindanao and nearby islands. Shias and the Ahmadiyya are a minority. Over 10 million Filipinos reside in other nations. In the sixteenth century, the archipelago islands formed a collection of communities loosely connected by trade and occasional conflict. People lived off agriculture, crafts and fishing under the rule of hereditary chiefs and rajas. Social stratification was low; cooperation based on traditional customs prevailed. Some islands had stronger links with mainland Asia. Adhering to folk religions, now broadly labeled Anito, people believed in a diversity of gods who guarded their families and clan. Some creeds had a supreme creator god. If you disobeyed the gods, you would be punished now and after death. Spirit-infused mountains, animals, forests, trees and rivers were venerated. Wood carvings and metal statuettes represented the divine beings and their deeds. A bounty of flowery tales of creation, life, heroes and evil beings captured the imagination. Traditional medicine and faith healing, administered by shamans, were integral to all strands of Anito religion. While today it is an exclusive practice only for a tiny minority, most Filipinos indulge in its stories and observe its rituals in some fashion. Farmers observe the traditional Anito rituals at planting and harvest times. Folk Catholicism, which intertwines Anito with Christianity, still has a small following. Traders from the Middle East brought Islam to the archipelago, directly and via Indonesia, in the 14th century. Islamic teachers and preachers who came with them managed to convert many islanders to their faith. The first mosque was built on the island of Mindanao in the 14th century. As their settlements expanded, Muslims formed kingdoms ruled by Islamic rajas and sultans. But Islam did not ever prevail across the archipelago. Spanish colonial rule + In 1521, Christianity made a firm landing in the area with a naval expedition under the Spanish flag. The Spaniards had a three-fold objective: (i) get a share of the lucrative spice trade; (ii) establish a territorial base for trading ventures into mainland Asia; and (iii) spread Christianity. The arrival of more troops and naval vessels enabled them to seize control of one island after another, build forts, and establish settlements for soldiers, traders and missionaries. Superior arms and the fragmented state of local rule facilitated colonization. Colonial forces and naval vessels were almost continually on a war footing in the first one and a half centuries. They battled firm resistance from some islands and attacks from Japanese pirates, Dutch forces from Indonesia, and warlords from China and Brunei. As stability prevailed, the initial settlements grew into large, diverse towns populated by Spanish, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, Malay and local ethnic peoples. Conscripts from Spanish colonies in Latin America were present as well. A unified administration system based on a colonial legal code evolved gradually. A unified state, the Philippines, took form. The city of Manila on Luzon Island became the colonial capital. Over time, the colony became a vibrant center of trade in goods from Spanish ruled Latin America, India, China, Indonesia, North Africa and Europe. Manila became the prime port where silver and gold from Mexico and Peru, liquor and olives from North Africa and Europe were exchanged for silk from China; fine fabrics, spices, gems and ornaments from India; spices and food products from Indonesia and Malaysia; and locally grown rice and other culinary items. The islands were grouped into provinces under a top-down mode of rule. A bureaucratic hierarchy oversaw the administration of clusters of villages, towns and cities. The colonial governor was the final authority on matters of law, order, taxation and finance. But at the village level, compliant traditional chiefs were the low-level functionaries of the colonial state. The chiefly families came to form a landowning, wealthy elite detached from the people. Village elections were held but in ways that always ensured perpetuation of elitist rule. For ordinary Filipinos, colonial life meant seizure of land and property, high taxes, forced labor, cultural indignities and restrictions on what they could do and where they could go. Authority had to be obeyed as the penalty for defiance was harsh. Language was a key tool of domination. Spanish was the language of administration, commerce and learning. But only some members of the local elite had access to education and learned Spanish. The common person had few means to understand the laws he or she was required to follow. Christian priests usually delivered their sermons in local languages. In this racist system, the brown skinned locals were derisively branded as Indians. The term Filipino was reserved for the white person. According to one historian, Spanish rule left a toxic legacy of problems: (i) vast social and economic inequalities; (ii) pseudo-democratic mode of governance; (iii) bureaucratic, inefficient state institutions; (iv) pervasive corruption; (v) absence of accountability; and (v) theocratic influence in politics. (Robles 2017). That legacy was compounded by US colonialism and neo-colonialism. Yet, by generating a sense of national identity in the course of anti-colonial struggles, colonialism inadvertently created the Philippines. Christianity under Spanish rule + As stability prevailed and trade expanded, so did Christianity. Missionary endeavors did not face much opposition at the start, especially in areas outside Muslim rule. Though the rate of conversion was fairly rapid, it often implied the addition of one more god to the existent pantheon of gods. The first Christian house of worship was opened in 1591. Cathedrals, churches, monasteries and Christian centers sprouted throughout the archipelago from then on. Saint Augustine Paoay Church shown below typifies the architecturally impressive structures of that era. Completed in 1710, it was designed to withstand earthquakes. Due to its cultural import, solid walls, imposing side and back buttresses, an attractive façade and a distinctive three-story bell tower, it is deemed a National Culture Treasure and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And its history reflects the various phases of the history of the nation. Saint Augustine Paoay Church During the Spanish era, the Catholic Church in the Philippines operated in a close similarity to its mode of operation in feudal Europe. In accordance with the papal decree to civilize and Christianize heathen peoples, the clergy condemned traditional belief systems as backward paganism, a path to hell. Conversion to Christianity was presented as the sole avenue for attaining salvation. The Spanish seldom had to resort to military force to win over converts, instead the impressive display of pomp and circumstance, clerical garb, images, prayers, and liturgy attracted the rural populace. (Miller 2020). The priests, however, did not venture beyond imagery to promote broad Christian enlightenment. Firmly opposed to schooling for the masses, they blocked the venues for ordinary Filipinos to learn Spanish, the language of official discourse. They could not read the Bible and other religious texts and had to take what the priest said as a matter of faith. No other option was available for a long time. The members of the local elite were, however, blessed with a modicum of spiritual and material crumbs. If they became Christians, they could learn Spanish, join lower ranks of the clergy and become the functionaries of the state. Being somewhat privileged and integrated into the colonial system, they came to view themselves as superior, socially and spiritually, to the common folk. The Catholic Church formed a core segment of colonial governance. The priests knew local customs, language and the vast rural landscape, and had connections with the chiefs and elites. For the people, they were men with special powers, mediators between humans and the Lord in the Heaven. Their words had weight. These features made the Church an institution of special value for the state authority, an organized mechanism to control and administer the multitude of islands. It was said that to pacify the islanders a friar was more valuable than a battalion of soldiers. Residents of many islands were gathered into small townships (pueblos) where the church was the civil and ecclesiastical authority. By restricting traditional cultural events and holding regular prayer services, celebrating Christian holidays, setting the civil calendar, and officiating baptisms, weddings and marriages, the church became the dominant social and cultural authority of the area. The varied orders of the Catholic Church used their distinct status to carve out specific spaces in the colonial system. They demanded and secured privileges and large land grants. As semi-feudal landlords, they amassed wealth and property and undertook commercial deals. The Church was an economic powerhouse in the rural areas and the cities. By favoring the local elite, it played a key role in internal class formation and the entrenchment of a rapacious, politically muscular landowning class in the nation. The Spanish clergy exacted onerous tithes, interfered in the social affairs and made rules without consultation. As in Europe, their imperviousness to the welfare of their flock elicited resentment and opposition. People turned not against Christianity as such but against the overbearing, unaccountable, foreign priests. The growing anti-clerical sentiment sprouted the beginnings of Filipino nationalism. Campaigns against Spanish rule proliferated as the 19th century drew to a close. Filipino intellectuals expressed the nationalist visions in finely crafted poems, plays, songs and literary works. Mass revolts broke out. Even as violent, furious backlash occurred, the fight for reforms and freedom went on. Many demands for reform concerned the Catholic Church. Better access to education, blocked by the Church, was high on the list. Local priests, who were relegated to junior positions, demanded the right to perform the entire range of parish duties and ceremonies. Loud calls for replacement of foreign priests by Filipino priests ensued. Angered by the oppressive alliance of the Church and the colonial state, people called for the removal of the Church in the conduct of civil affairs. Filipino priests played a central role in these anti-colonial struggles. They knew Spanish, the laws of the land and the rules of the game. And they used their facility with the Bible to their advantage. The hitherto agents of colonial rule now became forerunners of its grave diggers. In 1872, 200 local soldiers and workers at the military fort in Cavite rose up in the hope of sparking a broad national uprising. Known as the Cavite Mutiny, it was a turning point in the fight for freedom. Though suppressed and with many rebels downed by the firing squad, its consciousness raising effects reverberated across the archipelago like a powerful earthquake. Accusing them of instigating the mutiny, the Spaniards executed three Filipino activist priests—Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora. A fourth of the 200 activists were exiled to a remote island by the military court. A quarter were priests. Burgos, Gomez and Zamora are now regarded as heroic martyrs of the Filipino nation. Jose Rizal, the most eminent of the Filipino freedom fighters, was also the first Filipino ophthalmologist and eye surgeon. Truly a man of many talents, he penned fine novels, emotive poems and erudite social commentary; produced elegant sketches and paintings; sculpted evocative carvings; and skillfully ventured in varied disciplines in the social and natural sciences and technical fields. Further, he was accomplished in recreational activities like drama, swordsmanship and pistol shooting. Speaking twenty-two languages including Tagalog (Filipino), Filipino dialects and Spanish, he exchanged multilingual correspondence with distinguished scientists, artists, writers and freedom activists in Asia and Europe. After specialist medical training in Europe, he could have lived a life of fame and comfort there. But he joined the burgeoning freedom movement in his homeland. Spurning the swinging social hobbies of fellow students, he put his mind to crafting poems and novels that boldly critiqued Spanish colonial rule and the Spanish friars who enabled it. The executions of Burgos, Gomez and Zamora had moved him deeply. Jose Rizal In 1887, he published Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not), a dramatic opus of romance set in the midst of the soulless cruelties of the colonial system. Simultaneously a laudatory exposition of Filipino culture and a trenchant critique of colonial injustices and hypocrisy as well as corruption of Spanish friars, its phraseology sparkles like a rare gem from start to finish. The book faithfully highlights the centrality of the Filipina woman in the colonial society. Its 1891 sequel El filibusterismo (The Subversion) and his final 1896-poem, Mi ultimo adios (My Last Farewell) had a profound impact on freedom struggles not just in his own nation but throughout Asia. Fertilizing the sense of a common identity and dignity for a people spread out in many islands, his ideas and conduct became an inspirational guide to justice-loving people of many lands. But the authorities saw them as incendiary anti-colonial incitements. Both these books were banned upon first appearance, though smuggled copies circulated clandestinely and were read avidly. Like MK Gandhi, Rizal did not advocate violence. Yet, so great was the official fear of his pen and so incensed was the Catholic Church at his exposé of its misdeeds that he was arrested on trumped up charges of fomenting rebellion, tried and executed by a firing squad in 1896. His final poem was smuggled out of the prison where he languished awaiting his death. Notwithstanding his strident attacks on the clergy, Rizal was not an atheist. Seeing himself a Christian, he denounced their crass misconduct and corruption. He felt that belief in God formed the essence of human existence. To doubt God is to doubt one's own conscience, and in consequence, it would be to doubt everything; and then what is life for? Jose Rizal (Wikipedia (2020 – Jose Rizal)). Rizal’s works stand among the premier masterpieces of Asian literature and belong alongside the epic tomes of Leo Tolstoy and Rabindranath Tagore. Now deemed a national epic and a required read for school students in the Philippines, Touch Me Not has been translated into many languages and adapted into plays, operas and movies. Rizal busts and statues are found not just in the Philippines but also in several Asian and European nations. Streets, parks, buildings and educational institutions have been named after him. Philippines remarkably elucidates the two societal facets of Christianity. The conduct of the Spanish friars reflects its deplorable side and Fathers Burgos, Gomez and Zamora, and Rizal embody its noble, progressive side. These two facets are aptly symbolized by the tall bell tower of the Saint Augustine Paoay Church: At first, it was associated with colonial domination but later it was used by Filipino freedom fighters as a watch tower in the armed struggle against the Spaniards in the 1890s and during the conflict with the Japanese forces in World War II. American colonial rule + Injustice cannot endure indefinitely. The Filipino people stood up defiantly to confront the exploitative Spanish rule as the 19th century drew to a close. The main anti-colonial movement was organized under the astute political and military skills of Emilio Aguinaldo. Employing versatile tactics, close links with the common folk and intimate knowledge of the local terrain, the patriotic forces managed to rout the Spanish battalions and set up a short-lived autonomous republic covering parts of the territory. But the colonialists regained the offensive, and most of the revolutionary leaders were forced into exile. Yet, it was not all. The US, an emergent imperial power, had avaricious designs on the vast riches of the archipelago, and regarded it a strategic location from which to project influence throughout the Asia Pacific region. Viewing the moment opportune, it voiced support for the Filipino people and entered the fray. As tensions between the two imperial nations reached a fever pitch, the Filipino liberation forces resumed their struggles. The Spaniards were decisively defeated and in January 1898, the First Philippine Republic with its capital in Manila, was proclaimed. But it was not to last. Determined to seize the archipelago, the US injected over 125,000 well-armed soldiers to wage a deadly campaign. Up to 20,000 Filipino combatants were killed. The US casualties were just over 4,000. The reckless, brutal, burn and slash tactics of the US forces caused the death of 200,000 Filipino civilians from hunger and disease. Recent studies have put that latter number to be much higher. After two years and three months, the first Philippine Republic was no more. President Emilio Aguinaldo was taken prisoner by the US forces in March 1901, and the Philippines was annexed by the US. The new overlords administered the territory with a form of indirect rule. To deflect the ongoing opposition, a modicum of internal decision making was granted. Elections for the national assembly were held. But only a select few could vote. The assembly had limited powers and was subordinate to the US governor. The US talked democracy, but implemented a symbolic, handicapped form of government. With new laws enacted, the civil service, police, judiciary and municipal governance were systematically reorganized. English became the official language. A public education system was established; health centers were built; urban sanitation and water supply were improved; and measures to protect public health were instituted. Roads, bridges, sea lanes, ports, official buildings and public parks were constructed. Cities and towns expanded as agriculture, manufacture and international trade grew. In no time, educated Filipinos by and large manned the civil service and the varied professions. The US was not in the Philippines on a charitable mission. It was there to extend its political, economic and military influence. But its policy makers were at odds over how to attain that objective. Should it rule the nation as a formal colony or as a Latin American style neo-colony? Strong resistance from virtually all sectors of the Philippine society made the first option potentially costly and unworkable. There was also the key matter of how to win support in the rural areas. Should the semi-feudal regime of the Spanish era be dismantled, and land redistributed to small holders or should it be kept in place? For the US, each had its advantages and disadvantages. It settled in favor of the landowners who exploited the peasantry under a semi-feudal system. The vast land extricated from the Catholic Church was to be utilized for public projects and distributed to poor peasants. Instead, a large portion ended up with the elite. It was a grossly unjust regime, just like similar neocolonial setups in Latin America. The deleterious effects of that decision ravage the Philippines to this day. Colonial economic policies were designed to convert the Philippines into a dependent, profitable venue for US capital, a source of cheap primary agricultural and mining products and a secure, lucrative market for its manufactures. By the mid-1930s, the US was the source for two thirds of Philippine imports and the recipient for more than four fifths of its exports. The exports included hemp, sugar, tobacco leaf, and coconut products while imports included cigarettes, agricultural equipment, meat, dairy products, packaged foods, clothing, and sundry consumer items. Limits were placed on sugar, rice and cooking oil to ensure that the cheaper Filipino goods did not undercut the agri-business interests in the US. The small manufacturing sector, including grain milling and oil refining factories, was dominated by American companies. Incensed by re-imposition of colonial rule and the moves to cement servile dependency, remnants of armed groups and civilian Filipino parties agitated for self-rule and freedom. Divisions between competing economic interests in the US Congress worked in their favor. The semi-independent Republic of the Philippines was established in 1935 as a compromise. Full autonomy was promised in ten years. The colonial administration, however, did not let the Filipinos decide their own destiny. It meddled in local politics in favor of the parties dominated by elitist, landowning interests that had a US-friendly stance. The parties and voices for genuine independence were covertly and overtly sabotaged, and progressive mass movements were subverted with harsh, violent measures. The invasion of the archipelago by Japanese forces in WW II changed everything. Ejecting the US, Japan converted it into a colony of its own. The Filipino patriotic forces did not succumb but fought back. Though not as well armed, their large guerilla army inflicted heavy blows on the occupiers. Many perished on both sides. In the final stages, they managed, with the aid of US naval and air power, to defeat the new overlords. This victory represented the final demolition of colonial domination. The Republic of Philippines was born in July 1946. Christianity under American colonialism + American troops first went to the Philippines under the presidency of William McKinley. A popular leader dubbed by the Encyclopedia Britannica a ‘compassionate man,’ McKinley dispatched the troops under the declared aim of discharging the American responsibility to promote the ‘welfare of an alien people’. The doctrine of Manifest Destiny, that the US had a God-given responsibility to lead humanity, underlay his intervention. His aim, he said, was to protect the Filipinos from domination by Spain and other imperial powers. The potent advantages that would accrue to the US companies were just unintended byproducts. [There] was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died. US President William McKinley (WFF 2020). The generals operating under his command interpreted his missionary zeal to authorize slash and burn tactics, and mercilessly subdue any opposition as the prelude to Christianize the Filipinos. Instead of water over their heads, many of their bodies were immersed in pools of their own blood. Numerous Philippine towns were burned to the ground. Persons who collaborated with the Filipino revolutionaries were tortured. Churches were not spared the destructive wrath of the American army. More than half a million Filipinos died in the conflict. (Gonzalez 2002). The eminent novelist Mark Twain was among the few Americans of note who decried the hypocrisy of the US military operations in the Philippines. Though widely pilloried for his views, he boldly declared in the New York Herald: We have pacified some thousands of the islanders and buried them; destroyed their fields; burned their villages and turned their widows and orphans out-of-doors; furnished heartbreak by exile to some dozens of disagreeable patriots; subjugated the remaining 10 million by Benevolent Assimilation. … We are a World Power. Mark Twain (Ciba 2015). Apparently, McKinley and his do-gooders were unaware that after 300 years of Spanish rule, the Philippines was as Christian a nation as the US. But it was not a brand of Christianity they were comfortable with. Not surprisingly, among the first acts of the US colonial administration was to annul the privileged status the Catholic Church had enjoyed under Spanish rule. Large tracts of the church owned land were purchased. The dominant, restrictive role it had played in education was nullified with the establishment of a free, public school system with English as the medium of instruction. Over 600 teachers, many of them Protestant pastors, were initially imported. A formal separation of the church and state was declared. The Protestant missionaries and teachers often ignored that edict and pilloried Catholicism in their public educational endeavors. By alienating a powerful sector of the Philippine society, the colonial administration created a problem it would eventually need to rectify. Already, many a Filipino clergy had taken part in the peaceful and armed struggles against the US invasion. Continued conflict with the influential, now mostly Filipino Catholic clergy, was courting a public relations and political disaster. The remnants of the Spanish friars complicated issues further. English took root and became an official language alongside Filipino, but Protestantism failed to make a significant headway. Converts were but a few. Catholicism was too deeply ingrained in the Filipino way of life to yield to the new imperial designs. But there was a redeeming factor. Like the Spanish, the US ruled by granting favors to the upper segment of the society with whom the Catholic hierarchy was linked. While minor differences persisted, the US colonial officials and the Catholic Church worked in complimentary ways. Catholic priests from the US brightened the image of America in the Filipino mind. Two contrasting strands of Catholicism emerged during the American colonial era. On the one hand, the top Catholic hierarchy cultivated ties with the wealthy landowning and propertied classes and meddled in politics with a reformist but conservative agenda. On the other, a minor but determined segment of the clergy championed the cause of the masses and critiqued colonial rule at a fundamental level. The key goals of the education system were to instill loyalty to America and instill the technical skills needed for the colonial system. In that era, it was not a comprehensive system. English fluency was confined to the upper social strata. Not designed to educate the nation, it was an elitist system that was a major conduit for the seepage of American culture into the Philippines. In addition to the Hollywood fare, American dress styles, cultivation of a taste for American foods, proliferation of daily use and luxury items from America, the education system facilitated, mainly through its impact on the elites, the creation of a pro-American mindset in the archipelago. A large segment of the elite was culturally oriented towards the American way of life. But there were also artists, writers, musicians, academicians and activists who strove to generate a vibrant, creative, authentic Filipino culture. Yet, it was an onerous undertaking as they had to swim against a financially powerful cultural behemoth imposed from outside. Culture for the Filipino masses became a bifurcated affair. Regular church attendance, hymns, Biblical stories, holiday celebrations, church outreach events, Christian icons and photos coexisted with cheap, tantalizing novels, films, magazines, music, and educational influences from the US. The mix generated a dual mindset of values, visions and perceptions that provided psychological sustenance for the people. The former serves as the spiritual comfort zone and the latter, the secular comfort zone. Both served to pacify the spirit. The Catholic Church had a strong voice in the universities. These were the formative places for professionals, nationalist politicians and senior state official. The academic disciplines in the universities—economics, social and natural sciences, arts and humanities, medicine and technical fields—resembled that in US universities. A rising number of Filipino graduates went to the US for further study. This combination of influences served to create a generation of politicians who called for independence but who at the same time were also attached to Catholicism and the capitalist world outlook. Neo-colonialism + We fast forward to the period starting from the 1960s. The Philippines was too valuable a possession to be allowed genuine sovereignty. It can have its own flag, anthem and parliament, but the imperialists had to call the shots. Hence in the transition to self-rule in 1946, and subsequently, the US deftly maneuvered trade and investment agreements, constitutional provisions and varied institutional arrangements to ensure that (i) US corporations enjoyed special protections and the ability to operate freely; (ii) the Philippine foreign policy was closely aligned with US interests; and (iii) it could operate three gigantic naval and air bases in the archipelago without any local oversight. These bases were crucial launching pads for US military operations in Asia and the Pacific, especially during the war on Vietnam. As elsewhere in the Global South, the instrumentality of the IMF and the World Bank was pivotal to the retention of the Philippines as a subordinate entity in the international capitalist order. By 1970, some 800 US corporations with a total investment portfolio reaching $2 billion operated in the nation. Nearly three quarters of the foreign investments were from US sources. Apart from 20,000 military personnel on the untouchable US bases, more than 40,000 Americans resided in the country. These arrangements compromised national sovereignty, entrenched external economic dependency, stifled growth of local industries, generated poverty and expanded inequality. Apart from the state bureaucrats, military officers, hacienda owners, lackeys in the media and Western trained experts, they were strongly resented by virtually all sectors of the Philippine society. People protested peacefully, initiated labor strikes against US corporations and filed court cases. An armed insurgency was also launched. Filipino parliamentarians demanded nationalization without compensation of the US corporations and the Philippine Supreme Court ruled to remove the special status granted to them. The basic aim was to demolish neo-colonial servility and institute economic policies of benefit to the nation. These moves occurred under the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, an ally of the US who had sent over 10,000 Filipino soldiers to Vietnam in support of the US aggression on that nation. Renown for conducting for dirty, corrupt election campaigns, profligate channeling of state funds to symbolic projects and patently fraudulent deals, Marcos decided to extinguish these progressive trends by declaring martial law in 1972. His move was later ‘ratified’ in a demonstrably rigged election. Marcos, who ruled until 1986, was among the most brutal and corrupt dictators of the 20th century. Due to the structural adjustment program of the World Bank he followed, US capital had a field day, venturing into mining, oil, service and other sectors. He did not tolerate any opposition. His security forces imprisoned, tortured, assassinated and disappeared thousands of democracy and social justice activists—students, journalists, academics, union leaders, priests, nuns, alleged rebels and civilians who fell under the suspicion of harboring anti-Marcos sympathies. Military operations were conducted ruthlessly, more so where Muslims were in a majority or a leftist armed group operated. Collective punishment and pillage of property were the norm. Besides hundreds of the combatants, over 30,000 civilians were killed in cold blood in the process. After the 1986 popular uprising that deposed him, his family fortune was revealed to be between US $5 and $10 billion. Much of it was stashed away in offshore tax havens, Swiss bank accounts and undisclosed international investments. The exact amount is unknown. First Lady Imelda Marcos had the world’s largest personal collection of shoes. At over 2,000 pairs, they included the most trendy, costly shoes one could buy. When the Marcos era ended, the national economy was in tatters, beset with mass poverty, high unemployment, declining per capita income, vast inequality, large public debt, devalued currency and debilitating economic dependency. The Marcos fortune was an indirect reward for being a loyal minion of US imperialism, especially in relation to the war on Vietnam. Much of it accrued from under the table payments for the litany of large public works contracts. He diverted the billions of dollars in official loans and grants from the US and elsewhere. Companies of his relatives and cronies got lucrative deals while companies of competitors and political adversaries had a difficult time to operate under his reign. Marcos was on good terms with all the US presidents that were in office during his reign. Despite his known corruption and excess, they showered him with a bounty of military and ‘development aid’. They trained his military and security forces and provided a tonnage of arms and military supplies. In so doing, they were complicit in his financial criminality and deadly violations of the human rights of the Filipino people. Marcos and Christianity + Marcos had a mixed relationship with religion. He projected the image of a devout, elevated Christian dedicated to vanquish the scourge of ‘godless communism’. Marcos, an Aglipayan Catholic and later a Roman Catholic, believed that he had a divine mandate to lead the Philippines and claimed to receive visions directly from God. He also drew on Philippine mythology, referring to himself as malakas (strength) and Imelda [his wife] as maganda (beauty) in reference to the Philippine Adam and Eve. (RLP 2020c). He maintained a pragmatic association with the Philippine Catholic Church. He courted it when it suited him but rallied against it otherwise. During his first term in office, his populist rhetoric and charisma drew support from many Filipinos. As the senior bishops remained in good terms with his government, the clergy mostly went along and remained politically subdued. When Pope John Paul VI paid a visit to the Philippines in 1970, Marcos used the occasion to bolster his Catholic aura. But the Pope, cognizant of the ugly side of the regime, did not reciprocate and focused on attending to the poverty-stricken areas that had earlier been ravaged by a major storm. Martial law and the ensuing repression brought forth wide disaffection and ignited resistance movements in the cities and countryside. The progressive strand of Filipino Catholicism, whose influence had dwindled over the past two decades, now found a fertile soil. As the corruption and brutality of the Marcos regime intensified, virtually the entirety of the Catholic Church turned against him to form a major force in the struggle for democracy and human rights. The investiture of Cardinal Jaime Sin as head of the Philippine Catholic Church in 1974 signified a major turning point. From then on, the Church leadership openly came out against martial law and for a return to democratic rule. Cardinal Sin urged the clergy to address poverty and social justice issues but without resorting violence. Branding the activist priests as troublemakers, Marcos restricted their public activities. But the moves only reenergized the clergy. Many of them now spoke out in open defiance of the regime. The mounting tension between the state and the Catholic Church took place under the backdrop of a secular pro-democracy movement that had sprung up from the start of the Marcos era. Senator Benigno Aquino, its most prominent personality, galvanized the fight for restoration of civil liberties. To ensure his parliamentary majority, Marcos used the martial law powers to jail Aquino and other opposition figures and staged rigged elections. Yet, it only increased Aquino’s popularity. Ultimately, a group of senior army officers assassinated him in 1983. That was the final straw. A revitalized, broadened anti-Marcos opposition poured by the hundreds of thousands on the streets, peacefully chanting and blocking the thoroughfare. The command of the People Power movement, as it came to be known, was assumed by Corazon Aquino, Senator Benigno Aquino’s widow. Her courage and charisma emboldened her followers; her tact and ability to unite the disparate factions strengthened the movement. Despite the violent reprisals they faced, people remained on the streets. With the entire world transfixed at the unfolding events, even the military had second thoughts. As rank-and-file soldiers refused to fire at the crowds of civilians, prominent generals abandoned Marcos. The extent of the tumult across the nation implied that there was no way he could continue to rule. He had to go. To save its face and continue its hold on future governments, his imperial master pulled the rug under him just when his downfall was imminent. The US could not, however, countenance the possibility of Marcos facing accountability and justice in his homeland. Instead, he and his family, with the ill-gotten riches still under their control, were flown out the country by American military helicopters in February 1986. The Catholic Church under Cardinal Sin was a decisive force in the People Power movement. When most broadcast stations were intimidated into blacking out the funeral of Benigno Aquino, the Church radio station covered it in full. Catholic priests criticized Marcos and his cronies publicly and without reservation. Cardinal Sin became the main advisor of Corazon Aquino, and the murder of her husband and her plight were framed in Biblical terms. Marcos tried once again to use a papal visit, now by Pope John Paul II, in 1981 to whitewash his image. Though he rescinded martial law, his grip on power and security organs remained solid. The Pope did not reciprocate his overtures and kept a distance from him and his family, indicating that he was there as a guest of the Philippine church. The annulment of martial law provided space for the Church to extend the anti-Marcos drive. Thousands of rosary wielding nuns and priests joined students and activists for extended sit-ins near military bases. Many were placed in custody. The military raided churches, mostly Catholic but some Protestant, and closed seminaries. But the ecclesiastic opposition to Marcos grew. The Church mobilized thousands of volunteers to monitor the 1986 election, a crafty stratagem by Marcos to retain power. Voting was declared a Christian duty and people were urged to vote for Mrs Aquino, the candidate endorsed by the Church. After the doctored verdict for Marcos was announced, the Church gave sanctuary to the whistle blowers from the electoral body and helped expose the widespread irregularities in the vote count. The statement from the pulpit that Corazon Aquino had won left the Marcos regime reeling. The minor legitimacy it had left evaporated. Soon after his US engineered departure, Aquino assumed the presidency of the Philippines. Liberation Theology + As in many Global South nations, the racism, harsh injustice and flagrant inequality of the colonial and neo-colonial social orders spawned Filipino left-wing movements that strove to overhaul the system at its roots. The founding of the Communist Party of the Philippines under the leadership of Jose Maria Sisson in 1968 was a critical landmark. In alliance with other leftist groups, it launched an armed struggle to depose the Marcos regime in 1969. Despite US backed attacks by the Philippine military, using guerrilla style tactics, their New People’s Army was able to establish control in several rural localities. The Communist Party led broad-based National Democratic Front became a key segment of the rising pro-democracy movement. Hundreds of workers, peasants and students joined the Front. As in Latin America, a fusion of Christianity and Marxism transpired. Father Edicio de la Torre, a disciple of liberation theology, founded a frankly leftist organization, Christians for National Liberation, allied with the National Democratic Front. Priest and nuns joined, making it the largest group within the Front. Some clergy embraced armed struggle. Some were captured and tortured. While the leftist clergy formed a minority in the overall Catholic anti-Marcos movement, their influence extended beyond their numbers. Marcos tried to discredit the pro-democracy movement as a whole by accusing it of promoting communism. But it was an absurd charge. Cardinal Sin, Corazon Aquino and their close allies did not harbor any ideas remotely connected to Marxism. Cardinal Sin stood miles apart from the militant views of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, Archbishop Don Helder Camara and Friar Leonardo Boff of Brazil. The latter deemed it the sacred duty of a Christian to combat economic, social and political inequities, and endeavor to institute structural changes for a social order based on economic fairness and social justice. In 1984, Pope John Paul II issued a condemnation of the liberation theology stance of the Latin American Catholic notables. Incensed at the incorporation of Marxist ideas and tactics within theology, his reform program fell far short of the radical stand of Filipino bishops Antonio Fortich, Julio Xavier Labayen and Francisco Claver. On the other hand, the Pope had a friendly disposition towards Cardinal Sin. The colonial history and neo-colonial developments after independence had pushed the Philippine Catholic Church in a reformist direction. From endorsing the extant social system, its senior leaders adopted a nationalistic stand that called for the alleviation of poverty and respect for human rights. Cardinal Sin was an embodiment of that legacy. He decried political tyranny, suppression civil rights and poverty but did not advocate replacement of capitalism with socialism. Corazon Aquino, a devout Catholic, had a similar outlook. She came from a major landowning family, and her cabinet was filled with elites of the traditional mold. Her presidency abjectly failed to tackle neo-colonial dependency and implement the promised, and much needed land reform. This constituted a betrayal of the hopes and dreams of the Filipino people. Under her presidency, economic ills abated somewhat but high-level corruption and impunity plagued public affairs, military brutality in rural areas persisted, inequality worsened, social insecurity and poverty endured, and the specter of authoritarian rule lurked around the corner. As it did for South Africa later, the US weakened her broadly beneficial economic policies by imposing, through international financial institutions, the repayment of the odious national debt acquired under the Marcos dictatorship. People were forced to pay for the crimes of their oppressor. Aquino’s economic policies were scripted by the World Bank and neoliberal local and foreign economists, including the right-wing Philippines School of Economics at the University of Philippines. The liberation theology minded priests and nuns were inspired by Jesus Christ’s call to serve the poor. Yet, they also recognized the value of Marxist analysis in elucidating the structural causes of poverty. It clarified the role of the state and the military in upholding the unjust poverty generating system and taught them the need for rising above charity. Without system change, poverty and suffering would persist. Moved by the plight of marginalized communities in city slums, Mindanao and other distant islands and the harsh repression they suffered, the leftist Christians worked in solidarity with the oppressed. Most were Catholics, but Protestant denominations were also represented. Liberation theology declared that hunger would not abate just through food aid. It saw the unfair appropriation of the national wealth by the upper class as the root cause of poverty. It called for public control of industry and banks, protection of human rights including the rights of women, far reaching changes in the armed forces and removal of US military bases. It demanded banning the private militias and goon squads that were used by the landlords, merchants and factory owners to brutalize peasants, workers and students. The clergy and social groups inspired by liberation theology were a major force in the downfall of the Marcos regime. Modern economy + The Philippine economy has become more linked to the economies of Asia, Europe and North America. While agriculture still accounts for a third of the total employment, manufacturing, services, mining, transport and communications now dominate the scene, both in terms of jobs and output value. Besides traditional items like coconut oil, fruits and clothing, exports include electronic goods, copper, petroleum derivatives and transport equipment. As per official statistics and conventional criteria, the Philippine economy has been performing well. The growth rate has hovered around 6%, and the inflation rate has been below 4%. In 2019, per capita income was about US$ 3,500, implying that the average Filipino earns US$12 a day. Functional literacy exceeds 85%, over 2,200 universities and colleges exist, one doctor on average serves 850 people, dentists and nurses practice in good numbers, water services are affordable and improving, Internet use is among the highest in the world and the national debt is low. The nation seems to be on the march towards a status akin to South Korea. But such numbers belie the reality. About 45% of the population lives on US$2 or less a day with farmers and fisherfolk at the bottom of the ladder. Their earnings have hardly budged. Twenty million people live in packed, filthy slums. Manila holds the dubious distinction of having the largest slum in the world. The lives of poor children are blighted by lack of nutritious food, health care and education. Underemployment is high; the multitude in the informal sector have precarious lives—one day, sales are good, the next day, nothing. Employers in many sectors, including factories producing top brand name goods for the Western consumers, fail to pay the minimum wage. Places of work resemble sweatshops, with long hours, child labor and short-term work contracts. Work conditions often are unsafe. Dirty tactics are used to prevent workers from exercising their legal right to unionize. Though a significant acreage of land has been redistributed over the past forty years, landownership is highly skewed with the most fertile lands in the hands of wealthy owners. Local people derive little benefit from the exploitation of resources in their areas. The messy, corrupt administrative system makes it very difficult for the small farmers to obtain title deeds and enables extensive land seizures by unscrupulous dealers. Illegal squatting is common. The failure of the economy to provide decent jobs for even the educated professionals is dramatically illustrated by the fact that some 10 million Filipinos work and live abroad, in the US, Middle East and Europe. Nurses and doctors by the tens of thousands now efficiently staff the health systems of other nations while many Philippine islands have dire shortages of health personnel. The richest families have stupendous wealth. Families of the 18 Filipino billionaires possess an aggregate fortune of 50 billion USD, equivalent to 15% of the national income. It has been a boon time for foreign investors as well. Enduring maladies like crony capitalism, high- and low-level corruption, lack of accountability and administrative inefficiency constitute formidable obstacles to genuine, all-round economic development. The Philippines is a constitutional republic with a presidential system. Elections are held regularly and there is a vibrant press. But vestiges of the Marcos era remain. Behind the scene political maneuvers enable plutocratic domination. The military remains a powerful force. In sum, the dreams of the Filipinos who flooded the streets to dethrone Marcos are far from realized. Corazon Aquino instituted reforms in the system of governance but left the economic, political and military power structures intact. Her successors—Fide V Ramos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Benigno Aquino III and Roderigo Duterte—were wedded to neoliberalism as well. Due to his authoritarian tendencies, Joseph Estrada was deposed from office by a second People Power revolution in which the Catholic Church again played a major role. Rodrigo Duterte + A lawyer by profession, Rodrigo Duterte’s political career took off after he was appointed a city vice-mayor in 1986. Subsequently, he served as the mayor of Davao, the third most populous city in the nation, from 1988 to 1998. It is a major center of trade, manufacture, fruit and food processing, petroleum production and fishing by local and multinational companies. Tourism, banking and retail trade form an important segment of the local economy. Mayor Duterte introduced reforms but ruled with an iron fist, tackling street crime and the drug trade by authorizing summary killing of alleged criminals. Street children were not spared. A secretive, officially blessed death squad stalked the city. Despite years of draconian policies, Davao still records the topmost murder rate and higher rates of other serious crimes than the other national cities. Child prostitution is rampant. Duterte also banned smoking, making Davao the first smoke-free city in the nation. His populist, nationalistic presidential campaign platform posited crime and drug use as the central problems of Philippine society. He promised to deal with them as he had done in Davao. Boasting that he had personally killed criminals, he promised to eliminate traffic jams and corruption within a hundred days. His tough talk appealed to many. Assuming office in 2016 through a plurality of votes, he set drug use and street crime at the top of his agenda. The other promises lingered in the background. Manila still ranks as one of the cities with the worst air pollution and traffic congestion in the world. He withdrew the Philippines from the International Criminal Court to avoid broader accountability. A shoot to kill order was issued to the police dealing with drug pushers. The age of criminal responsibility was lowered from 15 years to 9 years. The ensuing ferocious campaign launched in 2016 has involved arbitrary arrest and detention, extra-legal execution and unsolved disappearances. The victims mostly have been small time drug users, low level drug dealers, petty criminals and street children. Some opponents of the governments have perished too. The National Drug Enforcement Agency has recorded over 5,000 killings in the campaign. Independent and human rights groups put the number in the region of 25,000. The police are deemed to be responsible for about half of the killings. Vigilante groups and death squads have perpetrated many killings as well. Over a hundred young children have lost their lives. Yet, with sanction from the highest authority, almost total immunity prevails. Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million drug addicts. I’d be happy to slaughter them. President Duterte (Wikipedia 2020 – Philippine Drug War). Leading ‘political, trade union members, dissident and/or social figures, left-wing political parties, non-governmental organizations, political journalists, outspoken clergy, anti-mining activists, agricultural reform activists, members of organizations that are allied or legal fronts of the communist movement’ have suffered from state harassment and intimidation. Spurious prosecution has become more common. The thuggish Marcos era tactics have been revitalized under Duterte (Wikipedia 2020 -- Extrajudicial Killings and Forced Disappearances in the Philippines). Investigative journalists, independent monitors and government critics are at a high risk. The new cybercrime and anti-terrorism laws that give the security forces the right to search without a warrant, detain for extended durations, monitor and censor content, drag them into an endless nightmare of lock up, months of hearings, lawyer fees, loss of earnings and family suffering. In a nation that has witnessed the murder of 175 journalists since 1986, his venomous words are chilling: Most of those killed, to be frank, have done something. You won't be killed if you don't do anything wrong. … Just because you're a journalist you are not exempted from assassination if you're a son of a bitch. President Duterte (Wikipedia (2020 – Rodrigo Duterte)). Such a rationalization for the deaths of their colleagues silenced the critical spirit in most media outlets. Self-censorship became the order of the day. Duterte’s presidential bid was backed by the moneyed, influential family of Ferdinand Marcos. Upon taking office he fulfilled the promise he had given them. With the blessing of the Supreme Court, and to the consternation of human rights bodies and many Filipinos, he allowed the cryopreserved body of Marcos to be buried at the Heroes Cemetery. The burial was done with military honors and a 21-gun salute. The press was barred from the event—a clear indicator of his preferred style of governance. Duterte is a master of political hypocrisy. Despite branding himself as a ‘socialist’ and ‘anti-imperialist,’ he vigorously pursues Marcos’ style assaults to contain the decades old armed struggle by the Communist Party and Islamic forces in the resource rich, poverty plagued areas like Mindanao islands. Estimates value the potential wealth on and beneath these lush lands—agriculture, gold, copper, chromite, nickel, silver, manganese, iron ore, lead, zinc, oil, natural gas—at over US$1 trillion. American, Chinese and other multinational corporations eagerly await the opportunity to expand their operations. For the first time since the Marcos era, these areas have been placed under martial law. Bombings and brutal military attacks in which civilians lose lives and livelihoods continue with impunity. Human Rights Activists Memorializing Victims of Drug War In 2016, the US signed an agreement with the Philippine government that allows it to operate five large, permanent air and army bases in the territory. A part of the region-wide Operation Pacific Eagle, the presence of a few Islamic State fighters has become the justification for this extension of the so-called War on Terror. The true aim though is to bolster the projection of US military power and economic hegemony over Asia. Despite his public anti-US bluster, the US is a key partner in his military campaigns against ‘Islamic terrorists’ and ‘communists’. It gives arms, supplies, logistic support and counterinsurgency training. Given the growing investment and trade links with China, he has tried to play off China against the US. But whoever he aligns with, it is only to further his authoritarian domestic agenda. Duterte and religion + Duterte’s political profile and ruling style is in the same league as that of Narendra Modi of India, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Donald Trump of the US. But he differs from his proto-fascistic colleagues on a crucial matter. While they embody some manner of holy imprimatur, his relationship with the Catholic Church has largely been an unfriendly, if not an outrightly hostile one. Sounding like an atheist, he has ridiculed Biblical ideas. In July 2018, Duterte called God ‘stupid’ and slammed the idea of original sin and the biblical teaching of creation. ‘What kind of religion is that?’, he said then. (Soriano 2019). But, as is often the case, he subsequently somersaulted: I never said I do not believe in God. What I said is your God is stupid, mine has a lot of common sense. That's what I told the bishops. I never said I was an atheist. Rodrigo Duterte (Regencia 2018). In the course of his campaign in 2015, he called Pope Francis, a ‘son of a whore’. He later apologized. Further down the road, his anti-Catholic tirade reached higher heights: [In 2018] on All Saints Day, as people gathered by the thousands in cemeteries to pay respect to departed loved ones, Duterte questioned the foundation of the holiday. ‘Those Catholics are crazy,’ he said, dismissing their saints as ‘fools’ and ‘drunkards’ and proposing himself as a worthier object of worship: ‘Santo Rodrigo’. Earlier this year, he aimed his favorite insult even higher than the pope, calling God himself a ‘son of whore,’ and asking, ‘Who is this stupid God?’ (Wills 2018). Duterte claims that he was a child victim of sexual abuse by a priest. The Philippine Catholic Church has not budged from its retrogressive stand on social issues like abortion, family planning, homosexuality, divorce and reproductive health. He was a rare candidate who went against the Catholic doctrine and promoted birth control and the death penalty. After a leading bishop issued a pastoral letter calling him a ‘morally reprehensible’ candidate who had little regard for the rights of the people, he retaliated by calling the Catholic Church ‘the most hypocritical institution’. But the greater source of animosity between these heavyweights of Philippine society revolves around social justice issues. In the atmosphere of fear and media silence that ensued after Duterte took office, the Catholic Church and its outlets were among the few voices critical of his ferocious war on drug users and dealers. He did not take it kindly. He chastised the priests for misusing state funds and donations, failing to stem drug use, homosexuality and child abuse, and promised to expand family planning programs. Singling out the most vocal oppositional priests, he called them thieves and drug users. You criticize the police, you criticize me. For what? You have the money. You are all crazy ... when we were making confessions to you, we were being molested. They are touching us. What is your moral ascendancy, religion? What is the meaning of it? ..... If you cannot mend your ways, if you cannot even give justice to the small boys that you have molested in the past, you do not have that moral ascendancy to lecture on the sanctity of life. President Duterte (Morales 2017). In August 2016, the Archbishop of Manila roundly criticized extrajudicial killings, likening them to abortion, exploitative labor practices, wastage of food and peddling of illegal drugs. Prominent priests have noted that Duterte’s anti-drug campaign targets small time actors, not the drug barons. The Church gives support to survivors and families of victims of extrajudicial attacks. It also takes an active stand on matters of democracy, social justice, poverty, human rights and environmental protection. For example, the plans for large scale mining ventures on Samar and other islands being promoted by the government carry the potential to inflict significant damage on the aquatic and land ecosystems, pollute a large area and impoverish the indigenous communities further. Siding with them, the Church has strongly opposed such projects. Taking an enlightened stand on the social conflicts in the Filipino society, the Church seeks structural, not punitive solutions. For example, in relation to the involvement of poor youth in the drug trade, it has declared: Children in conflict with the law reflect a society in deep crisis. The grim reality of joblessness, landlessness, lack of social services, high inflation rate, among others, have made this society more vulnerable, unsafe and violent for our children. The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (Soriano 2019). The autocratic president has little tolerance for the vocal, persistent volleys casting aspersions on his policies. Some bishops and priests were charged with sedition and attempting to depose the government. While the ludicrous case was dropped, the harassment took its toll. These bishops that you guys have, kill them. They are useless fools. All they do is criticize. Rodrigo Duterte (Regencia 2018). This diatribe occurred as three Catholic priests were murdered in a span of 12 months. He once more renounced his words. But it was not a matter of verbiage. His message reverberated with the rightwing vigilante groups. Five bishops and priests who openly criticized the drug war thereupon received death threats. Security organs surveilled and kept tabs on outspoken clergy, and the crimes against them remained unsolved. The grim warning sank in as kind-hearted nuns, priests, and activist Christians thought twice before working on projects to assist the families of individuals targeted in the ghastly drug war. The Catholic Church formed several large voting blocs in the past. Voters often followed guidance from the pulpit. Alienating the Church was a risky proposition. But, the democracy-espousing, Church-backed leaders from Corazon Aquino onwards enriched the upper class and did little to tackle the long-standing problems of joblessness, crime, inflation, corruption, urban blight, rural misery, poor health services and deficient access to education. As voters felt let-down by the ‘middle roaders,’ the credibility of the Church suffered. The disillusioned sought an alternative. Duterte’s arrival on the scene occurred at an opportune moment. He talks tough and does not seem beholden to the ‘elites’ or special interests. He exposes the Church’s weak side by pointing to pedophile priests and the Church’s stand against family planning. The status of the Church as a cultural institution is weakened by the penetration of consumerist, self-centered, and Internet and cell phone driven culture. Exposés of financial and sexual scandals among the clergy and the cover-up attempts undermined its moral authority. Regular weekly church attendance among the Filipinos declined from over 60% around 1990 to 40% around 2015. The stage was set for a major popularity contest. Duterte won the initial round, but not by a majority. Many heeded the call of the Church. But it was not enough. His ratings skyrocketed as he launched his anti-drug crusade and bodies piled up on the street and ramped up his rhetoric against his opponents. By 2019, opinion polls put his approval rating in the region of 80%. For the rich, the poor or the middle class, Duterte was the man. In the 2019 senatorial election, Catholic, Protestant and Aglipayan church leaders endorsed opposition and independent candidates. But for the first time in nearly seven decades, none of them won. Voters ignored the holy edicts. Candidates close to Duterte and those not taking a stand against him made a clean sweep. Duterte gained a following among Catholic and Protestant priests as well as devout lay Christians. Seeing him standing against elitist Catholic prelates and bishops, they brushed aside his personal failings. Many Filipinos regard him an authentic leader sent by God, like the Biblical King Josiah, to cleanse the society of its accumulated evils through administration of swift justice. Duterte commands loyal allies among Baptist and Evangelical pastors and ministers of the well-endowed megachurches. Apollo Quiboloy, pastor of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, a megachurch that claims six million followers, is a staunch political ally and personal friend. He allowed Duterte to use his private planes in his election campaigns. Megachurches have experienced a rapid growth in membership in the recent years. Unlike the traditional Catholic churches, they mostly adopted an attitude of silence or implicit endorsement towards his anti-drug crusade. At best, they issued calls for spiritual renewal of drug users and misbehaving police officers. While the progressive Catholic clergy reflect the interests of the downtrodden, the megachurch pastors increasingly reflect the interests of the affluent but insecure middle class and the superrich. For megachurch pastors, the war on drugs is a ‘righteous intervention’ on the part of a God-ordained administration. (Cornelio and Maranon 2019). As in the US, some megachurches have been afflicted by mega-scandals. In January 2018, pastor Apollo Quiboloy and five other passengers on board of the pastor’s aircraft were arrested by US agents in Honolulu just as it was about to take off for Manila. An undeclared stash of 350,000 US dollars and parts to assemble military grade rifles were found on the plane. One person was charged with illegal cash smuggling. She is a devout supporter of the pastor and his megachurch. +++ Pope Francis has taken more measures than previous popes to mold the Catholic Church as the church of and for the poor and has granted a friendly audience to the Latin American founders of the liberation theology. Today liberation theology is barely visible in its land of origin. Though weakened from the 1970s, the clergy espousing it in the Philippines remain active and firmly oppose the Duterte regime, especially its violent onslaught against the marginalized rural communities plagued by hunger and extreme poverty. Exposing military misdeeds, they organize Basic Ecclesial Communities to empower the people, provide educational and health support and implement a non-neoliberal mode of development. A few priests have joined the armed wing of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. 7.12 SEXUAL ABUSE AND THE CHURCH In the eyes of his congregation, the pastor is a two-way emissary to God. He is a conveyor of the words of God who also transmits their devotion to God into the heavenly realm. Respected as a spiritual advisor, secular counselor and the keeper of intimate secrets, the congregation expects him to adhere to high moral standards in all matters including sexuality and be a role model for the youth. The bishops of the Catholic Church have to abstain from sexual relations and not marry. Protestant ministers may be married, but they need to abide by the standards of a Christian union. This image of clerical piety has been shattered in the past twenty years as revelations of long standing, egregious sexual abuse of minors, especially boys, rocked the Catholic Church in country after country. Not only have ministers respected by the community wantonly preyed upon their youthful charges but their abusive proclivities were too often known by their superiors and fellow priests. Yet they had kept quiet. Parish after parish has been shocked as the victims finally gathered courage in a cumulative fashion to come out in the open and reveal their abusers. It started from major exposés in the US in 2002. In no time, the revelations of sexual abuse by priests tarnished the entire Christian realm. The abuse revelations, many vindicated by court rulings, are grim. Internal investigations, independent inquiries, official commissions, legal records and media reports jointly show that serious or moderate level of sexual abuse of children, vulnerable adults and women occurred for decades in virtually all Christian denominations and orders in many nations. We first consider the situation in three countries, the UK, Australia and USA. The United Kingdom + Almost all the Christian churches in the UK—the Church of England, the Church in Wales, the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, the Methodist Church, the Baptist Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Catholic Church in Scotland—have been stained by the malady of sexual abuse of minors and women. With recorded cases over the past few decades ranging from hundreds to thousands, it has been a saga of denial, neglect and cover up. Sexual abuse occurred not just in the local churches, but also in schools, nurseries and events run by the churches. Thus, in 2016, the Church of England looked into 3,300 complaints of priestly sexual abuse. Fifteen priests in the Diocese of Chichester were found guilty of sexual abuse in 2015. Among them, the Bishop of Lewes was given a 32-month sentence for abuse of 18 youth. Eleven other priests were under investigation for similar offenses. Senior Church leaders had connived to hush up the crimes and shield the offenders, and accusers were harassed into silence. Priest seen as persistent abusers were assigned other duties or defrocked but their grave assaults were not reported to the police. A similar pattern has prevailed across the British religious landscape. Now the tables have turned. As much is coming out into the open, a new attitude towards sexual abuse prevails. Church prelates now adopt a policy of zero-tolerance for sexual crimes, reporting the allegations to the police and instituting measures to protect potential victims. Senior bishops and ministers are disciplined for not taking needed actions to curb or reporting sexual abuse. Apart from a few false accusations, the complainants have a valid case. As priest after priest goes off to jail, victims get compensation. Strict background checks for people who will deal with children are done and thousands of parish level safeguarding officers are being trained. Australia + Australia has also been rocked by the scandal of sexual abuse in the church. The Royal Commission—the highest investigative body in the nation—released a landmark, detailed report on the issue in 2017. It documented thousands of cases of severe sexual abuse by the clergy over a time span of more than 50 years. The victims were mostly 10 to 14 years old, but some were younger. On average, the abuse lasted three years. Most frequent in the Catholic Church, the vile acts included fondling, masturbation and rape. Psychological denigration, punishments and depravation went hand in hand with sexual assault. Sexual abuse also occurred in schools and homes for children run by churches. Children of the Aborigines and disadvantaged minorities forcibly taken from their families suffered disproportionately. The victims were further traumatized by being blamed for their own abuse, given threats of landing in hell, or made to beg forgiveness from their abuser. Many endured years of impairment of physical and mental health, including depression, anorexia, alcoholism and suicidal feelings. That on average it took 24 years for victims to make the abuse public is a clear indicator of the intense pain they had endured. The few who spoke up at the time of their abuse had faced hostility from the clergy and the community. In some cases, even parents had refused to believe their own children. Over the past several decades, about 7% of the Catholic priests in the nation were suspected as abusers. In one church, 4 out of 10 priests were alleged abusers. Yet, colleagues and senior prelates all the way up to the top and the Vatican conspired to suppress the crimes. At best, superficial inquiries occurred at a slow pace, and even serial abusers got but a slap on the wrist. Denial was common practice. Serious criminality was portrayed as a spiritual failing. The perpetrators were transferred without taking due precautions to prevent them from re-engaging in sexual abuse. While police reporting was mandated in 2010, police and state officers dragged their heels in such cases. Pope John Paul II (in 2001) and Pope Benedict (in 2008) issued tepid apologies for these acts but without calling them serious criminal offenses or mentioning compensation for the victims. It was only when the aggrieved families of a few victims, advocates of children’s rights, dogged journalists and one rank-breaking senior police officer launched a determined campaign to expose and redress these crimes that the government formed the Royal Commission to investigate church-related sexual abuse in Australia. Despite the scope and tragic nature of the abuses it revealed, the Vatican and the Australian Catholic Church leaders reacted too mildly to satisfy the victims and children rights bodies. The case of Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney from 2001 to 2014, is instructive. The Cardinal was a high-profile public personality, writing and speaking frequently on religious and social issues in the popular media and scholarly venues. A recipient of high civil decorations, he was credited with taking novel steps to deal with sexual abuse in the church. But his reputation took a nose-dive after 2002 when allegations emerged that he had been a party to sexual abuse of minors over a long period of time. He was eventually brought to trial, convicted, and his appeal was rejected. But in 2020, after he had spent over a year in prison, the High Court of Australia overturned his conviction and freed him. Dismayed at the reversal of his verdict, his accusers and children’s rights groups are pursuing civil suits against him. Police are investigating his other cases. Of particular focus is his tenure in the diocese of Ballarat, a city where thousands of minors were abused by some of the most notorious priests in the nation. Over 50 suicides in the city are attributed to clerical sexual abuse. George Pell served as a senior parish priest in the city from 1973 to 1983. During that time, he was the main witness for the defense of Gerald Ridsdale, a priest charged with and found guilty of committing over a hundred crimes against children in four trials. The Royal Commission report declared that despite being aware of widespread sexual abuse of children, Pell and fellow priests did not act to curb it. Instead, they sent the abusers to other parishes. Christian Brother Edward Dowlan was one. Pell knew about his improper sexual conduct but did not inform his superiors. Dowlan abused scores of more minors in five other parishes and was jailed twice for his crimes over the next decades. While the High Court of Australia has released Pell who says he did nothing wrong, the victims of clerical sexual abuse in Ballart have started a campaign for revocation of Pell’s clerical titles and positions. But having once been the principal financial adviser of Pope Benedict, Bell is not a lightweight in the Vatican circles. When the High Court verdict in his favor was announced, it was greeted by the Pope. The chance that Cardinal Pell will be defrocked is miniscule. The United States of America + The USA proudly sees itself as the most Christian nation in the Western world. Yet, American Christianity is also tainted by priestly sexual abuse of minors. Though mostly affecting the Catholic Church, it occurred in the other denominations as well. The pattern of reaction by the churches is like that in the UK and Australia: cover up, denial, transfer of the abusers and blaming the victims at the outset. But when media publicity and court cases make that stand untenable, the church authorities relent, admit the indisputable facts, and institute effective steps to protect children from sexual abuse. A grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania uncovered over a thousand cases of sexual and physical abuse of minors by more than 300 Catholic priests during a span of seven decades. They had stripped, bound, whipped and raped minors, made teenage girls pregnant, and taken pornographic photos—all on church grounds. Despite being aware of the abuse, their superiors not only kept quiet but also denied and falsified the reality. Though the evidence in the 2018 report was solid, the statute of limitations in the state shielded the surviving perpetrators and their abettors from criminal proceedings. It was unclear whether they would be sanctioned even by the church. As an aggrieved Christian commentator put it: Evil is real, and it walked the earth in Pennsylvania. It entered through our church doors. (Bruenig 2018). According to a US research body affiliated with the Catholic Church, there were about 3,500 allegations of sexual abuse by priests in the 1970s, 2,100 in the 1980s, 500 in the 1990s and 200 in the 2000s. Another source puts the number of victims at 16,000 and the involved clergy at 3,700. It has been estimated that only about 5% of the child abuse claims were reported to the police in the past. In light of the length of time taken to report abuse, and recording and reporting bias, the known numbers of abused children are likely underestimates. It is just in the past two years that the Catholic Church acceded to long-standing demands to reveal the names of accused priests to the public and released 5,300 names. But in-depth investigations by the Associated Press showed that the church list excluded nearly 900 alleged child abusers. A further 400 names of perpetrators were uncovered for the dioceses that had not reported any. Among the unnamed priests were over a hundred who had been found guilty of a litany of serious sexual offences. Many abusive pastors and lay employees in church schools or those who had peddled pornographic material were not included. Others were excluded due to technicalities and lax standards for judging the credibility of the accusation. In places like New York, the bishops had deliberately left out some names from released lists. Church sources claimed that the number of complaints was decreasing, but independent investigations indicated it was not the case. As shown in a 2017 study by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, instances of false accusations of child abuse against priests occur but rarely. Such considerations imply that the true scope of the malady of abuse of minors in the church is unknown. Having experienced how high clergy cover up sex abuse incidents, a senior law enforcement officer stated: You can't put much stock in the lists that the church voluntarily provides because they cannot be trusted to police themselves. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (Lauer and Hoyer 2020). Sexual molestation of children occurred in the American Protestant churches as well. By 2019, hundreds of such cases had come to light in the Southern Baptist Church, the largest Protestant denomination in the US. Other Baptist churches were likewise affected. It emerged that in the past two decades some 400 junior and senior Southern Baptist clergy had been found guilty of committing sex offenses involving more than 700 victims. Two prominent pastors accused of sexual harassment had resigned from their post. Hitherto, painting it as a problem of the Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist leadership had deployed the tactics of cover up and misdirection as well. But now that it was the subject of headlines, legal scrutiny and potential exodus of its congregation, it featured on the agenda of the Southern Baptist Convention in June 2019. The Church president called for repentance, elimination of abuse and cover-up, and accountability for wayward priests. A guideline to care for the victims was issued. The picture for several other Protestant churches in the US is similar. Some data suggest a preponderance of Catholic Church-based sex abuse. In Western New York, of the 105 initial childhood abuse lawsuits filed, 98% had Catholic defendants. The US Catholic Church has paid more than $3.2 billion since 2002 to settle an average of 700 sexual abuse lawsuits per year. The corresponding figures for the Protestant churches is about $100 million for an average of 260 cases per year. The payment time spans for the two bodies are not the same but the disparity is striking. Some analysts attribute the disparity to the greater public focus on the Catholic Church and think that in time, many more cases will be uncovered among the Protestant churches. The Vatican + The inner circles in the Vatican City have been afflicted with the problem of sexual abuse. Cardinal George Pell, whose tribulations were noted above, was a member of a select group of senior advisors to the Pope and served as the head of the economic and financial affairs of Vatican City from 2014 to 2019. In 2019, Vatican City’s ambassador to France was forced to resign after being accused of molesting children. While previous popes were reluctant to recognize the seriousness of the malady of sexual abuse in the church, Pope Francis, who took office in 2013, has adopted a firmer policy. Calling the crimes ‘atrocities,’ he acknowledged their existence in full, met abuse survivors, broadened the criteria for abusive conduct, and insisted that all bishops must adopt a policy of ‘zero-tolerance’ towards sexual molestation in their dioceses and take steps to weed it out. In 2019, he put an end to the practice of maintaining secrecy in child abuse cases and allowed the names of accused priests to be made public. Though he proposed the establishment of a tribunal to try the priests involved in cover up of sex crimes, it has been stalled by the inertia of the Vatican. These measures are long overdue. And, advocates for the victims fault him for not going far enough and failing to codify his words into Vatican law. +++ Clerical sex crimes are a world-wide, cross-denomination, cross-religion phenomenon. In 2019, a prominent British priest and his three colleagues at St Michael's Catholic Boarding School in Soni, Tanzania were exposed as pedophiles who had repeatedly fondled students, photographed them without clothes and otherwise abused them. In 2004, five Catholic priests in the Indian state of Kerala were placed under arrest to face several counts of rape and abuse of children. Sexual abuse of children is a socially dispersed occurrence. Studies across nations indicate that 6% to 13% of children experience abuse—in the home, school or elsewhere, and from teachers, priests, care givers, priests or others. Studies comparing abuse in religious and non-religious institutions are rare. One such investigation was done in Germany. Using a sample of 1050 victims from an official database and telephone interview data, the researchers compared the nature and effect of childhood sexual abuse in Roman Catholic, Protestant and non-religious institutions in Germany. 38% of the abused individuals were from Roman Catholic, 12% from Protestant, and 50% from non-religious institutions. The gender divide for the victims was 60% male to 40% female, and for the abuser, it was 85% male to 15% female. The key finding was that the three types of institutions were similar in terms of manner (physical, sexual, emotional), frequency, duration, and severity of abuse and gender of the abusers. The pattern of psychiatric problems among the victims was similar as well. The authors concluded: [Child] sexual abuse in institutions is attributable to the nature of institutional structures and to societal assumptions about the rights of children more than to the attitudes towards sexuality of a specific religion. (Sprober et al. 2014). Church-based pedophilia receives much exposure. But molestation and rape of women by priests remains an unaddressed concern. In the nations of Latin America, Africa and Asia, it overshadows sexual crimes against children. In addition to other factors, the revelations on sex crimes by clergy and at times, personal encounters of sexual advances at their local churches are among the major reasons that young people give for reduced attendance in church services and activities. Surveys indicate that in general, people feel that sex abuse occurs almost equally in the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations, and that it is an ongoing problem. 7.13 STATUS OF WOMEN A global study reinforced a longstanding observation: Measuring the level of religiosity via identification, attendance in church, mosque or temple service, and prayer frequency, women are more religious than men by a margin of 85% to 80%. And of those not affiliated to a religion, men were 55% and women, 45%. But there were exceptions in some countries and for some religions. The gender divide was most clear cut for Christianity, and for the US where religiosity is at a higher level than in most Western nations. A gender divide on belief in heaven and hell was not seen for American Christians. The daily prayer rate was 64% for women and 47% for men in the US while in France these percentages were 15% and 9%, respectively. The gender gap in religiosity is in part due to women being central to key life events that involve a religious ceremony—birth, child rearing, marriage, illness and death. Children absorb religious ideas more from their mother than father. Factors like poverty, lower paying jobs, higher existential insecurity, family and cultural patriarchic norms, gender-based violence and older age induce women to seek spiritual solace at a higher rate than men. One commentator stresses the social benefits of religiosity. In the end, I think religion is more appealing to women because, at a community level, it has more social benefit to women. I’ve known a lot of women from my mother’s and my grandmother’s generations who would have been lonely without a church to provide a focus and a purpose in their lives, to offer company and a place to go once the children had left home and their husbands had gone (as they so often do, since women live longer). (Orr 2015). Yet, despite their higher level of participation in religious functions, not only are women distanced from power and decision making but are also subject to discriminatory norms and practices. Women work, men decide, not just in the home but also in the church. Christianity, like all major religions, is afflicted with gender inequality at the scriptural, institutional and functional levels. The problem is more acute in Catholicism. But unlike the other religions, more exchanges on this front have transpired in many Christian denominations in the recent decades and noteworthy progress towards gender equality has been observed. Bible and gender + The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is a major fulcrum for the debate on what the Bible says about the equality between men and women. God first created Adam. He then created Eve from his rib as his companion. But Eve was the first to sin by eating the forbidden fruit. Women seduce men towards evil, away from spirituality into baser instincts. Another fulcrum comes from the Biblical that implore the wife treat her husband as her Lord and be submissive to him while he is urged to love her. Some passages are cited to claim that Christianity accords equal dignity to men and women while others are invoked to argue that it places women in an inferior position. The wordings and asymmetry of Biblical narrations have been parsed in creative ways by theologians, scholars, priests and feminists to make the case both for gender equality and gender inequality. Feminist Catholic and Protestant theologians from several countries have endeavored to produce a version of the Bible that will redress its male orientation and incorporate feminist values. A French version of A Woman’s Bible already exists. The quest for gender equality within the scriptural arena is a voluminous but unending saga. Yet, female oppression does not primarily emanate from scriptures. It derives from the societal structures that have institutionalized patriarchy and misogyny. Inequality between men and women derives from economics, politics and the general culture, of which the church is but one domain. Without a major drive in all these domains, the prospects for gender equality in religion are dim. A short history + Several well researched texts argue that during the early phase of the faith of Jesus Christ, many women became loyal adherents and acquired a status that distinctly elevated as compared to the past. As Christianity took hold, degrading practices like female infanticide, forced abortion, incest, divorce, polygamy, promiscuity, adultery and forced marriage declined. Women benefitted from greater security in the monogamous family, acquired more rights and secured better treatment from husbands. Under the new creed, widows were assisted and not coerced to remarry. Women had more autonomous roles in liturgical and practical church activities and acquired positions of responsibility. Some nunneries became independent Christian institutions, a force to reckon with. While the extent to which it occurred is debatable, that there was progress is widely accepted. But these trends were weakened after Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire. As the general patriarchic culture infused the Church, according an inferior status to women, in theory and practice, became integral to the Christian ethos. Even luminaries of the Reform Movement like Martin Luther and John Calvin held that ‘the woman's place is in the home’. Inquisitional Dunking Christian maltreatment of women reached its apex during the era of the Holy Inquisition that began around 1,200 CE and lasted over four centuries. Alleged misdeeds that previously were punished by banishment or seizure of property and excommunication now exacted torture and execution. The ingenuity in the design and construction of the torture devices used by the Church and the state was astonishing. Calibrated water dunking, often to the point of death, pictured above, was a favored device for penalizing an accused witch. The victim was tied to a chair which was elevated by ropes above a pond or vat of water. The victim was then lowered into the water until completely submerged. The chair was raised if the victim was about to pass out, or to give the victim a chance to confess. Often, some form of plug or more simply, a piece of fruit, was placed in the victim’s mouth and nose beforehand, so they couldn't get a good breath before being dunked. If the victim confessed, they would most likely be killed. This method was widely used during the Spanish Inquisition and in England and France. The victim was usually intermittently submerged for many hours until he or she revealed information or death had occurred. (Wikipedia 2020 -- List of Methods of Torture). A large portion of the victims were women accused of casting evil spells when epidemics, natural disasters, war and other calamities struck, or when a town or village defied church or Papal authority. The ‘witches’ generally were single women, widows and women living in the margins of society. The exact numbers are in dispute but likely some 40,000 to 100,000 alleged sorceresses were brutally tortured under the Inquisitions of European nations. About a half perished in the process. Leadership + The history of Christianity has no dearth of women—saints, queens, nuns, scholars, educators, health care providers and social reformers—who have exercised a significant influence both in the church and broader society. Among the well-known from Europe are Joan of Arc, Queen Isabella I of Spain, Queen Elizabeth I of England, Catherine the Great of Russia, and Florence Nightingale. Despite the presence of such eminent women and the progressive pro-feminist history of the early days, the senior leaders and prelates of the Christian denominations almost exclusively have been men. It is a reality that persists. Nuns and junior female clergy perform important tasks in the church. Yet, the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church prohibit full ordination of women. But now voices for change are emerging. In Ireland, a nation with a dominant Catholic tradition, an influential group of Catholic priests supports the ordination of women. Many Protestant churches have a liberal policy on female ordination. The first female ordination in the US was in 1815. Kenya and Uganda obtained their first ordained women priests, five in all, in 1983. Apart from a few exceptions, more progress on bridging the male-female gap has occurred in North American and European churches as compared to African, Asian and Latin American churches. It reflects the social pressure created by the progress of women in education and in securing well-paid, higher positions in the corporate, state, scientific, medical, academic and civil society organizations in the industrialized nations. Men in the West, moreover, are now more disposed towards gender equality, and undertake domestic tasks that once were the sole purview of women. In the US, where women have made large strides in the secular arena, over 50% of the Protestant churches permitted fully ordained female ministers by 2000. There are also strong holdouts like the Presbyterian Church. After an internal exchange of views on the subject, it affirmed the traditional anti-women stance and refused to entertain any form of ordination for women. In some churches, women congregants with a Master of Divinity degree from reputable seminaries find themselves locked out of non-pastoral leadership roles. The pace of ascendance of women to high positions is slow even in the denominations with a liberal policy. By 2012, only one out 10 the local churches and one out of 100 of the major American churches had female leaders. A sprinkling of women bishops within the Anglican Church exists in a few places—Australia, Canada, Cuba, India, New Zealand, Swaziland, South Africa, the UK and the US. Africa’s first female Anglican bishop assumed her post in Swaziland in 2012. The Anglican Church of England has been embroiled in a bitter dispute on the issue. A conservative faction—male and female, clerical and lay—questions the authority of a woman bishop on theological grounds and is aghast at the prospect of her participation in the selection of future bishops. It holds that God has assigned different roles to men and women in the church and life. But it was outvoted, and the Church of England had its first female bishop in 2014. The vote threatens to split the Church and generate an exodus. A similar conservative faction holds sway in some Australian Anglican churches. It holds that women should remain silent when in church. At home, their menfolk can tell them what they need to know. A few Pentecostal churches require women to dress modestly without makeup and jewelry and cover their heads while in church. Yet, some churches are open to junior positions of moderate authority for women. New interpretations of the Gospel together with ascribing more feminine qualities to God are paving the way towards greater equality for women in some denominations. Across the board, equality for women in authority and responsibility in Christianity is far from being realized. But while pastors, theologians and lay Christians agonize over whether the Bible supports complementarianism—meaning women are equal to men but have separate roles in church and family—the world has moved on. Women now acquire advanced degrees in all fields including medicine and engineering, garner major scientific and literary awards, assume leadership of scientific, professional, business, civic, academic, cultural and international bodies, and are voted into the highest offices in the land. That a woman surgeon can perform heart transplant surgery, be a best-selling author, but may not lecture about the Bible in the church is a modern-day anachronism. Marriage + Traditional Christianity regards the nuclear family as a sacred covenant, blessed by God through a church marriage between one man and one woman ‘till death do us part’. Endorsing the sanctity of marriage, the Catholic Church disparages divorce. But divorce is not treated as a sinful act and marriage may be declared null and void under special circumstances. Yet, without an official annulment decree, a Catholic may not remarry. Otherwise, he or she risks excommunication. Other Christian denominations discourage divorce but take a liberal stand and do not place restrictions on remarriage. And some Catholic pastors emphasize the need for counselling and support for divorced couples and estranged couples on the verge of divorce. In most countries, marriages are no longer solely conducted in a religious ceremony. Many couples marry by a civil ceremony, and divorce laws permit couples to separate. The nature of marriage and family, and the attitudes towards them have changed over time. As economic conditions improved, the large, extended family unit with many children of the past gave way to a nuclear family with two or fewer children, an informal union, single parenting or single living. At the same time, marital stability has weakened, especially in the industrialized nations. In the US, the rate of marriage is on the decline. Up to a half of the adults remain single or have an unmarried partner. Many are single parents. The age at first marriage is also rising. In 1960, men and women on average married at the age of 21 years. By 2013, it was 28 years. About a third to a half of first unions end in a divorce. Church marriages are on the wane. These trends affect Catholics, Protestants and the non-religious almost equally. They are catalyzed by economic and broader socio-cultural factors, not religion. About a fifth of the adult American Catholics have gone through a divorce proceeding as compared to a quarter of the general population. In many mainly Catholic nations, divorce has been a bone of political contention. It was illegal in Mexico until 1917, in Brazil, until 1977, in Argentina, until 1987, and Chile until, 2004. Today it remains illegal only in the Vatican City and the Philippines. The conservative Christian take on marriage and family strays beyond the spiritual domain into the political domain. It claims that: [Only] through Christianity did women receive full marriage rights and gender equality in fidelity. The private, monogamous family has served well the human needs for love and companionship, economic and social well-being, and the rearing of children. (Theroux 2015). And it attributes social ills like teenage pregnancies, juvenile crime, drug use, pornography, and gang violence to the breakdown of the family and Christian values. It also says that welfare policies encourage separation and single living and add to social maladies. This viewpoint conflates association with causation. The changing nature of the family and social maladies derive from changes in the capitalist economy, weak welfare policies, institutionalized racism, punitive not preventive policing, and other factors, not religion. It is not a matter of glorifying divorce, single living or alternative lifestyles. Families provide love and comfort, but can create hate, discord and domestic violence. Divorce has a deleterious psychological impact on children, but it is a venue for women and children to escape abusive conditions. Constraints on the right and ability to separate in the setting of a macho culture is a license for domestic abuse. People should have the right, opportunity and community support to make life choices they feel are best for themselves and their loved ones. Theocratic injunctions limit their choices and may cause unneeded harm. Another arena of concern is the place of women (and men) who marry late, remain single or are homosexuals. Many find themselves alienated from the family events held by the churches. They relish spiritual engagement but value personal autonomy. Some liberal churches in the West are more sensitive towards such issues and strive to create a welcoming environment for those ignored or excluded in past. Abortion + Health centers and hospitals run by Catholic and Protestant churches in Africa provide vital services that often are less costly than in other private hospitals and give better care than what is available in public hospitals. Except in the area of reproductive health. In particular, the policy of the Catholic Church on family planning runs counter to the health and welfare of women and families. In the African health centers, it operates, abstinence is advocated but contraceptives and comprehensive birth control guidance are not provided. It hardly bodes well for control of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. Globally, about two of five pregnancies are unintended. The rate varies from place to place. Multiple factors—young age, poverty, low education, social disadvantage, informal relationship, coercion, abusive marriage—are associated with sexual intercourse without contraception and higher risk of unforeseen conception. The absence of effective family planning services and health education contributes to the problem. Such pregnancies carry higher risks for the health and wellbeing of the mother and child, and lead to abortions. Prevention of unintended pregnancies is a critical public health problem. But governments in this neoliberal era have failed to adequately fund effective countermeasures. Abortion is illegal in Honduras, Nicaragua, Surinam, Senegal, Mauritania, Congo Brazzaville, Angola, Madagascar, Egypt, Iraq, the Philippines and Laos. With some restrictions on gestational age, it is available upon request in North America, Russia and nations of former Soviet Asia, Turkey, China, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, except Poland, Finland and the UK, where some extra requirements are in place. In the remaining nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America, abortion is legal only under special conditions. In Saudi Arabia, it is legal only for saving the woman from the risk of grave illness or death. In Brazil, it is permitted to save the woman’s life and in cases of rape, incest and congenital fatal brain conditions. Else, the woman and the provider face three to four years in prison. The constitution of the Philippines gives equal status to the life of the woman and the unborn fetus and does not stipulate a condition under which a pregnancy can be terminated. All parties involved in an abortion face mandatory prison terms. The penalty is harsher if it is done after rape. While abortion is legal and available in the West, in practice the influence of Christian fundamentalists can impede it. In Germany in 2013: [when] a student was raped, two Catholic hospitals refused to examine her and secure the evidence because they would then have had to prescribe the morning-after pill, which would have been a violation of their ‘Christian ethos’. (Nunning 2017). Strict restrictions and harsh penalties do little to stem the tide of unintended pregnancies and abortion. The abortion rate in Brazil is 44 per 1,000 women, more than twice that in North America (17 per 1,000 women). Making the procedure illegal increases the dangers women face. Of the nearly 500,000 abortions in Brazil each year, about half lead to emergency room visits. Unsafe abortions cause the death of some 200 women in Brazil each year, and the emergency room visits are a drain on the health and criminal justice system budgets. They also lead to future reproductive and psychological complications. But where medically supervised abortions are legal, only about 5% of the women need further medical care. According to the WHO, a quarter of all pregnancies across the globe, numbering over 55 million, are aborted each year. Of these, 25 million are unsafe. Most are in the poor nations. Nearly 75% of the abortions in Africa and Latin America are risky. Africa has the highest rate of maternal death from abortion related complications. Unsafe abortions lead to about 7 million hospitalizations in the global south each year. The solution to the tragedies is within reach: Unsafe abortion can be prevented through: (i) comprehensive sexuality education; (ii) prevention of unintended pregnancy through use of effective contraception, including emergency contraception; and (iii) provision of safe, legal abortion. (WHO 2019). Despite the egregious outcomes of the unscientific, ill-advised restrictions, pedantic ecclesiastical forces (Catholic, Christian Evangelical and Islamic) continue their drive to enact or strengthen anti-abortion laws. A major political drive by the Catholic Church in Nicaragua resulted in the enactment of such a prohibitory abortion law in 2007 that it was deemed a violation of human rights by the UN Human Rights Committee. In the Philippines, the otherwise progressive Catholic Church firmly stands against any move to liberalize the stringent anti-abortion clause in the constitution. Criminalization, poverty and religious opposition breed underground or self-induced termination of pregnancies, especially among young girls. It is a serious issue that has to be addressed by enhanced female education, empowerment and economic development, not through stigmatization and state power. Further, since unwanted or unintended pregnancies can never be totally eliminated, and as no one but the woman has the right to choose what happens to her own body, safe, medical, publicly funded abortion and general health services are an essential component of the fundamental rights of women. Christian conservatives, Catholic and Protestant, make their case by claiming that life, in legal, scientific and theological terms, starts with the formation of the embryo. Banning abortion is necessary to protect the life of the unborn. For them abortion is murder. Yet, while the Bible has much to say about childbirth, menstruation, infertility, sexual desire, prostitution, infidelity and rape, it is silent on the question of abortion. [Given] the certitude of abortion opponents that abortion violates God’s Word, it might come as a surprise that neither the Old Testament nor the New mentions abortion—not one word. (Pollitt 2014). On the broader societal plane, the zeal for protecting life among evangelical Christians has been quite dismal. They have cheered on imperial wars, supported and called for extension of the death penalty, and opposed funding for policies that improve the health and well-being of poor children, mothers and the elderly and increase their chances of living longer, better quality lives. The various claims about the causes, effects and dangers of abortion made by anti-abortion activists derive from spurious, distorted data. Despite the great strides in saving premature babies, no medical authority envisions bringing a ten-week old fetus to life. While the conservatives declare that life begins at conception, no one disputes that a newborn is real, innocent life. The supposed adamant advocates of the right to life have little compunction in supporting neoliberal policies that defund services for newborns in poor families. The questions of abortion and homosexuality in the USA have become a part of a political game of see-saw between the Republican and Democratic parties that serves to mask the pro-corporate agenda of both. Evangelical luminaries and wealthy ministers of the megachurches are key players in that charade which prevents fair electoral decision making through lack of comprehensive information on major issues and humane ethical standards. Religious authorities often oppose sex education, the key to prevention of teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and abortion. In 2019, the Ministry of Health in Ghana in collaboration with UNESCO launched the Comprehensive Sexuality Education for schools in the country. But it immediately encountered vociferous attacks from a group of 200 Christian churches and the main Islamic bodies in the nation. I won't call it Comprehensive Sexuality Education; it is Comprehensive Satanic Engagement. Reverend Dr PY Frimpong-Manso (Peace 2019). As the well-designed, health and safety promoting program was falsely branded a Western cultural drive to promote homosexuality, which it was not, state authorities were moved to cancel it. Opposition from respected voices subsequently erected further barriers on attempts to curb child sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Sexual abuse + Sexual abuse by the clergy harms not just children but adults as well. Most of the adult victims are women. While the former problem has at last received the attention it deserves, the latter remains under the radar. But it is a serious problem, in religious settings and at home, work, school and other places, in many nations. Research in the UK indicates that an adult woman has three times the likelihood of being abused by a priest as compared to a child. Data from an abuse survivor’s network show that about half of the cases of sexual abuse by the clergy involve an adult. The offenders are from junior to senior levels of church leadership. The victims refrain from or take long to report their ordeal due to shame, guilt, and fear of not being believed, social opprobrium and harassment. Victims who reported abuse to senior pastors were not taken seriously or told to let it pass. The Church of England has devoted little attention and resources to combatting this form of abuse. Revelations of sexual abuse in the Baptist churches in the US included hundreds of adult female victims. The paucity of investigations has meant that its general scale and gravity remain unknown. The rising numbers of related lawsuits may unearth evidence of a systemic problem. In the Third World nations, sexual abuse of women, including nuns, by male priests reflects the inferior social and economic status of women and persistence of misogynist norms. In South Africa gender-based violence has become a sickening blight. About 200 rapes are reported to the police every day. Recent court cases indicate that the malady exists in the religious domain as well. In the Jesus Dominion International Church, based in the Eastern Cape, famed televangelist Timothy Omotoso projects prophesies and miracles. Claims of repeated rape made by a 22-year old student resulted in charges of 97 counts of sexual assault, rape and human trafficking in 2018, against him and two female co-defendants. Earlier, his followers made death threats against the student. In early 2020, Reverend June Major of the Anglican Church of South Africa attempted to re-assert claims of sexual abuse by a fellow priest. Going on a hunger strike, she said that she did not receive a fair hearing in the first instance. Now the Church and the state prosecutor are looking into the case. The Enlightened Christian Gathering church was in the news in 2020 after one of its pastors appeared in court to face the count of rape of a 23-year- old woman. After she made her claim, members of the pastor’s congregation threatened the victim and packed the courtroom in his defense. The main office of the church asserted a zero-tolerance policy against gender-based violence and suspended him. In another case, the pastor at the Worship of God Church was charged with rape of three 10 to 14-year-old girls. On the positive side, women like United Methodist deaconess Bulelwa Ndedwa are active in the struggle against rape and violence against women in the nation. They speak up, march, raise awareness, and advocate reforms in the justice system. Provision of a safe environment for women and girls throughout the society is a primary demand. At around 72,000, the nuns and temporary female religious workers in the African Catholic churches constitute over 10% of the global body of Catholic nuns and clerical work force. Apart from religious duties, they are involved in social work (assisting refugees, street children, orphans and people with disabilities), education (as teachers and administrators), health care (as doctors, nurses and counselors) and support staff in a variety of Catholic Church institutions. While some African sisters have advanced degrees and well remunerated positions, many are from poor families and need to care for parents and siblings. The churches often fail to give adequate material support to enable them to deal with their personal health and family issues. Despite their dedication to work in a challenging setting, they languish at the bottom of the church hierarchy, under the absolute command of the diocesan bishop. Their subordinate status puts them at risk of sexual harassment and abuse from their male superiors. An official Vatican report on African nuns highlighted the general challenges they face but did not refer to this problem. Yet other investigative and media reports indicate that it is far too common. A multi-national investigation focusing mainly on Africa revealed that priests who are held in high regard by the community often target nuns for sexual favors (Schaeffer 2001). Though she has taken a vow of refraining from sex, the victim has no option but to endure the assaults and the ensuing emotional and physical afflictions. Young nuns from poor families are more vulnerable. Some become pregnant, are forced to abort, or are disgraced and cast out from the diocese. The priests provide no support for the children they have fathered. Thus: [In] a 1988 case from Malawi … a bishop dismissed the leaders of a women's religious order because they complained that 29 nuns had been made pregnant by local priests. …. [A] priest arranged for a nun to have an abortion; the nun died during the abortion, and the priest then officiated at her funeral. (Poggioli 2019). A nun victimized by priestly rape considers the church environment so risky for nuns that: In fact, it is safer for an African woman to be out in the world. Sister Laura (Schaeffer 2001). Chapter 5 detailed how women, especially poor women, and low caste people are discriminated in all walks of life under the dominant parochial order in India, and how they are fighting back to reclaim their basic rights. The Indian Christian Women's Movement is a movement founded in 2014 by activists from many walks of life. It aims to confront gender, caste, social and religion-based oppression in an integrated, multi-faith manner. Thus, while it campaigns against exclusion of women and marginalized people from many religious ceremonies and celebrations, it also strives to combat violence against women in general life. In addition to writing petitions to church leaders, it educates women parishioners conditioned to express automatic loyalty to the church hierarchy. Joining up with other national groups that are working to combat the assaults and killings of women that have proliferated under the Hindutva regime of the BJP, it takes part in the protests and extends support to women victims. Nuns and women workers in many Indian churches are overworked and at the mercy of the male leadership. They are made to believe that by serving the priest unconditionally they serve Jesus. The Indian Christian Women’s Movement aims to change this mindset and empower the nuns and women in the church and has taken up the issue of sexual abuse of nuns and women parishioners by male priests. Where such abuse has occurred, it calls for independent inquiry, accountability for the abusers and those who covered up the offense, and support for the victims. One of its noteworthy projects is the systematic collection of data on gender discrimination and abuse in Christian institutions. Reliable facts and figures help activist groups mount stronger campaigns and assist the victims to secure justice. However, because of the broad support they enjoy from the community, including women, the bishops can and have ignored the movement and its petitions. The forces of oppressive, outdated tradition remain strong in India. In no part of the world have nuns been spared of abuse and rape by male clergy. In 2002, the Philippine Catholic Church issued an apology for sexual offenses committed by 200 priests over the past two decades. Yet, in the following year, over 34 priests were exposed for sexually abusing women and nuns and were suspended. Some clerical sexual predators continue to be protected by senior bishops. Similar incidents have occurred in Mexico and the Pacific Islands. The Vatican and leaderships of Protestant denominations have been well aware of the extent and seriousness of sexual abuse of women and nuns in the church. But official Vatican reports documenting such deeds in the past were shelved. Though more attention is being given under Pope Francis, the names of the accused have not been released. As more victims speak up, women’s rights groups call for a comprehensive, transparent investigation. A global front to protect women from sexual abuse in the church is in the formative stage. In many Christian denominations, there are calls to institute participatory organizational structures that would enshrine gender equality and ordain women. Groups like Catholics for Choice stand for the right of women to make autonomous decisions in reproductive matters including abortion. It is time for the leadership in the Vatican and other Christian denominations to heed these voices. 7.14 MOTHER TERESA Two decades after her death, upon certification by the Vatican that she had performed at least two miracles, she was canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. Her unofficial title was the Angel of Mercy. The extraordinary honors and applause this diminutive nun garnered stem from the humanitarian work of Missionaries for Charity, the organization she established in 1950. Starting from a single hospice in Calcutta in turbulent times and with meagre resources, the Charity established rest homes for people with terminal HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, health and nutrition clinics, orphanages, schools, care centers for the elderly, disabled, blind and refugees, soup kitchens for the destitute and homeless, adoption services and family advice centers around the world. Mother Teresa with a Child In 2020, it serviced 760 centers in 139 countries. India had 244 centers; 19 were in Calcutta. The centers are staffed by a total 5,167 sari-clad nuns. Mother Teresa also founded or cofounded other charitable ventures, some of which were multi-denominational, and travelled to many sites of natural and man-made disasters to console the victims. Transcending national and racial barriers, she expressed concerns for social outcasts everywhere. Images of the Mother interacting with needy children and the poor attained an iconic status and made her one of the most admired persons in the world. Fluent in five languages and with a magnetic persona, she came across as a deeply humble and noble being solidly committed to the cause she had embraced. She had a close relationship with Pope John Paul II. Of her own work, she surmised: We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something. …. Many people are talking about the poor, but very few people talk to the poor. Mother Teresa Medal of Freedom, USA, 1985. Nonetheless, such pronouncements and the saintly images projected by the global media have masked a somewhat unsavory reality. Papers published in The Lancet in 1994 chastised the iconic Calcutta care center for deficiency of medical supervision, poor diagnosis, erroneous prescriptions, inadequate nutrition, poor diagnostic testing, and non-usage of pain medication. Nuns with a modicum of medical knowledge and skills were in charge of patients with serious illnesses, and at times, surgeries were done without anesthesia. Lack of good hygiene was a serious issue. Patients with TB comingled with other patients. Routine reuse of unsterilized injection needles placed the residents at risk for deadly infections. Investigations by Canadian health experts and other doctors revealed similar problems. Media reports have noted children being tied to their beds, harshly shaken and beaten at some centers. Missionaries of Charity is not a cash-strapped institution. Every year, it receives some tens of millions of dollars in donations. About 3 million dollars come from Germany alone. Indian law requires all charitable organizations to make their accounts public. Mother Teresa’s organizations have flouted the law but have faced no sanction. Transparency and accountability for the donations and expenditures of the Missionaries of Charity do not exist. Some 7% of the donations were used to run the Charity. In the past, the rest were deposited in secret accounts controlled by Mother Teresa. Secrecy persists to this day. Ranging from $10 to $100, the bulk of the donors are from ordinary folk. But governments, corporations, foundations and other institutions also fork out cash, property, and other things. Checks for $50,000 also come along. And there are some well-heeled donors. Charles Keating, a devout Catholic who ran the largest anti-pornography organization in the US was one. As the CEO of two banking firms, Keating engaged in speculative investments that played a central role in the savings and loan associations scandal of the 1980s. He was found guilty of several counts of fraud in state and federal courts and served over four years in prison. As a mark of her appreciation for his donation of $1.25 million and permission to use his private jet, Mother Teresa not only gave him a personalized crucifix but also wrote a letter to the trial judge attesting to his services for the poor. After he was convicted, the state prosecuting attorney requested her to return the money she had received from Keating to those he had swindled. There was no reply. Another benefactor of the Charity was Robert Maxwell, a media British tycoon who embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars from life savings of pensioners and others. Mother Theresa accepted the ill-gotten gains without objection, and even granted him an audience. The Charity also receives donations in kind. It often works from freely given public and private buildings and gets food and other daily use items gratis from local merchants. Yet, there exists a distinct stinginess about the use of its vast resources. Donations earmarked for a particular cause by the donor are often just placed in its bank accounts. Many centers rely on food donations. In some centers, if bread donations are not received, bread is not purchased; the residents have to make do without bread on that day. Despite being among the most endowed charities in the world, astonishing stories of neglect of its wards in many cities have surfaced over time. When the Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India exploded causing over 2,500 deaths and injuring tens of thousands, she rushed to the area armed with medallions of Virgin Mary and prayers and urged the survivors to ‘forgive’ and ‘forgive’. She did not advocate judicial inquiry into the tragedy or compensation for the victims and her charity did not offer cash or material aid either. It was a repeated tendency. Secret baptism of critically ill Hindu and Muslim inmates to Christianity was another accusation often levelled at the Charity. Many Christian groups in India have been attacked by Hindutva extremists for allegedly converting Hindus to their religion. But apart from some criticisms from BJP politicians, the centers of the Charity had not until recently faced official or public backlash on this issue. Mother Teresa’s iconic stature had immunized her organization from scrutiny. Mother Teresa had dubious linkages with Haiti, a predominantly Christian nation where nearly three out of five people are Catholic. Haiti was the first nation in the Western hemisphere to valiantly abolish slavery. Yet, it remains the poorest nation in the region. Almost continuous rule by a series of brutal dictators operating under the hegemony of the United States has been the primary reason why its children languish in abject poverty and malnutrition while a small elite leads a luxurious lifestyle. From 1971 to 1986, it was ruled by the pretentiously moderate yet actually thuggish Jean-Claude Duvalier who looted millions from the national treasury, oversaw the torture or death of thousands, suppressed independent media, allowed multinational firms to operate sweatshop factories and did little to alter the social and economic policies that kept the majority of Haitians mired in penury. Mother Teresa was in good terms with JC Duvalier and his wife Michelle. She not only accepted the Haitian Legion of Honor Award from him, praised the couple profusely but also proclaimed the obvious falsehood that the poor of Haiti were close to them. In a similar sprit, when she went to Guatemala, a nation wracked by decades of genocidal pogroms against the rural and native peoples, death squad termination of tens of thousands of lives, and utter misery, she called it a place of peace. This saintly Nobel laurate had a creative definition of peace. Holding rigid, extremely conservative views on divorce, birth control and abortion, she called abortion the ‘greatest destroyer of peace’, an evil act impermissible under any circumstance. Her admonitions against abortion were echoed in a pro-life amicus brief that her representatives had filed in the US Supreme Court and in her presentations to major international forums on women’s rights. Taking the stand to its most extreme, she opposed abortion for the hundreds of Bosnian women who had been raped by Serbian forces and the women of Bangladesh raped by Pakistani soldiers. Any country that accepts abortion, is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what it wants. Mother Teresa Education on contraception, family planning and abortion in cases of rape, serious congenital conditions and to protect the health and life of the woman are essential components of a sound public health policy. Had Missionaries for Charity spent even a small part of the hundreds of millions in its coffers on prevention of unplanned pregnancies, control of sexually transmitted diseases and pre-natal and post-natal care services, it would have saved more lives and reduced more suffering than through its hardline approach on sexuality and childbirth. Formally designated as a Missionary of Charity, the sari-clad sisters form the backbone of the Charity. After screening for eligibility, they undergo nine years of training and practical engagement to be Missionaries of Charity. The training covers English, scriptural and religious courses, Church history, the constitution of the Charity and operational training, with an evaluation at each stage. A fully qualified Missionary wears the sari with three blue stripes and a metal crucifix, and is vowed to poverty, chastity and obedience and is to render ‘wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor’. The trainees come to regard Mother Teresa as the most holy woman, outranked only by Virgin Mary. To disobey her edict is to commit a sin. A missionary sister lives a spartan, disciplined, restricted life with a bare minimum of material possessions. She is provided with food and shelter but no cash payment. She can write to her family only once a month and pay them a visit once in ten years. Each home or center is run by around five sisters under a superior sister. Scores of short- and medium-term volunteers, who only get a brief orientation, are usually on hand to assist. A few are trained nurses. All donations are handled in total secrecy by the sisters. Missionary of Charity is an arduous life-long vocation requiring deep commitment and empathy for children and inmates. Missionaries of Charity has in many ways alleviated the suffering of thousands of people. The issue is the degree to which the policy of maintaining simplicity in all activities is enforced, and the unnecessary, preventable harm it inflicts on children and inmates is overlooked. Though the missionary sister serves seriously ill inmates, she does not get a systematic exposure to basic ideas in public health and nursing. The same holds for the volunteers. Mother Teresa’s rigid policy has meant that despite more than adequate funding, basic items like soap, disinfectant and washing cloth are in short supply and food is cooked in unsanitary conditions. Child abuse exists. In 2002, the senior sister at the Missionaries of Charity center in Calcutta was found guilty of scalding a seven-year-old girl with a hot knife. One under-cover investigation at the main Missionaries of Charity home in Calcutta in 2005 produced shocking revelations: Some of the children retched and coughed as rushed staff crammed food into their mouths. Boys and girls were abandoned on open toilets for up to 20 minutes at a time. Slumped, untended, some dribbling, some sleeping, they were a pathetic sight. Their treatment was an affront to their dignity, and dangerously unhygienic. (Macintyre 2005). Many serious issues at the Missionaries of Charity centers can be resolved with a few months of training, a hygiene maintenance protocol, qualified medical supervision and adequate nutrition, basic medical drugs and equipment, which would hardly dent the Charity’s finances. These measures would also protect the health of the sisters and volunteers. The volunteers are mostly foreigners, not locals. In many Indian centers the volunteers are predominantly if not exclusively from Europe and the US. Many are young people inspired by what they have heard about the work of Missionaries of Charity. They may not like how things are done but the tenet of obedience keeps them silent. Adverse publicity from media exposés in the recent years has, however, begun to perturb the fundamentalist policies of Mother Teresa and led to basic improvements. But there is a long way to go before the Charity can claim that it does its best not to harm its wards. While the main media and officialdom assumed that there could not be serious breaches of human rights in an organization run by a saintly nun and her Spartan sisters, two skeptics disagreed. Christopher Hitchens, author of The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice and Amit Chatterjee, producer of the TV documentary, Mother Teresa: The Final Verdict were the first to ring alarm bells and catalyze others to investigate further. Their revelations generate basic questions: Were Mother Teresa’s dealings with the likes of JC Duvalier and Charles Keating aberrations, or did they arise from a consistent worldview? Were the shortfalls in hygiene and care seen at the homes temporary, local problems or were they integral to the mode of operation of the Charity as a whole? Mother Teresa cultivated friends in high places—in Calcutta, West Bengal, India, the US, UK and other nations. They welcomed her not just for reasons of political expediency but also because their visions of society rested on a common ground. Take the case of Haiti. As in other nations in the hemisphere, the oppressive status quo in this US neo-colony was under attack from popular grassroots movements that aimed to establish justice and democracy. Liberation theology espousing Catholic priests were at the forefront. Opposing the people was a joint alliance of the US, the local rulers and the Vatican. The masses were brutalized without concern for human rights or innocent lives. Whether she realized it or not, Mother Teresa’s gentle intrusion in Haiti and Guatemala masked the ugly truth. A similar pattern existed for her intrusions into other international events. Mother Teresa’s intrusions were profoundly political. They legitimized the existing neo-liberal, imperially dominated socio-economic system. She did not ask why poverty was rampant or why injustice was so widely prevalent. Suffering for her was a ‘gift from God’. She did not express concerns about the numerous Catholic priests and nuns being butchered by death squads in the region. JL Duvalier was being challenged by Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a Catholic priest whose sermons and life were rooted in the lives of slum dwellers. JC Duvalier represented the ruling elite. Mother Teresa, in tandem with Ronald Reagan and the Vatican, sided with the dictator, not the humanistic priest. Mother Teresa’s creed was not to ask why the world is the way it is. One does not question God but works within the existent conditions and according to God’s will. Her creed sanitized the status quo. As Hitchens aptly surmised: [Mother Teresa] was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction. (Hitchens 1995). In the city where she spent most of her life, people are ambivalent about her legacy. While some revere her as a saint, others say by that branding it a poverty-stricken city of lepers, she brought Calcutta, a vibrant city with a rich cultural history, into disrepute. In either case, there is little doubt that the decades of presence of the Missionaries of Charity homes in the city has had no tangible effect on the economic disparities, homelessness, conditions of the children or the plight of people lacking adequate care in the city. It is not even a worthy example of how a wealthy charity should operate. 7.15 POPE FRANCIS AND SISTER MARIANI Pope Francis (2021) Pope Francis, the first pope from the Global South, has recognized the gravity of predicament facing humanity and Christianity today. Despite his checkered political background in Argentina, he places issues like social justice, religious tolerance and dialogue, and poverty at the forefront of his agenda. He rallies against wanton consumerism and calls for sound policy measures on a global level to tackle climate change. In a break from tradition, he introduced more transparency in the affairs of the scandal riven Vatican Bank. While Pope Francis has not budged from the conservative Catholic stand on marriage, divorce, female ordination, contraception and sexual orientation in a significant manner, he declared that these issues should not be the main focus of the Church. The Church should amicably engage with people having different views on these matters. Placing women in senior administrative positions in Catholic organizations, he has launched ‘an all-out battle against the abuse of minors’ by clergy and ended the usual practice of maintaining secrecy in such cases. Going beyond his predecessors on questions of economic justice, he calls for effective actions to tackle poverty and inequality and urges lay Catholics and priests to befriend and embrace the poor. We go our way in haste, without worrying that gaps are increasing, that the greed of a few is adding to the poverty of many others. Pope Francis (O’Connell 2019). While the pontiffs before him had expressed disdain for liberation theology, he invited the Dominican priest and philosopher Gustavo Gutierre Merino, a key figure in the foundation of liberation theology, to the Vatican for an exchange of views. Expressing solidarity with native communities in the Amazon rainforest, he exhibited atypical tolerance towards their religious beliefs and declared protection of the rainforest an urgent task. And he has lavish praise for Greta Thunberg, the teenage environmental activist who has taken the world by storm. To the consternation of conservatives—Protestant and Catholic—he is breaking new ground on theological questions and the role of the Church in society. On the issues of social and economic justice, he has outdone all his predecessors and has been inching towards abandonment of neo-liberalism and urging system change. Yet, there are some reservations. On issues like abortion, marriage, sexual orientation and ordination of women, he does not deviate significantly from the past. At times, his pronouncements are warped in elusive terminology. Yet, his edicts point a new direction for the Church. His message is that it is not enough to tackle spiritual penury. The religious agenda must prioritize confronting hunger and depravation, earthly injustice, individualism and unbridled accumulation as well. He has been lauded by many but has also been accused of heresy in a representation to the Vatican Council made by a group of 1,500 orthodox bishops. His attention to equality and economic justice and criticism of financial capitalism has ruffled the feathers of many senior Catholic clergy who are close to the economic and political elites in their nations. It is increasingly intolerable that financial markets are shaping the destiny of people rather than serving their needs, or that the few derive immense wealth from financial speculation while the many are deeply burdened by the consequences. Pope Francis (Santiago 2015). Filipino Sister Mariani C Dimaranan (1925 – 2005) was a Christian whose vision and life model an evolved form of the spirituality espoused by the current head of the Catholic Church. Believing that the teachings of Jesus Christ required her to assist the poor, Sister Mariani went against her family’s objection to become a nun and take part in charity work from an early age. After getting higher degrees at De La Salle University, Manila and Maryknoll School of Theology, New York, she taught and did office work at a college and a seminary in Quezon. Directed by church superiors, she embarked on a survey on the effect of martial law on the social and economic conditions of rural people in the Philippines. Disliking her project, the army arrested and detained her for six weeks. In that time, she was subjected to repeated, hours-long, exhausting interrogations. Since she was a nun, she was spared the treatment usually meted out to detainees. But she came to know about the gruesome torture methods used from fellow inmates. The detention was an ordeal, but it did not lessen her resolve. Upon release, she joined and soon became the chair of the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), a position she held for 22 years. The TFDP worked to locate people placed in military custody for political reasons, document their cases, cater to their physical and psychic needs, publicize—locally and internationally—their illegal detention and abuse, and fight for their release. During her tenure at TFDP, she went in person to more than 100 detention camps in remote, hard to navigate areas with needed supplies, hope and a smile for the detainees. Hundreds of volunteers and nuns joined the TFDP, made such trips, visited detainee families, wrote petitions, presented legal cases and launched international drives to secure their release. Despite threats to their personal well-being and the onerous nature of the work, under her courageous stewardship, the activists established 56 TFDP branches and obtained astounding results. From September 1972 to February 1986, when Marcos was ousted in the popular People Power Revolution, the [Task Force Detainees of the Philippines] was able to document 5531 cases of torture, 2537 cases of summary execution, 783 cases of involuntary disappearance and 92,607 cases of ‘public order violation’ arrests, mainly of people joining street rallies and protests. (PWAG 2020). To Sister Mariani, service to the poor meant linking charity with immersion in their struggle for economic justice and a better life. The TFDP notion of human rights and activities were extended to cover ‘food and freedom, jobs and justice’. Besides playing a pivotal role exposing abuses perpetrated by soldiers and security organs, progressive nuns in TFDP and groups like Concerned Citizens for Justice and Peace view empowerment of poor women in the marginal areas a key issue. They deal with the difficulties rural women face: pregnancy and childbirth, under-nutrition, lack of education, childcare, sexual violence, overwork, and social stigma, and are high-profile actors in grassroots community organizations. There is little doubt that the activism of nuns combined with the pro-democracy efforts of Corazon Aquino dealt a major blow to the sexist, macho-oriented Filipino culture. But the nuns paid dearly for their devotion to social justice. On top of regular harassment and surveillance, many were attacked, raped, tortured, imprisoned, killed and disappeared. Sister Mariani Dimaranan Due to declining health, Sister Mariani gave up the chair of the TFDP in 1996 but remained active until she passed away in 2005 at the age of 81. By then she had been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize and honored by her alma mater De La Salle University with the Star of the Faith Award. Now known as the ‘Father of the Human Rights Advocacy’ in the Philippines, her name features prominently on the Wall of Remembrance for heroes who fought the Marcos dictatorship. Her influence went beyond her country as well. [Mariani] Dimaranan was an exemplary teacher who taught by example. She trained countless volunteers in gathering reliable data, and trained staff and paralegals in development work. Today many Filipino aid workers who learned from her serve humanitarian organizations all over the world. (Bantayog 2020). The citation for the De La Salle award declared that Sister Mariani was a valiant, selfless ‘symbol of collective courage ... [a] true daughter of the Church, [who] shall remain in the hearts and minds of Filipinos as a woman who showed the nation the true essence of justice’. (Ramirez 2006). The history of the Filipino Catholic Church is generally a story of alliance with wealthy and ruling classes. Focusing on tackling poverty of the spirit, it ignored actual suffering of the discriminated, poor classes and was linked to power, elitism and subjugation of the masses from the colonial era. But the nature of colonial rule and political developments after Independence put a major segment of the Church on a long-term trajectory to engage in the struggle for freedom and social justice. Some priests embraced liberation theology and supported armed struggles against military and US imperial domination. It is truly remarkable that thousands of nuns were at the forefront of these progressive drives for change. And in the process, they redefined the role of women in the Church and society and opened up new vistas for gender equality. Along with Sister Mariani, these nuns represent a vision for the role of Christianity in modern society quite distinct from that projected by Mother Teresa. 7.16 CHRISTAINITY AND SOCIALISM Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and until recently, the broad consensus was that socialism (communism) is a failed doctrine. Politicians boasted it had been buried for good. Economists opined it did not and cannot work as it is against human nature. Senior religious figures called socialism a devilish, secular entity whose aim is to annihilate religion. Yet, the historical record reveals a long, vibrant socialist tendency within the Christian church. Setting aside assertions that Jesus was a socialist and the communitarian leanings of medieval theologians and starting in the 19th century, we find influential Christians and Christian organizations with an explicitly socialist orientation. William Morris of the Socialist League and the Episcopal Church Socialist League are two cases. The connection between these two doctrines was proclaimed in clear term in a 1914 issue of The Christian Socialist: The Christian Church exists for the sole purpose of saving the human race. So far, she has failed, but I think that Socialism shows her how she may succeed. It insists that men cannot be made right until the material conditions be made right. Although man cannot live by bread alone, he must have bread. Therefore, the Church must destroy a system of society which inevitably creates and perpetuates unequal and unfair conditions of life. These unequal and unfair conditions have been created by competition. Therefore, competition must cease, and cooperation take its place. Bishop FC Spalding (Wikipedia (2020 – Christian Socialism)). While papal encyclicals decreed the incompatibility of Catholicism with socialism, progressive Catholics like Dorothy Day in the US and the Irish Father Michael O’Flanagan held views sympathetic to socialism. The liberation theology movement of the 1960s was founded upon an explicit integration of Marxism and Christianity. Pro-socialist strands of Christianity in that era adopted progressive social (anti-war, anti-colonial, anti-racist, feminist) causes. Many Christian denominations had a minority faction that leaned towards socialist ideas. Nationalist movements in the Global South also connected religion with socialism. In a 1965 policy document prepared for the People’s National Party of Jamaica, Bertel Ollman resorted to Biblical exhortations like: Let everyone who possesses two shirts share with him who has none and let him who has food do likewise. Bible, Luke, 3:11. to make the case that socialism is practical Christianity because socialism means brotherhood, justice, equality, allying with the poor, opposing the greedy rich, seeking solutions to social problems, living by the Golden Rule, and recognition of the right of the people to own their country. The 1965 policy document states that socialism is not what its detractors say it is. It is not against Christianity but is a manifestation of noble Christian values that can be attained by the efforts of ordinary people (Ollman 1965). Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. Bible, Mathew, 7:7. The religious wing of socialist politics in the US was composed of groups like Christians for Socialism that worked with socialist and liberation theology movements in Latin America. Sister Kathleen Schultz, Father Daniel Berrigan and others stood on the frontline of opposing the war on Vietnam and militarism and fighting for civil rights and social justice. The fall of the Berlin Wall, however, eclipsed the religious-socialist trend. Scholars and theologians claiming compatibility of the vision of Jesus Christ with capitalism gained the upper hand in the public mind and evangelical Christianity gained more traction. But the financial crisis of 2008 and its extensive reverberations engineered a reversal. While still derided by the financial elites and their ideologues, socialism has once more entered the mainstream political lexicon across the world. The change of direction, though still partial, is evidenced by the leader of the Catholic world: Pope Francis has shown sympathy to socialist causes with claims such as that capitalism is ‘Terrorism against all of Humanity’ and that ‘it is the communists who think like Christians. Christ spoke of a society where the poor, the weak and the marginalized have the right to decide’. Pope Francis (Wikipedia (2020 – Christian Socialism)). The Pope’s pronouncements appear in the context of an international revival of youth activism. The young are waking up to the fact that the politicians and influential personalities have at best paid lip service to deal with the major problems facing humanity and at worst, have added to the problems. They march for sound policies to tackle climate change, rising inequality, corporate irresponsibility, poverty, racism, and high cost of education. They demand real change, democracy and accountable governance—in Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Chile, Argentina, India, Thailand, Hong Kong and elsewhere. Greta Thunberg (Sweden), Camilla Vallejo (Chile), and Alaa Salah (Sudan) present the visible waves faces of a surging tide. Former leftist student leader Gabriel Boric was elected Chile’s youngest president in December 2021. With a female majority cabinet that includes former student radicals, he had campaigned on a socialist platform. The nation and the world await implementation of the major changes to the existing neoliberal policies promised during his campaign. That change is stirring in the center of global capitalism as well. What was deemed an apolitical generation has embraced progressive causes in larger numbers. While most of recently surveyed American adults over 50 put their faith in capitalism, a majority of those under 30 did not. One out of six of the latter declared themselves socialists while one of three favored socialism. Some 70% of people under 30 had no qualms about voting for socialist candidates. The causes they backed ranged from a public system of health care, living wage, empowerment of trade unions, prison, justice system and police reform, public education, easing student debt, control of corporate price gauging, and sound environmental action. Disillusioned by the pro-corporate double talkers of the Democratic Party, young volunteers—religious and secular—formed the backbone of the candidacies of Bernie Sanders and others running on a socialistic slate at local, state and national levels. Democratic Socialists of America, a party that had languished in stasis for quite a while, is one of the beneficiaries of this awakening. In the past four years, its membership has risen from 5,000 to 35,000, and its local chapters have quadrupled to 180. Widely popular youthful politicians in the leftwing of the Democratic Party like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have policies similar to those proposed by the socialists. And the two groups often work together. Veterans from previously active but now defunct groups like Christians for Socialism form a part of that coalition. Sister Kathleen and her fellow nuns, for example, continue to take part in community actions like preventing utility shutoffs, home foreclosure, and requiring property developers to be bound by contracts protecting low-income people in Detroit, and have been arrested for engaging in civil disobedience. They are in the company of retired Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit whose decades of anti-war, social justice activism has at times landed him behind bars and the vibrant Poor People’s Campaign led by William Barber II and Liz Theoharis. There is also a group of feisty nuns working in low-income areas under the banner of Nuns on the Bus. They make annual tours across many states to promote varied causes like health care reform, supporting homeless shelters, food pantries, public schools and health care for the uninsured. Led by Sister Simone Campbell, they oppose federal budget cuts that target programs to assist the poor and children. Their bus is usually welcomed in the communities it passes through, but it also is heckled by extremist right wingers. And there is the intrepid, distinguished scholar-activist Cornel West. He has for decades eloquently rallied against class, race and gender injustice as well as imperialism from a unique blend of Christian and Marxist perspectives and inspired many young progressive activists to embrace socialism. Sexual abuse and financial misdeeds in the Christian denominations have prompted young congregants to detach themselves from organized religion or abandon religion in favor of secularism. When asked if Jesus would prefer capitalism or socialism, three out of five Americans said neither or not sure. Yet the number who picked the latter (one out of four) outranked the number (one out of seven) who picked the former. Opposition to socially harmful neoliberal policies from religious figures is a global phenomenon. We have seen this for the Philippines. Another shining case is the Sister Teresa Forcades, an activist doctor in Spain who promotes socialist causes in public health. In some African nations, outspoken clergy often are the only voices standing up to the authoritarian, neo-liberal policies of the government. The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference issued a pastoral letter in August 2020 blaming the military dominated government for policies that have deepened poverty, shortages, inflation and corruption. The government was also criticized for suppressing dissent and abduction and torture of activists. Conservative Catholics and evangelicals are alarmed by progressive activism in the Church and its appeal to the youth. It nullifies the pro-capitalist ‘Prosperity Gospel’ the televangelists espouse. Instead of lauding individual initiative and regarding wealth a blessing from God, it endorses cooperation and prudent living. Conservative ministers once again are using the pulpit, the Internet and other media to denounce the ‘evils’ of socialism. Thus, with quotes from the Bible, Julies Roys makes the conservative case in a recent issue of The Christian Post. She pointedly declares that socialism is not Christian because: (i) Socialism is based on a materialistic worldview, (ii) Socialism punishes virtue, (iii) Socialism endorses stealing, (iv) Socialism encourages envy and class warfare, and (v) Socialism seeks to destroy marriage and family. (Roys 2016). In the past, her arguments would have received broad accolades from the American public. Now many find them unconvincing. The youth largely reject them. 7.17 REFLECTIONS Christians worship an all-powerful, all-knowing God, accept that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he was resurrected after death. They regard the Bible as a guide for spiritual and worldly conduct, and hold that humans were created in God’s image. Christians embrace Biblical precepts of compassion, forgiveness and love, and assuming stewardship of all of God’s creations. Some Christians posit the Bible the literal truth in spiritual and worldly affairs; some believe Biblical stories are a source of inspiration; and some believe they are symbolic narrations subject to interpretation. Thus, some Christian denominations regard the story of creation in seven days as narrated in the Genesis the exact truth while others hold that it is a symbolic account that is not inconsistent with the theory of geological and biological evolution. Christians believe that humans have a soul that survives physical death and God judges them according to their deeds. Beyond that basic view, different denominations have varied dispositions over notions like the Trinity, heaven and hell, second coming of Jesus Christ, the day of judgement, Original Sin, the nature of salvation and the Devil and his role. The central venue through which Christians worship God is the Sunday church service. Christianity has three main denominations—Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodoxy. Besides different interpretations of the Bible and modes of worship, they have different institutional organization and hierarchy. Some denominations have taken major steps to dismantle the barriers that hinder gender equality but, generally, the status of women in Christianity remains a subordinate one. Over the course of two millennia, Christianity provided billions with a sense of community, spiritual solace and meaning in their lives and made significant contributions in all the societal domains. Under the patronage of Christian rulers, the Church or of their own accord, Christians produced magnificent works of art, literature, music and architecture, generated diverse ideas on social organization and modes of governance as well as contributed, directly and indirectly, to the development of language, science, technology, mathematics and logical ways of discourse. While the ethical injunctions in the Bible are not always consistent, the ethical code enshrined in the Ten Commandments and the Seven Heavenly Virtues and Seven Cardinal Sins—shorn of their purely religious edicts—represents a universal, socially decent, elevated ethical code. Observance of such ethical tenets has fostered lives of harmony and peace in family and society and motivated people to assist their fellow human beings. Christianity began as a religion that stood against the social injustices of the Roman Empire. It was a vision embraced by the downtrodden, poor and marginalized strata including women and slaves, as well as by elements of the alienated middle class. Yet, once it became the official creed of the Empire and later, of the feudal monarchies and dominions overseen by the Pope of Rome, it functioned as the ideology of a hierarchical, unjust social order. For the masses, submission to God was translated into submission to the King. Deviation from what the Church decreed entailed draconian penalties. Papal authority triumphed over the authority of the Bible. Churches accumulated enormous wealth and vast tracts of land, exacted onerous tributes from their flock and were loyal to landlords, nobles and rulers, not the commoners. The moral depravity of institutionalized Christianity reached its zenith in the era of the Inquisition. Tens of thousands of perceived rebels, freethinkers, Jews and witches were tortured and executed in horrific ways. Catholic persecution of major scientists hindered the development of science and knowledge. As the feudal order began to fall apart as a result of growth of trade, crafts, transport, industry and towns, reformist, rebellious schisms arose across the Christian lands. Significant factions broke away from Papal oversight to form diverse Protestant orders whose interpretation of the Bible was more in tune with a new social order based on the ethic of buying and selling, saving and investing, private property, wage labor and the accumulation of wealth. It was through a convoluted process involving secular and religious forces that a parliamentary, representative system of governance evolved in the lands where Christianity prevailed. Science also grew by leaps and bounds. At the same time, these nations of Europe sent traders, explorers and armadas to the West, East and South in search of prized commodities, to acquire territory and spread the teachings of Christ. Over four centuries, an unprecedented growth in production and distribution goods occurred and the general mode and standard of living were revolutionized. Infectious diseases were controlled, the rate of early death plummeted, education expanded, and transport and travel of goods and people became faster and efficient. These developments in the West occurred at an enormous human cost, mostly in the rest of the world. The barbaric trans-Atlantic slave trade, the genocidal onslaught on the native peoples of the Americas and Australia, and rapacious colonial ventures in Africa and Asia laid tens of millions of lives asunder and destroyed livelihoods to create economic structures servile to Western interests. Workers and children in the West were exploited ruthlessly until their political struggles effectuated the passage of laws and regulations that improved wages and working conditions. Christianity played a bifurcated role in all these ventures. At the outset, it was employed to justify slavery, but later Christian groups were in the forefront of opposing slavery. It was used to sanctify colonial rule and pacify indigenous peoples, but later, local Christian converts played a lead role in the overthrow of colonial rule. Some Churches in South Africa and the US openly supported racist domination, but African and African American clergy staunchly opposed it. After WW II, the US deftly utilized Buddhism, Islam and Christianity to further its imperial designs in Asia, the Middle East, the Soviet Bloc, China, Africa and Latin America. In the name of anti-communism, some US churches and senior clergy in the dominated nations backed this drive. Prominent American evangelists supported the US aggression on Vietnam, but an activist group of priests launched militant civil disobedience to oppose it. A segment of the grassroots clergy in Latin America and the Philippines adopted the principles of liberation theology to champion freedom, justice and equality in their nations. Many of them were tortured and killed by death squads of regimes supported by senior evangelical priests. Presently Christianity remains firmly entrenched in Africa, Latin America, and the Philippines. But it is undergoing a decline in absolute and relative terms in Europe and North America. Apart from various socio-economic factors, exposés of sexual abuse by priests and the wanton profligacy of the televangelists steer young people away from religion. Yet, the share of the population who firmly adhere to Christian beliefs and practice remains fairly stable. And this dedicated minority of mostly evangelical Christians exercises a strong influence in the centers power, and is allied with the most rightwing, pro-capitalist, pro-imperialist forces in the Western nations. While a potent cultural and religious counterweight to the right wing religious and secular tendencies in the 1960s existed, today it is diluted and almost muted. Humanity and the planet stand at a critical, existential juncture today. The mounting threats of devastating climate change, war between major powers, pandemics and global economic meltdown are literally issues of life or death for the entire biosphere. The old social order is beginning to crumble. Two contrasting paths lie ahead. One leads to an authoritarian or fascistic system primarily serving the interests of a small enormously wealthy class and the major corporations it controls and the other leads to a democratic socialist order functioning in the interest of the people. To maintain its moral credibility, Christianity cannot sideline or dismiss the gravity of problems like climate change, pollution and species extinction. It has to inspire its adherent to engage in struggles to tackle these problems. Christianity must distance itself from the super-rich and corporate entities who gut public assistance programs. But it has to transcend philanthropy, and work to create conditions where philanthropy is rendered superfluous. It has to abandon the pomp and magic cures of Prosperity Gospel espousing wealthy televangelists and expose the plethora of ills created by capitalism and militarism. It must stand against xenophobic nationalism, patriarchy and homophobia and adopt an internationalist outlook, grant full equality to women, treat people with alternative sexual lifestyle with dignity and respect. And it must provide a safe environment for children and women and provide complete transparency and accountability for cases of priests egregiously treating them as objects of pleasure. Many Christians are now energized and divided over issues like abortion, sexual orientation, stem cell research, religious symbols in public places and religious education. Politicians win or lose according to their stand on a single issue. In the process, key issues like racism, militarism, gender equality and economic justice get the short shrift. Some Christian denominations stand against aspects of neoliberal policies and support state assistance for the poor and marginalized peoples. But principled opposition to neoliberalism, militarism and international economic injustice is rare. Not having a systemic alternative, they remain ensconced with the capitalist framework. There is the pseudo-Christianity of Donald Trump and the Bible thumping officials of his administration—Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Attorney General William Barr—and the fundamentalist ministers of modern megachurches. It is the creed of Jair M Bolsonaro and his fundamentalist backers in Brazil, the televangelist glorifiers of Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, and the far right, white ultra-nationalist parties across Europe, some of which are close to the centers of power. This Christianity celebrates charitable endeavors like those of Mother Teresa. It is a Christianity of rank hypocrisy: In my office, I keep a Bible open on my desk to remind me of God and his word, and the truth. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (Wong 2019). On the other hand, there is the unblemished, brave, tolerant Christianity of Sister Mariani and her fellow nuns who unite with in the struggles for a more humane and dignified world. It reflects the Christianity of Dr Martin Luther King, Archbishop Oscar Romero, Don Helder Camara, Camilo Torres, Father Daniel Berrigan, Sister Dorothy Day, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Reverend William Barber II and the Christian socialists of the yesteryears. It is the progressive, socialist Christianity of Cornel West: To be a Christian - a follower of Jesus Christ - is to love wisdom, love justice, and love freedom. …. If the Kingdom of God is in you, you should leave a little bit of heaven wherever you go. Cornel West The evolving global realities require Christians to choose between one or the other path. An effusive middle-of-the-road way just means functioning in harmony with neoliberalism and militarism. It is no longer feasible. The choice is either far-right religiosity or democratic, socialist spirituality. The choice is not between a Donald Trump and a Joe Biden, but between a militaristic, neoliberal and a bold leader espousing the visions of Martin Luther King. This will not just be a theological struggle. Christian nationalists in the most powerful nation on earth are focused on behind the curtain diffusion of their message and organizing. Conservative fronts like The Family, United in Purpose and televangelists exercise a powerful influence on the political scene. United in Purpose played a key role in linking Donald Trump to evangelical pastors. It uses its wide network of churches and a vast database of voters to mobilize millions of voters for right-wing politicians. They are the ideologues of the plutocracy, the real rulers of nations. Allied with proto-fascist regimes and groups in Brazil, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and Africa, this brand of Christianity is spreading across the world. Christians must unite with like-minded people of other faiths, humanists, and socialists to organize, occupy the streets, educate the masses, vote for progressive candidates and work to institute fundamental system change that will place political and economic power in the hands of the global majority. That goal accords with what Jesus Christ unequivocally proclaimed: A new command I give you: Love one another. Bible, John 13:34. Fully embracing this fundamental edict is the basic moral challenge for Christians today. CHAPTER 08: ISLAM ↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔ Islam means peace. Malala Yousafzai I will not disgrace my religion, my people, or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom, and equality. Muhammad Ali ISLAM EMERGED IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA around the year 610. Muhammad ibn Abdullah, now known as Prophet Muhammad, was its founder. With almost one of every four persons a Muslim, it is the second largest religion in the world today. Muslims are in the majority in 50 countries. Indonesia, with over 230 million Muslims, leads the group, closely followed by Pakistan and India, both of which have more than 200 million Muslims. Each of Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Nigeria and Bangladesh are home to between 80 and 160 million Muslims. The Asia-Pacific region stretching from Turkey to Indonesia accounts for more than 60% of the global Muslim population. Just about 20% of the Muslims reside in Arab nations while some 15% are in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Quran is the holy book of Islam. Most Muslims fall into one of two major denominations, Sunni and Shia, with some 90% being Sunni. Both denominations, more so the Shias, are further segmented into several sects. About 75% of the Shias reside in Iran, Azerbaijan, Bahrain and Iraq. This picture needs qualification at two levels. First, a survey done in 38 nations revealed that in a number of them, many Muslims did not express a denominational identity and saw themselves as ‘Just a Muslim’. In Jordan, 93% of the respondents deemed themselves as Shia, none as Sunni and 7% as Just a Muslim, the corresponding figures for Bangladesh were 92%, 2%, 4% and 2% did not respond. In Egypt, 88% identified as Sunni and 12% as Just a Muslim while in Tunisia, 58% deemed themselves as Sunni, 40% as Just a Muslim, and 2% did not respond. In Iraq, 42% identified as Sunni, 51% as Shia, 5% as Just a Muslim and 1% did not respond. Yet in Kazakhstan 16% said they were Sunni, 1% said Shia, a full 74% said Just a Muslim and 10% did not give an answer. In Indonesia 26% said they were Sunni, none said Shia, 5% said mentioned another sect, while a majority, 56%, said Just a Muslim and 13% did not respond. Sufism and Salafism provide another aspect of Islamic identity. Sufism is a pan-denominational mystical Islamic tradition. There are Sunni Sufis and there are Shia Sufis. Sufis follow different orders (tariqas). In Malaysia, 17% of the Muslims follow a Sufi order; in Indonesia, only 3% do. In Bangladesh, 26% of the Muslims say identify with a Sufi order and in Senegal a whopping 92% identify as Sufis. Salafism is a distinctly conservative variant but not a sect of Sunni Islam. Muslims of varied denominations also have divisions based on adherence to a specific school of jurisprudence (Sharia). A number of small Islamic sects also exist. A few of them are not accepted by most Muslims as being a part of the Islamic faith. 8.1 ORIGIN The Arabian Peninsula at the start of the 7th century was composed of clan-based or tribal principalities ruled by princes or eminent families. In the arid environment, trading, livestock raising, small scale crafts, servant or slave in a wealthy household were common occupations. Where water supply was adequate, fruits, vegetables and olives were cultivated. The hardy date palm was a ubiquitous source of food and useful material. Nomadic Bedouin tribes maintained large herds of camels, goats and sheep. Camel milk and dates were staple food items. Arabia was a conduit for flourishing interregional trade in spices, grain, fine fabric, crafts, gold and other metals, perfumes, leather goods, utensils, tools and domestic animals. Two cities, Mecca and Medina, were the hubs through which large merchant caravans plied in both directions. Bedouin tribes served as camel-providers and guards for the caravans. People believed in powerful deities related to natural phenomena like the sun, moon and the stars, rain and floods, oases of water, hills and large trees. These supernatural deities were symbolized in shrines and statuettes. Rituals like animal sacrifice were performed to appease them and for help in resolving personal and tribal problems. Diviners who could communicate with the deities were consulted. Each tribe had its own gods and rituals. Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians were settled in the area as well. Apart from being a major commercial hub, Mecca was reputed for the numerous holy shrines and sites located within its boundary. Idols of almost every tribe in the area had a presence. Kaaba, a rectangular ancient stone structure with statuettes of over 600 deities, was the most revered shrine in Arabia. Pilgrims from across the land and far beyond arrived each year to perform days-long rituals in the vicinity of Kaaba. Merchant caravans often diverted their journeys to pass through Mecca. Muhammad ibn Abdullah was born, presumably in the year 570, in a sub-clan of the powerful clan controlling this vibrant center of trade and religion. Born into a poor family, he was orphaned at the age of six. He did not fare well in early life. It was only after he was recruited by an uncle to assist in his trading ventures that his fortunes rose. Marriage to Khadija, a wealthy widow, and ably managing her caravan trade ventures, cemented his social status. Traders respected him for his honesty and intelligence. His fair negotiating style made him a sought-after advisor for resolution of trade, land and other disputes. Islamic belief holds that at the age of forty, Muhammad had a nightly encounter with angel Jibril (Gabriel) who implored him to believe in Allah, the one and only supreme God, and informed him that he was the Rasul (Prophet) of Allah. Petrified at the intensity of the experience, he did not know what to do. Khadija’s support rescued him. Soon, he became a regular sight in the streets, preaching the divine messages he continued to receive and urging people to submit to Allah. His charisma, integrity and simplicity lent credibility to his words. Many people, notably from the lower social strata, flocked to his faith. Some merchants joined as well. The nature of his message and his unyielding monotheistic stance drew the ire of the powerful aristocrats of Mecca. Facing persecution, he and his devotees departed for Yathrib, a distant town in the north. This date denotes the start of the Muslim calendar. As Muhammad successfully reconciled the feuding parties in the town and established civil order, his reputation solidified. Setting aside their traditional beliefs, people took up his religion, later designated Islam—the faith of submission to Allah. Renamed Medina, the City of the Prophet, it was the site of the first Islamic mosque. In a short while, a disciplined Islamic army was formed. To sum up an involved story, after a series of skirmishes, Muhammad’s forces were able to subdue his opponents and pave the way for his return to Mecca. The Meccans and tribes across the peninsula converted to the new religion with remarkable rapidity. Muhammad exercised supreme and religious authority. He was not only the prophet of Islam but also the civic, political and military leader of the lands of Islam. Under his edict, the statuettes of the deities in Kaaba and vicinity were smashed. The string of messages he received from Allah were written and recorded. New spiritual and practical rituals that reflected his teachings evolved. And Islam began to acquire the key features that persist to this day. Muhammad died from a short illness in 632 CE at the age 62. By then Islam was the dominant religion across the Arabian Peninsula. It formed the ideological anchor for unity, stability and peace in a hitherto conflict-ridden area and laid the foundation for unprecedented economic and cultural progress. In a hundred years after his death, Muslim presence stretched as far west as the French-Spanish border and as far east as northern India. 8.2 CORE BELIEFS AND TEXTS Muslims of all denominations and sects believe in a unitary, all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent, eternal, and most merciful God (Allah) who created and controls all that exists. Arabic Inscription for Allah Muslims assert that Muhammad was a prophet of Allah, the bearer of His messages to humanity, and the last prophet. The basic precepts of Islam are encapsulated in the oft recited Shahada. The Shahada lā ʾilāha ʾillā llāh There is no god but God. muḥammadun rasūlu llāh Muhammad is the messenger of God. The general tenets of Islam are: A Muslim must unconditionally submit to Allah. Allah has at his command ethereal, supernatural angels with defined duties. Among other things, they observe and record our conduct. Azazil, a senior angel who disobeyed Allah and fell by the wayside, now directs the people towards evil deeds. The Quran, which has the direct messages of Allah, was conveyed to Prophet Muhammad by Jibril (Gabriel), an archangel. It represents divine wisdom and absolute truth on all secular and spiritual matters. Allah has sent many prophets to the world, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. But Muhammad was the last and most elevated prophet. Every Muslim should abide by the Five Pillars of Islam (see below) and follow Islamic ethical principles. Allah knows everything, especially the destiny and time of death of humans. Yet, humans have the freedom to choose between good and bad deeds and are responsible for the choices they make. All people who have ever lived will be resurrected on the Day of Judgement. Good deeds will be weighed against bad ones. Those who pass the test will ascend to Jannat (heaven) and those found wanting will be relegated to perpetual suffering in Jahannam (hell). Islamic scriptures contain detailed elaborations of these tenets. Some are evocative and sublime; some are graphic and unnerving. Muslims concede that the Judaic and Christian holy books also came from Allah, but the Quran supersedes all. Shia Muslims hold that beginning from Ali, husband of Muhammad’s daughter Fatima, a lineage of Imams imbued with divine powers by Allah has existed. But the Shii sects disagree over when and where the lineage ended. The Ithnasheri (Twelver Shia), the main sect that covers about 85% of the Shias, holds there were twelve Imams in all. The last Imam is in hiding and will emerge on the Day of Judgement. Other Shia sects include Ismaili and Bohra. The Shias view the Imam as a divine persona with the authority to interpret the Quran and issue binding religious rulings. He wields secular and political authority as well. Accordingly, there is an additional line to the Shia Shahada: The Shia Shahada lā ʾilāha ʾillā llāh There is no god but God. muḥammadun rasūlu llāh Muhammad is the messenger of God. aliyyun waliyyu llāh Ali is the representative of Allah. Like the Bible, the Quran was not written by its founder. But unlike the former, segments of what was later called the Quran were transcribed onto page while he was alive. Muhammad urged his followers to memorize and recite the revelations he received from Allah. His close associates and designated scribes wrote them down on stone tablets, bones, leather material and date palm fronds. A Quranic Sura Inscribed on a Camel Bone The vast body of revelations was compiled into a unitary text after the death of the prophet. But inconsistent compilations circulated in the initial years, causing discord in the Muslim world. The issue was tackled around 650 CE by a committee established by Caliph Uthman. Headed by Zayd, the person at the center of the earlier documentation work, it produced a text that, apart from minor discord over meaning, stands to this day as the standard version of the Islamic holy text. Its copies were distributed across the fast expanding domain of Islam in the ensuing years. Historians generally agree that it is a valid representation of the words spoken by Muhammad. The Quran is composed of 114 suras (chapters) that include over 6,200 ayas (verses). Almost all the suras begin with the word Bismillah (In the Name of Allah). The first sura begins: In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Praised be Allah, Lord of the Universe, the Beneficent, the Merciful and Master of the Day of Judgment; You alone we do worship and You alone we call on for help. Guide us to the right path, the path of those whom You have blessed, not of those who have earned Your wrath or of those who have gone astray. Quran, 1:1-7 (Malik 1997, page 111); Wikipedia (2019 – Quran); (Ruthven 2012). The suras of the Quran expound—resonantly and authoritatively—the basic precepts of Islam: supremacy, uniqueness and magnificence of Allah; features of the Day of Judgment; the existence and functions of angels; the obligations of the believer and the fate of non-believers; key Islamic practices like prayer and charity; avoidance of idolatry and sin; legal injunctions, lives and teachings of the preceding prophets and deviations of their followers; marriage and family duties; tales with ethical, legal, economic and spiritual ramifications; and more. It also offers advice on food, health and personal issues. The Quran is a guide on how to live, enabling Muslims to separate right from wrong, good from bad. Progressive interpretations of the Quran assert that it accepts that all religions are equal and advocates a peaceful coexistence between them. But it also takes polytheists and idol worshippers to task. Translations of the Quran in most major languages are now in print and electronic forms. But the standard Arabic version is the authentic Quran for all Muslims. Only it may be used in prayers and religious rites. A translation may be used for study and contemplation. While all Muslims concur as to the standard text, interpretations of specific suras differ. Some authorities cite Quranic verses to claim that disputation about the Quran is proscribed. Others use the same verses to argue that it is permitted, even encouraged, if done in a well-intentioned, informed way and under appropriate conditions. Shia Muslims believe that only Prophet Muhammad and the Imams know the true meaning of the Quran. Human understanding is limited and subject to debate. The Islamic canon also has a voluminous body of scriptural texts known as Hadiths. Compilations of these texts began sometime after 632 and continued for several centuries. Their spiritual and secular import is second only to the Quran. Regarded representative of the words, actions, guidance and declarations of the prophet as related by his family, the Caliphs, associates and contemporaneous disciples, there are in totality tens of thousands of verses that elaborate and extend Quranic ideas. The Hadiths constitute the primary source of Islamic customs, ethical behavior, religious rites (modes of prayers and ceremonies) and form the basis for Sharia law, the Islamic legal code and economic policies. They contain guidelines on the role and treatment of women, slaves and servants; dealings with unbelievers; as well as on the minutiae of daily life like dressing, mealtime manners, social etiquette and personal hygiene. The Hadiths also form a key source for the early history of Islam. That said, the Hadiths are a prime basis for division among the Muslims. The Sunnis have six Hadiths, while the Twelver Shias have four separate Hadiths. The Ismaili Shias have their own set of Hadiths compiled during the Fatimid Caliphate. What for one sect are reliable and authentic sources for the Hadiths are not so for the other sects. The proliferating Hadiths written decades and centuries since the birth of Islam relied on secondhand, third-hand, fourth-hand and more distant sources. Many of them were of dubious historical value. By the ninth century, when Islamic law was being fashioned, there were so many false Hadiths circulating through the community that Muslim legal scholars somewhat whimsically classified them into two categories: lies told for material gain and lies told for ideological advantage. (Aslan 2011, page 68). Despite concerns expressed by Islamic scholars about their validity and concordance with the Quran, the Hadiths were the springboard for the development of Islamic law, social customs, religious rites and moral standards. That process was affected more by the interests of the wealthy and politically powerful strata in the Muslim societies than by regard for spiritual or historical authenticity. The reverberations of those developments persist to this day. 8.3 ETHICS AND MORALITY Arabia of the early 600s was a bifurcated society. The nomadic and rural tribes had relatively egalitarian structures that limited the powers of the leaders. The code of conduct stressed collective good over individual rights. Punishment reflected the misdeed. If you stole a camel, you gave back a camel. Weakest members of the tribe were protected. Tribal stability and security overrode all else. Yet, conflicts over land and resources between tribes were common. Moral tenets did not apply to tribal foes; battle captives became slaves. In the urban areas, more so Mecca, powerful merchant families controlled secular and religious affairs. Their concern was to enhance their privilege and economic power. With slaves, servants and fighters at their behest, their rule was authoritarian. The masses lived in a state of penury and insecurity. Indebtedness and exorbitant interest rates led to enslavement. Orphans and widows were particularly vulnerable. Strict patriarchy prevailed. His poverty-riven childhood sensitized the Prophet to the suffering of the common folk. He had come to value honesty, uprightness and compassion in his dealings. These ethical precepts were reflected in his teachings. He saw human deeds as good or evil. The former yielded heavenly rewards and earthly gain, but the latter condemned you to suffer in this life and thereafter. In the Islamic ethical framework, especially of the early times, loyalty to Allah and Islam is the primary virtue. Selfishness, acquisitiveness and arrogance are decried while charity, compassion and humility are extolled. People are urged to be aboveboard in deal with others and act through mutual consent, not coercion or deception. This applies particularly to commercial contracts. Theft, dishonest business dealings, usury and exploitation of the destitute are proscribed. Sharing wealth by charity is stressed. Vendetta, revengeful conduct and mob justice are also denounced. Only an authorized body can decide and administer punishment. Orphans, women, slaves and ill persons are accorded more rights and a higher degree of protection than before. Idolatry is condemned but followers of other monotheistic faiths are tolerated. Only Allah has the prerogative to punish their transgressions. Extramarital sex, and consuming pork and alcohol are prohibited. Overall, Muhammad’s teachings inveigh against rigid hierarchy, greed and a vast gap between the wealthy and the poor. They favor an egalitarian social compact that gives opportunities for advancement to everyone. The Quranic creed holds that Allah has given humans the ability to discern right from wrong and act according to their choice. People are responsible for their conduct. Rich or poor, a person of power or a commoner, one is subjected to the same rules, some of which were later codified in law. Tribal loyalty was no longer a justified defense for criminal deeds. The subsequent proliferation of Hadiths and emergence of Sharia law generated much debate about Islamic ethics among Muslim theologians, and led to the classification of human acts into five subtypes: (i) mandatory, (ii) laudable but not compulsory, (iii) ethically neutral, (iv) distasteful but not penalized, and (v) banned and punished. While early Islamic rules do not reach modern standards of human rights, they represent a significant progress over how conduct had been judged and penalties given in the pre-Islamic days. Many aspects of current Sharia law and Islamic ethical code derive from the later-day Hadiths, not the Quran. They reflect the authoritarian, hierarchical and misogynist structures of the ensuing Islamic caliphates. 8.4 WORSHIP, SYMBOLS AND CULTURE The Islamic calendar, based on the cycles of the moon, starts from the day Prophet Mohamed went to Medina. Each year is composed of 12 lunar months of 29 to 30 days and has 354 or 355 days. Each week has seven days. The day begins and ends at sunset. Friday, the day of communal prayer, is an official holiday in many Muslim majority nations. The dates for religious holidays and ceremonies are set by the Islamic calendar. Sunnis and Shias do not have the same first month and differ on the observance of some annual holidays. For example, the date 7 January 2020 in the Gregorian calendar corresponds to day 12 of the 5th month of the Islamic year 1414. The core of Islamic faith is expressed in the Five Pillars of Islam. The first pillar is declaration of faith in Allah and allegiance to Prophet Muhammad (shahada). The second pillar is prayer (salah). The other three pillars are giving alms (zakat), fasting during the month of Ramadhan (sawm) and at least one pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca (Hajj). Prayer: Muslims pray five times a day, at home or in the mosque. You face Mecca while praying. It is customary to wash hands and feet before prayer. The prayer involves standing, repeatedly bringing open hands near the chest, bending, kneeling and touching the ground. As the phrase Allahu Akbar (Allah is Great) is recited, open hands are raised to the ears. Mosque attendance peaks on Fridays. Surveys done in 2010 showed a wide range in the rate of at-least-once-a-week mosque attendance. It was highest in the 15 countries of Africa, with Ghana leading at 100%, and Mali, standing last at 79%. Next was Indonesia where the attendance rate was 72%. In the theocratic Islamic states Iran and Saudi Arabia, the attendance rate stood at a surprising low level, just 27%. Reciting the Quran according to the correct intonation is a key part of Muslim education. In non-Arab nations, most Muslims have a limited understanding of the meaning of the text. Ability to memorize the Quran in its entirety is a mark of distinction. Competitions to flawlessly and elegantly recite the 114 Quranic suras from memory are held in many Muslim communities. The Quran has to be handled with respect under all circumstance. In a bookstack, it should be kept above the other books. Shia Muslim sects subscribe in essence to the five pillars but augment them with other tenets. They profess faith in Allah, the Prophet, and their Imam. Under the authority of the Imam many beliefs and rituals are modified. Some Shia sects combine the five prayer-times requirement into three and pray while seated. Shia prayers draw on verses from the Quran and the words of the Imams. Singing hymns composed by eminent missionaries is a key part of the prayer session. Muslims use rosaries made with 99 beads—denoting the 99 known names of Allah—during prayer, meditation and other religious occasions. Alms: Giving alms reflects the Quranic enjoinment to assist the needy and share wealth (zakat). It was reformulated in the Hadiths to principally denote payment of 2.5% of the annual income (or total wealth) to a community body. The money is used for maintenance of mosques, support religious activities, and assist the needy, travelers and others. A person unable to pay zakat may do free work for the community. Muslims are forbidden to charge interest on loans. At times, loans may be given for compassionate reasons and without a collateral. Fasting: Ramadhan, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, marks the period during which Prophet Muhammad began receiving messages from Allah. It is a holy month for spiritual reflection and purification that is marked by fasting, special prayers, enhanced charity and avoidance of sin and worldly pleasures. Apart from specified exceptions, adult, healthy Muslims do not eat or drink from dawn to dusk and abstain from daytime sex and smoking. Fasts begin the day after the crescent moon is sighted and end 29 or 30 days later when it reappears in the sky. According to a survey of 39 Muslim nations and communities in 2012, the rate of fasting was higher than 90% in more than 20 places. Traditionally the fast is broken in the same way as Muhammad is said to have done, with a few dates and water. It is followed by the main meal of the day. For affluent families, it is a month of savoring sumptuous dishes. Weight gain during the holy month of fasting is not unheard of. Some mosques and wealthy Muslims provide free meals to the poor during this month. Crescent Moon The end of Ramadhan is celebrated as the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, a day of special morning prayer, amusement fairs, musical events, culinary feasts and exchange of gifts among relatives and neighbors. Children look forward to it as a day when they get new clothes and presents. Hajj: Once in a life pilgrimage to Mecca is obligatory for Muslims with the means and physical ability to do it. Occurring over a six-day period in the last month of the Islamic calendar, it involves performing a series of rites including walking seven times around the Kaaba. Of recent, between 2 to 2.5 million Muslims have each year attended the Hajj. About 75% were from nations other than Saudi Arabia. The end of the Hajj is celebrated by the festival of Eid al-Adha across the Muslim world. For the Twelver Shia sect, pilgrimage to the Karbala in Iraq is as important as the Hajj. (The corona pandemic has drastically reduced Hajj attendance.) Mosques: Muslims have built numerous large and small places of worship with architecturally exquisite exterior and stunning interior design that are spread around the world. In the Eritrean town of Massawa stands a rundown small structure originating from the time of Prophet Muhammad. Built by his companions who had fled from Medina, it is one of the two oldest mosques of Islam. The minaret and other features of the present mosque were added much later. Mosque of the Companions, Massawa Jama Masjid, Delhi The Jama Masjid in Delhi is the largest mosque in India. Built in the Mughal era, it has tall minarets and large domes that characterize many present-day mosques. At prayer times, a caller stands at the high point in the minaret to beckon the faithful. Besides being prayer venues, mosques host marriage and funeral ceremonies, and provide basic services to the needy. Some conduct Quranic education as well. Dress and Appearance: Islamic custom, in part based on Quranic suras, requires Muslim men and women to wear loose fitting, clean clothing that conveys a dignified, modest appearance. But, contrary to the impression generated by the Western media, Islamic nations and communities display widely varied styles of dressing that are as much influenced by local custom and culture as by religion. In Arab nations, Muslim men wear a long, multi-layered white robe and a head scarf secured by a band. Women adorn loosely fitting attire of various colors covering their bodies except hands and face. In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, a rich diversity of regional styles that blend tradition, Islamic inclination and Western influence prevail. Men dress in Batik shirts, a black hat like the Turkish fez, with trousers or sarong. Women wear a plain or embroidered kebaya made from cotton, rayon or silk. Women and men on different islands display a distinct mix of regional, Islamic, national or Western dress styles. In Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda some Muslim men wear a full length white robe with a plain or elegant, hand-woven cap while most Muslim men put on the standard shirt-trouser combination and no a head gear. Some Muslim women wear dark clothes covering most of the body. But the majority integrate with the prevailing fashion —a Western style top with a colorful khanga or kitenge wrapped over the lower part of the body. Educated Muslim women often dress in a Western style. Clothing styles also vary among the Islamic sects. While common imagery shows Muslim men with beards, little uniformity over this practice exists. Some sects and nations value well-trimmed beards; others, a shaven face with a moustache; others, a long beard; and yet others show no preference in this respect. Food and Drink: Apart from prohibitions on pork and alcohol, Muslims eat all kinds of foods. But animal meat—cow, goat or poultry—has to come from animals that have been slaughtered in the halal method. Music: Music has been an integral part of the culture of Islamic nations and communities for many centuries. Nations of northern Africa, from Morocco to Somalia, of the Middle East and Asia, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Indonesia to former Soviet nations and the Muslim groups of China have distinctive repertoires of song, poetry, hymns and dance in which the secular and religious strands intermingle. But Sunni and Shia traditions differ in terms of content, style and mode of expression in music. Devotional chants and song, with or without musical instruments, provide communal cultural sustenance. The instruments—wind, string, reed, gong, drum, harmonium and others—vary by nation. Bands and orchestras may feature in the renditions of religious songs. Songs express love for Allah, revere Imam Ali and other Imams, praise the Prophet, convey moral edicts and ponder on the vicissitudes of life. New compositions augment traditional songs and hymns to enliven religious dramas and plays. Joint endeavors by lyricists, singers, instrumentalists and music directors render melodious, enchanting, evocative words and sounds that sink into the heart. The sacred and secular musical strands coexist in many Islamic societies. The Egyptian singer, lyricist and actress Umm Kulthum mesmerized millions across the Middle East and North Africa with resonating, flawlessly rendered performances of classical and modern songs. By age twelve, she had memorized the Quran. Encouraged by her father, she learned classical Arabic music and songs and later embarked on an acting and singing career. Her remarkable talent attracted important lyricists and music directors to her side. Her ability was nothing short of phenomenal. A typical performance had two or three songs lasting three to four hours. Often, she improvised without missing a beat. The audience for her virtuoso monthly radio concerts was in the tens of millions. Though her repertoire shone with songs of love, pain and romance, she was a singer with a social conscience. In a time when the people of the region were revolting against Western domination and for self-determination, her songs reflected patriotic and Pan-Arab sentiments. Her musical reputation and political influence extended well beyond the Arab lands. She adhered to classical Arabian musical styles at a time when many singers were falling under the influence of Western music. Under President Gamal A Nasser, one of her songs was made the National Anthem of Egypt. A fair number of her songs projected Islamic spirituality. In collaboration with leading poets, she enchantingly brought the words of Sufi sages like Rumi to the masses. Her song The Prophet is Born calls Prophet Muhammad ‘The Imam of socialism’. Qawwali sessions encapsulating a centuries old Sufi poetic musical genre are central to the South Asian Islamic culture. Through intense, melodic, extended recitation of devotional chants and phrases, or love poetry, the qawwal guides the audience towards spiritual bliss. Tabla and harmonium accompaniments enliven the session. Besides evocating divinity, qawwalis ponder on love and the vagaries of life as well. The Pakistani singer, composer and instrumentalist Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was the undisputed star in a field shining with talented artistes. His intense voice, sublime phraseology and majestic persona exuding deep spirituality attracted millions in the Indian subcontinent. He toured over 40 countries to be the global face of Islamic music. Born in a family that had been immersed in qawwalis since the Moghul times, Ali Khan collaborated with famed singers in Indian cinema as well as musicians in several other countries. While he usually sang in Urdu, at times, he sang in four other regional languages. A recipient of dozens of local and international awards, including the 1955 UNESCO Music Prize, he was twice nominated for a Grammy award. His albums have sold in the millions and command a vast following on the Internet. Widely considered one of the greatest voices ever recorded, [Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan] possessed an extraordinary range of vocal abilities and could perform at a high level of intensity for several hours. (Wikipedia 2020 – Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan). The Pakistani singers of renown include Noor Jehan, Mehdi Hassan, Munni Begum and Abida Parveen. They sang thousands of religious and film songs, qawwalis and ghazals. Some were composers and music directors as well. Varied musical and dance renditions of religious songs and Sufi poems, often with traditional instruments, have a long history in Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Morocco, Syria, Turkey and the former Soviet nations. Taarab, a musical genre that formed in the late nineteenth century Islamic culture of Zanzibar and coastal areas of Kenya and Tanzania blends Swahili, Middle Eastern and Indian musical traditions. Infused with romantic evocations and Islamic values, female and male vocalists accompanied by an ensemble of instrumentalists intone vibrant Swahili songs for weddings, Eid festivals and community events. Its founding vocalist, Sitti Binti Saad was dubbed the Lata Mangeshkar and Umm Kulthum of East Africa. Other legendary Taarab vocalists include Juma Bhalo and Bibi Kidude. It was one of the few areas of the Islamic culture in which women stood abreast of men. Now spread throughout East Africa, it is increasingly adopting Westernized styles and instruments. Umm Kulthum, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and more vocalists glitter in the vast musical culture of Islamic nations and communities. Religious and secular music interact and influence one another. Yet, Muslim theologians remain at odds over the compatibility of music with Quranic teachings. Citing verses from the Quran and Hadiths, some say it is not. And others cite other verses to claim that so long as it reflects faith in and praises Allah and the Prophet and abides by Islamic values, it is a valid form of Islamic practice. Some sects allow singing but without instruments. Conservative nations like Saudi Arabia proscribe music in totality. A few fundamentalist Islamic sects deem it satanic. While music and singing on radio and TV were generally banned in the early days of the Islamic Republic of Iran, now they are permitted and popular. An Egyptian Muslim cleric has declared belly dancing an art form that is not forbidden in Islam. The Islamic sects that deplore music and dance are in a minority: Whoever says that all music is prohibited, let him also claim that the songs of birds are prohibited. Imam Al-Ghazali Literature: As embodied in the colorful A Thousand and One Nights and the mystical compositions of JM Rumi, a gigantic library of creative literature of prose and poetic forms in multiplicity of languages exists in Islamic societies across the world. The field is too vast to cover here. Linguistic scholars concur that the prose-poetic style, terminology and expressive subtleties of the Arabic text of the Quran make it ‘the finest work in classical Arabic literature’. (Wikipedia (2019 -- Quran)). Islamic scriptures were the major impetus for the development of the modern Arabic alphabet and language as well as calligraphy and decorative textual styles. Symbols: Islam stands apart from Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity in the non-use of pictorial human symbols in a religious context. Though done in the distant past, modern Islamic authorities proscribe making images of Prophet Muhammad. Islamic religious literature, items and structures do not use photos or artistic drawings of humans and living beings. Islamic authors, artists and architects compensated this lacuna with geometrical patterns and elegant calligraphy. The crescent and star image is commonly used. Another example is Rub el Hizb. With two overlapping squares and a central circle, it marks the end of chapters in books, and is found on emblems and flags of Islamic nations and groups. Rub el Hizb 8.5 MUSLIM EMPIRES Prophet Muhammad not only founded a religion but also laid the basis for an expansive social formation. Trade and cultural interactions had effectively unified the Arabian Peninsula by the time he was born. But riven by parochial clans and tribes with varied modes of governance, conflicts were chronic. The time was ripe for a visionary, bold leader with an appealing doctrine to make the people feel that they belonged to single community with a common destiny. Muhammad was the man of the hour; a wise, able man of action. Within two decades of his divine revelation, the key elements of a unitary Islamic state were in place in nascent forms. A new governance structure, code of interaction between communities, textual authority for law and personal conduct, system of revenue collection, and a standing, disciplined army had been formed. He was the political, military and spiritual commander of the emergent order. Given the degree of social fragmentation and hostile terrain, that he unified Arabia in a short period was a remarkable accomplishment. When Muhammad died, the immediate question was: who will lead the Ummah, the Muslim nation? The wealthy Quraysh merchants jockeyed to regain the political authority they had lost. Some tribes appeared intent on disavowing their allegiance to Islamic rule. The risk of re-fragmentation was high. His companions and close disciples—many youthful idealists—acted decisively to forestall that possibility. At the community gathering in Medina that was debating the succession, they deftly maneuvered to have Abu Bakr, one of the two main companions of the Prophet, elected the leader of the Ummah. Some scholars see this as the first time in history that a leader of such authority was elected in a fairly democratic fashion. But democracy was compromised in that once elected, he ruled for the rest of his life. Muhammad’s family and a minority of Muslims felt that Ali, the other senior companion and the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, was the rightful choice. But after seeing the broad support Abu Bakr enjoyed, they relented. Thus commenced a long history of the empire of Islam. The ruler, the Caliph, exercised supreme secular power and a modicum of religious authority. He did not have the spiritual status of a prophet. The first four Caliphs, including Abu Bakr, had been close associates of the Prophet. They together with the fifth and sixth Caliphs were chosen with the general consent of the elites in Arabia, if not the commoners, of the Ummah. The sixth Caliph made the Caliphate hereditary. The major Islamic Caliphates are listed below. Table 8.1: Major Islamic Caliphates and Empires Rashidun Caliphate 632—661 CE Umayyad Caliphate 661—750 CE Abbasid Caliphate 750—1517 CE Fatimid Caliphate 909—1171 CE Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba 929—1031 CE Almohad Caliphate 1147—1269 CE Mughal Empire (India) 1526—1857 CE Ottoman Caliphate 1517—1924 CE The history of the Islamic Caliphate is a story of intense rivalry, acrimony, civil war and assassination. Discord over the choice of the first Caliph generated the primary split in Islam. The Sunnis accepted the leadership process initiated by Abu Bakr. But the Shias held that only Ali and his designated descendants had the divine mandate to lead the Ummah. The struggle for secular power had religious connotations. Ali and his successors were called Imams: not only secular leaders but infallible personages with a direct link to Allah. Shias cite Prophet Muhammad’s sermon at Ghadir Khummn in March 632 to support this position. While Ali became the fourth Caliph and his son succeeded him, the divide persisted, and generated a permanent schism. The Shias moved their headquarters to Iraq under the leadership of their Imams. But they too were divided over the issue of succession. The two main Shia sects today are Ithnasheri (Twelver Shia) and Ismaili. The latter has further subdivisions. Shias have frequently faced intense, violent persecution in Sunni majority areas. Despite internal conflict and splits, Islamic rule expanded rapidly, setting up mostly stable, prosperous empires across large swathes of land beyond Arabia. After moving its capital to Damascus, the Umayyad Caliphate prevailed in the East up to India, took over large chunks of northern Africa and conquered Spain in 711. At its height, it had about 62 million subjects spread over an area of 15 million square kilometers. The Abbasid Caliphate that followed ruled from Baghdad over a slightly smaller land mass. Starting from 1526, the Islamic Mughal Empire prevailed in India for over three hundred years with a population of nearly 150 million within its dominion. The Ottoman Empire based in Istanbul, Turkey, was the longest lasting Islamic empire. During nearly 700 years of existence, it prevailed in Eastern Europe, large areas of North Africa, Persia and beyond. Islamic empires were driven primarily by a desire for wealth, territory, resources and political power by the ruling elites. Religion was not the basic motive force for imperial expansion. Yet, Islam provided a unifying and motivating force for the troops and administrators. The Caliphs established authoritarian, hierarchical social and political structures in the new lands that were brought under their control. While some consulted with clan leaders, elders and wealthy merchants, nothing resembling modern democratic rule was instituted. The large-scale conversions to Islam that occurred in the process had religious and secular aspects. Converting to the faith of the ruler gave higher prestige and material advantages like exemption from certain taxes. Islam provided a cohesive ideological glue for the populations of the captured lands. Islam also spread through trading links and culturally adaptive proselytizing efforts of Muslim missionaries. Islamic empires were not that distinct, in social structure and principle, from societies where other religions held sway. In the current polarized era, both the anti-Islam voices labeling Islamic rule as despotic and backward and the voices idealizing it detract from a complex reality. For an insight into the characteristics of these empires, we overview three specific cases. 8.6 THE EARLY ABBASID CALIPHATE The Abbasid Caliphate was born when an army led by a descendent of Prophet Muhammad deposed the reigning Umayyad Caliph. It was 750 CE. The Caliph and his family were executed. Only a young prince managed to escape (see the next section). In 762 CE, Al-Mansur, the new Caliph, moved the headquarters of the caliphate from Damascus to a distant place between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Named Baghdad, the nondescript area was converted into a populous city of architectural magnificence. A solid circular defensive wall, proximity to abundant water supply, location along a key trade route and moderate weather established a large city that became the fountainhead of the Golden Age of Islam, an age that spanned five centuries. With some 1.5 million residents at the pinnacle of its glory, it was likely the largest, and certainly the most prosperous city of the day. Under the Umayyad Caliphate, the Islamic Empire had spread from the Middle East into parts of West Asia and Europe and much of North Africa, including Egypt. Asserting his dominion over these regions and extending their boundaries, Al-Mansur established a decentralized system of rule under which the Emirs, the regional governors, had more autonomy and power. The civil service was manned by Muslims and non-Muslims. There was a large presence of Persians, some in positions of authority. In the long run, administrative decentralization, undue reliance on foreign bureaucrats and the recruitment of Turks into the army fostered the fragmentation of the Abbasid Caliphate. Ambitious regional Emirs utilized their economic and military might to set up de facto mini caliphates in Spain, Italy, Iran, Morocco and Egypt. The central caliphate exercised spiritual and moral authority but not much more. Yet, even in that fractured state, the progressive trends set in motion at the outset continued to operate in the central and most of the regional caliphates. Politics and power + The principal features of Abbasid rule were economic prosperity, a well-organized civil service, an efficient mode of tax collection, a large standing army, a well-developed education system, and religious authority. The Caliphate ran on a decentralized system. While exercising supreme authority, the Caliph appointed the Vizier (chief minister) for day to day running of the affairs of state. He oversaw Diwans (secretaries) who headed four key departments, each with several sub-departments. The portfolio of the Diwan of Finance covered the personal treasury of the Caliph, revenue collection, state expenditure, charity, agriculture and manufacture; of the Diwan of the Judiciary included the courts, public complaints and market supervision; of the Diwan of Security included the army, navy and police, conversion to Islam and mailing service; and of the Diwan of Administration covered records, official documentation, official seals and certification. Each region of the vast empire was placed under an Emir or a Sultan. Instead of relying purely on Arab aristocrats, able non-Arabs and non-Muslims were also recruited for senior and low jobs in the civil service. Theologians and secular scholars guided the state authorities on matters of policy. A bevy of informants kept the center informed of the events and undercurrents throughout the Empire. The Vizier, Emirs, Diwans, senior state officials and military commanders were amply remunerated. The empire was consolidated by a formidable army, a swift naval armada and forging alliances with adjacent and distant kingdoms. For example, it maintained friendly diplomatic relations with the Tang Dynasty in China. Economy + Construction of Baghdad over several years was a strong stimulus for the regional economy. Tens of thousands of stone masons, wood and metal workers, painters and laborers worked under hundreds of architects and planners to build the round city wall, defensive moat, houses, palaces and roads. A long-standing location for caravans from all directions, the new city stood to prosper from trade in a wide range of commodities and resultant tax revenue. Placement of the major external gates facilitated entrance and exit of traders and travelers from distant lands and Mecca bound pilgrims. Food, clothing, utensils, tools and other goods for the burgeoning population of the city stimulated agriculture, crafts and trade. The abundant water supply was channeled through canals, aqueducts and pipes. Using techniques like pulleys and the Archimedes Screw, windmills and watermills drew large volumes of water to greater heights. Vast irrigation systems watered farms, enhancing the quantity, stability and variety of agricultural goods. Baghdad was a beacon for major developments in Iraq as a whole. As documented by Ibn Battuta, a famed traveler, various cities of the area were renowned for their own distinctive products. The tributaries of the four major roadways leading to the city center were lined with many markets and shops. Good supply of water and raw materials boosted book production. Many items were exported by caravans and ships, bringing profits and prosperity to the nation. The range of commodities sold in the city markets by area of origin were: Basra (pearls, gems, silk, linen, henna, perfume, silver, fish, Quality dates, medicinal material); Baghdad (quality turbans, shawls, apparel, mats); Kufa (exotic turbans, perfume, dates); Wasit (fish, draperies, fine cloth); Numanniya (wool garments); Mosul (metal buckets, knives, arrows, chains, grains, honey, fats, cheese, salted fish and meat, pomegranates, melons); Nasibin (nuts, dried fruits, weigh scales, inkstands); Raqqa (soap, olive oil, reed pens); Harran (honey, wine jars, cotton, weigh scales); Malathaya (grapes, fruits, hemp, dried meat) (Source: Lindsay 2008, page 102). Over time, new crops like almonds, citrus fruits, sugar cane and rice found their way into the market stalls in the city and beyond. Though only the well-to-do bought exotic items like silk, perfumes, carpets, jewelry and spices, many of these items featured in the diet and belongings of the commoners as well. Strict state supervision of merchandise quality, valuation of coinage, changing currency, and accuracy of weights and measures attracted purchasers from outside. A trusted system of banking and money lending facilitated business transactions. City traders ventured far to establish profitable trading posts and rest centers. Gold, silver and copper coinage of the Caliphate prevailed as the currency of international trade. The Abbasid era economy, as of other Caliphates, was a market economy based on private property in which the state played a major complementary role. But there were occasions when the Caliph used his power to seize privately held lands and structures. Societal Hierarchy: The dynamic, bubbling economy operated in the context of a social and political hierarchy. In terms of political power and civil rights, the highest to the lowest strata were the caliph and his heirs; the vizier, emirs, diwans; jurists, religious and secular scholars, professionals; Arab and converted Muslims; Christians, Jews, and others; and at the bottom, women and slaves. In terms of economic status, the highest to the lowest ranked groups were the caliph and his family; the vizier, emirs, wealthy merchants, money lenders, large landowners; shopkeepers, owners of craft works, scholars, professionals, and favored slaves; low-grade workers, craftsmen, soldiers, tenant farmers; and lastly, slaves. The social hierarchy combined rigidity with flexibility. While Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians had fewer rights than Muslims, people of these faiths had a presence in the upper echelons of the political, economic hierarchy. Persian Zoroastrians held senior bureaucratic positions. Jews and Christians were among the wealthy merchants, bankers and landowners. Many non-Muslims were respected, affluent scholars, professionals and doctors. And one could raise one’s social status by converting to Islam. Legal system + Besides drawing upon traditional Islamic tenets based on the Quran and Hadiths, the legal system under the Abbasid dynasty drew from the work of scholars in the several schools of law established in Baghdad. Contributions of religious authorities were supplemented by the influence of a diversity of juridical thinkers. An elaborate body of laws governing religious affairs, public spaces, land rights, personal conduct and obligations, commercial transactions, role of women, treatment of slaves and other matters came into being. Apart from the Caliph and his family, no person had special birth rights. Under Islamic law, Muslims had the most rights, followed by Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians. Women and slaves were below everyone else. New converts to Islam, whatever their prior religion, held the same rights as other Muslims. Specific rules about dressing, public expression of faith and other matters restricted the conduct of non-Muslims in public spaces. But often they were not enforced, and Muslims, Jews, Christians and others generally interacted freely in most walks of life. A special tax was levied on non-Muslims. Court sessions and hearings before senior government officials were held in public and were open to comment. Market inspectors, usually persons of integrity, were given the power to enforce ethical business practices. Those found in breach, whatever their status, could receive instant public flogging. The fundamental basis of the legal and political system was to ensure the operation and legitimacy of the Caliphate and the social order. Social prosperity was a sign of divine blessing and power bestowed on the Caliph. But in times of strife and economic downturn, that doctrine formed the basis for the Caliph’s betrayal of the divine mandate and justified actions to depose him. (Compare with the doctrine of mandate from heaven in Confucianism.) Education and scholarship + Economic advancement together with the comingling of cultures due to trade and travel induced the first five Caliphs, especially Harun al Rashid (786--809 CE), to generously fund scholarly inquiry and acquisition of knowledge. Espousing personal interest in philosophy, science and medicine, they oversaw the transformation of Baghdad into the most vibrant center of global erudition. Scholars—Muslim and non-Muslim—translated texts from Greek, Latin and Sanskrit into Arabic and Persian, wrote commentaries, conducted investigations and produced a worthy library of original works. It is generally accepted that had it not been for the extensive translations done by Muslim scientists of that era, much of the developments of the ancient Grecian times and elsewhere would have been lost to the world. The foundation for the burgeoning scholarship was laid with provision of elementary schooling in the urban centers. In the maktabs and mosques, children—rich and poor—learned to read and write Arabic and recite the Quran, imbibed tales about the Prophet and mastered basic arithmetic. Young boys and girls often studied together. Wealthy families engaged private tutors. In the rural areas, where children worked on family farms and trades from an early age, the sole form of non-practical learning they acquired was recitation of the Quran in the mosques. Some children proceeded to study theology, interpretation of the Quran, Islamic law and literature, and calligraphy in higher level schools. And a few advanced students were exposed to science, history, geography, music and mathematics. Established in the 8th century, the House of Wisdom in Baghdad was the first prototype of a modern university. What initially was a library set up by the Caliph evolved into a center for inquiry and advanced instruction. Guided by esteemed scholars and scientists, students ventured into science, foreign languages, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, philosophy, jurisprudence and music. There was no formal curriculum. The teacher had ample leeway to convey the subject to his students. While memorization was a core aspect of education, public debate, discussions and independent inquiry occurred regularly. A good supply of paper and ink was always at hand. Philosophical, scientific and general works from Greece, Italy, India and Persia were translated into Arabic. Held in high prestige, these scholars were amply rewarded by the state. In addition to translating and transmitting scientific and philosophical treatises from faraway places, they produced original works in mathematics (geometry, algebra, arithmetic and trigonometry), physics (astronomy, optics and mechanics), medicine, surgery, chemistry and geography whose reverberations are felt to this day. Passages from the Quran that counsel believers to seek knowledge inspired the scholars and precipitated the emphasis on education and research. Women, however, were hardly represented in this process. The House of Wisdom library eventually housed a massive collection of diverse material—local and foreign original and translated texts. Many other libraries flourished in Baghdad and other cities under Abbasid rule. And they were complemented by numerous bookstores where students and inquiring minds could satisfy their intellectual needs. A glimpse of the scope of the total collection of books and manuscripts was obtained when the Mongols ransacked Baghdad in 1258. While one scholar was able to send off 400,000 books elsewhere, the Mongols threw what they found into the river. The books from Baghdad’s libraries were thrown into the Tigris River in such quantities that the river ran black with the ink from the books. (Wikipedia (2020 – House of Wisdom)). As epitomized by the collection of enchanting folk tales—One Thousand and One Nights—emergence of popular, entertaining literature was a key feature of that era. Artistic output, often geometric in nature, graced mosques, buildings, public places, drapery, decorative items and written material. One domain of the scholarly endeavor in the Islamic empires was mathematics. Mathematics + Drawing upon the progress in mathematics from ancient Greece, India and China, Islamic scholars made novel advances in algebra, arithmetic and geometry. Muhammad Al-Khwarizmi (780—850 CE), one of the first senior regents of the House of Wisdom, was the principal mathematical luminary of that era. Among his contributions were popularization of the ten-digit numeral system (1 – 9, 0) obtained from India, a systematic method of solving quadratic equations and writing a text that laid the basis for modern algebra. He developed instruments for astronomical observations and wrote a major treatise on geography. Muhammad Al-Karaji made further advances in algebra, pioneered the mathematical induction method and used it to prove the binomial theorem in the tenth century. Three centuries on Nasir al-Din al-Tusi unified and extended plane and spherical trigonometry and gave the sine rule for plane triangles. Still later, Omar Khayyam, a gifted poet, eminent writer, but also a mathematician and astronomer extended the methods for finding square and cube roots developed in India to higher roots. His methodical, algebraic study of cubic equations yielded to solutions for some types of equations and laid the basis for eventual general solutions of higher degree equations. The contributions of other mathematicians included use of the decimal notation, properties of special numbers, calculation of areas and volumes, circle geometry, summation of power series, conic sections, combinatorics, continued fractions, and formal algebraic notation. By depicting elaborate geometric patterns on buildings, structures and publications, the artists of those days enlivened and extended two-dimensional geometry. Many of the works of Islamic era mathematicians and scientists were later translated into Latin, widely studied, and used in science education in Europe for centuries. They provided a significant impetus to further advancement of these fields and made everlasting imprints. For example, they extended and popularized the base-ten numerical symbolism and decimal notation. It is now taught in schools everywhere. Without it, the emergence of the modern world of science, industry and commerce would have been held back for centuries. Yet, their contributions are sidelined in the mainstream histories of science. At best, they are depicted but as preservers and translators. 8.7 MUSLIM RULE IN SPAIN The Iberian Peninsula in the beginning of the 8th century was a poverty-ridden, culturally barren place ruled by a despotic Christian Visigoth ruler. In 711, a disciplined, motivated Abbasid Caliphate force launched an invasion and defeated the Visigoths with ease. The invaders behaved in a way atypical of conquerors: they did not butcher or plunder but offered amnesty to their foes without penalty. As such, they gained a firm foothold across the peninsula without shedding much blood in a few years. However, strong resistance from French forces prevented them from marching into Northern Europe. Islamic rule over Spain and adjoining areas ended decisively in 1492. Spanning over more than 750 years, it involved multiple Muslim dynasties with divergent political, religious philosophies and modes of governance. In the initial four decades, discord between the North African Berber rank-and-file soldiers and the Syrian Arab commanders, administrators and merchants prevented initiation of major projects. The scenario changed with the unexpected arrival of Abd al-Rahman, the young heir of the Umayyad dynasty who had escaped from Damascus five years earlier when the Abbasids had deposed his father and killed all the other members of the ruling family. The determined prince astutely leveraged his royal status to secure sufficient support to prevail over the Emir and take over the helm of the state. An Umayyad Caliphate was instituted in all but name in the western outpost of the Abbasid Caliphate in the year 756 CE. Abd al-Rahman was a visionary, able and popular leader. He united discordant Muslim factions and initiated the process of social, economic, and cultural development that eventually converted the Iberian Peninsula into ‘The Ornament of the World’. (Minocal 2002). Social and political stability for nearly 250 years stimulated all sectors of the economy—agriculture, trade, manufacture and construction. Expansive irrigation with improved devices multiplied the output of traditional crops—wheat, sorghum, grapes—and the new ones like banana, citrus, date palm, melon, rice, pomegranate, apricots and eggplant. Innovations in glass making, textile weaving, paper production, ceramics and metal work raised the quantity and quality of manufactured goods. Wealthy merchants carried local products to and brought goods from distant places, across land and sea routes. Swelling of state coffers funded major infrastructural development. Well laid out cities, especially Cordoba, with clean, paved and lit streets became vibrant centers of trade and culture. Besides an array of palaces, mosques and libraries, at its zenith, Cordoba and its environs had more than 110,000 buildings housing slightly less than half-a-million people. In this, the largest city in Europe, several thousand shops stocked general goods and fancy items for the elite like tooth cleaning mixtures, perfumes, jewelry, rare food items and crystal glassware. An adequate supply of water fed 300 public baths. Major progress in literature, art, culture, science and medicine concurred with establishment of diplomatic relations with Christian kingdoms in the north and powerful tribes in North Africa. Besides economic developments, the key features of Islamic Iberia can be grouped as follows: Social structure and governance + Islamic Spain was a hierarchical society based on political status, wealth and religion. In the earlier days, Muslims were about 15% of the population (5% Arab and 10% Berber), Jews about 10% and the rest were Christians. Later day conversions, however, turned it into a Muslim majority area. The Arab rulers, wealthy aristocrats and merchants were at the top of the economic and social order. They were followed by commoner Muslims—Berber and converted. Apart from those engaged in trading and banking, Jews stood at the next level. The Christian majority was at the bottom of the rung. A system of laws based on a moderate version of Islamic Sharia law was enforced across the territory by the agents of the Caliph. Treatment of non-Muslims + Islam and Islamic institutions had priority in all aspects of public life. Jews and Christians could practice their faith in private without hindrance and were not forced into segregated ghettos or slavery. But they could not practice in public. While Muslims paid the zakat, they paid a special, more onerous tax. Quite a number of Jews and Christians converted to Islam. Of those who did not, many adopted Muslim dress styles, cuisine, etiquette and routines. Islamic and Christian music intertwined with and enriched each other. Menial work, avoided by Muslims, was done by non-Muslims. Yet some Christians and Jews were employed in the lower and higher rungs of civil service, owned shops, traded in gold and jewelry, ran money lending agencies and were recognized as eminent scholars and writers as well. Religion did not constitute an impenetrable barrier to social and economic progress. Muslim Iberia stood head and shoulders above the intensely anti-Semitic atmosphere of that time in Europe. Jews fared significantly better compared to how they had fared prior to the arrival of Muslims and also after their departure. Education and scholarship + Arabic was the official language for public affairs, education and business. Literacy rate rose as Muslims, Christians and Jews learned to read and write Arabic. Increased availability of paper, a product much cheaper and easier than parchment, papyrus or plant leaves, led to a vastly expanded output of books. Scribes were trained to copy new and old books. Elegant calligraphic writing was the norm. Poets and writers of prose proliferated in a setting of respect for scholarship. Institutions of basic and higher learning, and well stocked libraries came into being. The main royal library at one point housed 500,000 volumes. In comparison, the best contemporary libraries elsewhere in Europe counted their holdings in few thousands. Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars and students from the vicinity and distant lands joined the famed University of Cordoba. Significant progress was made in fields ranging from science and philosophy to geography and medicine. Besides translations, original literary and scientific works were produced. The influence of the scholars of Islamic Spain was felt across Europe. After nearly three centuries of relative stability and marked prosperity, Islamic rule in the Iberian Peninsula underwent a process of decline caused by internal and external factors. Persistent factional strife for greater share of wealth and power within the ruling circles weakened the state and the army. Innovations in production and growth of trade suffered as the corrupt elites became preoccupied with intrigue and luxurious living. Reversals of the earlier policies of religious tolerance antagonized non-Muslim subjects. Bickering among each other, they were unable to mount an effective defense against intruding armies of Christian nations from the north and the strong Islamic tribes from North Africa. Progressively crumbing bit by bit, Islamic rule in the area ended decisively in 1492. The new monarchs acted decisively to ensure Catholic hegemony in the land. Hundreds of mosques, well-stocked private and public libraries, bath houses and palaces were plundered or destroyed. Arabic was banned and public practice of Islam was punishable by the Inquisition. Muslims were ordered to convert to Christianity. Hundreds of thousands who refused to do so were expelled from Spain in a brutal fashion. The Jewish population was expelled. Just about 2% of the population of Spain now is Muslim. Almost all are recent migrants from North Africa. Yet, the marks of Muslim rule on cuisine, architecture, music and buildings in Spain remain but are not acknowledged. In an era of rising Islamophobia across Europe, visible aspects of that legacy are being erased and revisionist stories about the nature of Muslim rule in Spain are gaining greater credence. Polls indicate that about two thirds of Spaniards consider Islam incompatible with the Western way of life. The gigantic, magnificent Mosque of Cordoba is now the Cathedral of Cordoba. Muslim visitors are tracked by security guards to ensure that no one prays or meditates within its building or gardens. Only a few seeking to profit from it acknowledge the Muslim heritage of Spain. Forgotten is the fact that when the Muslim armies first landed there they were welcomed by Spanish villagers as liberators from the oppressive Visigoth rule. 8.8 MUGHAL RULE IN INDIA Cheraman Juma Masjid, Kerala, India The entry of Islam in India began in the days of Prophet Muhammad. (‘India’ here covers Pakistan, Bangladesh and parts of Afghanistan.) Arab traders plying along established sea and land routes now brought not only dates, herbs and perfumes but also their religion. Many in South India embraced their faith. Cheraman Juma Masjid, one of the first two mosques in India, was built in Kerala in 629. Muslim presence expanded through conversion and immigration. Initially, it was a slow process. But it turned around when an invading Umayyad force of 6,000 took control of Sindh in 712. In the ensuing nine centuries, capture of new areas combined with missionary endeavors, inter-marriage, social benefits deriving from conversion, and especially the conversion of local rajas, laid the basis of a vast permanent presence of Islam in India. In the Islamic sultanates that emerged in different parts of India, long periods of political stability and a degree of inter-religious tolerance were interspersed with a few years of bloody conflict and destruction on both sides. The intrusion of a Mongolian Muslim army led by Zahir Babur in 1526 opened a new chapter for Islam in India. Regional rulers were either swiftly defeated or made into allies in a process that laid the basis for the Mughal Empire that eventually was to cover most of India for the next two centuries. It was not a simple Muslim versus Hindu conflict as Babur and his successors faced opposition from Muslim sultans and formed alliances with a number of Hindu and Sikh rajas as well. The initial years of Mughal rule focused on conquest and consolidation, a process that never stopped completely. Babur and his seven successors, listed below, had their own styles of governance. Yet, the common features transformed India into a stable, relatively peaceful and prosperous society governed by a complex but efficient administrative system. Importantly, India became the dominant player in the global economy. Governance + History recounts seven main Mughal Emperors. Table 8.2 The Main Mughal Emperors Emperor Years of Reign Zahir Babur 1526—1530 Humayun 1530—1556 Akbar 1556—1605 Jahangir 1605—1627 Shah Jahan 1628—1658 Aurangzeb 1658—1707 Bahadur Shah I 1708—1712 The foundation of the Moghul system of government was laid by Akbar, the most distinguished of the Moghul rulers. The challenge was to effectuate governance with supreme authority in a land of multiple demographics with several ethnicities with their own languages (Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati, etc.), religions (Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism), Hindu rajas and Muslim sultans, and systems of social stratification (varna and jati caste systems). As Sunni Muslims, the Moghul rulers had to gain credibility with the sizeable numbers of Shias and Shia nobles in the area. Akbar resolved the conundrum by instituting an intricate, hierarchical mode of administration with semi-autonomous regions, districts, towns and village communities. He retained existent local authority but in a manner that projected his paramount status. His council of advisors included Muslim, Persian, Hindu, Sikh, Jesuit and Jain scholars and religious personalities. At the executive level, the prime minister ran the general civil administration with assistance from ministers responsible for revenue collection, control of expenditure, and justice and religious affairs. The imperium was divided into fifteen provinces, each with a governor, a chief minister, a military commander, a religious affairs minister and a chief judge. The provinces were divided into towns and districts whose councils controlled matters such as sanitation, policing and administration of justice. The duties of all functionaries were clearly defined. Absence of overlapping authority minimized discord. Agents who gathered vital information for the central authorities operated throughout the Empire. The Moghuls appointed existing rajas, nabobs and clan leaders as local governors, facilitating their compliance and cooperation. People of varied faith and background manned the regional and central bureaucracy. Rajput men (warrior caste) were recruited as officers and fighters in the army and police. Their commanders were given the status of nobility. The large landowners (zamindars) were won over by being allowed to largely carry on as in the past but were now made responsible for tax collection. State functionaries at all levels were handsomely rewarded. Rajput officials, for example, received large land grants. It was a well-organized system of divide-and-rule that artfully blended adaptation with adoption, and consultation with imposition. The autonomy granted to local rulers notwithstanding, it was never in doubt where the true authority lay. In terms of enriching the state coffers, ensuring peace and cooperation, and generating a vibrant economy, it was a successful system. By 1690, the Mughal Empire covered an area of some four million square meters and had a population of about 160 million. Economy + The Moghul economy was founded on agriculture, crafts, and trade—local and international—with banking, transportation and construction providing the supportive infrastructure. Agriculture was the mainstay of the economy. Fertile soil, good rain fall in most years, water supply from wells, streams, rivers and lakes, crop rotation, use of animal dung as fertilizer and fuel, wood and iron tools for planting and harvest, oxen drawn ploughs and carts—the traditional bases of Indian agriculture—were enhanced by canal construction, water tanks and wider use of irrigation. Regional diversity of traditional crops—rice, wheat, barley, sorghum, green millet, beans, pulses, fruits, nuts, oil seeds, vegetables and spices—was supplemented with sugar cane, pineapples, cotton, indigo, opium, tobacco, coffee, guava, potato and tomato. Yogurt and milk fat were a basic part of the daily diet. Abundant output and stable, affordable prices enhanced the nutritional status among all the strata in society. The arrival of traders from Portugal, France and England led to exports of large quantities of agricultural goods and fine clothing to Europe. British merchants sent Indian opium to China. Mined saltpeter found a good market. The centuries-old, elaborate Indian textile, drapery and mats making sector underwent a major expansion under the Mughals. Printed and plain fabrics and clothes made from cotton, muslin, silk and calico were in high demand abroad. Carpets from Gujarat were highly valued. Cotton growing, ginning, yarn production, weaving, embroidery and trade in these items provided livelihoods for millions. The variety, quality and output of Indian fabrics were unrivalled. Each region and city had its unique brand of textile material and dresses. Woolen shawls from Kashmir fetched a high price in European capitals. Skilled artisans across India made bells, utensils, tools and ceremonial swords from copper and brass as well as carvings and items for daily use from marble, wood and stone. Gold and silver necklaces and bangles made in India had international fame. Yet, despite the diversity of exports, imports into India were limited in scope, mostly precious metals like gold and silver. State policies and initiatives played a central role in the expansion of the output of craft industries and export of their products. Gold and silver coins minted by the Moghuls were the primary means of exchange for internal and external trade. Mints were established in several cities of India. Mughal economy was a mammoth enterprise. Mughal India was a world leader in manufacturing, producing about 25% of the world's industrial output up until the 18th century. (Wikipedia 2020 – Islam in India). Societal structure + Wealth is generated by labor, physical and mental. India’s prominence in the global economy reflected the creativity, sweat, and toil of the peasants, tenant farmers, artisans, builders, and other workers of the Empire. Yet, the producers retained only a small fraction of the value they produced. Sizeable appropriations, endorsed by law and custom, enabled the opulent lifestyles of the upper classes and construction of magnificent residential, religious and public structures. It was the material foundation of the Mughal societal hierarchy. At the apex was the ruling family (Emperor, queen, royal offspring and relatives) followed by the upper class (Emperor’s council, vizier, rajas, sultans, military commanders, jurists, senior religious figures), then by the propertied class (large landowners, wealthy merchants, industry owners, bankers) under which was the middle class (professionals, scholars, junior civil servants, tax collectors, etc.), then the toiling class (peasants and tenant farmers, artisans, servants, laborers) with the abused class (slaves, Dalits, beggars) at the very bottom. Taxes on agricultural and artisanal goods were the main pillars of state revenue. Tax on farm output was based on an estimate—derived by careful examinations of past records—of ten-year average yield. The years when the land was left idle were taken into account. The assessed tax had to be paid with the Empire’s silver currency, a rule that further entwined peasants and landowners into the market economy. The tax rate varied from a third to a half of the average output. Landowners and money lenders additionally retained a good portion of the after-tax wealth of the producer. Independent artisans and those who worked for a master craftsman were at the mercy of traders. The latter decided what was to be made, how much and for what price. And they relied on moneylenders for the capital needed to purchase raw materials and tools. Like the farm workers and peasants, they were caught up in a perpetual cycle of indebtedness. Additional taxes, including export levies, were imposed as the commodities moved from the producer to the consumer. Overall, it has been estimated that in the Mughal era, the primary producer retained about a third of the value of the produce. In comparison, when the Mughal Empire was replaced by British India Company rule, the producers retained less than 10% of the worth of their labor. Status of non-Muslims + Prior to the arrival of Babur, the parts of India already under Muslim rule, particularly the Delhi Sultanate, had undergone a degree of culture synthesis between Muslims and Hindus. Once the main opponents had been quashed, the Mughals reduced their reliance on overt force. Instead, they deployed cultural compromise and economic incentives and relied on extant norms to maintain their dominance. While Muslim rulers in Spain and Baghdad had instituted a fair degree of tolerance towards other faiths, they went further. Critically, Akbar cancelled the poll tax on non-Muslims and the pilgrimage levy paid by Hindus. Ending these unpopular taxes broadened the Mughal support base. Akbar’s council of advisers had a multi-faith composition. Non-Muslims occupied high positions in the state hierarchy. But the benefits extended beyond the elite level. Hindus and people of other faiths were accorded greater freedom to worship in public. Permits to build new temples were issued. A major threat was diffused by allowing the Rajput warriors in the army to carry on with their ancient rituals. Proselytization by Muslim preachers continued but did not become state policy. Several Mughal rulers married Hindu princesses and visited temples. They also patronized Hindu poets and were attracted to Hindu musical practices. And, crucially, they did not enforce the traditional Muslim injunctions against idol worship. While the Mughal rulers were Sunni, there were many Shias in India and a number of Sultans in their domain were Shia. Maintaining cordial relations with Shia Muslims was a key aspect Mughal rule, especially under Akbar. Babur, the first Mughal, was allied with the Ismaili Shia sect. The Mughal vision of Islam emphasized its mystical, philosophical tendencies. Sufi saints were esteemed, and purist rules and practices based on Sharia law were not stressed. In fact, Akbar launched a new religion that synthesized Islam with Hindu and Buddhists faiths. Perhaps that was the only one of his initiatives that did not secure any traction. The pluralistic, nonsectarian policies aiming to harmonize divergent cultures which characterized the middle hundred years of Mughal rule were exemplary not just by the standards of the day but also by modern standards. As one historian puts it: Even though it was certainly true to the spirit of the Quran, Akbar’s pluralism was very different from the hardline communalism that had been developing in some Sharia circles, and it was light years from the bigotry of the recent Sunni/Shii conflict. (Armstrong 2002; page 125). However, conservative Muslim scholars opposed the policies of religious accommodation. As the Empire went into a decline, the voices of intolerance gained upper hand. Poll tax on non-Muslims was reintroduced and the tax rate on Hindu merchants was doubled. Non-Muslims faced more barriers in public expression of their beliefs. And the Shias faced a harsh crackdown from the authorities. A vibrant era of cultural harmony ended too soon. Education and science + When the Mughals came to India, state funded and autonomous Islamic institutions of basic and further learning (maktabs and madrassas) operated in the Delhi Sultanate and other sultanates. Their curricula covered language studies, the Quran and Hadiths, Islamic law, literature. Pathshalas run by Hindu gurus taught Sanskrit, religious texts, numeracy and practical skills to Hindu children. General stability, prosperity, the strong pedagogical inclinations of the Mughal Emperors complemented the drive by Muslim theologians to set up a broad-based education system in the Empire. A central department of education was established. In addition to catering to the royals and nobles, the system recruited Muslim and Hindu students from varied social classes. Sitting side-by-side in madrassas, they learned Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, law, philosophy, medicine, mathematics and astronomy. The Imperial College of Delhi, established in 1650, marked the high point of the Mughal pedagogic endeavors. Reading and writing Persian, the language of the central government, was a major part of schooling at the basic and higher levels. Along the way, classics of the Hindu literature and scriptures as well as Greek and Arabic classics were translated into Persian. Gradual ongoing amalgamation of Persian, Turkic, Hindi and Sanskrit laid the basis for a new language, Urdu. It matured after three hundred years of the Delhi Sultanate and bloomed in the Moghul era with an outpouring of exemplary works of poetry and prose. Hindi and Urdu share key grammatical features and have similar words. But their alphabetic scripts are different. Like Arabic, Urdu reads from right to left. It is the official language of modern-day Pakistan and is spoken by millions in India as well. The treasury of Urdu literature was composed by Muslim, Hindu and Sikh writers. The standardized versions of Hindi and Urdu in use today are both traceable to the Mughal era. The Mughal emperors were men of educational distinction. Among other things, they took a keen interest in astronomy. Several observatories were built. The existing calculations of Hindu astronomers were integrated with the observations of Arab astronomer and were incorporated with new findings to produce a better picture of the heavens. Some investigative tools used bore signs of sophisticated technological attainment. One of the most remarkable astronomical instruments invented in Mughal India is the seamless celestial globe. It was invented in Kashmir by Ali Kashmiri ibn Luqman in 998 AH (1589–90 CE), and twenty other such globes were later produced in Lahore and Kashmir during the Mughal Empire. Before they were rediscovered in the 1980s, it was believed by modern metallurgists to be technically impossible to produce metal globes without any seams. (Wikipedia 2020 – Mughal Empire). In theory, places of learning were free and open to all. But children of the artisans and rural toiling classes only acquired skills for the family occupation from their elders. Their formal education was limited to recitation of religious texts. Mughal education had three limiting features. One, public education was restricted to boys. Girls were taught at home by private tutors, and this was possible only in the upper-class families. Given their abundant wherewithal and support from the rulers, many Mogul princesses attained remarkable levels of erudition in poetry, literature and music. Two, despite increased interactions with Europe, acquiring European languages and using new discoveries in science and technology (physics, printing, mechanical contraptions, etc.) from abroad were sidelined. The two-way process of technological interchange between the Islamic Middle East and India that had started earlier continued during the Moghul era. A number of advances in practical chemistry—for example, in soap making—were made. Three, critical intellectual inquiry of the type and scale that had occurred in Iraq under the Abbasids and in Islamic Spain did not transpire in the Mughal era. While the Mughal's engaged in geographical and astronomical explorations, foundational studies of nature did not attract much attention. Instead, their scholars generally delved into law, philosophy, languages and the arts—music, poetry and literature. Libraries were established. But their stock was in the thousands whereas the Islamic libraries of Iraq and Spain had carried hundreds of thousands of volumes. Arts, culture and architecture + The magnificent forts and tombs they erected under the Mughal Empire have left an indelible mark on India. Apart from the incomparable Taj Mahal in Agra visited by millions every year, the other Moghul structures appearing in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites are Agra Fort, Lahore Fort, Red Fort, Fatehpur Fort and the Tomb of Humayun. This is a partial list of an admirable architectural legacy. They also constructed elegant gardens and orchards with a variety of flowering and vegetable plants. The Mughals backed creative arts like painting, production of elegant textiles, jewelry and sculpture. Taking a keen interest in composition and recitation of poetry, music and secular and spiritual songs, they refined the use of Indian musical instruments. The Indian and Urdu musical pantheon of today owes a huge debt to Mughal patronage. The mouthwatering menu of Mughal cuisine continues to delight many a palate. Such endeavors blended Islamic, Persian and Indian traditions to form a sparkling tapestry integral to the subcontinental cultural milieu. Yet, in this era of Hindutva dominance, their contributions are denied and disparaged. Decline and fall + The decline of the Mughal Empire was caused by a series of interrelated internal and external factors. The 50-year reign of Aurangzeb laid the seeds. He abolished decentralized governance and reversed policies that had maintained stability and prosperity over the vast expanse of the Empire. Alienating the local rajas and nobles fomented dissent and generated administrative inefficiency and revenue losses. Annulment of the privileges of the Rajput nobles antagonized a critical segment of the army. Re-imposition of the special tax on non-Muslims, pursuance of an extremist interpretation of Islam, placing restrictions on Hindu festivals and destruction of temples undermined the legitimacy of the state. Aurangzeb launched extended but unsuccessful military drives that drained the treasury, demoralized the soldiers, compromised discipline and catalyzed mutinies. As internal and external strife intensified, trade and industry were neglected. Adoption of new technology, especially from Europe virtually ceased. The closure of avenues for at least a modicum of upward social mobility that had hitherto existed disaffected people in the lower social strata. Underlying these tendencies were the extravagant lifestyles of the ruling family and nobility. Living beyond their means, they drained the state coffers. Mismanaged finances weakened the rapport between the royal court and the merchants and bankers. Bickering, treachery and bribery eroded their ability to rule. To maintain a revenue stream, Muslim and Hindu landowners, nobles and merchants, with governmental backing, exploited peasants and caused people to work to the point of exhaustion. Rural uprisings erupted. Revenue officials came under attack. In the ensuing sustained period of destabilization, the army suffered from the loss of trained soldiers and delayed salary payments and was unable to prevent the erosion of law and order. Civil anarchy became the order of the day. Neighboring kings took advantage of the situation by mounting attacks that damaged Moghul rule further. The intrusion of the British India Company put the final nail in the coffin of the once glorious empire. 8.9 ISLAM, COLONIALISM AND NEO-COLONIALISM By the beginning of the 20th century, most nations with a Muslim majority or a significant Muslim presence—Algeria, Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Malaysia, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, etc.—were colonies of or semi-colonies of a Western power. From being a religion of the rulers, Islam became a religion of the ruled. As no people want external domination, Muslims had firmly resisted imposition of colonialism and later struggled valiantly to expel the foreigners. Their tactics ranged from non-cooperation, civil disobedience and strikes to armed revolt. The struggles movements espoused secular and religious ideologies. Parties with an Islamic program operated in Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, West Africa, Iran, India, Malaysia and Indonesia. Some parties espoused Islamic socialism. Intellectuals and artists—secular and religious—broadened the base of the struggle and influenced its agenda and policies. The anti-colonial struggle took varied, evolving forms. At the outset, it was a localized effort over specific grievances. Over time, it acquired a national character, evolving from seeking reforms to ending colonial domination. The struggle for independence was colored by the relationship between the social strata that had developed during the colonial era as well as by the interventions of the colonial power to redirect it. The educated Westernized elite and traditional elite were on both sides—those allied with the colonial masters and those against them. Colonialism had strengthened the bonds of nationhood. For Muslims, the notion of belonging to a religion group competed with the notion of belonging to a nation. Ethnicity, culture and nationalism differentially factored into the anti-colonial struggle. Some political parties placed the issue of economic and social justice in the post-colonial society at the top of their agenda. The anti-colonial movement in the Muslim world was composed of a mix of religious, secular nationalist, ethnic and socialist parties, but the nature of the mix varied from nation to nation. Pan-Islamic parties that had begun as charitable organizations running schools and hospitals came to operate in the political arena. The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, later assumed a transnational dimension with branches and parties in Muslim and non-Muslim nations. Its various branches share a global spokesperson and a common agenda—democracy, peaceful activism, upholding Sunni Islamic traditions and a right wing anti-socialist ideology. But in practice each branch is an autonomous entity with its own tactics and program. Similarly, parties under the umbrella of the Islamic Party operate in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In actuality, they work as national parties without material ties to the other branches. The outcome of the anti-colonial struggle was a tilted one; some benefits for the masses but consolidation of the elites who were economically allied to imperial interests. The post-colonial era was fraught with a foundational tension: the expectations for economic progress and freedom among the people competed with the elitist tendencies of the rulers and the top-down nature of the state. Even where the leaders desired to implement policies of broad benefit, neo-colonial constrictions circumscribed their ability to do so. It was a recipe for instability. Many post-colonial states were rocked by military takeovers. Between 1936 and 1997, more than twenty-five military coups occurred in the Islamic nations of the Middle East area (Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Yemen), North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Somalia) and Asia (Indonesia, Pakistan). Some new military rulers (Iraq, Libya, Syria and Egypt) had a strident nationalistic agenda and sought to make their nation less beholden to the West while others (Indonesia and Pakistan) took the opposite direction. Many military takeovers were prompted by interventions of the United States and other Western nations. This general structural portrait was affected by a considerable degree of historical, cultural and economic diversity between the former colonies. The role of religion in this process also varied from place to place, a truism that held for Muslim and non-Muslim nations. In the following three sections, we look at the function of Islam in the colonial and subsequent periods in Iraq, Indonesia and Nigeria. 8.10 ISLAM IN MODERN IRAQ The area called Iraq today was the center of the Mesopotamian civilization dating back to 5,000 BCE. It is regarded as the birthplace of organized urban dwelling, written language, sophisticated numerical science, small scale industry and an elaborate farming culture. And for some three centuries after 750, it was the heartland of the Golden Era of Islam. Baghdad, its capital, was pillaged during the Mongol invasion of the 11th century. Subsequently the area came under Ottoman rule and was divided into three provinces. The days of glory had ended, and Iraq underwent a significant economic and political decline. After World War I and end of Ottoman rule, Britain, with the backing of the US, successfully maneuvered to have this potentially resource rich territory declared as a League of Nations protectorate under its control. British forces came with a promise of liberation. But it was a vacuous pledge. Instead of gaining autonomy, Iraq became an exploited precinct of a voracious empire. Its vast oil wealth was apportioned between US, British, French and Dutch firms with Iraq only getting token royalties. King Faisal, a pliant import, was made the titular head of state. The British held a series of elections to gain legitimacy. But they were sham elections for a symbolic legislature. The local elite were granted some favors, but the people of Iraq had no say. More reliant on brute force than sound policy, the de facto colonial state showed but superficial respect for local culture, tried to coopt the senior religious clergy and utilized aspects of traditional Islamic laws to maintain control. The Iraqi spirit was not broken; the people did not accept these indignities lying down. From day one, various localities witnessed uprisings. The scale and intensity of the resistance took the British commanders by surprise. No effort was spared to subdue the rising tide. Tens of thousands of lives were lost, and villages destroyed in extended, ferocious campaigns that involved aerial bombardment and indiscriminate use of poison gas. There were many casualties on the British side as well. A few years on, wide scale protests reemerged. In response, the British changed course and granted the territory formal self-rule in 1932. But they retained their military bases, trained the local security forces, controlled the oil sector, instituted a complaint regime and forced it to sign one-sided contracts. It was old-fashioned colonialism in disguise. Poverty rose as the Iraqi oil wealth was siphoned off. The rural populace remained at the mercy of owners of large estates. The so-called free nation continued to experience social and political agitation against a patently corrupt, illegitimate state authority. A nationalist group of army officers overthrew the monarchy and established an independent republic in 1958. Direct British rule in Iraq finally ended. But it was not a major systemic break. The repressive structures of the colonial state and its legal framework were largely carried over. Two important features of the Iraqi anti-colonial struggle are noteworthy. One, it generally was a non-sectarian process that united Sunnis with Shias, Arabs with Kurds, secular nationalists with Islamists, radicals and moderates and rural with urban folk. The history of Iraq under British rule from 1920-1958 was the history of one rebellion after another, rebellions in which the people of all communities and religious affiliations joined. (Becker 2004). Two, the Iraqi Communist Party, founded in 1934 by Hussain al-Rahhal, played a prominent role in the popular mobilizations of the era. It was then the largest communist party in the Arab world. Its stand against corruption, social inequalities, feudal practices and the oppression of women gathered wide traction, especially among students. Despite the intense persecution they faced, leading Iraqi scholars and writers were associated with the party. Its newspaper was banned, rallies were broken up and activists were jailed but its influence did not wane. The Iraqi Communist Party was a distinctly homegrown entity. Unlike the Communist Party of India, it was not beholden to the USSR. Its secular nationalism and programs for social equality, democracy and accountability countered the conservative agenda of the theocrats favored by the British. That this occurred in a place with centuries of a strong Islamic tradition is remarkable. It speaks volumes about the extent to which the sense of national Iraqi identity came to displace ethnic, sectarian and Pan-Islamic identities. Intermarriage, between Shias and Sunnis, and between Kurds and Arabs, was common. Intermingling of Islamic denominations was common in many neighborhoods. Thus, the religious parties of Iraq ascribed more to Iraqi nationhood than to a purely religious or sectarian identity. The population of modern Iraq is two-thirds Shia and one third Sunni. And some 80% is Arab, and 20% is Kurdish. Nearly four out of five Kurds are Sunni; the rest are Shia. The city of Karbala has the holiest shrine for Shias. Christians form less than 3% of the population. There are hardly any Jews left in Iraq today. The millennia old Iraqi Jewish population of about a quarter of a million was harshly expelled in the regional hostilities that ensued after the creation of the State of Israel. The history of Iraq and the role of religion since 1958, including under the rule of Saddam Hussein, the Iran-Iraq War, the brutal American led wars and sanctions on Iraq and the developments since the ouster of Saddam Hussein are too involved and complex to be covered here. Suffice to say that under the over three decades of Saddam Hussein’s rule, Iraq became one of the most prosperous, and educationally and health-wise advanced nations in the Middle East. At last, the Iraqi oil wealth was being used to benefit the majority of the people, a fact that made it a prime enemy of US imperialism. During this time, Iraq was a leading member of the bloc of Non-Aligned Nations and gave strong support to the anti-colonial and anti-racist movements in Africa and elsewhere. Yet, Saddam Hussein was a dictator who tolerated no opposition. Any group, religious or socialist, that dared to stand against him was dispatched with violence. A large-scale Shia uprising in the South was suppressed with utmost brutality. Nonetheless, prosperity and mutual coexistence between the different ethnic and religious factions generally prevailed under his reign. Today, after decades of single minded, deadly imperialist efforts, Iraq is basically a vassal state of the United States, occupied, much impoverished and riven with violent ethnic and religious divisions. The US assaults grossly damaged its state-of-the-art health, educational, infrastructural and cultural edifice. Libraries were torched, museums were looted, sites of archeological significance despoiled, hospitals bombed and over a thousand academics mysteriously murdered. In the power and spiritual vacuum, the hydra of a monstrous Islamic Caliphate powered by young Sunni fanatics and former Baathist soldiers gained a foothold, spread with rapidity, attacked state and civilian targets, displaced tens of thousands, and killed many, at times via gruesome beheadings. It was contained only after an equally violent spate of indiscriminate attacks by US and Iraqi puppet governmental forces. In the fragile peace that prevails, elitist, corrupt religiously based political parties compete for power in the context of a mismanaged, chaotic administration wedded to neoliberal economic policies. The exhausted people protest now and then but so far to no avail. The land where once upon a time Islam had provided the umbrella for economic and scientific excellence, social stability and unrivalled religious tolerance is now a place where Islam offers unsavory recipes for sectarian strife, elitist misrule and imperial economic and military domination. 8.11 ISLAM IN INDONESIA Indonesia, a nation of more than 17,000 biologically diverse, resource rich islands whose fertile soil produces a wide range of crops, is home to more than 250 million people of hundreds of ethnically diverse ancient cultural and linguistic traditions. About half reside on one island, Java. Nearly one out of every eight Muslims in the world lives in Indonesia. With about 225 million Muslims, it is also the largest Muslim nation. Muslims constitute nearly 90% of the national population. Some 9.3% are Sunni, 0.5% (1 million) are Shia and 0.2% (400,000), Ahmadiyya. Indonesia has no official religion, yet it is not a secular state either. The legal and actual relationship between state and religion in Indonesia is complex and convoluted. Unlike India, external conquest had no role in the arrival and spread of Islam in Indonesia. It was brought here by traders from Arab lands possibly starting from the 8th century. Seeking gold, rice, nutmeg, peppers, cloves, cinnamon and other oriental wares, they set up outposts on a few islands. Their fine wares were prized by the local elite. Trade brought prosperity. People were attracted to the faith and ways of worship that had sailed with the merchant ships. Conversion was limited at the outset, but it accelerated in the 13th century when Muslim missionaries and Sufi Pirs arrived from India, Middle East and adjacent areas of Asia. Besides proselytization, the foothold of Islam was cemented by conversion of local rulers and intermarriage between merchant and princely families. Around the same time, Muslims from China also established trade and farming enclaves on some islands. Wealthy traders built mosques for the burgeoning faithful. Over time, Islamic enclaves and sultanates arose along the coast. The rise of Islamic political power encountered stiff opposition from indigenous rulers. Conflict between different sultanates also occurred. Despite a long era of ups and downs, the cumulative process of Islamization made Islam the dominant faith in many of the islands by the end of the 18th century. The Islamic missionaries found a people practicing Hinduism, Buddhism and varied traditional religions. By incorporating traditional beliefs with the message of Islam, they made their faith palatable. The meditational, mystic practices, poems and stories of the Sufis blended with Buddhist and Hindu mystical norms and literature. Recitation of the Quran became a meditational activity. People in fringe social groups found solace and hope in the Islamic tenet of equality among the faithful. Impositions favoring Islam over other faiths were put in place in some places. A variant of Islam that accepted the core Islamic tenets but integrated elements of the local culture in the practice began to evolve. Muslim communities with rites that melded Chinese and Islamic cultures sprang up on a couple of islands. Colonial rule + A new chapter in Indonesian history opened with the landing of Portuguese traders in 1512. Dutch merchant ships followed in 1596, and soon displaced their rivals. Enamored by the fabulous profitability of the initial expeditions and prodded by their government, the merchants formed a unified trading company, the United East India Company. Known by its Dutch acronym, VOC, it had a royal charter granting it monopolistic protection and authority to colonize distant lands. Basically, it was an armed imperial enterprise. The primary goal was to establish undisputed supremacy in the region. Well-armed ships and a fighting force guarded its trading centers. Rulers of the islands who defied its encroachment were overthrown and their people were forcibly ejected. Towns were set ablaze. Trade with other entities was banned. Local princes—traditional and Muslim—were pitted against each other. Those who complied enjoyed commercial favors. While rebellions against the VOC persisted for a long time, its monopolistic economic power and authority blanketed the archipelago. Batavia, the present-day Jakarta, became the company headquarters. Company rule brought settlers from the Netherlands who set up large plantations and processing enterprises. High value crops like tea, cacao, coffee, tobacco, rubber, sugar and opium were introduced and grown for export. Company and settler plantations, local landowners and peasant producers supplied these and traditional commodities. Pitifully remunerated forced labor, agricultural restrictions, quotas, and high land rent and taxes filled the company coffers. It was a veritably profitable undertaking. In the first ninety years, the annual VOC dividend rate was nearly 20%. As Karl Marx poignantly opined on the Dutch colonial rule, the massive profits generated by ‘treachery, bribery, massacre and meanness … signalized the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production. These idyllic proceedings are the chief momentum of primitive accumulation’. (Karl Marx (Sprague 2011)). These revenues laid the basis for capitalist development in the Netherlands, and through the international banking system, in Britain as well. By the end of the 18th century, company rule was no longer tenable. In 1800, it was replaced by direct Dutch governance that lasted until 1956 when Indonesia became an independent nation. In these 150 years, global and domestic factors affected major changes in the mode of colonial rule. The goal was to subjugate the populace and coopt the local elites into the colonial system. Measures to expand peasant production for export and ensure a good supply of labor for the plantations, sugar factories, oil extraction construction projects were implemented. Work conditions and targets were atrocious, and taxes remained onerous. The volume of valued goods—sugar, coffee, tobacco, rubber, coconut and oil—rose year after year. Technological improvement was utilized only to the extent it enabled the consolidation and expansion of the colonial economy. From the days of VOC rule, the Dutch had employed the ethnic Chinese as middlemen in the import-export economy. As collectors of taxes on land, local produce and imported goods, and as favored merchants and skilled workers, they held a higher economic status than the local ethnicities. Their relations with the broader population soured accordingly. Later on, pressure from Dutch settlers restricted Chinese immigration and businesses. Among other things, their monopoly over the salt trade was abolished and their right to own land was curtailed. The onset of the 20th century saw more rivalry among European imperial powers, global economic instability and agitation for improvement from the people in the European nations and their colonies. The US was making its presence felt where European supremacy prevailed. The colonial economy was undergoing change. From mainly being a source of consumer items and raw materials for the metropole, it was now seen as a key outlet for European factory products as well. New agriculture and manufacturing ventures were set up, and the products from the colony were exported to the home nation and other nations. Economic growth brought forth changes in social conditions. Hospitals, schools and social amenities improved but were reserved for the families of the administrators, settlers, missionaries and professionals from abroad. Local princes, traders and middlemen had a modicum of access to these services. The commoners had virtually none. A modest expansion health and educational services occurred in the first half of the twentieth century. Higher demand for junior civil servants, skilled workers, agricultural extension workers, railway and bank clerks, farm supervisors, health personnel, teachers, technicians, plumbers, junior police and army officers, generated more schools and training institutions. Public health protection in plantations, urban and rural areas required local doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians and sanitation workers, and better basic health facilities for the average person. Nonetheless, the Dutch did not invest in social services beyond the bare minimum. Christian missionaries ran a few health centers and schools. A handful of state colleges and trade schools with moderate enrollment were set up. Local initiative mainly drove educational expansion, especially at the basic level. Some community schools united Islamic and secular subjects. Education for girls took hold. Sponsored by family or community, students joined colleges in the Middle East and Europe. Colonial investment in schooling was a drop in the bucket. The literacy level in 1940 was around 6%. Most people just had access to traditional Islamic schools. Only a few Indonesian children were given entry into schools meant for the Europeans. The Dutch government and administrators in Indonesia were acutely aware of the two-pronged nature of education, secular or religious. On the one hand, it provided essential manpower to run the colony, legitimized colonial rule by partially satisfying a popular demand and created an elite stratum with a Westernized world view. But education also brought forth social enlightenment, nationalist visions and Islamic ideas from afar. The expanded mental horizons of the educated connected them to nationalist movements in the global colonial world. Jobs for the educated were limited while the demand for education was high. For the colonial policy makers, the educated but jobless constituted an intellectual proletariat, potential recruits to the nationalist cause. ‘Excessive education’ engendered ‘communist radicalization’. In the Dutch parliament, liberals and hardliners argued where to draw the line. Their elegant, adversarial rhetoric, however, provided a cloak for their common agenda to maintain a control over the colony in a least-cost but effective manner. They also expressed similar ambivalence towards Islam. On one part, giving favors to Muslim chiefs and princes, permitting Islamic education, allowing Muslims to visit Arab nations, and go to the Hajj diffused opposition to colonial rule. Yet, these practices enhanced Muslim solidarity and brought Indonesian Muslims in touch with Muslim anti-colonial activists elsewhere. Thus, at times a fairly liberal policy towards Islam prevailed and at times, strict controls and crackdowns were imposed. Anti-colonial struggles + The changes in the economy and education created a literate middle class uneasy with colonial rule. Oppressed peoples globally were starting to firmly assert their basic right to self-determination. Socialist ideas were in the air; Russia was in the throes of a revolution. When the Europeans arrived in the area, it was a collection of islands with loose links and distinct cultures. The ensuing 350 years of growing economic integration and joint experiences of colonial oppression formed a sense of national identity that came to supersede ethnic and religious identities. Education enhanced nationhood. Influenced by external progressive visions, the intelligentsia began to articulate the undercurrent of mass sentiments for a better life. Abdul Muis—a product of Westernized education—was an activist and journalist whose pioneering articles openly and roundly lambasted Dutch rule. Besides editing a nationalist newspaper, he joined protests against forced labor and high taxation, and led worker strikes. Despite harassment, arrests and internal exile, he went on, joining and rising to the senior ranks of Sarekat Islam, an Islamic trade cooperative which later became the first nationalist party in Indonesia. His anti-colonial novel, Salah Asuhan (Wrong Upbringing), written during exile, is regarded as a masterpiece of Indonesia literature. Health workers were central to the independence struggle. In early 20th century, two medical colleges were set up for training personnel to provide basic health services on plantations and in towns. But supplies and funds were limited, and local medical staff could not address the litany of prevalent maladies. Considered inferior to Dutch doctors, they were paid low salaries. Discriminatory conditions spurred health workers into general activism. Dr Abdulla Sivai, the first person from Indonesia to secure medical training in Europe, edited a pioneering local language magazine, Star of the Indies. For the first time, articles exposing the realities of colonial rule in Indonesia appeared on a regular basis. Not surprisingly, it was banned after a few issues. Through their work, the health personnel learned in concrete terms that poor environmental hygiene and poverty generated by colonial policies were the primary causes of ill health. They organized cultural associations to promote awareness of the role of education, science and medicine for improving the conditions of the people. Many youth took part. Over time, these associations assumed a political character and formed an umbrella organization that laid the seeds for the growth of overtly nationalist groupings. Doctors turned into activists, writers and journalists. Standing at the fore of the emerging nationalist movement, a few were elected to the colonial legislature. With international contacts, scientific knowledge and first-hand experience, they wrote trenchant, grounded critiques of the colonial system. Some came to criticize the colonial administration for its limited commitment to health and medicine compared to other colonial powers. Others established hospitals and clinics or started to provide public health education. Several physicians joined city councils advocating the provision of sewers and fresh drinking water, which were known to reduce disease and promote health. ……. The first generation of politically engaged Indonesian physicians wanted to improve conditions within the colonies while maintaining its fundamental structure. Many representatives of the second generation, however, came to advocate independence. (Pols 2018). The evolving nationalist movement had four tendencies. Some traditional parties based their agenda on a purely Islamic or Pan-Islamic vision; some welded Islam with secular nationalism; some adopted a social democratic, secular form of nationalism; and a few espoused a variant that incorporated radical socialism. In the initial phase, Islamic organizations played the key role of unifying multiple ethnicities and mobilizing them against colonial rule. And they faced the wrath of the police. Strict controls were imposed. Their leaders were arrested. Muslim schools faced restrictions. Students and pilgrims returning from Islamic nations were surveilled and subject to arrest. That suppression and the formation of secular nationalist parties diminished the influence of the Islamic parties, though an undercurrent of Islamic sentiment in the nationalist cause remained. The 1917 October Revolution in Russia galvanized socialist activism in the Netherlands. Dutch socialist parties extended their political work to the colonies. Agitation by Dutch communists induced a contingent of colonial soldiers in Indonesia to revolt in 1917. But it was brutally put down. It was in this atmosphere that the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was founded in May 1920 by Indonesian students in the Netherlands who were allied with Dutch socialists. Supported by a major Dutch anti-imperial socialist party, the PKI published a newspaper and worked with a reformist Islamic group, the Islamic Union. Organizing labor unions, initiating strikes and broad anti-colonial activism, it filled the vacuum left by the removal of Islamic parties from the scene and soon became the central player in the freedom struggle. The PKI program called for land reform, reduction of inequalities and the creation of an independent socialist state in Indonesia. Its plan to initiate a broad-based uprising in 1926 was, however, quashed by the police. More than 4,000 activists were exiled to a remote island, and over a thousand were incarcerated. The party was banned in 1927. A number of activists died in prison. While it continued to operate underground, the voice of the PKI was muted for two decades. Yet the program and actions of the PKI in this short period provided a strong momentum to the freedom struggle. The presence of a large number of Dutch settlers who ran plantations, factories, trading firms and financial agencies prompted a particularly callous colonial response. The Dutch administrators were on assignments of limited duration. But the settlers had come to stay. Many had lived there for generations and regarded it as their land. They opposed the favors granted to Chinese and other local traders, and Muslim and non-Muslim traditional rulers. In their worldview, the local population had no other role but to serve them in perpetuity. During World War II, Japanese rule replaced Dutch rule. At the outset, the Japanese were seen as liberators. But their merciless reign turned the tide. Under a united front of the four major parties—a moderate Muslim party (Masjumi), a conservative Islamic party (Nahdlatul Ulama), a social democratic party (the Nationalist Party) and the PKI—the people fought back. But as soon as the British forces ejected the Japanese army, the Dutch returned. Yet, with the colonial state now weakened, the political momentum generated by the anti-Japanese efforts could not be stopped. A series of strident uprisings, spontaneous and PKI-led, and guerrilla attacks broke out across the archipelago. Sukarno and Hatta, the main nationalist leaders, returned from exile. A unilateral declaration of independence was issued in August 1945. These two leaders enjoyed popular support and the backing of most political parties. Belligerent campaigns by the Dutch forces in which thousands perished could not pacify the nation. Colonial rule finally ended in 1949 when the Dutch formally recognized the Republic of Indonesia. The 1940s had been a period of suffering in Indonesia. In that decade, more than two million people from all sides died. But self-rule did not portend political and social tranquility. A new era of authoritarianism and killings was soon to begin. Religion in Indonesia + By the time of Independence, some 90% of the population was Muslim. The Indonesian version of Islam fused Islamic beliefs with Hindu, Buddhist and traditional cultural rites and norms. Islam didn't obliterate the preexisting culture; rather, it incorporated and embedded the local customs and non-Islamic elements among rules and arts and reframed them as the Islamic traditions. (Wikipedia 2020 – Islam in Indonesia). Kebatinan, for example, is a brand of Islam practiced by some communities and several historical personages in Indonesia. While abiding by the main tenets of Islam, it blends Hindu, Buddhist and traditional faith systems into a distinct faith system. It now has formal legal recognition. Indonesia also has its own version of Sufism. Distinctive music and dance styles have been a part of the diverse cultures of the Indonesian archipelago from the pre-Islamic times. During and after the end of colonial rule and to this day, they remain popular, coexisting and often integrated with Islamic musical forms of local origin. Sundanese Traditional Folk Dance The interplay of religious traditions is evident in the places of worship. Due to the predominance of Islam, mosques vastly outnumber temples. The Demak Great Mosque in Central Java, built in the 15th century, is the oldest existing mosque. Demak Great Mosque Lacking a round dome and minarets, and built with timber, its Javanese architectural style is distinct from typical mosques in most Islamic nations. The motifs carved on its main doors depict traditional religious beliefs. Until into the 19th century, many mosques in Indonesia were of a similar design and structure. In the modern era, old mosques have been renovated to include a minaret and a dome. A Modern Mosque in Central Java More than two hundred Hindu temples, some quite imposing structures, are spread out across the islands. The largest number is in Bali, home to many Hindu communities. Prambanan, the Largest Hindu Temple Compound in Indonesia Several remarkable Buddhist temples also exist in Indonesia. The Borobudur Buddhist Temple in Central Java is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. Borobudur Buddhist Temple, Central Java Tourism constitutes a large sector of the modern Indonesian economy. The extensively varied character of Indonesian culture—art, music, dance, cuisine, beaches, natural habitats, flora and fauna and ancient structures—are a major attraction for the foreign visitors. The Borobudur Temple, for example, is one of the sites they most frequently visit. The official policy since the Suharto era, even for mosques, is to retain the features that reflect past traditions. But breakneck building construction in cities has ridden roughshod over that intent. Newer mosques, however, are similar in style to those in the Middle East. Independence + Indonesia after Independence was an arena of competing economic and political interests. Large landowners, major businessmen and multinational corporations prospered from the labor of rural and urban working classes and monopolized the benefits derived from national resources. Sandwiched in between was a middle class of small businesspeople, shop keepers, teachers, professionals and the like. Land reform, a key popular demand in the anti-colonial struggle, now became a major bone of contention between the elites and the small farmers. Worker unions demanded higher wages and better working conditions than what had prevailed under Dutch rule. At the political level, the conservative, Islamic parties were allied with the elite, and the PKI, with the rural and urban working poor. Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia, worked to balance the diverse interests in society. Seeking unity and harmony, he launched a social-democratic program that would appeal to all. In the process, he laid the foundation for the official philosophy of the Indonesian state, Pancasila. While it has undergone several iterations, the essence of its five principles remains. These are: Belief in one and only one God (under different religions); Just and civilized humanity; The unity of Indonesia; Democracy guided by inner wisdom arising from deliberations among the people’s representatives; Social justice for all the people of Indonesia. (Wikipedia 2020 – Pancasila). The Pancasila is embedded in the National Emblem of Indonesia. Criticizing it is a criminal offense carrying a long jail term or a hefty fine. Intent and actuality did not align. Sukarno’s middle-of-the-road approach led to nowhere. Two major land reform laws were enacted but implemented mostly in default. Presidential power rose and parliamentary accountability weakened. Dutch companies were nationalized but without a viable plan for industrial and agricultural development. Multinational firms from elsewhere took up the slack from the inefficiency in state enterprises and projects. The elitist bureaucrats had little incentive to direct state resources for the benefit of the working people and the poor. Misuse and abuse of public funds took root as Sukarno dilly-dallied with grand projects. Both the lower and the upper classes were dismayed. The former because promises did not provide sustenance, and the latter because they formed a potential threat. Inflation and economic hardship generated discontent. Rumors of a military coup circulated. Not content with the half-way, inefficient programs, the socialist PKI allied with trade unions, peasant associations, radical students, and prominent intellectuals to pressure the Sukarno government to effectively implement a systematic socialist program, especially land redistribution. In some areas, it worked with the rural poor to oppose exploitative plantation owners. While it had a radical agenda, the PKI was a civilian, unarmed, legal party with a wide social base and did not call for armed struggle. The elite classes wanted a total abandonment of the socialist rhetoric. They had two powerful supporters: the rightwing Islamic parties and crucially, the senior officer corps of the Indonesian military, which was being trained and armed by the United States. For the US, Indonesia was valued not only for its rich resources, a vast potential market for American goods but also as an ally in the ongoing aggression against Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and the drive to contain China. The US was adamantly against the PKI gaining more ground in the political arena and could not stomach the foreign policy adopted by Sukarno. Many nations of the Global South had jointly formed the Non-Aligned Movement in which Sukarno was a prominent personality. US agencies thus undertook propaganda and insurgency efforts to destabilize his government from 1958. In this populous, strategic Asian nation, nothing but a regime fully in line with the US policies was acceptable. This set the stage for a gruesome scenario. In September 1965, six senior military officers were kidnapped and killed by an armed group. The military quickly blamed the PKI, alleging that it was a part of a plot master-minded by China to foment a general uprising. Independent investigations have now shown that these were charges fabricated at the behest of the US embassy in Jakarta. But at that time, they stuck and turned a large section of the public opinion against the PKI. In the unfolding imbroglio, the Dutch, American-trained General Suharto and his associate General AH Nasution launched a coup that deposed Sukarno and instituted a military regime. The generals then turned on the PKI and its supporters. In their bid to drive the party into oblivion, a carnage of vile proportions ensued. Jakarta’s police information chief told the U.S. ambassador in mid-November that with the ‘blessing’ of the army, ‘50 to 100 PKI members are being killed every night in East and Central Java by civilian anti-communist groups’. The Australian embassy estimated on December 23 ‘about 1,500 assassinations per day since September 30th’. By February 1966, two confidential Western agencies agreed on ‘a total of about 400,000 killed,’ and the deputy U.S. ambassador thought that the full toll could be ‘much higher’. (GSP Editor 2020). The atrocities occurred across the nation. The PKI leaders, its members and anyone suspected of faint sympathy to its ideas were targeted. Most killings occurred in Java and Bali, the two provinces where the PKI had secured many votes in past elections. In the former, most of the victims were Muslim peasants while in the latter province, they were mostly Hindu peasants. The ethnic Chinese Indonesians suffered in large numbers. Workers, union leaders, peasant association officials, students, academics and intellectuals were ensnared in the dragnet which consumed up to a million lives. Torture, rape, false imprisonment, disappearance, forced labor, and exile affected hundreds of thousands. It was a one-sided affair in which the virtually unarmed PKI and its supporters were hunted down like armed insurgents. In the wake of this episode, the US, the UK and Australia gave diplomatic, tactical and material support to the Suharto regime. Even as clear evidence of mass killings emerged, American diplomatic staff and the promoted the contrived China-backed PKI plot story; provided names of some 5,000 PKI members and supporters to the Indonesian military; unconditionally provided weapons and communication equipment to the military. Their diplomatic cables expressed a clear enthusiasm for the outcome. US diplomats and the CIA’s Indonesia station left little to chance: they gave the army money, mobile radio equipment and lists of Indonesian communists. …. US officials knew most of [Suharto’s] victims were entirely innocent. US embassy officials even received updates on the executions and offered help to suppress media coverage. (Bevins 2017). Major US media like The New York Times helped to camouflage the atrocities unfolding in Indonesia, making it probably the most covered up mass killing of the 20th century. Islam, violence and dictatorship + A key aspect of the carnage of 1965-66 needs to be highlighted. Most of the killings were not done by soldiers in uniform but by the militias of extremist Islamic groups and secretive death squads. The military officers directed and supervised the killings and protected the perpetrators. It was justified on the basis of a spurious assertion that the PKI aimed to eradicate religion from the nation. But the social base of the PKI was multi-ethnic, multi-religious. Muslims, Hindus, Christians, traditional religion believers and secular socialists from many provinces sympathized with its program. What united them was their desire to redress social injustice and willingness to stand up to authority. Different dynamics operated in the various provinces. Muslim groups in some areas were coerced by the military to kill ‘communists’. In other areas, long-standing acrimony between the PKI and Muslim parties, especially over land reform, needed but a tiny military-inspired fuse to ignite the inferno. Elsewhere a few fanatics created sufficient social pressure to rope in the moderate Muslim youth into the mayhem. Among other things, PKI members were beheaded, and their heads were placed on roadside stakes. In Medan, two officials of the Muslim youth group Pemuda Pancasila separately told US representatives that ‘their organization intends [to] kill every PKI member they can catch’. (GPS Editor 2020). Nahdlatul Ulama (Revival of Ulama -- NU), a Sunni Muslim body founded in 1926, was a major actor in the killings. It subscribes to a locally adapted, culturally flexible, moderate version of traditionalist Islam, and has, since its early days, opposed the staunchly conservative Wahhabism emanating from Saudi Arabia. At least in theory, it stands for ‘moderation, compassion, anti-radicalism, inclusiveness and tolerance’ and endorses the UN Declaration of Human Rights. With between 40 and 60 million members in 2019, it is the largest Islamic group in Indonesia, and possibly, the world. While not a political party, NU was involved in politics from the very start. In the colonial era, it took part in the consultative bodies set up by the Dutch and also engaged in anti-colonial agitation, for which it faced harsh suppression. In the 1950s and early 1960s, the NU leadership was allied with land-owning and elitist interests and opposed Sukarno’s reformist socialistic agenda as well as the radical program put forward by the PKI. While it framed the dispute with the PKI in religious terms, in reality it reflected the tension between the social classes the NU and the PKI represented. Sharing the antipathy towards the PKI with the generals, the NU leaders were in essence protecting the economic and political privileges of the upper class. The NU countered the PKI’s work with peasant communities to implement the stalled land reform program through a two-fold strategy. As it expanded the elite funded charity work to win over the peasants, it also recruited ex-soldiers to set up a paramilitary network. Many religiously inclined Islamic youth and some Catholics were recruited into the militias. When the military began to act against Sukarno and the PKI, the NU was ready and well prepared. Immediately backing Suharto, it consulted with General Nasution, and went into action. Echoing the condemnations of the PKI for the killings of the five army generals and coup attempt—allegations now known to be baseless—the NU leaders issued orders to eliminate the ‘communists’. And the NU militias prepared to kill the PKI members and sympathizers in their areas. With their houses marked in red, suspect persons were detained and brutally interrogated. The mostly unarmed PKI members were caught off-guard, unable to resist the armed militias. The killings were performed in a grimly methodical and orderly manner, usually by cutting victims' throats with knives, kris, or sharp agricultural implements, such as sickles and machetes. Groups of up to several hundred condemned men could be dispatched to a given site each evening. (Fealy and McGregor 2010). According to this scholarly analysis: [The] weight of historical evidence indicates that NU was an active, rather than passive, participant in the slaughter of communists; NU's involvement in destroying the PKI was planned and overseen by its central leadership; NU's killing squads would have continued their grisly work well into 1966 had they not been discouraged by the organization's leaders, as well as forced to desist by the army; In the immediate aftermath of the killings, the dominant sentiment in NU was one of pride. (Fealy and McGregor 2010). Other religious groups in Indonesia also became embroiled in this calamity. Some conservative Catholic student leaders joined up with the NU militants in the anti-PKI pogrom. But in Flores, despite its abhorrence of the PKI, the Catholic Church ‘forbade the killing of communists’. In West Timor, on the other hand, Protestants were targeted because the church had expressed support for land reform. Existing tensions between the Chinese and local ethnicities over land and commerce induced the killings in some places. But the spark for all the killings was laid by the Indonesian military and its American assisted propaganda drive. +++ The Suharto dictatorship endured for nearly thirty years. Civil liberties and media freedom were strictly curtailed. Mild dissent resulted in prison, torture, abduction or worse. Armed and trained by the US, the military conducted large scale massacres in East Timor, Aceh and West Papua. In line with the pressure exerted by local and foreign investors and the World Bank, trade unions and parties representing people’s interests were suppressed. At the outset, Suharto formed a close working alliance with the main Islamic organizations in Indonesia, including the NU. But once he had consolidated power, he began to suppress the other centers power, be they secular or religious. All Islamic organizations were brought under a state supervised umbrella body with little room for independent maneuver. Sham elections that invariably ensured re-election of Suharto and his cronies became the norm. By the mid-1990s, his regime had become mired in corruptions scandals and egregious violations of human rights, including sustained murderous campaigns in East Timor, West Papua and Aceh. On top of prevalent corruption, suppression of basic rights, the malaise generated by the 1997 Asian financial crisis provided the last straw. A bold, sizeable student and civil movement against military rule emerged. The regime’s violent response magnified public anger. Streets were awash with citizens. The NU leadership joined the anti-Suharto bandwagon, mobilizing its large membership against him. Key elements of the military and the elite abandoned him. Suharto was left with no option but to relinquish power. Today, formal democratic rule has returned in the nation. The military retains real power but acts behind the curtain. And total impunity for the Suharto era crimes prevails. Democracy and reform + Suharto was replaced by a transitional government that released thousands of political detainees and organized more credible elections. Abdurrahman Wahid, who had earlier led the NU for decades, was now the candidate of the party it backed. He became the President of Indonesia in 1999. But the military remained a major power bloc with strong political clout. Among other things, President Wahid tackled some of the dark vestiges of the Suharto era. He abolished rules that had legalized discrimination against Chinese Indonesians, issued an apology for what the NU had done in 1965 and tried to remove the political privileges of the military. And that was his undoing. The apology was rejected by the NU leaders, which held that it legitimized communism. The military worked to undo his presidency as well. As major corruption scandals during his term decisively dented his popularity, he was forced by the parliament to resign just two years into his term. Indonesia now is a constitutional republic run under a parliamentary and presidential electoral system with Pancasila, the official state philosophy. The current President, Joko Widodo, an ex-businessman, ex-Mayor of Surakarta and ex-Governor of Jakarta, hails from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Some political parties have an Islamic program or are associated with major Islamic groups. The Prosperous Justice Party and the National Mandate Party are two pro-Islamic parties. The latter is linked to Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s second-largest Muslim front. Widodo is not connected to an Islamic group, promotes inter-faith tolerance and stands for separation of religion and the state. But Prabowo Subianto, a retired senior general from the Suharto era and his principal challenger, is allied to the two major Islamic parties. The military does not have a direct political role but remains a major power broker and influential behind the scene actor with ties to key political, business and Islamic entities. Probowo stands accused of major human rights violations including the mass killings in East Timor and kidnapping of pro-democracy activists. But that is not an impediment. Politics now is like a game of shifting alliances based on personalities and minor disputes, not fundamental policy differences. Modern economy + Based on numerous agricultural products, fishery, oil, mining, forestry products, light and heavy manufacturing, tourism and services, the economy of Indonesia underwent rapid growth in the past two decades. The per capita GDP in 2019 was about $4,500. Official statistics indicate that the proportion of the population in poverty is about 10%. As a result of sustained pressure by labor unions, student movements and NGOs, there is now a national health insurance program that covers primary and specialist care. A monthly cash transfer scheme for people in extreme poverty was launched in 2014. A program to develop roads, water supply, small and medium enterprises and tourist facilities in villages and townships across the nation has been initiated. Yet, the reality behind the overall data is not rosy. First, the official poverty line, at slightly less than US$1 a day, is patently unrealistic. Scaling it up to US$2 a day, which hardly implies a decent mode of living, raises the poverty rate to nearly 50%. Rural poverty is more prevalent than urban poverty. Many unemployed and self-employed low-income persons cannot make the basic premium for health insurance. The insurance scheme is stymied by poor cooperation of private health facilities, fraud, difficulty of access and bureaucracy. While there are over 25,000 health centers of different types, most are in urban centers, and on average, 1 doctor serves 2,000 people. A third of the children are malnourished or overweight. Anemia affects a fourth of the adolescents. Tobacco control is minimal; smoking prevails widely. Provincial disparities—in income, jobs, health status, access to electricity and social amenities—are high: 17 of the 33 provinces are deemed poor. About a tenth of the population resides in congested slums with abysmal sanitation and water quality. People at the lower end of the economic scale are particularly affected by persistent fuel price increases, privatization of water services, environmental damage, air pollution, high cost of education and inflation. Many governmental development programs are slow to take off and implemented inefficiently. Pancasila economics is presented as a centrally planned path to equitable development that remedies the major deficiencies of free market capitalism and state socialism, encourages public and private partnerships and protects the vital interests of the nation. Also called new socialism, in practice, it is a partial attempt to remedy the major shortcomings of neo-liberal economics while firmly remaining in the capitalist ambit. De facto neo-liberalism has sharply widened the gap between the rich and poor. About half of the national income now accrues to the top 20%. In the past two decades, the gap between the richest and the rest in Indonesia has grown faster than in any other country in South-East Asia. It is now the sixth country of greatest wealth inequality in the world. Today, the four richest men in Indonesia have more wealth than the combined total of the poorest 100 million people. (Oxfam 2020). Multinational corporations reap handsome rewards. Foreign mining firms egregiously violate basic human rights. Their operations generate intense social conflicts, yet the state often takes their side. The major environmental challenges facing Indonesia—urban and rural habitat degradation, deforestation, forest fires, biodiversity loss, toxic and regular waste products, and pollution of water sources and waterways—have not received due attention from the government. Global and local mining and logging companies, the tourism industry and palm oil producers, the key actors in environmental damage, are but minimally regulated. No matter their outward programs, the major political parties reflect the interests of the different sections of the dominant class in the nation—big business, large land and property owners, political dynasties and senior military brass. They do not have a unified position on the IMF/World Bank privatization schemes, concessions to foreign capital and protection of local businesses. The lessons of the 1997 economic crisis, emanating from the free reign given to foreign capital, still reverberate. Widodo has restricted the operations of foreign oil firms and nationalized some of their assets. The commanding general of the military recently warned against the dangers of granting privileges to the multinational firms. Yet, the differences between the elite factions are not fundamental differences. Their visions remain within the global capitalist framework as speculative investments in finance, real estate and major shopping centers; and the crony-capitalist ways of the Suharto era persist. Accountability + Since Independence, Indonesia has seen gross violations of human rights by the military, security forces and religious organizations. Apart from the killings, torture and false imprisonment stemming from the 1966-65 anti-PKI pogrom, the military has staged ferocious attacks against civilians in East Timor, West Papua and Aceh. After the illegal but US-blessed invasion of East Timor in 1975, nearly a third of its population was killed within twenty-five years. The brutal assaults in West Papua and Aceh persist. In the past decade, a series of meticulous journalistic and scholarly reports and books augmented by documentary films, done mostly by people outside Indonesia but some from within, have uncontrovertibly brought the truth to light. Decades of cover up is being exposed. As noted earlier, the mild attempt by President Wahid to take up the issue backfired. His apology on behalf of the NU was rejected, and he was removed from power within two years. But in light of the mounting evidence, a case on behalf of the victims was heard by the International People’s Tribunal in The Hague in 2016. Presided by an eminent South African jurist, it ruled that there was unequivocal evidence that the killings of 1965-66 and ensuing torture, rapes, disappearances and incarcerations were ‘genocidal’ ‘crimes against humanity’. The Tribunal called upon the Indonesian government to place the perpetrators on trial and also ruled that there was sufficient evidence to show that the USA, Britain and Australia were complicit in these crimes. In response to this ruling and internal campaigns by civil society groups, the Widodo administration sponsored a national symposium on the 1965-66 events. Wide ranging recommendations were made to promote justice and reconciliation. But there was no follow up. Even a South Africa style truth and reconciliation exercise did not transpire. In fact, President Widodo declared categorically that no official apology for the victims would be issued. And to the dismay of the victims, the former commander of an American trained elite force responsible for grave human rights violations and killings in East Timor was appointed the minister responsible internal security. Hopes for attaining justice and accountability for past crimes have been dashed. The military and the extremist Islamic groups adamantly opposed both the Hague Tribunal and the reconciliation symposium. Retired Suharto-era generals branded the Tribunal ruling a PKI-inspired set of lies. Organizing mass rallies, hard core groups like Islamic Defenders Front, United Islamic People Forum and Betawi Rembuk Forum affirmed that no common ground between ‘communism’ and Islam existed. Members of Bela Negara, the 1.2 million strong civilian militia controlled by the military, joined these rallies in uniform. Claiming that the parliament had been infiltrated by the PKI, they threatened to unseat President Widodo. Pamphlets spuriously calling him a PKI member were spread. Spurred on by a false rumor that a PKI meeting was being held, radical Islamist students ravaged the Jakarta office of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, a group that has stood against past and current human rights abuses. The generals also held their own symposium to denounce the attempt to investigate the past. While the main Islamic groups and the MUI decried these hysterically charged rallies, they did not join in the pursuit of the truth regarding the 1965-66 events. The NU, for its part, has taken a few steps to redress the wrongs of the past. Syarikat, an NU youth organization formed on International Human Rights Day in December 2000, is engaged in an effort to reconcile former political prisoners and members of the NU who had taken part in the 1965-66 anti-PKI pogroms. It has given material support to women victims of that era, staged educational workshops about the deadly events and lobbied the parliament for restoration of the rights of former prisoners. Commendable as they are, these moves are just the start of a long journey towards truth, accountability and justice in the nation. Today, only a few voices raise the matter in public fora. Women’s rights groups have taken up the case of female victims of that era. Otherwise, the topic is virtually taboo. The military remains a respected, venerated entity that is beyond reproach. An inordinate amount of the budget is expended on the military, including the purchase of sophisticated weaponry from the US, UK and elsewhere. Militarized repression in Aceh and West Papua persists. More than half a million West Papuans have perished over the past five decades. Extrajudicial killings, suppression of media, high unemployment, poor health care and education and environmental damage add further misery to their lives. In that regard, the Widodo administration remains faithful to the Suharto era repressive norms. Religion and politics + The semi-secular Constitution of Indonesia states that the nation is ‘based on the belief in the one supreme God,’ but there is no state religion. Six religions—Buddhism, Confucianism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Islam and Protestantism—are granted equal status, and the law protects the right of their followers to pursue their faith. Traditional religions are tolerated, and there is no injunction against people who do not subscribe to any religion. As of 2006, citizen identity cards state the person’s religion, which has to be one of the six officially recognized religions. All the Islamic groups operate under the Suharto-era Indonesia Council of Ulema (Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI)), the highest Islamic authority in the land. The MUI sets general policy guidelines for Islamic organizations and issues holy decrees (fatwas) concerning social and personal matters. It defines what is deviant or blasphemous from the Islamic viewpoint, gives halal certification for food, cosmetic and medicinal products, indicates the acceptable dress norms and sets the days for Islamic festivals. The Ahmadiyya and Ahlul Bait Indonesia, a Shia organization, are barred from joining the MUI. Legal provisions for the state to interfere in religious belief and activity exist. The Prevention of Blasphemy and Abuse of Religions Presidential Decree of 1965 prohibits ‘deviant interpretation’ of religious teachings. A group deemed in violation of the decree faces a presidential ban. Accused individuals face a prison sentence. Of the numerous prosecutions that have occurred under this decree, all related to blasphemy against Islam, not any other religion. Two examples: A university lecturer was charged and placed under house arrest for five days by the police after a large Muslim crowd gathered to protest an article he had written. Entitled ‘Islam: A Failed Religion,’ it linked Islamic bodies with corruption. In 2006, a high school Islamic religion teacher was jailed for six months after being accused by a relative for the ‘heretic’ and ‘deviant’ practice of whistling during prayers. The year 2006 law that requires a municipal license to open or operate a house of worship is one avenue for religious discrimination as. In areas where conservative Islamists control the municipal council, it has been used against churches and temples. Hundreds of Buddhist, Hindu and Christian houses of worship have lost their operating license or been forced to close. In a few Christian dominated areas, mosques have suffered a similar fate. During his electoral drive, President Widodo promised to remove this law. But his actions since assuming office have only reinforced it. Doubling in the past two decades, Indonesia now has more than 500,000 mosques. The NU projects itself as a moderate member of the MUI, a tolerant and inclusive face of Islam whose goals are to promote Islam and charity. It runs nearly 7,000 Islamic schools and 44 universities that teach Islamic subjects and agriculture, business studies, computer science and general science. It cooperates with the Ministry of Internal Security and Western organizations to combat religious extremism through training the Muslim youth. It supports community level poverty alleviation projects and funds hospitals and health centers that provide family planning services in some areas. While the NU differs from American aid agencies over social issues, it generally takes positions that are in line with American foreign policy. For example, NU leaders visited Jerusalem at the invitation of the American Jewish Committee, a move that only served to undercut the right of the people of Palestine for freedom and self-determination. The NU economic agenda does not deviate far from the dominant neo-liberal doctrine. The business courses taught in its educational institutions, though designed to infuse Islamic ethics in business, promote capitalist management practices, sanction privatization in education and other sectors, and emphasize higher labor productivity to boost profits. While combating corruption is one of the objectives, the systemic roots of corruption are not addressed. The Muhammadiyah, the other major Islamic organization in Indonesia is generally more conservative and stands to the right of the NU. Religious intolerance + When secular, egalitarian, multi-ethnic spaces in society are limited and filled with obstacles, intolerant and fundamentalist religious creeds have a fertile soil. Religion becomes a solution for all social ills. The two competing trends in Indonesian Islam reflect this process. One looks to make Islam the central facet of social and political life while aligning with a pluralist, democratic, capitalistic state. Its vision accords with the Pancasila philosophy. The other abhors all compromise with so-called Western notions and calls for a firmly entrenched theocratic state where all the rites and rituals of Islam are compulsory, the Quran is interpreted in a literal sense and violators of Islamic norms are punished severely. The problems of the youth are blamed on Western culture, not the West inspired economic system, and the solution is Islamic education. The NU vision exemplifies the former tendency. For example, it discourages usage of the descriptor ‘kafir’ (infidel) for non-Muslims. But in the recent years, it has been losing ground to the conservative Salafist-Wahhabi doctrine emanating from Saudi Arabia. Calls to enact Sharia laws and enforce dress codes for women now proliferate. Sharia laws are already used widely in the province of Aceh where strict dress codes exist, and public music concerts are banned. The fatwas issued by the MUI reflect the growth of the intolerant brand of Islam. In July 2005, the [MUI] issued 11 fatwas. One concluded that religious pluralism, liberalism and secularism were contrary to Islam. The council also ruled that Muslims, in matters of religious belief (aqidah) and worship (ibadah), were to take an exclusivist position in the sense that it is unlawful (haram) to incorporate the beliefs and worship of other religions into Islam. (Alatas 2013). One of these fatwas reinforced an earlier ruling that Ahmadiyya was not a legitimate Muslim sect and urged the government to ban it. Anyone who joined it was declared an apostate. A later fatwa dealt with female genital mutilation; a practice common in many Muslim communities. It was banned in Indonesia in 2006. But strong opposition from the MUI and its members reversed the blanket ban. Instead, it was required that female genital mutilation be performed by medical professionals. Despite its otherwise liberal stand, the NU supports this and other fatwas issued by the MUI. While these fatwas have been criticized in the media and by academics, scholars, and civil society organizations, they resonate widely in a populace unhappy about the existing state of affairs. As large voting blocs, the major Islamic groups now exercise an increasing influence on the political process. The presence of diverse folk belief systems and cultural practices among Indonesian Muslims however acts as a barrier for the dissemination of more conservative brands of Islam. Many Indonesian Muslims have a more flexible and liberal vision of their religion. Thus, an international survey of Muslim nations found that 26% of Indonesian Muslims identified themselves as Sunni, none as Shia, 5% as of some other sect, 13% did not respond but a majority, 56%, identified themselves in non-denominational terms as Just a Muslim. Yet, Islamization is occurring in decidedly curious ways. Being cognizant of the high popularity of Western music and music styles among the youth, an American style punk rock band has staged concerts to promote Islamic values and decry democracy as un-Islamic. With tattooed bodies, ragged dresses and punky hair styles, it hardly appears Islamic. It is but a strange spectacle of hardline Islamists using foreign cultural tools banned by other Islamic hardliners to promote the supremacy of Islam. Religious terrorism + Legitimized intolerance evolves into hate. It leads some to quick solutions, to kill and destroy to establish the supremacy of their faith. In a confluence of local and global trends, a tiny segment of the Islamic youth in Indonesia has become radicalized and taken up arms against perceived ‘kafirs,’ their institutions and the state. Influenced by austere, religiously elevated figures, they have launched the fight for a traditional Islamic state through violent means. ‘Terrorism’ is an ideologically loaded term. In the Indonesian context, the armed struggles by liberation fighters in East Timor, Aceh and West Papua are called terrorism. Yet, the reality is the unleashing of massive, Western supported, state terrorism, from the skies and on the ground against, on the fighters and the civilian populations. In East Timor, attacks by the military reached genocidal proportions. Armed struggle in those areas is an act of self-defense, not terrorism. Acts of terrorism perpetrated by Sunni extremists have often punctured life in Indonesia in the past three decades. Concealed explosive devices, car bombs, shooting sprees and stabbings have been deployed against Buddhist temples, Christian churches, Ahmadiyya and Shia mosques, the Stock Exchange, transport facilities, markets, diplomatic facilities, homes, foreign tourists, fast food outlets and hotels run by US companies, markets, and government facilities and officials. Many were low level incidents. But others killed hundreds and injured more. The coordinated car-bomb and suicide-bomb attacks on tourist areas in Bali in October 2002 killed 202 and injured over 250. The majority were foreign tourists. Suicide bomb attacks on three churches in East Java in 2018 killed 28 persons, including the bombers, and seriously injured over 40. Some incidents were spawned by economic strife between Muslims and Christians. The most active terrorist group now is an al-Qaeda affiliated entity, Jamaah Ansharut Daulah. It was responsible for all the attacks in 2018 and 2019. Highly trained security forces have killed or captured many of their leaders and key experts. But their current strength remains unclear. For the state security organs, terrorism is a blessing in disguise. What the terrorists relish is the generalized fear they cause. Effective action by the state forces to destroy them brings a sense of relief to the person in the street. It also legitimizes the tactics they use and the suspension of normal civil liberties. Security organs get higher funding, the latest weaponry and a bigger political clout. Their past misconduct is forgiven and forgotten. The same tactics are later used against non-violent street demonstrators and human rights groups without raising much alarm. All state actions are framed as actions against terrorism. Democratic norms are eroded in a step-by-step fashion until full blown authoritarianism firmly grips the polity. While the Indonesian state has acted firmly against the Islamic terrorist groups, the broad-based acts of intolerance and communal violence noted earlier and which feed the terrorist mentality, have not elicited the attention they deserve. Racism against ethnic Chinese Indonesians, a long-standing feature of the Indonesia society, is also on the ascendance and is generally neglected. Social justice and human rights + President Widodo seemed to be charting a new path with his unconventional, simple style, charismatic espousal of the Pancasila doctrine and promising welfare and developmental programs. His popularity among the general public and major religious, ethnic groups is high. Yet, the Indonesian society remains ensconced within the capitalist framework. Economic disparities are wide and growing. Politics is dominated by an elite faction. Poverty and grave environmental problems endanger the quality of life. Elite interests drive the angst caused by social problems along religious, nationalistic and cultural paths. An authentic socialist framework, like that of the PKI, must be avoided at all costs. History repeats itself as Sukarno’s middle of the road approach is being reincarnated. Widodo’s politics and the Pancasila philosophy nonetheless ultimately reflect long term elite interests. And just as Sukarno could not reconcile the antagonistic classes in society, Widodo faces sustained pressures from above and below. The military and the hard-core Islamists are pushing the line that the PKI still exists, and Indonesian society faces grave dangers from secularism, immorality, use of illegal drugs and homosexuality. The military brass has labeled communism a threat to national security. The ‘red-scare’ has provided the rationale for training an armed civilian militia to combat enemies who allegedly are secretly conspiring to take over the nation. With 1.2 million recruits, it impinges on peaceful civilian affairs. Marxist books, teachings and the PKI are legally proscribed. Meetings, film shows, book launches, and other events staged by human rights and leftist groups, or massacre survivors are raided by the police and the militia. The vigilantes even victimize individuals selling or wearing T-shirts with insignias said to be communist in spirit. It appears that the paramilitary groups that carried out the 1965-66 killings under the military’s guidance are being reborn. As hardline Islamic groups and well-known politicians promote communist phobia, President Widodo has chimed in by raising the bogey of drug use as a major national threat and ratcheted up the annual executions for drug crimes. Absurd exaggerations now dominate the political landscape. Undertaking any event that threatens elite interests is risky. The attempt to organize a peaceful meeting on the sidelines of 2018 the World Bank/IMF forum in Bali by Indonesian and international human, labor and women’s rights groups was suppressed by the police. Yet, despite the demise of the PKI, the spirit of resistance to injustice and capitalism and for human rights endures. In late 2020, hundreds of thousands of workers, students, feminist groups and civil society activists staged militant demonstrations against the passage of a law that strengthened the rights and privileges of the investors, weakened worker benefits and dues and diluted the rules for protecting the environment. Provisions like overtime pay, paid leave for childbirth and severance pay were removed to attract foreign investors. The police responded in force with water cannons and tear gas. Many protestors were injured, some quite severely. To their credit, prominent Muslim, Christian and traditional religious leaders united to publicly criticize the law and called for its repeal. Declaring that it harmed ‘workers, poor farmers and poor urban society and indigenous communities’ and the environment, they launched an online petition that in no time gathered more than a million signatures. Roy, a young Muslim cleric, called for interfaith groups in Indonesia to unite in criticizing what he called oligarchic practices and social injustices manifested through the newly passed law. (Oktavianti 2020). The lands and livelihoods of indigenous communities have long been severely damaged by mining and logging companies. Their leaders also castigated the law. The unravelling + Despite the electoral drama and elegant political rhetoric from moderate politicians like Widodo and the nationalist, hysterical drives by the military, conservative Muslim groups and rightwing politicians, a considerable level of disquiet prevails among the mass of the population. They see politics as a process that holds little promise for better life and accountable governance. The state and political parties, liberal or otherwise, serve the wealthy class, not those at the bottom. But a national movement representing the interests of the people does not yet exist. An alternative unifying, inspirational vision is absent. In this vacuum, people are driven to support strong arm, militaristic figures who promise to clean up the rote and improve people’s lives. Their rhetoric of demolishing so-called enemies of the nation gains greater credence. Even moderates like Widodo inch towards authoritarianism and form alliances with the hardcore fear-mongering ultranationalists. With intolerance, communal strife and incidents of terrorism on the rise, the semblance of Indonesia being a secular, pluralist nation is unravelling. Not only is religious diversity under an existential threat, but the culturally rich, ethnically varied forms of Islam in Indonesia are under pressure to conform to a monolithic brand. In the name of preserving tradition, an authentic, millennia old tradition is being eroded. The trend towards authoritarianism reflects a global trend. Neoliberalism is no longer a viable worldview in advanced, middle income and poor nations. Free markets, globalization and democracy have been exposed as venues for a few to accumulate massive wealth and make life insecure for the rest. People place their bets on chest thumping, nationalistic populists who raise the specter of immigrants, ethnic minorities, immoral ideas, other nations and secularism as the main enemies. Yet, as hard line religiosity and xenophobia gain the upper hand in politics, the essential economic ideas of neoliberalism effectively continue to rule national policies. 8.12 ISLAM IN NIGERIA Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa. Almost half of the more than 200 million Nigerians are under the age of eighteen. In a land of several hundred diverse cultures, nearly 70% of the population belongs to one of three major ethnic groups—Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo. Some 10% of the Nigerians adhere to traditional beliefs, and the rest are almost equally split between Islam and Christianity. Syncretism is the norm: most Muslims and Christians engage with their ancient cultural rituals and beliefs. The majority of the Muslims reside in the North. By Constitution, Nigeria is a secular state. Of the 90 million Muslims, over 95% are deemed to be Sunni, and approximately 3 million, Shia. But the picture is not that straightforward. Notably, many Nigerian Muslims have a flexible attitude towards their faith. When asked in a broad survey, only 38% of the Nigerian Muslims identified as Sunni. A larger portion, 42%, chose a non-denominational category, Just a Muslim. 12% identified as Shia, 5% as some other sect and 4% did not give a response. English is the official language in Nigeria, but personal communication is dominated by local languages. Some 3,000 years ago, this part of Africa was home to organized, semi-urban cultures. Later, several kingdoms based on agriculture, crafts and regional trade flourished. Use of metallic items became common. Traders and missionaries brought Islam in the 12th century. Subsequent incursions by Islamic forces from North Africa, conversion of local kings and evolution of local Islamic kingdoms entrenched the faith. The Islamic Fulani Kingdom covered most of central and north Nigeria during much of the 19th century. Islamic mosques sprang up across the land. Local cultures were modified as Islamic conversion grew and the economy expanded. Gobarau Minaret, Nigeria The 15-meter high Gobarau Minaret in Katsina, built around 1400, is perhaps the oldest mosque in Nigeria. Besides serving as the main place of worship in a major center of commerce, this first multi-story structure in the area later became a famed place of Islamic higher education. Interestingly, like the Saint Augustine Paoay Church in the Philippines, its tower was used as a watchtower in times of conflict. The original building has been renovated several times since then. The massive, impressive Abuja National Mosque built in 1984, is the national mosque of Nigeria. Apart from a large prayer area, it houses a sizeable library and conference room, and is open to members of any faith during non-prayer times. Abuja National Mosque The National Christian Center Aptly symbolizing the religious diversity of Nigeria, an equally majestic interdenominational Christian church, the National Christian Center, stands just a short distance away. Completed in 2005, it is the principal Christian place of worship in the nation. With a colorful garden, it also has guided tours for the general public. Colonial rule + The economic and political trajectory of the area altered decisively with the intrusion of European merchants and conquerors in the 16th century. The ensuing barbaric Atlantic slave trade wreaked havoc. A few coastal ethnic rulers—Muslim and non-Muslim—prospered by participating in the capture and transport of slaves. Thousands of villages in the interior were destroyed, young men and women put in chains, and the elderly and infirm left to fend for themselves. Millions perished. Severe disruption of production and trade, ethnic conflicts and atrophy of indigenous cultures laid the groundwork for total foreign conquest. British forces, merchants and missionaries ventured inland from around 1800. After annexing coastal towns in the 1850s, they imposed company. The people put up a strong fight but were unable to drive off the better armed and organized imperial forces. All the regions of Nigeria were integrated into a formal British colony in 1914. The British deployed the stratagem of divide and rule to exert control over production and trade of valued items like cotton, palm oil, ground nuts, cacao, tin, leather and coal. Alliance with the Sokoto Caliphate in the 1800s significantly widened their sphere of influence. Emirs and chiefs across the territory were recruited by varied tactics to enforce colonial directives, collect taxes and maintain law and order. Muslim and non-Muslim elites prospered in the service of the colonial masters, but people suffered, and traditional bonds of trust were frayed. Where the local rules remained recalcitrant, the British appointed new chiefs of their own creation. Christian missionaries played a key role in legitimizing colonial rule and training skilled, literate cadres for the administrative apparatus, police, army and various sectors of the economy. Missions trained local priests to spread the gospel inland and promote the superiority of Christianity and European culture over local religions and cultures. Provision of basic health services boosted conversion rates, especially in the South. In the North, the Muslim elites were able to leverage their service to the British to have restrictions placed on Christian missionary work in their areas. Colonial Nigeria was an externally dominated society that was divided into several classes. At the apex was the ruling class composed of the British governor, colonial officers, business managers. Under then was the upper class comprising Muslim and non-Muslim chiefs, local senior civil servants followed by the local propertied class made up of Lebanese and Nigerian merchants, landowners, and local factory owners together with the middle class of Nigerian professionals, teachers, junior civil servants, etc. that sat atop the toiling class of laborers, peasants, artisans, and servants, etc. The oppressive features of colonial rule—anemic wages, low payments to peasant producers, high taxes, duties and water service rates, and racial discrimination—generated discontent among the toiling and middle classes from the early days. The emergent African intelligentsia—mostly products of Christian missionary and state education—began to challenge British rule in the South. Nigerian soldiers who had served overseas on the British side during the two world wars were disturbed by the poor benefits they received upon return. They brought home ideas of freedom and national self-determination. Petitions, protests and strikes ensued. New rules for taxation and higher duties on palm oil in 1929 sparked the uprising of women in Ibo land. Women, many of whom earned their living by selling fruits, vegetables, beans and palm oil in local markets, were agitated by the prospect of more deductions from their meager earnings. Thousands gathered near the tax assessor’s dwelling in protest. Rapidly spreading to other towns, the uprising covered an area with over two million people. Large police contingents could not subdue the women dominated crowds. They chanted and marched for days. Along the way, some courts and public offices were damaged. The uprising was put down only after the police fired bullets and imposed collective punishments on local communities. In one egregious incident, thirty-two protestors were shot dead and thirty-one were wounded. It took several weeks of ferocious suppression to contain the uprising. This was but one of several major protests that rocked the colony during the twentieth century. A time-honored device to appease opponents is to make concessions that appear to involve them in decision making even as you retain the final word. And that is what the British did. The territory was divided into three regions and the capital city (Lagos) to be governed under a federal system. Each region had its own elected legislature. Yet, the final word rested with the governor. Northern Nigeria was the breadbasket of the nation, the source of much of the agricultural products for local consumption and export. Islam was the dominant religion here. But services like health and modern education in the area suffered from neglect and poverty levels were higher as compared to the South. Yet, the northern Muslim chiefs were accorded a higher political status by the British. Christianity was the main religion in the South, but Islam and traditional religions had sizeable followings too. With better educational facilities, the predominantly Christian South produced more professionals—doctors, civil servants, engineers, judges, teachers, accountants, lawyers, senior police officers—than the mostly Muslim South. But in the high political and military circles, Muslims had a larger representation. The colonial era federal system along with regional disparities in income, education and access to key services laid the basis for a long term political and religious conflict within and between regions and communities. The 20th century unfolded with a global proliferation of anti-colonial drives. Freedom fighters in one locality drew inspiration from and cooperated with compatriots elsewhere. The Pan-African movement gathered steam. Nigeria was in the thick of this process. Envisioning a unified drive to end colonial rule, Herbert Macaulay founded the first political party in the nation. Among its key goals was to halt colonial land acquisitions. A militant worker’s movement was seeded in 1912 by the formation of the National Union of Civil Servants. Starting with demands for better salaries and work conditions, it went on to agitate against racial discrimination and ventured into the political arena. Numerous labor actions occurred under the leadership of Michael Imoudu. The general strike of 1945 exemplified the unity and militancy of the working class. The colonial response to labor actions was generally swift and brutal. For example, 21 protesting miners were killed and 55 wounded by the police at the Enugu Coal Mines in 1949. A host of political parties sprang up under the stewardship of luminaries like Herbert Macaulay, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Chief Anthony Enahoro and others. Most leaders were Nigerians who had obtained higher education. The agendas of these parties focused on national unity, total independence and democratic governance. The influence of radical socialist doctrines was not significant in Nigeria. An undercurrent of regional and religious discord prevailed during the independence struggle. The northern chiefs who had a privileged status under colonial rule aspired to reclaim it once self-governance was attained. They mobilized their poverty-stricken subjects with divisive religious rhetoric. The Westernized, mostly Christian southern politicians disparaged their outlook and tactics. Regional divisions engendered by the policy of divide and rule weakened the independence struggle. Independence + Nigeria attained self-rule in 1960 and became a democratic republic with a federal governance system in 1963. Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe was elected the first President. But state executive power was in the hands of the Prime Minister, Abubakar T Balewa. A tumultuous period, marked by uncertainties and conflict, in which religion was to play a key role, lay ahead. Nigeria is endowed fabulously with oil and other natural resources. It was popularly expected that with Independence, this wealth would be redirected to create a broad-based economy and uplift the lives of the people. Abject failure to realize this expectation has been at the root of the political and religious troubles in the nation for over six decades. In that period, Nigeria has been one of the two major African suppliers of oil to the US. Western oil firms and a few Nigerians have been the main beneficiaries of Nigeria’s riches. Many of the latter occupied of top governmental positions. As Western companies reaped hundreds of billions of dollars, Nigerian presidents and ministers stashed away hundreds of millions in Swiss and European banks. But people in the oil producing areas remained mired in poverty. The environmental despoliation by the reckless operations of the oil firms undermined fishing, agriculture and national resources. Africa’s most populous nation gained the dubious distinction as a haven for corruption, drug smuggling and conmanship. In congested cities, crime was rampant, youth unemployment was too high, and the police were notorious for their brutal tactics. Just a small upper class lived in veritable opulence. People protested but to no avail. A series of Western supported military coups undercut accountability. Much of the time Nigeria has been under a direct or masked form of military rule that has little room for dissent. Elections were rigged and stolen to favor politicians close to the military. Champions of the fight for freedom, social justice and accountability were harassed and jailed by the thousands and killed by the hundreds. Among them were Ken Saro-Wiwa, the valiant environmentalist; Wole Soyinka, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986; and Fela Kuti, the legendary, pioneering, incomparable Afrobeat musician. Western governments issued tepid condemnations of the outrages committed by the Nigerian state agencies but continued to arm and support the military. It is only in the recent years that moves to recover the funds illegally placed by Nigerian politicians in external banks are beginning to bear some fruit. But it is only a trickle. Accountability for the Western oil firms for causing environmental damage, supporting corrupt regimes and excess profiteering is not on the radar as yet. Religious sentiment and the religion of the candidate play a major role in Nigerian politics. Election campaigns and outcomes are marred by violence between Muslims and Christians and, at times, cause deadly riots. Religious leaders on both sides take partisan positions. Yet, clock of religion conceals disputes about land, resources, employment and social services. And it is a convenient stratagem for the politicians of all faiths to disguise their loyalty to neo-liberalism. Religion by its very nature and content appeals not so much to reason. It's a heart matter and carries with it huge emotions When religions like Christianity and Islam have a huge following of hungry not very educated people on both sides then politicians will explore the areas of religion to get them on their sides. That's a very dangerous and bad thing to do. It's not fair and it's not right. Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi of Jos (Ross 2015). Decades of disgruntlement over persistent poverty and injustice has led to armed opposition in the oil rich areas, especially Ogoni land and the North. Vicious counter attacks by the Nigerian military that did not spare unarmed civilians intensified the armed struggle. In 2002, an Islamic group known as Boko Haram (meaning ‘Western education is a sin’) began a drive to oppose Western education and influence in northern Nigeria and institute Sharia law. Its initial tactics were peaceful and above-board. But after violent reprisals by the state security forces and Christian militias, it took up arms and launched a violent campaign in 2009, the likes of which Nigeria had not seen before. At first it targeted military and police units but then went on to attack civilians in villages and towns, schools and public offices. Ferocious counter attacks against Boko Haram bases and adjoining villages were then launched by the Nigerian military. About 27,000 people, mostly civilians, have perished in this conflict since 2009; about three quarters of them at the hands of Boko Haram. Boko Haram and the Nigerian military stand accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The military has flagrantly attacked villages, caused many fatalities, detained thousands in abominable conditions, and tortured and disappeared hundreds. Boko Haram’s power was weakened by joint operations of the Nigerian forces and armies of the adjoining nations with logistic and financial support from the Western nations. The main Boko Haram strongholds were taken over by the army. Yet, the group still has the ability to launch deadly attacks. The conflict has had a serious impact on the education in northeastern Nigeria, a region with an already inferior education system. Over the past decade, around 2,300 teachers have been killed; over 1,400 schools and colleges have been destroyed or seriously damaged. Insecurity and fear have made millions of children drop out of school. Ubiquitous corruption within the Nigerian establishment affects the anti-Boko Haram drive. Independent investigations revealed that of the $6.8 billion budgeted for this effort, $2.1 billion were diverted to political coffers of the president. Nigeria also lost $3.3 billion in recent years from unwarranted tax breaks granted to three Western oil companies. The people of Nigeria remain within the iron grip of neoliberalism and pseudo-democratic authoritarianism with the attendant tendencies to generate insecurity, crime and violence. Elitist politicians exploit religious and ethnic divisions to gain votes and too many ordinary people succumb to their toxic rhetoric. Brutal violence of the extremist groups is countered by an equally brutal response of the military. As people remain divided over religious lines, the room for a unified movement for justice, genuine democracy and better life for the masses narrows. Muslim and Christian luminaries have yet to step up to the plate and launch a unified campaign for real change. 8.13 SUFISM As in Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity, there is a strand within Islam that focuses on the meditative, mystical dimension of faith. Called Sufism, it is not a sect of Islam since it is practiced by Sunni as well as Shia Muslims. It complements the five pillars of Islam with meditational sessions that extoll the mercifulness, magnificence and omnipotence of Allah and the majesty of His creation. Dhikr, the nucleus of Sufi devotional practice, involves focused veneration of God. The devotees pay fealty to Allah and Prophet Mohamed via extended, intense sessions of melodious chanting and recitation of divine poems and Quranic verses. Shia Sufi poetry and song espouse fidelity to Ali, the Prophet’s son-in-law, and their major Imams as well. Dhikr intonations are at times musically enriched with traditional instruments. Exotic dance by an individual or a group is also a part of some forms of Dhikr. Incense burning and use of prayer beads also occur. Dhikr may occur in a community or small group session and even in a solitary form. Some Dhikr styles entail long, silent focused attention in a darkened place to a single word symbolizing the almighty. Sufism is not a unitary creed. Basic Sufi ideas emerged about a century after the death of Prophet Muhammad. Formal Sufi orders were founded by Muslim Pirs (saints, missionaries, Walis) in the 12th century. In the ensuing centuries, charismatic Pirs, erudite scholars, philosophers and esteemed poets crystalized over a hundred Sufi orders across the Islamic world. At present, some 5% of the Muslims formally identify as Sufis. But the majorities in some Muslim nations partake in Sufi celebrations and practices. Sufism is a global phenomenon, and some modern Sufis regard themselves as universal spiritualists, not Muslims. Sufism emerged in reaction to the perception that Muslims had become too worldly and had betrayed the essence of the Quran and the example set by the Prophet. Unduly indulging in matters of the flesh and seeking status and privilege, they rigidly stressed rituals to the exclusion of love for Allah, which fomented a spiritual void in their lives. Sufism also reflected disdain for the authoritarian, divisive and corrupt tendencies of Islamic Caliphs, and the complicity of religious elders and state officials in this state of affairs. Sufism aims to purify the soul through simple living, forsaking worldly goods, mundane pleasures, ambition, and acquisitiveness, and focusing on inward spiritual reflection. But it does not advocate a hermitic life. Instead, Sufis fuse an ascetic lifestyle and disciplined devotion to the essence of Islam with an ethical engagement with society. Embracing the unitary of nature of God’s creation, Sufism draws motivation from the Prophet to advocate compassion and love for all beings. Respectful unity with humanity is central to Sufism. As subjects of Allah, all have equal divine worth. Sufism values tolerance and expresses respect for all faiths. Sufis regard the founder of their order a saint blessed with divine insight. Recitation of his poems and hymns and reflective rumination of his writings are essential to Sufi practice. Celebrating his birthday and pilgrimage to his tomb or shrine are basic features of Sufi life. Some Sufi orders have more than one Pir. Most Pirs were men but a few women Pirs of high eminence have also featured across history. The major Sufi personages, philosophers and Pirs include Abdallah ibn al-Hanafiyyah (Iran), Rabia al-Adawiyya (Iraq), Abu al-Ghazali (Arabia), Ibn al-Arabi (Spain), Bahauddin Naqshband Bukhari (Turkey), Mullah Nasruddin (Turkey), Najmuddin Kubra (Central Asia), Khawja Moinuddin Chisti (India), Jalal al-Din Rumi (Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan), al-Shadhili (Egypt), Bibi Fatima Sam (Iran, Iraq, India), Aḥmad Sirhindi (India) and Amir Khusrau (India). Akbar was also inspired by Rumi and Ibn al-Arabi, two eminent Sufi saints. Sufi missionaries played a vital role in the non-conquest related spread of Islam across Africa, Asia and Europe. Blending local beliefs and cultures with Islamic values and ideas, and composing stories and poems in local languages anchored them into the communities they entered. People paid heed and many converted to Islam as the Pirs seamlessly molded elements of Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and traditional faiths with Islam. Espousal of pluralism and tolerance diffused hostility from other faiths. Thus, instead of denigrating Hinduism as pantheistic idolatry, Sufi Pirs traveling across India integrated aspects of Hinduism into the Islamic creed and wrote hymns in Gujarati and other Indian languages. Some Shia Pirs taught that their Imam was the 10th, long expected avtar (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu. Sufism first gained a firm foothold in India during the Delhi Sultanate of the 11th century, and later spread to other areas. Advocacy of the harmony of the cosmos, equality, kindness and usage of love as metaphors to express the human longing for oneness with God resonated well among people who were dissatisfied with the restrictions of the caste system. The liberal leanings of Sufi mystics informed the policies of a number of Muslim rulers. The tolerant, pluralist vision of the Mughal Emperor Akbar was influenced by Abul Fazl, his confidant and Vizier, and a renowned Sufi scholar and historian. Rumi and Ibn al-Arabi, two eminent Sufi saints, also inspired him. Dara Shikoh, the son of Emperor Shah Jahan, was a Sufi scholar who translated Hindu scriptures into Persian and forged a philosophy that attempted to reconcile Hinduism with Islam. Though, he was later executed for blasphemy. Sufism has enriched Islamic culture in multiple ways—poetry, literature, historical tracts, philosophy, music, dance and art. Eminent Muslim scholars, philosophers, jurists, and poets—Jalal al-Din Rumi, Omar Khayyam, Al-Ghazali, Ibn Arabi, Ibn Sina, Muhammad Iqbal—were drawn to Sufism. Their influence went beyond the world of Islam. Rumi’s poetry has been translated into many languages, and he has a large following in the West. Prominent politicians, writers and scientists have declared their attraction to Sufism. Ibn Arabi + Ibn Arabi, a prolific Sufi poet and philosopher, was born in 1165 CE in Islamic era Spain and died in Damascus in 1240 CE. Seeking knowledge and wisdom, he traveled far and wide, interacting with scholars, theologians and dignitaries wherever he stopped. In all, he wrote about 800 books, of which about 100 have survived in print form. His main books are several thousand pages long, and some have been translated into English, Urdu, Persian, French and other languages. Though he was a Sunni, he is revered by Sunni as well as Shia Muslims. Ibn Arabi differentiated two forms of truth, each valid in its own domain. There is truth acquired through rational inquiry and there is truth obtained by intuitive, meditative insight. Only the latter, based on acknowledgement of the integral singularity of Allah, can bring a human being close to Him. In line with the central tenet of Sufism, he decried excess attention to formal rules and laws and pursuit of material gain and pleasure, both of which divert the believer from spiritual excellence. How can the heart travel to God, when it is chained by its desires? Ibn Arabi Taking the Prophet of Islam as his ideal, he advocated attaining spiritual perfection through continuous reflective devotional relationship with Allah. The striving for perfection enables you to fathom your essence. He was of the view that he himself had attained a high degree of perfection. And he espoused tolerance for all faith systems. Do not praise your own faith so exclusively that you disbelieve all the rest. … God the omniscient and omnipresent cannot be confined to any one creed. Ibn al-Arabi (Armstrong 2014). Jalal al-Din Rumi + Jalal al-Din Rumi, the acclaimed Sufi poet and scholar, was born to Persian parents in 1207 at a location near Afghanistan. He grew up in a centuries-old, yet vibrant, center of Persian culture and Sufism. His father—a preacher and jurist—overrode his fascination with Sufism and directed him to study Islamic law. He began adult life as a local judge and religious studies teacher. But close interactions with a Persian poet of repute and several ascetic mystics changed his outlook. Discarding worldly pleasures, he plunged headlong into lifelong mystical, philosophical and poetic pursuits. His literary and expressive abilities matured under the tutelage of a Sufi master. Composing volumes of enchanting, elegant verses that resonated with a mixture of evident, cryptic and paradoxical phraseology gained him a large following over a vast area. He mostly wrote in Persian, but some of his poetry was in Arabic, Greek and Turkish. Rumi was a multi-culturalist par excellence. His outlook, lectures and poems transcended ethnic, religious and national barriers. His followers and admirers included Jews and Christians. Though a Sunni, he had a following among Shias as well. After his death, his son and close devotees established the Mevlevi Sufi Order to propagate his work and philosophy. Today, it is a Sufi order with an international reach greater than of any other Sufi order. Rumi was a devout Muslim. He strictly adhered to the Islamic tenets like praying five times daily. His philosophy reflected an unquestioned devotion to Allah and the Quran. The tenets he championed—universal love, truth, generosity, beauty, iconoclasm, resoluteness, optimism, gratitude and living in the moment—were informed by Islam. The most important place in the world, in his view, was within oneself, in the heart, the palace of the soul. He saw spiritual devotion akin to ecstatic intoxication with the sublime infinitude of the divine. Taking reverence of God as the basis of all faiths, he advocated and practiced a remarkable degree of tolerance. He regarded the ability to forgive a heroic trait, and compassion, a mark of nobility. The powerless and the powerful, rich or poor, were attracted to this humble, charming man who expressed his wisdom in a witty manner. Though the ruling circles were irked by his iconoclastic verses at times, his popularity insulated him from their vendetta. Rumi was an accomplished musician especially adept composing numerous riveting tunes on the reed flute. Music and graceful body movements were, for him, sublime avenues for attaining spiritual bliss: Rumi believed passionately in the use of music, poetry and dance as a path for reaching God. For Rumi, music helped devotees to focus their whole being on the divine and to do this so intensely that the soul was both destroyed and resurrected. (Wikipedia 2020 - Rumi). Rumi composed two major works of poetry: the six-volume Masnavi (Spiritual Couplets) and Diwan-e Kabir (Great Work). They contain tens of thousands of evocative, quixotic, rhyming couplets, quatrains and extended verse forms that have permeated the popular culture in many nations. His poems are tinged with natural objects and processes—sun, moon, stars, day and night, water, birds, flowers, trees—as well as with human proclivities—love, pain, longing, separation, wine, song and ecstasy. A small sample gives a taste of his vast repertoire: You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life? +++ Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself. ++++ I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think. ++++ You wander from room to room Hunting for the diamond necklace That is already around your neck! ++++ You are the universe in ecstatic motion. ++++ You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop. +++ Put your thoughts to sleep, do not let them cast a shadow over the moon of your heart. Let go of thinking. +++ The rose's rarest essence lives in the thorns. ++++ Gamble everything for love, if you're a true human being. +++ Shine like the whole universe is yours. ++++ Maybe you are searching among the branches, for what only appears in the roots. Rumi Rumi’s poetic works, particularly the Masnavi, are ranked by scholars as among the premier works of global mystical literature. The Masnavi weaves fables, scenes from everyday life, Quranic revelations and exegesis, and metaphysics into a vast and intricate tapestry. (Wikipedia 2020 - Rumi). His numerous talks and sermons, generally rendered in a popular style, form two lengthy volumes. A separate volume contains his often extended, erudite correspondence with major personalities of his times. Rumi has exercised a phenomenal influence across the world. His books have been translated into all the major languages. His life and work are the subjects of scores of international conferences. Universities teach courses on Rumi. A specific scholarly journal devoted to his works and philosophy exists, and he is the subject of many biographies and commentaries. Dramatic and musical performances and films utilize his ideas. Well attended sessions for reciting and reading his poetry occur on a regular basis. And above all, the dance shows of the Whirling Dervishes always sell out in Western cities. The 800th anniversary of his birth in 2007 was a day for pomp and ceremony in Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and beyond. UNESCO declared the year 2007 the International Rumi Year. Few religious figures in the history of civilization have as successfully crossed borders of faith, language and geography as nimbly as Jalal al-Din Mohammad Rumi, the great 13th-century theologian and mystic poet. (Moaveni 2017). Mullah Nasruddin + Mullah Nasruddin was a Sufi who composed of thousands of short tales and anecdotes for children and adults that became a part of the folklore in the Middle East, Southern Europe, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, China, India and East Africa. Claimed by many cultures as their own, varied versions of his birth, name, life and death exist. He likely lived in 13th century Turkey. His tales, recorded in multiple languages, are narrated at parties, family gatherings, and radio shows. Some filtered across the West and are incorporated into popular European literature. The pointed tales, which usually feature him as a subject, shine with wit and humor. The punchline is usually evident, but at times, it takes a moment to sink in. The few lines typically convey a sarcastic comment on the vagaries of human life. No one—the author, his family, townsfolk, eminent scholars or rulers—is spared a biting verdict from the Mullah. Lurking underneath is the Sufi view of the illusory, transient, unjust nature of existence and the futility of formal rituals. The three anecdotes below are a sampling. Young and Old At a gathering where Mullah Nasruddin was present, people were discussing the merits of youth and old age. They had all agreed that, a man's strength decreases as years go by. Mullah Nasruddin dissented. ‘I don't agree with you gentlemen, he said. In my old age I have the same strength as I had in the prime of my youth’. ‘How do you mean, Mullah Nasruddin?’ asked somebody. Explain yourself. ‘In my courtyard,’ explained Mullah Nasruddin, ‘there is a massive stone. In my youth I used to try and lift it. I never succeeded. Neither can I lift it now’. It Was Just My Clothes Nasruddin's wife heard a loud noise in the next room. She went to inspect it, and saw her husband sitting on the floor. ‘What was that?’ she cried. ‘It was just my clothes,’ replied Nasruddin. ‘They fell down’. ‘But how could your clothes make such a loud noise?’ she asked. ‘Because I was in them,’ replied Nasruddin. A Good Time to Eat Man: ‘Nasruddin, when is a good time to eat?’ Nasruddin: ‘Well, for the rich, anytime, and for the poor, anytime they find food’. +++ Earlier, we noted the centrality of Sufi music, especially the qawwali form, in Islamic music. This musical genre, together with its instruments, bloomed in the Indian sub-continent during the Mughal era. Today, tens of millions of Muslims in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and beyond find rapture and joy from qawwali renditions by scores of artistes. Women qawwals feature among the leading qawwals. Turkey, Iran, Egypt, the Arab nations, the former Soviet nations and Indonesia have their own repertoire of Islamic and Sufi music. The qawwali form also attracts large audiences in non-Muslim nations and communities, especially in the Western nations. Many prominent Muslim theologians, scholars and jurists of the past and in the present have endorsed the permissibility of music within Islam. For a number of Shia sects, it is a key element of worship and festival celebrations. Some sects place restrictions on where and when music is allowed, the use of instruments, and participation of women in the choir. A few but large Sunni sects forbid it. +++ Some Sufi orders have rather disquieting practices. They demand absolute obedience from an initiate to the local Sufi master. In a test of sincerity and devotion, the initiate sits alone on a mat in a room for 40 days. And he may be denied sleep. Later, he has to swallow broken glass or endure the pain of metal pins piercing his skin. Only if one passes these grueling tests is one led to the path to Allah through spiritual discipline and meditation. Sufi orders in Malaysia teach martial arts and have dance ceremonies with traditional weapons. But many Sunni and Shia sects do not approve such practices. (The discussion of Sufism is continued later.) 8.14 SALAFISM The companions of Prophet Muhammad and the first two or so generations of his followers are known as the Salaf or pious predecessors and are seen as exemplary Muslims who lived faithfully by the precepts of the Quran and the precedent set by the Prophet. Salafism is a Sunni Islamic school formed in the 14th century by Ibn Taymiyyah, a conservative jurist and theologian. He assessed that Muslims had strayed from the true path set by the Salaf and had abandoned the wisdom of the Quran. It was not an uncommon view. But, unlike others, he took an unforgiving stand towards the deviants. Islam had to be cleansed and unified. All Muslims, Shia, Sufi or Sunni, had to follow true Islam, that is, his vision of Islam. Else they faced excommunication or worse. While the Sufis faulted undue stress on ritual, preoccupation with worldly pleasures, avarice and the moral corruption of the regimes of self-centered, authoritarian rulers as the bases for the malady, Taymiyyah blamed it on the absence of strict adherence to the tenets and rules of Islam. He posited external cultural and political influence, neglect by religious elders, and spread of Shia Islam as the major factors behind the deviation from true Islam. With its disposition for tolerance and integration of other religious beliefs and practices into Islam, Sufism was singled out as a major culprit. The Salafist doctrine sees strict adherence to the five pillars of Islam, strict fidelity to the strictures enshrined in the Hadiths and emulation of the spiritual nobility of the Salaf as the remedies. It obligates a literal acceptance of the suras of the Quran, without qualification or reinterpretation, tackling deviant tendencies, and coercive enforcement of the rituals and rites of Islam. Over time, Salafism diverged into three schools. Quietist Salafism, the majority school, stresses personal endeavor as the way to true Islam. Each Muslim has to be guided to strictly abide by Islamic norms. And it disdains socio-political activism. The second school, Reformist Salafism, holds that persuasion by itself does not work. A need to create conditions conducive to the flourishing of true Islam exists. Hence, Muslims should participate in public and political life as an organized body. They should form political parties, take part in civil affairs, engage in charity work, contest local and national elections, but avoid violent, illegal means. The third school, Militant Salafism, concurs with the activist Reformist Salafism but has room for militant action, including armed action. Its goal is to create Islamic Caliphates based on strict enforcement of Sharia law. The last two activist Salafist schools stress group loyalty to combat external corrosive influences. If hostile conditions in one place prevent Muslims from abiding by their faith, they should move to places where they can do so. Apart from this tripartite divide, Salafist schools attach varied importance on the main tenets of Islam and on distinguishing between major and minor sins, honest errors and willful deeds, and the nature of punishment for such transgressions. The Salafists are often identified more by what they oppose than by what they believe. Their stand is rigid and unwavering. Only their beliefs are correct; all else is heresy or apostasy. It is a dogmatic, intolerant creed that denigrates the more than 95% of the global Muslim population, Sunni and Shia. Salafism remained a fringe school for over three centuries. But it gained a firmer footing when Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, an embattled tribal chief and a Salafist theologian, formed an alliance with Muhammad bin Saud, a Sunni ruler with a sizeable military force. Their coalition managed to establish a strong Muslim state over much of the Arabian Peninsula. The House of Saud, a hereditary dynasty came into being. Yet, conflict with the Ottoman Empire fed into internal strife to cause much instability for a century and a half. But from the early 1900s, Ibn Saud, the ruler at that time, launched a series of military drives that eventually unified the territory and established the present-day theocratic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. It was an era when Britain and the US sought a firm foothold in the region. The potential for large oil and gas deposits and the strategic location were vital. Using their military and diplomatic might in support of the Saudi rulers, they gained an influential ally disposed towards their interests. Ironically, while the conservative Saudi rulers abhorred foreign cultural influences, they had no qualms about allying with Western nations, the main source of those influences. With a population of nearly 35 million, enormous energy reserves, and vast accumulated finances, Saudi Arabia now is an absolute hereditary monarchy without an elected legislature. Wahhabism, a rigid Salafist brand of Sunni Islam, is the governing theology. Islamic Sharia law forms the foundation of its legal system. A person accused of committing a crime has few rights; the judge does what he pleases. Eliciting confession by torture is common. Public flogging was legal until recently. Public behavior—in regard to dress, consumption of alcohol and practice of other religions—is strictly enforced by the Religious Police. Workplace rights are minimal. Trade unions are illegal. Foreign workers are mistreated. There is no free, independent press, and no democratic rights. Expressions of dissent receive harsh penalties. Saudi Arabia is one of the few nations that is not a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. All major decisions are made by the King, members of his inner circle and the top Muslim clerics. Public accountability does not exist. And under its patronage, Salafism, particularly in the form of Wahhabism, has spread almost everywhere where there is an Islamic presence. There is extensive disagreement among scholars, Islamic organizations and states about what the terms Salafism and Wahhabism mean. But often it is a juggling of abstruse words that just muddies the waters and masks the realities. Wahhabism is a brand of Salafism that has elements of Reformist Political Salafism and Militant Salafism within its purview. It sees the Saudi Kingdom as the ideal Islamic state and endorses strident activism to create theocratic Muslim states. Saudi Arabia holds a special status for Muslims because it houses two of the three holiest mosques in Islam and is the place where over a million Muslims go for the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Besides the weight it carries in the world of Islam, it is a major player in Middle Eastern and global affairs. But that is not due to religion. Vast reserves of oil and gas, the accumulated financial muscle and nearly a century of diplomatic and military support from the US and Britain underpin its global leverage. Protecting the wealth and power of the Saudi ruling class is central to the Western imperial agenda in the region and beyond. They have provided security guarantees to the monarchy for almost a century. In return, Saudi Arabia serves as a base for their forces and uses its dominant position in the oil economy to chart a trajectory that accords with Western economic interests. It plays a major role in maintaining the US dollar as the leading currency for international trade and finance. And for decades, it has been a huge market for general and advanced military weaponry and supplies from the US, UK, France, Canada and other Western nations. In recent years, it has spent about 10% of its GDP on the military. At $68 billion in 2016, it was the fourth largest global spender on the military, surpassing the UK, France and Japan, and is now one of the two largest importers of advanced weapons in the world. Currently, the US has an arms deal worth some $60 billion with the Kingdom. Nearly two-fifths of UK’s arms exports also land there. For the US, UK and France, supplying billions of dollars in sophisticated military hardware and supplies to the two alleged adversaries—Israel and Saudi Arabia—is a game of financial and political seesaw that has kept their arms sector afloat even in recessionary times. Military manufacturers owe a great deal of their profitability to Saudi Arabia’s unwavering largess. Every producer of instruments of mass destruction aspires for a deal with the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia and Israel compete for advanced US and European weapons. Supplying arms to both sides in a conflict, directly or via a proxy, is a time-honored US tactic. Other examples include Turkey and Greece, China and Taiwan, Iran and Iraq, and India and Pakistan. The Saudi kingdom is the world’s largest exporter of oil and the doctrine of Salafism. It is the main base and launching pad for the extremist brand of Salafism. Saudi sourced theological exports occur in a diversity of ways. Foreign workers and students return with Salafist ideas to their homelands. The Kingdom maintains a generous budget for building mosques, and Islamic schools, promoting Muslim preachers, and distributing free copies of the Quran. It gives overt and covert political, financial support to like-minded political parties and states across the globe. An uncompromising brand of Salafism has thus found a fertile audience, especially among young Muslims across the world. 8.15 POLITICAL ISLAM Since the 1970s and more so after the end of the collapse of the USSR, the coverage and commentaries on Islam and Muslims in the mainstream media and discourse by scholars in the academy and establishment think-tanks have been dominated by the idea of Political Islam. The official discourse sees Islam as a politically oriented, intolerant faith that aims to extinguish other religions and establish a global Islamic theocracy. Muslims are accused of embracing Jihadism, a violent creed. The Iranian revolution of 1979, the Iranian hostage crises, the bombings of US targets including embassies and naval ships, the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001, the terrorist attacks in European cities, rampages of groups like Boko Haram in Nigeria and Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria are adduced as evidence in support of this thesis. Harsh anti-Islamic pronouncements by Western politicians and personalities anchor the view that Islam and Muslims, with a few exceptions, are violent entities antithetical to the democratic way of life. The word ‘terrorism’ in their parlance denotes ‘Islamic terrorism’. Deconstructing point of view needs to begin with the meaning of the term ‘politics’ and the link between politics and religion in a general, historic setting. Politics is about the affairs of the state, and interactions with the centers of power in society. Such interactions may be direct, explicit or formal, and may or may not involve a political movement. The expositions of the major and minor religions in this book demonstrate that religions are rooted in existing social, economic structures. As organized entities, they have served political goals. Some religions have served as official ideologies of the state. From their inception to today, Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity have functioned as socio-political doctrines with a diversity of connections to the ruling and ruled classes. Hinduism sanctified the rule of the rajas and caste-based exploitation of working peoples in ancient India and promoted unity as well as divisions in the anti-colonial struggles against the British. In the form of the Hindutva, a part of it has congealed into a hardline politicized entity. Buddhism, born as a protest movement of the downtrodden, later was a state religion in several Asian nations, and served to sanctify exploitative semi-feudalistic realities as in Tibet. Buddhist monasteries became wealthy, powerful entities. Buddhist monks joined anti-colonial and anti-military struggles. Christianity displayed similar characteristics from the Roman era to feudal times and into to the eras of capitalism and imperialism. All religions have been on both sides of the political divide, of the rulers and of the ruled. Christian dignitaries who supported slavery and colonialism sided with the oppressor. When African American churches and some white churches in the US joined the struggle against slavery, or when Christian churches in Africa worked to end colonial rule and Apartheid, they took a political stand on the side of the downtrodden masses. When the American churches maintained silence over the deadly sanctions on Iraq that killed half a million Iraqi children, they took a political, patriotic stand. When evangelical churches lend support to authoritarian nationalists like Donald Trump of the USA or Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, they are taking a political stand. And when the Pope criticizes neoliberalism, he too is indulging in politics. The three tendencies in Salafism—Quietist, Reformist and Militant—have existed in varied forms in Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity as well as in some minor religions. The militants have been in a minority but due to the nature of their deeds, have had an impact far beyond their numbers. What they did often molded public perception about religion. Several examples of militant religious activism were given in the previous chapters. Whether a formal separation between the church and state exists or not, religion serves broader social, economic and political interests. It affects political choice and influences attitude towards the existing social system. Religion and politics, at the personal and institutional level, are inseparable. And Islam is not an exception. From its early days it was a political entity. And its politics have varied over time and place. But these politics cannot be reduced to the simplistic, biased notion of Political Islam prevailing in the West today. It requires a concrete historical analysis. Salafism plays a direct role in the affairs of the state and has wider political ambitions. A nuanced approach to Islam in the West differentiates between moderate and extremist Islam. Decrying Salafism as the embodiment of the latter, it celebrates Sufism as an apolitical, sublime quest for eternal bliss. In contrast to the Muslim preachers who pour venom on Western culture, Sufis are regarded as the epitome of open-minded Muslims who have no political agenda. In line with the growth in the popularity of Buddhist and Hindu meditative and spiritual practices since the 1960s, Sufism enjoys a decent following in the West. Many in the US are attracted to Rumi’s poems, in print and video formats. His verses are recited by TV gurus, spiritual masters and Hollywood stars. They adorn mugs, T-shirts, mats, cellphone covers and calendars. Several editions of his poems are in print. Sufi musical traditions from Pakistan and India and Sufi dance performances from Turkey and former Soviet Islamic areas attract large audiences. Yet, the Sufism and Rumi of the West are entities that would not meet the approval of the ancient sage. The consumer culture has trimmed off his unwavering loyalty to Islam and the Quran, and turned him into an emblem of abstract mysticism, advocate of psychic intoxication and icon of romantic bliss. Like Western Buddhism, Western Sufism is an entity distinct from what it means to the millions of its devotees in Africa and Asia. While Rumi would be at ease with the multi-faith origins of his admirers, he would be disturbed that they do not accept the divine grandeur of Allah. He certainly would not approve the commercialization of his vision and verse by entities for which generating profit is the basic aim. To regard Sufism simply as a spiritual pursuit devoid of political links and connotations is a limited and flawed perspective. Sufism was often close to the seats of power and wealth and influenced state policies. During the initial phase of Moghul rule in India, it affected public policy by promoting religious plurality to ease communal tensions. Later, Sufi cultural practices became the fixation of a self-indulgent ruling class. As the British encroached upon India, the Mughal aristocracy neglected production and trade, and became engrossed with mystical poems, classical dance and elegant architecture. Thereby, Sufism factored in the ensuing precipitous decline of Moghul rule. During the waning periods of the Caliphates in the Middle East and North Africa, some Sufi orders were key centers of political power. The initial phase of the Ottoman Empire was marked by an amicable relationship between the state and Sufi orders. The propensity of Sufi preachers for tolerance and integrating local culture and customs into Islamic practice facilitated the spread and stabilization of the Empire. But the marriage did not last, and later the Sufis found themselves at the receiving end of a conservative backlash. 8.16 JIHAD AND TERRORISM Jihad is an Arabic word which denotes a diligent endeavor to attain a noble goal. In the Islamic context, it has a three-fold meaning: One, it is the disciplined spiritual and practical effort by Muslims to abide by their faith. This includes learning the Quran, subduing negative feelings like anger and hate, joining voluntary programs to help the needy, working for social justice and fastidiously adhering to the Five Pillars of Islam. Two, it is the organized collective drive by the Muslim community to establish a moral social order. Three, it is the military struggle to liberate Muslims from internal and external tyranny, defend Islam, and protect the right of Muslims to practice their faith. The military form of Jihad is governed by rules that resemble the modern international law on warfare. War must be the last resort, after peaceful attempts have failed. Offensive or colonizing war, attacks on civilians, rape of women, damage to enemy property, forced conversion, poisoning the environment and undue prolongation of fighting are prohibited. Captured enemy soldiers are to be treated in a decent manner. Needless to say, practice deviates from the ideals. With some exceptions, wars waged by Islamic Caliphs entailed mistreatment of civilians and enemy soldiers, pillage and looting. They were wars to extend the power and wealth of the ruling classes. With a few exceptions, Muslim armies were not that different from Christian, Hindu, Buddhist or Shinto armies. ‘Jihad’, however, is one of the most misused words in the Western dominated global media. Jihadism is equated with terrorism, with the implication that Muslims in general are inclined to violence. Terrorism + An act is a terrorist act if: It is carried out for political, nationalistic, ethnic, religious or military goals and is designed to or likely to injure and kill civilians and cause damage to their property. A terrorist group may operate in domestic or international arenas, or in both. Terrorism is perpetrated not just by non-state or insurgent groups but also by states (governments). A state may take terrorist actions against a segment of its own people or against a foreign nation and people, or both. A state may have laws that permit terrorist actions by the police, security agencies and military on domestic and external arenas. And a state may, usually covertly, support, fund, and sponsor groups and other states who employ terrorist tactics. Terrorism is also a much-abused term in modern political and journalistic lexicon. Often it is employed just for acts committed by Islamic Jihadists, while similar acts by other groups are labeled as atrocities, mass killings, but not terrorism. There is no question that the aircraft attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, suicide bombings by Muslim militants in Egypt, Nigeria, Philippines, Europe, the UK and India, car bomb attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, knife attacks by Muslim fanatics in Paris and elsewhere, killing of Israeli Olympic athletes, attacks on civilians by Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria, Taliban attacks on civilian facilities, Al-Shabab attacks on hotels and malls in Somalia and Kenya that at times killed hundreds were acts of terrorism. But the gruesome rampages by white nationalists in Norway, New Zealand and the US were terrorist attacks too. When discussing terrorism, two historical facts need to be kept in mind. While terrorism committed by non-state actors usually backfires in the long run, state terrorism can be brutally effective. And terrorism by non-state groups usually emboldens state terrorism and acts as a financial, material and political boon for coercive agencies of the state and the military. The modern era has been littered with incidents of state terrorism and state sponsored terrorism. The genocidal programs of the German Nazi regime, German V-2 missile attacks on British cities, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, carpet bombings of German cities by the British air force, and the indiscriminate bombings of North Korean and Vietnamese towns and villages by the US military, mining of Nicaraguan harbors by the CIA were all acts of terrorism. The US was found guilty of terrorism by the International Court of Justice in The Hague for the last-mentioned deed, and fined. But the fine was never paid. No other state has been convicted of this crime. The US also trained and funded terrorist organizations like the Contras in Nicaragua and the Mujahedin in Afghanistan. More recent examples of state terrorism are the widespread bombing of civilian targets in the series of wars on Iraq and Afghanistan by the US and its allies, recent indiscriminate bombings of civilian areas by Syrian, Iraqi and Turkish, Israeli and Russian forces, the bombing of a medicinal factory in 1998 in Sudan by US President Clinton, US President Obama’s institutionalization of drone warfare which regularly killed civilians in Somalia and Afghanistan, the killings of civilians by armies of all sides in the wars that engulfed former Yugoslavia and the wanton bombings in Ukraine by Russia. The issue of economic terrorism is relevant. With its economic might, the US has essentially monopolized this form of terrorism. It has unilaterally slapped sanctions on Cuba, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Venezuela that imposed excruciating hardships on the civilian populations, at times for decades. Such sanctions utilize double standards, exaggerations, false and contrived evidence. Thus, the draconian sanctions on Iraq in the 1990s that were enforced by a tight military cordon relied on a duplicitous narrative of weapons of mass destruction and led to the deaths of nearly three quarters of a million Iraqis, mostly children. The seven decades of brutalization of the people of Palestine by Israel has frequently involved economic and military terrorist tactics. The US control of the global discourse on terrorism has ensured that such acts are never called terrorism. What the American government labels as terrorism is real terrorism, nothing else. Only what it designates as a terrorist group is a terrorist group. That is how the international discourse on terrorism takes place today. Objective analysis and factual evidence have become secondary entities. Islamic terrorism + Bearing that context in mind, we look at terrorism perpetrated by extremist Islamic organizations. As in the case of Buddhist extremist groups in Asia, the genesis of these organizations lies in the wars waged by the US and Western nations to counter nationalist and socialist movements and governments in Africa, Middle East and Asia. A central part of the US strategy was to train, fund and arm militant Islamic groups to counter the influence of secular anti-imperialist parties and states, and work with pro-imperial states in the Middle East. Secular, socialistically inclined governments such as Iran under Mohammad Mosaddegh, Libya under Muammar Gaddafi, Egypt under Gamel Abdel Nasser, Algeria under the National Liberation Front, Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Syria under Bashar al-Assad, and the Soviet-supported government of Afghanistan were destabilized, undermined, or overthrown to achieve these goals. The growing popularity of the Palestinian Liberation Organization in Palestine was countered by funding and permitting Islamic political groups to function in the territories occupied by Israel. The roots of modern-day Islamic extremism are three-fold: One, it emerged from the ashes of the Cold War era fires stocked by the Western imperial interventions. Afghanistan is a major case in point. The fighters recruited from Muslim nations into the Afghani Mujahedin warlords’ fighting forces against the Soviet backed government did not embrace civilian life once that government was deposed. Organizing in secret to continue what they saw as the fight to restore the glory of Islam, for them, the Soviet Union was but one enemy. Imperialism led by the US, their erstwhile backer, was an equally hated foe. The militants were especially angered by the stationing of US troops in Saudi Arabia, the home to the holy mosques, the ongoing oppression of the people of Palestine as well as by the Indian occupation of Kashmir. Under the leadership of the CIA trained Osama bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda front was formed with the aim of bringing the war into the imperial heartland and replace governments in Islamic nations that had betrayed the cause of Islam. The terror tactics and technical skills they had learned from CIA operatives in Afghanistan converted them into a disciplined and effective fighting force. The second factor behind the rise of Islamic militancy was the failure of the World Bank and IMF supported governments, as well as of the pseudo-socialist states as in Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria, to significantly improve the lives of the masses. Ruthless suppression of discontent by the state led a minority of activists to take up arms. In the vacuum created by the absence of strong secular, socialist parties, Islam became their organizing ideology. A multiplicity of social and economic factors fed the perception that Muslims were marginalized and discriminated against, and that the resources of their nations had mainly benefitted outsiders and the wealthy rulers. It reflected the reality, but instead of being viewed in terms of national and class lines as done in the past, now it was viewed along religious lines. The third factor was the spread, through Saudi Arabian sponsorship, of the Salafist doctrine. In nation after nation, Saudi Arabia built mosques, funded Islamic schools, sponsored preachers, gave scholarships to young Muslims, donated food during Islamic festivals and freely distributed copies of the Quran, Islamic literature and videos. Salafism, till then a fringe outlook among Muslims, entered the mainstream. As its message of a pure Islam took hold, Sunnis and Shias, who for ages had coexisted harmoniously with each other and the followers of other religions, grew less tolerant. Rigid dress codes and strict adherence to Islamic rituals began to prevail. Calls for enactment of Sharia law as the law of the land became louder. How the Salafist influence took root varied from nation to nation, but the overall trend was similar everywhere. Sunni Muslim communities in non-Muslim nations and the West were affected in a likewise manner. The confluence of these three factors together with the instability caused by imperial interventions led to the emergence of several extremist Islamic organizations. We note some important ones. Islamic State (IS – Daesh) founded in 1999 by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was an off shoot of Al-Qaeda. With Wahhabism as its guiding doctrine, IS seeks to establish a global Sunni Caliphate along the lines of the early days of Islam. The chaos left in Iraq after the US invasion and the anger within the Iraqi Sunnis provided a launching pad for IS military operations in 2014. In no time, its forces routed the Iraqi armed forces, captured key cities like Mosul, established control over a large area in Iraq and Syria, and declared itself an Islamic state. IS imposed and harshly enforced a doctrinaire form of Sharia law. The key goal was to eliminate the impurities that had crept into Muslim life across the world. IS operations were marked by massacres and mistreatment of civilians. Women were raped and forcibly married. Conversions to Islam were enforced. Unique, ancient cultural sites were vandalized or destroyed. ‘Deviant’ faiths like the Yazidi, Druze, Sufism and enemy combatants were treated with brutality. Some were beheaded or their limbs were amputated. Video broadcasts of these acts clearly revealed the barbaric character of this organization. The videos had a calculated propaganda aim. And it worked. IS ranks surged. By 2015, IS had a global force numbering about 30,000 fighters and a budget of about one billion dollars. It controlled areas in Iraq and Syria that had about 10 million people. IS operations were started in Afghanistan and Pakistan and IS affiliates began to form in 18 countries including Mali, Egypt, Somalia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines. More than 5,000 young Muslims from distant lands—central Asia, Europe, the US and Africa—joined IS operations. Women generally had second class status in IS controlled areas. Some women performed supportive roles in IS operations and trained and fought as combatants. About 10% of the IS foreign fighters were women from European nations. Extensive air bombardments and attacks from US forces, the Iraqi army, the Syrian army operating under Russian support, and Turkish brigades managed to substantially reverse the gains IS had made in Iraq and Syria. Its founder is dead. But IS remains a force to reckon with and its affiliates continue to mount deadly terrorist attacks across the world. In addition to Al-Qaeda and IS, several other domestic and international Islamic extremist groups also operate today. Earlier, we described the actions of Boko Haram in Nigeria. Al-Nusra is a Syrian Islamic extremist group affiliated to Al-Qaeda. Founded in 2012, it is a highly organized, capable Salafist movement whose aim is to unite Sunni Muslims and establish an Islamic state in Syria. Its principal operations are conducted against the Syrian army, air bases and state institutions. On top of frontal military engagement, car bombs, suicide bombs and kidnapping are a part of its tactical arsenal. It has also engaged in skirmishes against IS forces. Al-Nusra also attacks the Muslims it deems heretics. Thus, it has attacked Druze, Alawite and Sufi communities, summarily executed their followers, expropriated their property and destroyed their cultural sites and relics. Christians and Shias have faced its firing squads. A strict form of Sharia law is applied wherever it has secured jurisdiction. Al-Nusra has nearly 10,000 fighters under its command. A few are child soldiers. About 70% are Syrians. Most of the foreign fighters are from Iraq, Afghanistan, Central Asia and Gulf Arab states. But a minority comes from Europe and the US. Al-Nusra has received significant financial and other forms of support from the government and donors in Qatar. Though it does not target Western entities, it has been attacked by US and Russian fighter jets. A portion of the weapons covertly supplied by the US to Syrian insurgents since 2012 have landed in Al-Nusra hands. A duplicitous aspect of US policy is that while it has designated Al-Nusra as a terrorist organization, the major funder of Al-Nusra, Qatar, is a strategic US ally that houses large US military and air force bases. Abu Sayyaf is a Sunni Wahhabi front operating in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. It was founded by Filipino Muslims who fought alongside Mujahedin fighters in Afghanistan in the 1980s. With substantial funds from Al-Qaeda to establish a Wahhabi militant group in the region, it began as an affiliate of Al-Qaeda. But later it switched its allegiance to IS after the latter gained international prominence. Abu Sayyaf operates from the Muslim majority islands of Mindanao and Jolo, two of the poorest places in the Philippines, where the Moro National Liberation Front has been waging an armed struggle for self-determination since the 1970s. While the latter has a broad popular base, and a federalist, egalitarian agenda, Abu Sayyaf has stringent Islamic aims and seeks to displace the Moro Front. The size of the Abu Sayyaf fighting force has declined from about 1,000 a decade ago to about 500 in the recent years. Over the years, it carried out a series of high-profile actions to further its cause. It placed explosive devices on a crowded ferry, a market, and a prominent church. The ferry bombing in 2004 killed over a hundred and injured more. On top of the money received from sympathizers in the Middle East, it enriched its coffers by millions of dollars through kidnapping tourists, businessmen, foreigners, scientists, state officials, priests, sailors and journalists. If the ransom demand is not met, the captive is killed, sometimes by beheading. It has also launched mortar attacks and drive by shootings against a variety of targets. Abu Sayyaf activists have committed rape, sexual assault of children and forced marriages. Despite the group’s espousal of a stringent Islamist agenda, its activists display poor knowledge of Islam and the Quran. It operates more like a criminal gang than an extremist religious force. The Philippines military in conjunction with US forces carried out major campaigns against Abu Sayyaf targets involving air attacks, artillery and ground forces, which also seriously harmed civilian life in the affected areas. +++ Extremist Islamic groups have carried out hundreds of terrorist attacks on civilians and civilian facilities in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Russia, China and the US over the past two decades. Deaths and injuries ranged from the single digits to hundreds. The incidents noted below give a flavor of the diversity of locations and types of attacks carried out by Islamic militants from 1998 to 2019. 1998: Car bomb attacks on US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killed more than 200 and injured more than 4,000. Most of the victims were Kenyans and Tanzanians. 2001: Four hijacked planes plunged into major structures or exploded in the air, in New York and Washington, DC. About 3,000 died and more than 6,000 were injured. Many suffered long disability from exposure to fumes and dust. Property damage exceeded 10 billion dollars. 2002: Explosive devices placed in tourist areas of Bali, Indonesia, killed more than 200 and injured about 250. 2004: Explosive devices on trains in Madrid, Spain, killed more than 190 and injured about 2050. 2004: Over 1,000 civilians, mostly children, were held hostage in a school in Beslan, Russia. In the ensuing fire fight with the security forces, more than 330 died and many were injured. 2005: Suicide bombers in trains and on a bus London, UK, killed over 50 and injured over 750. 2005: Bombs in shopping malls and hotels in Sham El Sheikh, Egypt, killed about 90 and injured about 150. 2005: Bombs placed in markets in Tentena, Indonesia, killed about 60 and injured more than 180. 2005: Suicide bombings of hotels in Amman, Jordan, killed about 60 and injured more than 110. 2006: Train bombings in Mumbai, India, killed over 200 and injured over 700. 2008: Shootings and bombings at various sites in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, India, killed more than 220 and injured more than 500. 2010: Attacks on two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore, Pakistan, killed more than 90 and injured about 50. 2011: Churches bombed and attacked in various cities, Nigeria, killing more than 40 and injuring more than 60. 2013: Attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, resulted in about 70 deaths and more than 170 injuries. 2015: Attack on a university college in Garissa, Kenya, killed about 150. 2015: Bombs at railway stations in Ankara, Turkey, killed over 100 and injured over 400. 2015: Explosives on a Russian civilian plane flying over Sinai, Egypt, left more than 220 dead. 2015: Shootings and suicide bombs in Paris, France, killed about 140 and injured about 370. 2015: Truck bombs in civilian areas in Tell Tamer, Syria, killed about 60 and injured about 80. 2016: Armed attack on a hotel in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, left more than 20 dead and more than 15 injured. 2016: Suicide bombings at an airport and on a train in Brussels, Belgium, killed about 35 and injured more than 300. 2016: Suicide bombs at a church in Lahore, Pakistan, killed about 70 and injured about 300. 2016: Shootings at a bar in Orlando, United States, left about 50 dead and more 50 injured. 2016: Truck and roadside bombs in shopping areas of Karrada, Iraq, killed over 300 and left more than 220 injured. 2016: A truck driven into crowds Nice, France, killed about 90 and injured more than 430. 2016: Suicide bombing at a Sufi shrine in Sehwan, Pakistan, killed about 90 and injured more than 100. 2016: Suicide bombs at two churches in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt, killed about 50 and injured more than 100. 2016: Truck and knife attacks on pedestrians in London, UK, killed about 10 and injured about 50. 2018: Suicide bombings in Mubi, Nigeria, killed about 90 and injured about 60. 2018: Suicide bombing and explosive devices at election rallies Bannu and Mastung, Pakistan, killed more than 150 and injured more than 220. 2019: Bombs at a Cathedral in Jolo, Philippines, killed more than 20 and left over 120 injured. 2019: Bombs at churches, luxury hotels, shops and guest houses in several cities of Sri Lanka killed about 260 and injured over 500. It is a gruesome record of the horrific deeds perpetrated by followers of what is proclaimed as a religion of peace. +++ Historically, terrorism has been perpetrated by groups expressing fidelity to religion from all the major religions, several minor religions and by secular groups. States often perform terrorist acts. No religion has been purely a religion of peace. Religious terrorism generally reflects existent economic, nationalist, political, racial and ethnic contradictions. Religious terrorism often aims to establish the supremacy of an orthodox version of the religion. Terrorist groups have been a minority in any setting. The majority usually does not approve terrorist tactics. But there have been occasions where the majority has silently stood by them. The current tendency to apply these observations just to Islam is misguided. It serves the interest of the imperial powers and is employed to justify their military interventions. 8.17 ISLAMOPHOBIA Persecution of Jews, Muslims and Gypsies is a centuries-old tale in Europe. The United States was founded on the genocide of Native Americans, enslavement of Africans, many of whom were Muslims, and interventions, killings and exploitation in Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean. It has a long history of discrimination against immigrants—Jews, Italians, Chinese, Irish, Japanese and Muslims. Some were accused of bringing communism, disease and poverty to America. In addition to lynching Black Americans, the Ku Klux Klan held major rallies against Catholics and Jews. Currently, the victims in this ongoing saga of discrimination in Europe are people of African and Asian origin, immigrants from Africa and the Middle East, and Muslim citizens. In the US, they are African Americans, Native Americans, immigrants from South America and Muslim lands, and Muslim citizens. Anti-Semitism persists but it is not a mainstream malady. Politics that keep working people divided is integral to capitalism. Their organizations lose strength, wages can be kept low and businesses thrive. Scapegoating minorities is integral to capitalist politics. A nativist mentality that demonizes outsiders and embroils the masses in social and cultural divisiveness is a key ingredient of the elitist, imperial drive. Since the 9 September 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon, demonization of Muslims and Islam has become a core aspect of Western politics and culture. Not just those who practice the religion but the religion itself is also castigated. A new term, Islamophobia, has entered the vocabulary. Islamophobia is irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against Islam or people who practice Islam. Merriam Webster Online Dictionary Islamophobia affects Muslims, Arabs, Iranians and people who ‘look like Muslims’ in varied ways. They face institutionalized discrimination in finding jobs and housing. A fifth to a third of survey respondents in Western nations do not want Muslim neighbors. About half of the Muslim Americans say they have faced some kind of social discrimination, a slightly larger percentage than among African Americans or Hispanic Americans who say the same thing. Muslims are stereotyped in movies and TV shows as unreliable people prone to violence. Their cultural practices are denigrated. Cases of terrorism by Islamic extremists are covered in a one-sided manner in the media. Absence of the overall context creates the impression that Islam is a violent, intolerant faith. Between a fifth and a third of Germans, French and Britons feel that Muslims in general support international terror networks like al-Qaeda. Some 40% to 60% of respondents in Germany, Switzerland, the UK, Spain and France doubt the compatibility of Islam with Western values and perceive Islam as a threat. Pronouncements of prominent politicians and conservative Christian priests reinforce the negative impressions. Islam is now the most disfavored religion in the West. About a third of Americans feel that a Muslim should not sit on the Supreme Court or hold the presidency. Condemnations of acts of terror by Muslim fanatics by Muslim leaders and the majority of Muslims are downplayed. That they often cooperate with the authorities to curb terrorism is also ignored. Islamic dress styles like the hijab and construction of mosques and Islamic schools are restricted. Some 20% to 40% of Germans, Britons and French regard the hijab a threat to European culture. A 2009 referendum to ban the construction of minarets in Switzerland secured favorable votes in 22 out of 26 voting districts. At the same time, the majority of Swiss voters did not feel the vote violated the rights of Muslim citizens and said that Muslims could be loyal Swiss citizens. Yet, actions speak louder than words. In several Western cities, mosques, Islamic centers, and places housing refugees from Muslim lands have been vandalized or sprayed with graffiti. After the 2001 attacks in New York, Sikhs who wear turbans and keep a beard were targeted because they looked like Muslims. Many Muslims have encountered verbal abuse and threats in public places or received online hate messages. Terrorist attacks against Muslims generate further copycat attacks and an increase in hate crimes against Muslims. After the September 11 twin-tower attacks in the United States in 2001, hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs increased 1,600% from 28 incidents in 2000 to 481 in 2001. A smaller but still substantial increase in hate crimes occurred after the 7/7 London bombings in July 2005. (Wilson 2020). There were 950 anti-Muslim criminal offences in Germany in 2019, a rise of about 5% from the previous year. Two Muslims were killed and 33 injured in these attacks. According to research done by a US think tank, between 2012 and 2018, there were a total of 763 anti-Muslim incidents at the municipal and state level in the US. These included passage of anti-Sharia legislation, moves to oppose refugee resettlement, measures against mosques, Muslim cemeteries and schools, anti-Muslim statements by elected and appointed officials, and hate incidents against mosques and Islamic centers. Anti-Muslim prejudice prevails across the political spectrum. For the left, it is a question of upholding secular values and human rights, for the liberals it is a matter of defending democracy and for the right, it is to protect the Judeo-Christian culture. Politicians talk deceptively. While declaring they are not against Islam, they pass measures that in practice mainly affect Muslims. The presidency of Donald Trump in the US raised the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim fervor to a higher pitch. His ban on immigration from seven Muslim nations, upheld by the Supreme Court, complemented the tirades against Islam by evangelical ministers, a key part of his political base. Right wing politicians across Europe and the US are emboldened to institute anti-Islamic measures. Militant white nationalists and neo-Nazis are catalyzed to mount violent attacks on Muslims, mosques, synagogues and immigrants. One report claims that there has been ‘a 320% rise in racist terrorism in the West in the past five years’. Recent serious acts of anti-Muslim violence in the West include: Fatal shooting of an Imam and his coworker near their mosque in New York in August 2019. Shootings of Muslims in and near a mosque that wounded three and killed one in Zurich in December 2016. Six worshippers were killed and 19 injured in a gun attack in a mosque Quebec City in January 2017. Two men were stabbed to death and one was injured in an incident involving hate slurs against Muslim women in Oregon in May 2017. A van driven into a group of worshippers exiting a mosque killed one and injured nine in London in June 2017. In August 2017, mosques in several Spanish cities were firebombed and desecrated and Muslims were attacked. A gunman attacked worshippers in two mosques killing 49 people in New Zealand in March 2019. In February 2020, a gunman opened fire at people of immigrant background, mostly Muslim Turks, in two bars in Hanau, Germany and killed nine. Islamophobia in France + Of the 67 million people in France, about 47% are Christian, mostly Catholic; 40% profess no religion; 9% are Muslim, mostly Sunni; and Buddhists and Jews are 1% each. A smattering of other religions makes up the rest. The six million Muslims in France form the largest Muslim minority in Europe. Most originate from Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. Settled here for three or more generations, they generally are well integrated within the French society. In recent years, turbulence in North Africa and the Middle East has brought new migrants from those regions. Once upon a time, Catholicism dominated political and general life in the nation. But now religion is a private affair, banished from the political arena. The French Constitution upholds religious freedom but disfavors religious influence in public and political affairs. It forbids state interference in religious activities. The French take a particular pride in the firm secular disposition of their nation. Any depiction of the role of Islam and Muslims in France has to consider the history of French colonial ventures. Starting in the mid-seventeenth century, trade ventures for agricultural goods and minerals, engagement in the Atlantic slave trade and subsequent military conquests laid the basis for the French empire. By the start of the 20th century, France had colonized or dominated 35% of Africa, key areas in the Middle East, and parts of the Americas and Asia. Its African colonies or semi-colonies included Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia. French colonialism was impelled by thirst for valued commodities, fertile land and secure markets. A primary goal was to attain strategic advantage against rival imperial powers. The colony provided a lucrative home for the settlers from France. The national motto of France—liberty, equality and fraternity—applied in a superficial manner in the colonies. A colonial subject who learned French, got educated, adopted French etiquette and cultural norms, and espoused loyalty to France was in principle eligible for French citizenship with full rights like any other citizen. In practice, it was an option for a miniscule minority. The exceedingly low level of investment in education and poor opportunities for good jobs made it virtually impossible for the rest. French language literacy rates in most African French colonies in the 1950s were between 1% and 5%. The policy of assimilation disparaged local languages, traditions, culture and religion. As a precondition for assimilation, the ‘native’ had to be cleansed off ‘backward’ ideas and practices and civilized. A reasonable implementation of this policy required large scale investment in modern, French-oriented education in the colonies. But this was never in the cards. Education for the local people was largely to train the manpower required for the colonial system to function. It had specific goals: Training clerks and junior civil servants, skilled craftsmen and technicians, agricultural and veterinary extension workers, medical assistants and primary school teachers. Opportunities for higher education for the locals were few and far in between. N’ëtes-vous donne pas jolie? Dévoilez-vous (Are you not pretty? Reveal yourself!) A Colonial Poster from French-ruled Algeria Local cultures were actively disparaged. Catholicism and French language were promoted over local religions and indigenous languages. Missionaries trained priests and teachers who spread a pro-colonial outlook. Where prevalent, Islam, Islamic practices and Arabic were placed on the chopping block. The aim was not to create a potential French citizen but a colonial subject loyal to France. The campaign in Algeria with the ostensible goal of emancipating Algerian women is a case in point. They were urged to discard the traditional, full body length haik, use makeup and dress in the Western style. Besides placing anti-haik posters in public places, public ceremonies in which some Algerian women unveiled themselves and burned the haik were held. Wives of French settlers went around harassing haik wearing women. But Algerian women were not duped. The haik symbolized resistance to colonial cultural norms. Wearing it expressed national identity. It turned into a tool in the anti-colonial struggle as women and men activists of the National Liberation Front wore it to conceal documents and weapons. Activist women changed to Western dress to escape the attention of the French military. For the majority in the colonies, assimilation meant low wages from long hours of back breaking work, low prices for the goods they produced and unfair taxation. Forced labor persisted even after slavery was abolished. Any transgression invited brutal penalties. Collective expression of resistance was met with bullets and batons. The colonized person had little recourse to due process and justice. [Uprisings] initiated by those fighting for France in the World Wars with the promise of independence were violently suppressed. The five-century colonial period and wars of independence in the [French colonies in Africa] killed more than two million Africans. (Ozcan 2019). Despite the use of massive force and massacres, the struggle for freedom was unstoppable. One after another French colony attained political autonomy. Nonetheless, France instituted post-colonial arrangements in the military, political, economic and financial sectors to assure its continued control over the affairs of the former colony. It left behind laws, a central bureaucracy and local authorities acclimatized to domination and control, not consent and accountability. The post-colonial civil service, police and army were trained in the elitist, overbearing tradition of the colonial era. A system adept at staging rigged elections and disregarding the will of the people came into existence. The inherited structures of economic dependency and power of the World Bank and IMF ensured that the former colonies remained within the ambit Western capital. The French established a virtually exclusive neo-colonial zone with the inauguration of Francophone Africa. Comprising seventeen former colonies of France, it has a common currency (CFA Franc) under the rubric of the French treasury. French is the official language across the zone. The judicial and state structure, education system, and cultural institutions operate under a strong French influence. Agence Francaise de Developpement dominates foreign aid programs and French scholarships for higher education factors into the perpetuation of French hegemony. As a scholar has noted: Through its cultural imperialism the common imprint of France upon this immense region is expressed in the French language, as well as its accompanying traditions of law, administration, and education. Through an ingenious system of bilateral cooperation accords, France has installed privileged relations with its former African colonies in culture, education, natural resources, aid, trade, finance, security, defense, and a common currency. Through continuous military interventions, France has perpetuated its strategic armed dominance. (Yates 2018). French companies derive monopolistic benefits from oil, uranium, mining, agricultural and forestry products in the ex-colonies. Pliant but dictatorial, corrupt rulers who sign preferential contracts for French companies enjoy armed and financial French support while unfriendly rulers were deposed by military intervention, fomenting coups and financial blackmail. Unpopular, corrupt regimes survived only through French support. Many French leaders maintained secretive personal ties with the local elite which permitted the latter to stash their ill-gotten wealth in French cities. France established semi-permanent military bases, trained and supplied weapons to national armies, and entered into so-called defense agreements that allowed it to intervene in African affairs as and when it desired. France maintains a 45,000-strong rapid deployment force for its external ventures. It backed and armed the genocidal regime in Rwanda before, during and after that horrid event. French forces conducted 33 military operations in Africa in the five-year period from 1997 to 2002, allegedly to preserve ‘democratic values’. In the Cold War, it was to shield Africa from ‘communism’ and now it is to protect Africa from ‘terrorism’ or undertake ‘humanitarian intervention’. And now such interventions are done in conjunction with UN forces. But in every case, the real goal is to maintain French and Western neo-colonial hegemony. These operations, which often consume many civilian lives, bring about temporary stability but in the long run perpetuate the underlying conflict. Algeria + Despite its large oil wealth, Algeria by the 1990s was a society of haves and have-nots, with many unemployed and semi-employed youth. In 1990, the Islamic Salvation Front, a legitimate political party with an Islamic agenda, secured more than 50% of the votes in the municipal elections. Its economic program stressed support for the private sector, especially local small-scale enterprises and Islamic banking. Foreign investment would be curtailed. It stood for replacing French with Arabic in higher education and official affairs and reducing French cultural influence. Its social program entailed greater segregation between men and women in public life and more incentives for women to work from home. The Front’s essentially nationalist, pro-capitalist agenda wrapped in a religious garb gave it a large base of support among the youth and small-scale traders. By 1992, it was on the verge of winning the national elections. But the military intervened. Staging a coup, it annulled the elections, banned the Islamic party and imprisoned its leaders in remote locations in the Saharan desert. As France and the US gave backing to the military, the Front took up arms. A decade-long civil war followed in which nearly 60,000 people were killed. The Algerian military was responsible for most of the deaths. As a leader of the Front noted, the democratic standards of the West are flexible enough to designate an unconstitutional military coup as a pro-active democratic measure. Islamophobia in France, mostly directed at Muslim immigrants from North Africa, has roots in the French colonial and neo-colonial interventions in Africa. Burka, Niqab and Hijab + In the past three decades, wearing Islamic dress, especially the burka (full body covering loose dress), niqab (face covering) and hijab (head scarf), has taken center stage in the French cultural and political discourse. With a few exceptions, it is now illegal to wear full face covering or full body dress in public areas in France. Three girls were expelled from school for wearing the hijab in 1989. Two Muslim schoolgirls suffered a similar fate in 2005. Muslim women wearing dresses deemed ‘Islamic’ or ‘too long’ have been denied university entrance. Placement of religious symbols in schools is also against the law. The burka-hijab ban is supported by rightist, centrist, leftist and radical socialist parties. It was also upheld by the European Court for Human Rights. Apart from the Muslim community, opponents are few. Dress bans, with varied levels of restrictions, are now in force in thirteen European nations, five African countries and Sri Lanka and Turkey. India is the latest to enter the scene. But they have been criticized by the UN Committee on Human Rights and Amnesty International as infringements on the rights of religious and personal freedom. The burka-hijab ban supporters in France claim that it is a security related move that also liberates women and protects the secular character of the state. But the reality is that while adhering to Islamic practices to a degree, Muslims in France largely abide by the norms of French society in terms of attire, cuisine, language, education and musical preference, and usually espouse loyalty to France. Very few Islamic schools exist in France, and they are vastly outnumbered by Catholic schools. Of the around two million Muslim teens and women, it is estimated that only between 500 and 2000 wear the burka. If the number is rising, it is a symbol of protest against the externally imposed dress codes. France, a global leader in fashion and style, has also been the source of fashionable innovations in Muslim dress style. These include the Burkini, a body-length swimwear, and the sports hijab, used by female runners and athletes. Presumably, the designers fashioned them as profitable ventures into the Muslim world. But they elicited mostly negative reactions from the French public. In a place where virtual nudity in public is tolerated, these beautiful, colorful dresses caused outrage. Several municipalities banned the Burkini in public swimming pools. The company making the sports hijab was compelled to cease the production line due to public pressure. Adult Muslim women accompanying children on school trips are not allowed to wear a headscarf. Were it not for the angst they generate, these actions seem comical, especially in a nation that prides itself as a champion of personal and religious freedom. The Charlie Hebdo affair + Terrorism is not new to France. Over the 20th century, assassinations and planting explosive devices in public places were done by far right, far left, ethnic-separatist, pro-Algerian and pro-colonial groups. In 1961, a far-right pro-settler group opposing independence for Algeria bombed a Paris bound train that killed 28 and injured over 100. From the start of 2012 to the end of October 2020, there were a total 38 terrorist incidents on French soil which killed 298 persons, including some of the attackers, and injured 962. All except one were ascribed to individuals or groups with an Islamic agenda. In November 2011, Charlie Hebdo, a French left-wing satirical weekly printed a derisive image of Prophet Muhammad on its cover. In September 2012, it published cartoons showing the Prophet in a grossly indecent light. For the cartoonists and the editors, these were but expressions of their tradition of lampooning authority—political, cultural and religious—with no holds barred. For Muslims the depiction of the Prophet in human form and desecration of the Quran are grave offenses. Showing him in a pornographic manner is incalculably worse. The weekly was following the precedent set by a Danish daily which had published derogatory cartoons of the Prophet in 2005. The reaction in the Muslim world was predictable, especially in the light of the volatile geopolitical tensions created by Western imperial intrusions. A firebomb was hurled at the office of Charlie Hebdo. Three years later, an armed attack killed 12 people including the publisher and some of the cartoonists. Some of the 38 terrorist attacks between 2012 and 2020 noted above had their roots in this incident. The cartoons generated angry demonstrations and retaliatory attacks in a number of Muslim nations. French embassies, cultural centers and schools were closed in 20 countries. More than nine churches were set alight in Niger, killing ten and injuring many. There were violent protests in Algeria, Jordan and Pakistan while peaceful rallies of tens of thousands occurred in Chechnya, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Sudan. Leaders of the Western world, including French ministers, branded the cartoons as absurd and insensitive, but also defended freedom of speech. After the Charlie Hebdo office was attacked, they adopted a harsher tone. French President Sarkozy said it was an act of ‘most extreme barbarity’. Other Western leaders with the exception of the Quixotic Trump chimed in. Solidarity rallies took place across the Western world. Media outlets raised funds for the families of the victims and the government of France awarded 1 million Euros to the magazine. Nearly five million copies of the next issue of Charlie Hebdo were sold, up from the usual 60,000 copies. But it was hardly the end of this sad affair. In September 2020, Charlie Hebdo reprinted its earlier caricature of the Prophet. A couple of Muslim fanatics subsequently staged a knife attack on the magazine’s office in Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron defended the right of Charlie Hebdo to publish the cartoons and opined that Islamist radicalism posed an ‘existential’ threat to France. Accordingly, on 1 October 2020, he unveiled a new policy to protect France and its secular values from this threat. Focusing on Islam and Islamic institutions, the policy was based on the premise that Islam ‘is in crisis all over the world today’. Thereby, it sought to reform Islam and liberate Islamic practice in France from ‘foreign influences’. For a start, it would criminalize advocacy of religious separatism and give local and central authorities more powers to deal with religious extremism. By funding relevant research and educational programs, it would promote knowledge of Islamic civilization and culture. There would be strict controls on mosques, Islamic institutions and schools, including monitoring of their funding. To be eligible for state funds, Islamic institutions would have to abide by a ‘secular charter’. A special certificate program to train Muslim imams would be started. Groups promoting ideas not in line with the values of the French republic would be shut down. And more money would be invested to improve the living conditions in marginalized locales, where most French Muslims resided. The Minister for Interior suggested closure of the separate halal and kosher meats sections in supermarkets. Macron’s unvarnished defense of Charlie Hebdo and his new policy had fatal consequences. It nurtured a cycle of terrorist attacks and counterattacks. One incident began in October 2020, when schoolteacher Samuel Paty showed the disparaging pictures of the Prophet to his class. He presented it as a case of freedom of speech. But some unhappy students complained. A Muslim fanatic was incensed, and beheaded Paty. Later that month, two women worshippers and the church warden were fatally stabbed or beheaded in a church in Nice. And more attacks ensued. Macron’s words also provoked palpable anger in Muslim nations. People viewed his project to ‘reform’ their faith as a serious affront. The vast majority of Muslims do not condone terrorism. Muslim leaders regularly condemn it. Now the blame for the vile deeds of a minority was being place on their faith. To them Macron’s rhetoric was reminiscent of France’s behavior in the colonial era. Demonstrations occurred in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Gaza, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey and the UAE. An Iranian newspaper branded Macron the ‘Demon of Paris’. The French flag and Macron’s effigy were set alight outside the French embassy in Baghdad. Calls to boycott French goods and impose sanctions on France echoed loudly in the Muslim world; French ambassadors were called to the foreign ministries; French websites were hacked; and security alerts for French citizens abroad were issued. Turkish President Recep T Erdogan publicly cast doubt on the mental status of Emanuel Macron, raising the already high tension between France and Turkey to a feverish pitch. Political leaders often react against terrorist violence by exaggerating its scope and danger, curtailing civil rights, pushing for militarized policing within the nation and launching military assaults abroad. It was no different in France. In the drive to defend ‘democratic values,’ not just a tiny fanatic fringe but Islam and Muslims were viewed as grave dangers to the ‘civilized’ world. When the mayor of Nice demanded the removal of ‘Islamo-fascism,’ Macron flew to Nice and promised stern action against mosques and Muslim groups promoting violence. High level security meetings transpired. Battle lines were drawn and a new fault line in the confrontation with Islam and Islamic extremism opened up. Police raids affected Muslim communities, educational and charitable groups, mosques and other sites without regard to linkage with criminal activity. More than 50 Islamic organizations were affected. A senior state minister declared that it was aimed to ‘send a message’. A group that criticized Paty was immediately banned and even humanitarian agencies were slated for closure on spurious grounds. Encouraged by these actions, right-wing vigilantes attacked mosques. As Muslims received more discriminatory treatment and insults, many citizens began to equate Islam with terrorism. When Muslims marched in Paris in protest against Islamophobia, they were roundly condemned by virtually the entire spectrum of French political parties—from the radical right to the socialists and communists. Only a rare few stood on their side. Rather than promote a tolerant, harmonious and secular social order in which people would be free to practice their faith in the private domain, the policies and actions of the Macron administration further polarized French society, embittered both sides and made French Muslims second class citizens. But Macron is not alone. By 2020 adorning the burka in public places was illegal in six more European nations—Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany and Latvia. In 2019, the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec became the first jurisdiction in North America to pass a law banning civil servants from wearing at work clothing that symbolize a religious faith. It affects teachers, law enforcement officers and other employees. The prohibited items include Islamic head coverings and scarves, Jewish skullcaps and Sikh turbans. Muslim women who wear face veils would not be able to access state funded services including public transportation, medical and childcare, public education and training, and other social services. Though a judge temporarily blocked the law from taking effect, it set an ominous precedent: Prohibiting specific religious dress is a textbook example of religious persecution. …. The message is an authoritarian one: Dress, think, believe like us — if you don’t, you are not one of us. (Maimona 2019). The passage of the law prohibiting religious symbols did not affect the large golden crucifix that hangs atop the speaker’s chair in the State Assembly. It was left untouched under the rationale was that it was a cultural, not a religious symbol. The claim that the French state is secular and neutral towards religions has glaring loopholes. For nearly a hundred years, the appointment of senior Catholic bishops is done through a process of consultation between the Vatican and the French government, with the latter having a veto power. In that respect, it is unique among the nations of the West. The French government also influences the employment of administrators in church institutions and teachers in Catholic schools. The French Catholic hierarchy usually holds a major presence in political and electoral affairs. In the 2017 election, Macron and his main opponent, Marine Le Pen of the extreme right National Front, vied for the Catholic vote and visited churches. The main Catholic grouping comprising of thirty-eight organizations came out against Le Pen but did not directly endorse Macron because of his support for measures that undermined ‘family values’. Still, Macron was endorsed by La Croix, a popular Catholic newspaper. And once elected, the head of the bishop’s conference in France gave him a hearty welcome. That Macron had run on a neoliberal agenda of cutting corporate taxes and reducing public services, an agenda hardly in conformity with the church’s call for combatting poverty, was set aside. The relationship with the Catholic church together with Macron’s new policy to control Islam in France and his government’s actions after the recent terrorist attacks do not signify a secular state independent of religious considerations. But rather, they reflect the opportunism of the French political establishment that uses religion when needed to further its agenda. The Yellow Vests + Certain interest groups welcome the Western War on Terror. Its rhetoric and dragnet manner radicalize Muslim youth and generate recruits for extremist groups. It is a boon for security agencies, the military, suppliers of equipment, weapons, and all manner of battle hardware from drones to advanced aircraft and naval gear. Many sectors in the economy face fluctuating markets but stocks of companies associated with the War on Terror are safe investments. The security sector is a source of well-paid jobs. For the politicians, it serves as a diversion from major problems in society, problems which their neo-liberal policies have created and for which they cannot offer viable solutions. But undercurrents of opposition to these policies also persist among the people. In November 2018, an energetic mass movement called Yellow Vests burst onto the French political arena. Spread out across French towns and cities, it did not have a central leadership. All members wore yellow vests but essentially operated independently. Saturday was the day to block traffic, march boisterously, occupy public places and crossroads and make their voices heard. With between 100,000 and 200,000 young and old, low income and middle class, workers, farmers, self-employed, professionals, unemployed and retirees taking to the street, normal economic activity was disrupted on that day. The vast majority protested civilly and peacefully. Their demands resonated with the French public: reduction of rents and fuel tax, more funds for education and health care, protection of retirement benefits and worker rights, and grants for small farmers. They also rallied against corporate and state-controlled media outlets which unfairly vilified them and blocked genuinely alternative views. In sum, they opposed the neo-liberal program of privatization, unfair taxation, defunding of public services that Macron and his predecessors had enacted. It had made the cost of living exceedingly onerous. Despite their intrusive tactics, they won support from three quarters of the French public, rivalling that enjoyed by Macron. People gave them food, water and money. A movement formed via the social media became a nationwide political block operating with diverse modalities. Misinformation campaign and repressive efforts—tear gas, flash-bombs, beatings, serious injuries, mass arrests, unfair trials, stiff fines and jail terms—notwithstanding, they stood strong and unbowed for over six months, and drew support from environmentalists, feminists, student unions and eventually, the major trade union in France. But this vibrant movement was weakened by the intrusion of Black Block anarchists, far-right militants and possibly agent provocateurs into their mix. Adorning face masks, they looted shops, defaced monuments, damaged offices and violently confronted the police. Their destructive tactics gave the media and officialdom reasons to demonize the movement as a whole and gave the police an excuse to react with tear gas and batons to contain the ensuing chaos. The Yellow Vests posed the strongest political challenge faced by President Macron. After initially trying to appease them, he portrayed them as a hardline, extremist, anti-Semitic mob that was a major threat to the French way of life. At one point, he considered imposing a nationwide state of emergency. The Yellow Vests had a glaring weak spot. It was overwhelmingly white. Apart from rare individuals and organizations, non-white marginal groups and immigrants—mostly Muslims, people even more affected by neo-liberal reforms—did not join in. In part, it was because they were already subdued by the strong-arm tactics the police often employed against them. Though minorities form six percent of the French population, they constitute about 30% of the prison population. But the main factor behind their low level of participation in the Yellow Vests movement stemmed from the effective manner by which neo-liberal governments and their pliant media have managed to divide people along racial, ethnic and religious lines. Such a division was also reflected in a few incidents of racist abuse in Yellow Vests protest marches. Viewed in this context, the attacks by fanatic Muslims provide a needed diversionary respite for the establishment. It is deployed, as the words and tactics of Macron illustrate, to further militarize the society and undermine the liberal values the politicians claim to defend. It serves to score points against political foes like the Yellow Vests and Marine Le Pen. Terrorism and abuse by the security forces complement and feed into each other in a deadly spiral. Often, it is a rationale for brutal military campaigns abroad. Islamophobia is a key pillar on which the trend towards plutocratic authoritarianism in the West rests. It is not a fringe phenomenon but an embedded aspect of the neoliberal system, a part and parcel of the imperial doctrine of clash of civilizations. 8.18 INTRA-ISLAMIC CONTRADICTIONS Islamophobia, the discriminatory practices associated with it, and the acts of terrorism perpetrated by fanatic Muslims against non-Muslims are but one facet of the problems faced by Muslim communities. A more lethal problem is the conflict between different traditions and sects of Islam. For the most part, it is a three-way antagonism between Sunni Islam, specifically Salafism-Wahhabism, Shia Islam and Sufism. It also embroils other minor denominations of Islam like the Ahmadiyya, Druze and Yazidi. Brewing over the past two decades, these antagonisms show no signs of abating. The discrimination suffered by the Ahmadiyya from other Muslims was described in Chapter 3. And above, we noted the brutal attacks by IS forces on several minority Islamic sects in Iraq. In this section, we delve further into attacks against Sufis and Shias by Salafist movements. Sufism has a presence wherever Muslim communities exist, but it has a wide following in Afghanistan, the Balkan nations, Central Asia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey. The intra-religious tensions induced by the growing influence of Wahhabism has occasioned numerous attacks on Sufis as well. We note some recent incidents of such attacks. Pakistan: Sufi norms and spiritual practices are popular among both Shia and Sunni Muslims in Pakistan. Among them are weekly visits to holy shrines and tombs of venerated Pirs, prayers and prolonged recitations of devotional poetry. Qawwali music and dance are central to some Sufi orders. But Sufi practices are strongly disapproved by the Salafi influenced fundamentalists. From 2005 to 2020, a total of 29 attacks against Sufis using suicide bombers, explosives, rocket attacks and shootings took some 210 lives and injured nearly 560. Their central targets were eminent Sufi community and religious leaders, poets, musicians and faith healers. A few were kidnapped and beheaded. Some attacks occurred during Islamic festivals. Numerous Sufi shrines and tombs were also blown up, vandalized or burned. Two militant local segments of the Sunni Islam and IS have been responsible for most of the attacks. Egypt: With over 70 Sufi orders in the nation, more than a third of Egyptian adults are registered Sufis. Millions more ascribe to Sufism in some way and participate in Sufi festivals. Young, well-educated Egyptian Muslims gravitate towards the mystical, poetic and devotional Sufi rituals. Adherence to Sufi philosophy has for long been customary among Egyptian academics and university students. Of the many Sufi festivals and ceremonies held annually, some draw over a million people at a single location. The relationship between the State and the Sufi orders has swung from hostility, neutrality to official endorsement. Presently, all Sufi orders operate under the Supreme Council for Sufi Orders which is answerable to the Office of the President of Egypt. This is an aspect of the general policy whereby all mosques and religious bodies in Egypt are supervised by the state. As noted above, numerous terrorist attacks have occurred in Egypt since 2005. They have targeted foreign tourists in resorts, hotels and shopping malls, a commercial airplane, judges, police and military convoys, and Christians in churches, buses, and the streets. A new chapter in this saga was opened in November 2017 when over twenty gunmen bearing the IS flag threw bombs and opened fire on worshippers at a Sufi mosque in the Sinai Peninsula. More than 310 were killed and over 120 were injured. The attack was widely condemned within and outside of Egypt, in Muslim and other nations. Days of national mourning were observed in Egypt and Turkey. The Egyptian air force later carried out massive bombings in areas of Sinai where the terrorist groups are suspected to have their bases. The number of civilians killed and injured in these air raids has not been reported. In the years prior to this incident, about 15 Sufi shrines were vandalized in Egypt. Libya after the Western imperial overthrow of the Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 has become a theatre of internecine carnage among competing groups backed by Western powers and regional nations including Egypt and Turkey. Among other things, Islamic militants have vandalized many Sufi shrines and graves. An unknown number of people have died in the process. Mali is one of the nations destabilized in the aftermath of the Western intervention in Libya. Energizing the Islamic movement fighting for regional autonomy, it turned Mali into a deadly battle ground with both rebels and governmental forces shedding pools of civilian blood, causing much damage and committing war crimes. The latter gets support from European nations. French and British jets have bombed rebel positions and French troops are aiding governmental forces. The rebels, who declared loyalty to Al Qaeda, have a Salafist agenda that aims to create an Islamic state. In particular, they are singularly hostile to the vibrant Sufi cultural tradition that has existed in Mali for several centuries. In 2012, they caused extensive damage to more than half of the ancient mausoleums of Sufi saints scattered over Timbuktu and ransacked its ancient library of priceless age-old Islamic texts. Similarly, when the Islamic group Al-Shabab took control of Somalia, it prohibited Sufi rituals and destroyed Sufi shrines. Tunisia + Tunisia is a constitutionally Islamic state. Freedom of religion is protected by law and the state is mandated to promote religious tolerance. But the national president has to be a Muslim. Over 99% of the population of about 12 million is Muslim. Nearly three out of five are Sunni and some two out of five regard themselves as non-denominational Muslims. Shias form a tiny minority. While Arabic is the official language, French plays a crucial role in education, media and state affairs. Tunisia underwent a fundamental change when after some two centuries of Ottoman domination, it was invaded by a large French force in 1881 and made a French protectorate. Over 250,000 French and Italians settled in the country in the next 50 years. Colonial rule ended after sustained internal struggles within the context of the wave of decolonization sweeping Africa after WW II led to independence in 1956. Habib Bourguiba was the first President of Tunisia. But autonomy came with limitations. The society was dominated by a Westernized elite and a wealthy class dominated society. Repressive laws and security institutions of the colonial era remained in place. While the relationship between his government and France was strained, Bourguiba cultivated strong ties with the West. Distancing himself from Pan-Arabism and the anti-imperialist governments in Algeria, Egypt and Libya and inviting foreign investment, he became a valued ally of the US in North Africa and the Middle East. Yet, Bourguiba launched a modernization drive with progressive features. A secularized state-run education system focusing on science and French was established and existing Islamic schools and university were brought under its purview. Sharia law courts were dismantled, property owned by Islamic foundations was nationalized and the Islamic Ulema was absorbed into the civil service. Family law was markedly transformed. Inter-faith unions were permitted, polygamy became illegal, marriage needed consent from both parties and divorce could be initiated by the wife as well as the husband. Veils were not permitted in schools and colleges. Sale of contraceptives was allowed and ten years on, abortion was legalized. The Western media and leaders projected Tunisia an easy-going place run by an enlightened modernizer whose economic policies were a model for others to emulate stood. In 2008, he won praise from French President Sarkozy for his ‘improved’ human rights record. It was pictured as a stable, peaceful land of splendid beaches and resorts, a prime vacation. The tourists spent their time in luxurious enclaves guarded from intrusion by the common folk by the police. Few ventured outside. Their impression of Tunisia bore little resemblance to the real Tunisia. Real Tunisia was a democracy in name only. Under President Bourguiba and then under his successor Ben Ali, a ruthless regime prevailed for nearly six decades. They expounded socialism but practiced bureaucratic, crony capitalism. The regime gave lucrative contracts to Western corporations in tourism and other sectors. Press freedom was non-existent. Political dissent was harshly suppressed. Torture was commonplace. Ben Ali and his family looted the national treasury. Cronyism and bribery flourished. Thus, using soft loans from state banks, members of his clan and a family related to his wife Leila came to own a chain of hotels, and communication, real estate, and transport companies. Like Imelda Marcos of the Philippines, Leila Ali had a depraved penchant for luxury shopping in Western capitals. She once bought a coat from Paris worth $33,000. A product of military training in France and the USA, Ben Ali was a firm ally of the West. From his time as the director of state security and throughout his reign, he worked closely with the CIA. The modernization program bestowed more benefits to the middle and upper social segments. A broad-based modernization did not take hold under the Western backed neo-colonial tyranny. Garnering few benefits, a typical family struggled to make ends meet. Especially under Ben Ali, life became intolerable and excessively restrictive for the majority. People wanted jobs and their due share in the nation’s wealth but lived in fear and economic insecurity. Public anger simmered under the surface. The fuse was lit in December 2010 when Mohamed Bouazizi, a vendor hardly making ends meet, publicly immolated himself after being harshly accosted by the police and failing to get his complaint heard. As the news of the sad incident spread, street protests ensued. The brutal response of the police only led to more protests. In a few weeks, the momentum became so large and vocal that Ben Ali had no option but to flee to Saudi Arabia with his family. As a last act of perfidy, he took about 1.5 tons of gold from the state central bank with him. Tunisians rejoiced as democratic rule was instituted and restrictions on the press were lifted. Now they could conduct their lives and trade without having to bribe an official at each step. As a progressive constitution that protected basic human rights, gender rights and freedoms was enacted, a competitive electoral process unfolded. Tunisia was the spark of a series of regional uprisings now known as the Arab Spring. But it was not a revolution. Ben Ali was gone but the system he had instituted remained. Virtually all the political parties carried on the neoliberal economic agenda. The repressive state structure and institutions was intact. Apart from a few changes, those who had implemented Ben Ali’s edicts retained their jobs. The Truth and Dignity Commission with the mandate to investigate human rights abuses since 1955 was established in 2014. It conducted extensive inquiries, held open hearings and tackled over 60,000 complaints. At the end, it issued a detailed report and referred many cases to the courts. Yet, no action was taken. To this day, Tunisian courts have not delivered a single sentence in any of the TDC cases. What stood in the way of the commission was the fact that the current Tunisian state is in many ways just the continuation of the Ben Ali regime. (Amri 2019). As officials and associates of the Ben Ali regime occupied key positions in the state, governing party and the parliament, economic policies of the past persisted. Unforgiving pressure from the international financial agencies and Western governments ensured persistence of the austerity policies of the past. Western companies and local moguls reaped major rewards as wages and incomes stagnated, unemployment rose, and inflation mounted. For the commoner, life became more insecure. Corruption practices were frequently denounced after the revolution, yet the post-2011 governments failed to address it. What is more, in 2017, the Tunisian parliament passed a law which granted amnesty to all officials accused of corruption under the toppled dictator, despite a nation-wide campaign denouncing it. As a result, the economic elite of the Ben Ali era has remained just as rich and just as powerful in post-revolution Tunisia. (Amri 2019). In the 2011 uprising, people had imbibed the neoliberal propaganda that free market, elections, and entrepreneurship were their salvation. But the right to vote and freedom of speech did not put food on the table. Despite numerous complaints by human rights groups, the expanded police force made arbitrary arrests and brutalized citizens at the slightest provocation. The police and the courts ignored the fine clauses in the Constitution with impunity. As a wise man had opined a while ago: Those who make revolution by half measures are only digging a grave for themselves. Saint Just People wondered what it had been for. Frustration mounted and social tension once more intensified. Politics fractured while the nation searched for a new direction. The wealthy and the old guard banded into a party of their own and two types of opposition movements took root. Nine left oriented parties, including the Marxist Tunisian Workers Party, formed an electoral alliance under the banner of the Popular Front. Its program attracted a good many Tunisians, but two of its main leaders were assassinated in 2013, likely by state agents. The Front faces an uphill battle. +++ With Islam the predominant religion, according to a major global survey, 58% of the Tunisian Muslims self-identified as Sunni, 40% as Just a Muslim and 2% did not respond. There are some 5,000 mosques, many of distinctly elegant design and construction in Tunisia. Nearly 4,200 are major mosques where Friday prayers are held. The oldest and largest mosque was built by an Arab general in the city of Kairouan some 50 years after Islam was brought here (670 CE). With stupendous prayer halls, courtyards and minarets covering over 9,000 square meters, it is deemed the most majestic Islamic structure in North Africa. The Great Mosque of Kairouan – External and Internal Views Tunisian Islam shares with Islam in Egypt and Mali a long history of intimate engagement with Sufism. Sufi missionaries had helped entrench Islam in the area by establishing charity and educational centers. Some Sufi orders had exercised local civil authority. With nearly half as many Sufi holy sites as mosques, Sufism is an integral aspect of Islamic practice in the nation today. Many locales are named after Sufi saints, and a large portion of Tunisians trace their family lineage to a Sufi saint. Formal membership in a Sufi order is small, but Sufism is a popular practice. Some 45% of Tunisians of all ages attend a ceremony at a Sufi shrine once a year or more often. Until the 2011 uprising, the state had strictly controlled religious practice and institutions. The politicians espoused loyalty to Islam but constrained religious freedom. The leaders of Islamic parties were tortured and exiled. Tunisia was hailed by the West for its secular modernization and for containing ‘Islamic terrorism’. After 2011, controls over religion were reduced but not abolished. All mosques are registered with and regulated by the government. Mosques are not permitted to engage in political activity and the government also controls the curricula of Islamic schools. The relatively relaxed atmosphere brought three Islamist parties into the political arena. Two are Salafist parties. Disdaining secular modernization, they demand an Islamic state. Owing to lavish funding from Saudi Arabia, Salafism has spread in the country. About a fifth of the mosques are now run by clerics who espouse the message of Wahhabism. They find a receptive ear among the youth frustrated by the lack of opportunities for advancement. When the young folk hear that modernization and Westernization are the causes of their misery, they tune in. The majority of Salafists favor constitutional politics. But imbibing the message of Al-Qaeda, IS and other militant groups, a minority has taken up arms. A suicide attack using a truck filled with gas canisters on a synagogue in 2002 which killed some 20 people, mostly German tourists, and injured over 30 was one of the few cases of terrorist attacks on civilian targets in Tunisia. The number of militant attacks has gone up since 2015. Most of them have targeted security and military personnel. But two, both in 2015, were high profile assaults on civilians. Three gunmen took hostages at the National Museum in Tunis. Some 20 people died and over 50 were injured in this attack. In another incident, a well-armed gunman stormed two hotels in a tourist resort, killing 40 people and injuring about 40. Most of the victims of these incidents were European tourists. With radical clerics condemning Western military assaults in the Islamic world, Tunisia has become a fertile recruiting ground for IS, Al-Qaeda and militant groups operating in the Middle East and North Africa. Many have teamed up with the Islamic groups fighting against French intervention in Mali and the Western backed government of Algeria. Several thousand Tunisian fighters are involved in the fight against the government of Syria. Sufism is another key aspect of the post-2011 religious environment in Tunisia. It survived the tight controls on religion under Bourguiba and Ben Ali, went underground, and now has resurfaced as a popular pursuit. Though formal membership in Sufi orders is only around 300,000, some two out of five Tunisians often visit Sufi shrines. More ascribe to Sufi philosophy and rituals. An organized network of 30,000 Sufi devotees takes care of the multitude of Sufi shrines and mausoleums spread across the land. The periodic Sufi ceremonies held at these places attract large numbers of Tunisians. The Sufi orders provide meals to the attendees and shelter needy people from nearby areas. Sufism is a collective way of attaining emotional balance in these difficult, unsettled days for Tunisians. The theological flexibility, liberal attitude towards the role of women in social and religious affairs, and veneration of founding saints of Sufism does not please the Salafists. To them, it is a heretical, un-Islamic, paganist creed whose influence must be combatted. Salafi clerics sermonize against it and threaten those who practice it. And Salafist organizations assist the poor and attract followers away from Sufism. Militant Salafists vandalized or burned 40 Sufi shrines in 2012. Increased security at the shrines has decreased the number of such attacks. The tension between Sufism and Salafism remains acute. Nonetheless, Sufism remains a popular creed among all segments of the society that provides a sense of identity, unity and tolerance in turbulent times. The recrudescence of hardline Salafism, enhanced recruitment into militant groups and the resilience of Sufism are more than the products of a conflict between competing Islamic philosophies. They reflect historically shaped socio-economic and cultural contradictions, and the modern neo-colonial realities. Though people have freedom of expression, it is the World Bank and the IMF and their local functionaries that determine where the economy is headed. The old guard largely mans the security apparatuses of the state. People, notably the youth, are thereby turning to the fiery rhetoric of the Salafist preachers. Salafism does not have an economic program to counter neo-liberalism. But it infuses them with the hope that Salafist Islam will work where the other political doctrines have not. More are attracted by Sufism, but not as a means of changing the socio-political order but as a vehicle for staying emotionally afloat in a system that appears unchangeable. Life is difficult in many ways. The youth feel hopeless. Withdrawing from the social arena, people reject collective political struggle and turn to mystical sessions to assuage their troubles. A similar resurgence of Sufism under a similar socio-economic environment is evident in Turkey as well. Western commentators regard Sufism as an apolitical philosophy. While Islamophobia gathers steam in the West, they hail Sufism as a moderate, enlightened, mystical facet of Islam, an acceptable alternative to ‘Jihadism’ and ‘Political Islam’. They ignore the fact that in Tunisia, Iran and elsewhere, Islam was politicized under Western backed regimes. But Sufism in not apolitical. Historically, it was intertwined with economic and state power. Sufi orders in the past often built fortified centers, collected tax revenue, built an education system and became autonomous centers of wealth and power that the Caliphs had to reckon with. Their shrines served a dual purpose, a prayer venue and a military outpost. In the colonial era, Sufi luminaries played an important role in the civilian and armed freedom movements in many Muslim nations. More than 30 Sufi orders with a strong network of branches operated under the Ottoman Empire. The Naqshbandi order, the strongest of the lot, had a contentious relationship with the state. At times, it was promoted by the authorities and at times, it rebelled against the state. It also launched armed expeditions in the confrontations between Turkey and both Czarist and Soviet Russia. While the secular government of Kamal Ataturk imposed strict controls on Islam and Sufism in Turkey, it flourished underground. The Naqshbandi order is one of the most prominent Sufi orders in Turkey and across the world today. The three largest Sufi orders own major corporations that run schools, publish magazines and daily newspapers, control radio and TV stations and have a stake in banking and commercial concerns. The followers of the Sufi orders form a key voting bloc. Politicians compete for their support. The Sufi Gulen movement seeks to establish an Islamic state. The Turkish military, the main center of power in Turkey, has cracked down on any move to bring religion into politics. Yet, Gulen sympathizers in its ranks have staged coup attempts in a bid to take over state power. President Recep T Erdogan and his Muslim Brotherhood oriented Islamist party have made several changes in law and state structures to dilute the secular character of the Turkish Constitution. After a recent coup attempt, tens of thousands of military personnel, police officers, civil servants, journalists, teachers and academics—of secular and Sufi bent—were summarily fired. And many were imprisoned. Sufism has also had a rocky relation with the state in Shia dominated Iran, especially after the Islamic revolution of 1979. Many Sufis have faced arrest, and their shrines have been demolished. They have also organized protests against the authorities. Yet, at other times, Sufism has enjoyed the blessings of the hardline rulers, and some orders have allied themselves with the Shia theocrats in the fight against Al-Qaeda. The Iraqi Naqshbandi Sufi order was a part of the anti-US resistance after the US invasion of Iraq. Led by Saddam Hussein era army officers, its highly disciplined armed wing at one point posed a major challenge to the pro-US government forces. It cooperated with the IS forces at the outset. But later it was attacked and weakened by IS fighters, who sought to disarm it and make it submit to their Caliph. Some Kurdish fighter groups in Iraq also draw support from the Sufi orders in their areas. These examples dismantle the portrait of Sufism as an apolitical, peaceful counter to the ‘militant’ or ‘violence prone’ Islamic groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, IS and Al-Qaeda. It is at best a half-truth. Even where Sufi orders explicitly decry involvement in politics, they remain political in a profound sense of the term. Withdrawing from politics in a society facing grave problems is akin to legitimizing the existing order and accepting the authority of the leaders who violate human rights. This, for instance, is the case in present day Egypt. Many Sufis took part in the ouster of the dictator Hosni Mubarak, and many backed the election of the Muslim Brotherhood government that followed in its wake. But after facing discriminatory action from that government, they switched sides. At present, Sufism in Egypt enjoys the blessings of Abdel Al-Sisi, a former army officer who leads the nation in a brutal, dictatorial manner. Viewed as an alternative to militant Islamism, Sufi ceremonies and orders enjoy lavish state support. To the millions of Egyptians who attend, they offer a respite from the multitude of troubles of life and a solace for the profound anguish they feel at the failure to achieve the noble goals of their pro-democracy uprising. But the other Islamic activist groups including the Salafists view this withdrawal from politics as a betrayal and thereby have begun to target Sufis as well. It is as much a political conflict as it is one deriving from varying interpretations of the Quran. A similar case can be made with Westernized Sufism that has made peace with capitalism and imperialism by espousing political neutrality. The contrasting portrayal of Sufism as apolitical Islam and Salafism as political Islam is an oversimplification. Quietism that explicitly endorses an existing government also affects Salafism. During the Arab Spring, several Salafist branches opposed political activism. In Saudi Arabia, the majority of Salafist preachers are not only faithful to Wahhabism, the state doctrine, but they also regard political activism against the Saudi King and state as an un-Islamic misdeed. The morality of passivity within an unjust system, neutrality towards laws that oppress people, silence in a time of major crisis was of deep concern to Dr Martin Luther King: There comes a time when silence becomes betrayal. Martin Luther King Today humanity is afflicted with stupendous inequality, widespread poverty and misery, abject consumerism, growing authoritarianism, a lethal and spreading pandemic and disregard by the powerful for sustainability of life on the planet. In that instance, not joining hands with fellow humans to deal with these dangers is a political act, a tacit endorsement of the existing state of affairs. Prioritizing mystical experience over social justice is a political act. Quietism with political connotations is not just a feature of Sufism, Salafism and Islam but runs the gamut of all religions. 8.19 STATUS OF WOMEN The role and status of women in any religion can be interrogated at four levels. With respect to Islam, these are: Scriptures: How are the spiritual worth and role of women portrayed in the Quran, the Hadiths, stories of the life of Prophet Mohamed, the distinguished Imams and Pirs? Personal Beliefs and Conduct: Do Muslims believe in and act in ways to foster gender equality? Institutional Proclamations and Rules: Do the pronouncements and rules of the various Islamic institutions and their leaders promote gender equality? History and Social Structure: How has the role of women in Islamic societies changed over time? How was it affected by social and economic structures? Have women played an important role in Islamic history? A wide range of views and practices on these issues exists between and within Islamic denominations and sects, and between Islamic nations and legal scholars. Tackling the issue of gender equality in Islam and Muslim societies in a comprehensive manner is a tall order, beyond the scope of this book. We sum up the key points. Our presentation is predicated on the premise that any form of gender-based discrimination violates basic human rights and is unacceptable. Scriptures + There are two conflicting interpretations of what the Quran says about the role and status of women. Traditionalist clerics and theologians hold that Allah has made men superior to women. It is a divine rule that cannot be challenged or changed by human beings. Yet, men are obliged to treat women humanely and with respect, fairness, dignity. Other traditionalists say that men and women are equal but different. Verse 4:34 of the Quran is generally cited as the principal authority behind this view. Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property [for the support of women]. So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. The Quran, 4:34 (Power 2015). Another translation of the same verse reads: Men are the caretakers of women, as men have been provisioned by Allah over women and tasked with supporting them financially. And righteous women are devoutly obedient and, when alone, protective of what Allah has entrusted them with. And if you sense ill-conduct from your women, advise them ‘first’, ‘if they persist,’ do not share their beds, ‘but if they still persist,’ then discipline them ‘gently’. But if they change their ways, do not be unjust to them. Surely Allah is Most High, All-Great. Quran, 4:34 (Khattab 2020). A scholar who holds that the Quran honors men and women in an equal manner, leaves out the first two sentences and renders the same verse as: And as for those women [wives] whose protuberant behavior [nushūzahunna] you have reason to fear, reprove them [first]; then desert them in bed; then jolt them; and if thereupon they pay you heed, do not seek to harm them. Behold, Allah is certainly most High, Great! Quran, 4:34 (Al-Asi 2020). Other verses expressing more rights and higher social status for males also exist. For example, on the question of inheritance, it is decreed that: Allah commands you for your children's [inheritance]: to the male, a portion equal to that of two females. Quran, Surah Al Nisa (Ibn Kathir 2020). Liberal, reformist Islamic sheikhs and scholars and promoters of women’s rights cite verses like the following two to support the position that the Quran confers equal spiritual and practical status and rights to men and women, and thus gender inequality is un-Islamic. And for women are rights over men similar to those of men over women. Quran, 2:228. (Arif-Fear 2015). Their Lord responded to them: ‘I never fail to reward any worker among you for any work you do, be you male or female – you are equal to one another’. The Quran, 3:195. (Arif-Fear 2015). Taken together with the voluminous Hadiths and decrees of the Imams and Pirs, and different schools of Sharia law, an almost interminable room for disputation on the issue exists. Arguments range over the authoritativeness and accuracy of the translations of the Quran. Such ambiguities exist in all religions. Religion was not the primary factor behind the birth and persistence of patriarchy, and nor can it be eliminated through theological discourse. If the aim is to combat gender discrimination and attain gender equality, the focus has to be on prevalent beliefs, personal conduct, social norms, official rules and laws and the social and economic structures that underpin them. Personal beliefs and conduct + A multi-continental, large sample survey by the Pew Research Center that was reported in 2013 elicited the views on four key issues in Muslim communities: veils (37 countries), status of marriage partners (20 countries), divorce (22 countries) and inheritance (22 countries). The main questions asked, paraphrased below, elicited the following responses. Question 1: Should women have the choice to wear a veil? In 18 out of the 37 countries, the majority of respondents were against granting women the right to choose their attire. Sub-Saharan nations were the most conservative on this issue. In Nigeria and Afghanistan, only 30% accepted the right of a woman to not wear a veil. The Quran requires everyone to dress modestly but does not mention the veil. Different kinds of veils exist, and what is worn by Muslim women varies from place to place. Such beliefs are culturally rather than scripturally derived beliefs. Question 2: Can a wife disobey her husband? In 15 out of the 20 countries where the question was asked, more than 75% of the respondents supported complete subordination of the wife to the husband. It is indicative of the prevalence of die-hard patriarchy in many, if not most, Muslim nations. Question 3: Do women have the right to divorce? The right of women to initiate divorce was accepted by the majority in just 9 out of 20 countries. While in Bosnia and Kosovo, nearly 90% conceded that women had this right, in Iraq, only 14% agreed and in Malaysia, the worst performing place on this issue, only 8% did so. Question 4: Do men and women have equal inheritance rights? Granting equal inheritance rights to both genders was rejected by a majority in 11 out of 22 nations. In Tunisia and Morocco, the worst performers on this issue, only 15% of the respondents agreed to giving women equal rights to share the property of parents. The law in Morocco grants a male offspring twice the share of such property as compared to a female offspring. In Tunisia, family law has been put on a semi-Westernized footing since the 1950s. But the changes instituted by the autocrats had little impact on public views regarding the status of women in society. A further analysis of the survey data revealed that people who want Sharia law to be the law of the land tend to have negative views on granting more rights to women. The general conclusion is simultaneously bleak and hopeful. People in Islamic nations and communities often have strong patriarchal views. Even while conceding that women have the same spiritual standing in the eyes of Allah, they still see women as inferior beings. But considerable variation exists. There are Muslim majority nations where people have permissive and non-patriarchal views. Patriarchy thus results more from history, culture and economics than from religion. Possibly due to logistical and political reasons, the Pew survey did not cover the theocratic Gulf states, Saudi Arabia and Iran, where Sharia law has a firmer footing and rules of public conduct are patriarchic. It is difficult to predict what freely given responses in these nations would be. Another limitation of this survey was that in two of the 37 nations, the respondents were mostly men and in three nations, mostly women. But its findings reflect the general scholarly view on the issue. Surveys on other religion related issues in Iran, for example, have shown that many people, especially from the younger generation, do not accept the official policy. Examples from Iran, Pakistan and Yemen highlight the public perception of women’s rights in Muslim countries. Iran: Iranian law requires a woman to wear a hijab that covers all parts of her body and hair except her face. A female cyclist riding about in public with her hair uncovered was arrested in an Iranian town in October 2020. Riding on the main street and near the central mosque, her conduct aroused much anger not just from the local clerics but also from the public. A large rally was held to protest what was perceived as an insult to the Islamic dress tradition. Women in Iran have creatively adopted dress styles that try to circumvent the rigid dress code but without seeming to do so. Pakistan: Dating and associating with members of the other sex before marriage is generally frowned upon in Muslim societies. A short online video posted in May 2020 showed two girls, aged 16 and 18, in Pakistan talking to a young man in an isolated area. The family of the girls was so enraged that their two male relatives shot and killed them. It was but one case of the about 1,000 ‘honor killings’ that take place in Pakistan every year. The barbaric practice is against the law but persists because prosecution and conviction are few. Many perpetrators literally get away with murder. Yemen: Nujood Ali was born into a poor Yemeni family living in difficult circumstances. Her jobless father had two wives and 14 children. One of her elder sisters was killed and another was raped. In part to assure Nujood’s safety but mostly to secure the dowry payment of about US$ 750, her father married her off to a thirty-year old man when she was just 9. It was not an uncommon practice in Yemen. The man, who had promised not to have sexual relations with her before she menstruated, began subjecting her to horrid sexual abuse right from the first day. But Nujood was an unusually brave child. A year later, during a visit to her parent’s house, she secretly took a taxi and went to the town court to lodge her complaint and ask for divorce. Lucky to find a supportive lawyer, she secured the divorce. Her case drew national and international attention and was the subject of a best-selling book translated into many languages. The precedent it set spurred the passage of a law setting the minimum age of marriage to seventeen years. But it was not the end, for Nujood or Yemen. Nujood was forced out of her home by her father who also deprived her the money sent by the French publisher from the sale of the book about her. Her younger sister now faces a similar predicament because of a backward slide engineered by hardline conservatives. Branding the law anti-Islamic apostasy, prominent Muslim preachers raised such a degree of political clamor that the law was repealed. Underage marriage and abuse of women occur within the economic and political context. On a scale of multidimensional human suffering, Yemen today is one of the two or three worst places in the world. Nearly 85% of the population is hungry, child malnutrition abounds, and safe drinking water is a luxury. A cholera epidemic had nearly a million cases with 4,000 deaths. Dengue fever has also resurfaced. On top of that, a veritable hail of bombs, mortars and bullets has taken a massive toll on human lives since 2015. Civil war, the ensuing chaos, a dysfunctional police force and judiciary, corruption, chronic poverty and misery have virtually erased respect for basic human rights in Yemen. Across the fragmented nation, the little gains to lower the rate of child marriage made after Nujood Ali’s case have been reversed. Parents unable to feed their children, seeking dowry payment or a more secure place for their young girls are resorting to marrying them off in rising numbers. A UN humanitarian agency reported that slightly over a half of the married females in Yemen had been married before they were 18. It was estimated that the incidence of underage marriage would more than double in the coming few years. The teenage bride usually lands into a life of cruelty and despair from which escape is almost impossible. Besides suffering from various ailments affecting reproductive organs, she faces a high risk of pregnancy related complications and mortality. Her offspring are also at a greater risk for disease and early death. In early 2020, Hind, a 12-year-old Yemeni girl was informed by her father that she had to marry a 30-year old convicted drug smuggler. It transpired when she was visiting her imprisoned father. The prospective husband was incarcerated in the same prison. This was the third case of child marriage in the family. The same thing had happened to one of her sisters. Another sister had also been married at a tender age. Fortunately, Hind’s mother was able to get a court order to annul the marriage contract. Though Hind continues to get threats from the man, it was a rare victory in a desolate place. In Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation, gains in the fight against child and forced marriage have been slow. Until September 2019, the law allowed men and women who had reached the age of 21 to marry at their own volition. But for girls aged 16 to 21 and boys aged 19 to 21, parental permission was a prerequisite. Under a provision in the law, parents could seek an injunction from a religious court or municipal official to allow marriage for a girl younger than 16. For such cases, the lowest age was not specified. UNICEF surveys indicate that one out of seven females in the nation had been married before 18 and one out of a hundred, before 15. As a result, Indonesia has about 1.5 million women who at one point were child brides. The long-standing struggle by local and international human rights groups to turn this situation around received a decisive boost when the parliament amended the old marriage law in September 2020. Passed with support from religious and secular parties, the new provisions made 19 years the minimum age for marriage with parental consent and 21 years without it. The age limits were the same for girls and boys. Yet, polygamy with a maximum of four wives remains legal, though it comes with condition of equal treatment of and ability to support all the wives. At the same time, the ruling party has other designs. Since 2019, it has considered tabling a new law that, among other things, would criminalize sex outside of marriage, homosexuality and cohabitation without marriage. The proposed law includes fines for promoting contraception and jail terms for unauthorized abortions. Stuck within the draft is a clause that makes it a crime to attack ‘the honor or dignity’ of the country's president and vice-president, and insult state institutions. Associating with Marxist organizations is an offense. Taken together with continued impunity for the massive human rights violations of the past and further militarization in the name of the ‘War on Terror’, it heralds a partial return to the days of the Suharto dictatorship. Consideration of reduced revenue from the possible impact on tourist traffic from the West has, however, slowed down the legislative agenda on this front. Despite prohibitory laws, child marriages are most common in South Asia and sub-Sharan Africa. In Niger, the worst affected nation, nearly four out of five females are married before age 18. And girls are disproportionately more affected than boys. Currently, Yemen and Saudi Arabia are the only two nations in the world that do not have a legal minimum marriage age, for boys or girls. In Iran, the respective minimum marriage ages for girls and boys are 13 and 15. In Sudan, the law permits marriage for a girl as young as 10 if permission is granted by a judge. Sexual abuse + Sexual abuse of girls, boys and women plagues Islamic institutions as it does Christian churches (Chapter 7). But it is not as well explored and exposed. We note some major recent cases in Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Britain. Iraq: Repeated US invasions of Iraq replaced a stable, prosperous social order with chaos, violence and an economically insecure underclass. Loss of breadwinners tore apart families. Young girls and women in good numbers lacked means of support and became susceptible to abuse. The area near the shrine of Imam Kadhim, an exalted Shia shrine that attracts visitors year around, is one place where such abuse is rife. The shrine is located in a market area that has many offices licensed to perform Sharia law marriages. But, as a year-long undercover investigation by local and BBC reporters uncovered, some of these offices are a front for other activities. The clerics who run them ensnare vulnerable teenage girls and women into unions that turn out to be short-term ‘pleasure marriages’. For a fee, the man who comes to the offices can get a wife that he can divorce as soon as he has satisfied his desires. Once deceived, the victim is trapped into a cycle of repeated ‘marriages,’ some of which are but a few hours long. But since her sexual abuse occurred within a marriage that was legal according to Sharia law, there is not much she can do about it. At times, the cleric marries a young girl and then ‘rents’ her out to friends and associates. Ostracized by family and community, she has little option but to endure the horrific abuse. Explicit ‘pleasure marriage’ is illegal in Iraq, but the practice exists in large cities like Karbala as well. Yet, the police and the courts do not deal with it. Many of the rogue clerics are politically connected and enjoy the support of local Shia militias. Eight of ten clerics in one area were found ready, for a sum, to legalize a marriage, no questions asked. The custom of seeking parental consent for a young girl is ignored. George Bush said that the US was going into Iraq to liberate the people from tyranny. For women and children, ‘liberation’ has weakened the secular legal system that protected their rights. Now the men who subjected them to gross abuse do so with virtual impunity. The conservative Islamist politicians do not regard protection of women’s rights a priority. And the Western media houses like the BBC that shine their torch on the issue do not acknowledge their complicity in the assault on Iraq which was consciously designed to tear the Iraqi society apart. Nigeria: The population of Nigeria is almost equally divided into Christians and Muslims. Northern Nigeria is predominantly Muslim. Many localities here use Sharia law. Cases of sexual abuse of girls and women have been reported in both Christian and Islamic institutions and places of worship. But it is felt that these cases represent the tip of a hidden iceberg. Better known instances of religion related sexual and other forms of abuse are (i) those perpetrated by the extremist Boko Haram forces and (ii) those taking place in Islamic schools. Boko Haram: The egregious crimes perpetrated by Boko Haram operations in northern Nigeria include abduction of women and schoolgirls. The most publicized incident was the April 2014 kidnapping of 276 girls from a boarding secondary school. Of ages between 16 and 18, most of them were Christian. About 60 girls escaped shortly, 82 were released later, and some have died. The fate of over a hundred remains unknown. To date, the group has seized over 2,000 people. Most have been women and girls. To cite recent cases: In December 2020 more than 300 boys in a secondary school were abducted but were later released; in February 2021, more than 300 girls from one school were abducted; and in the same month, 27 boys at a college were kidnapped. As criminal gangs seeking ransom money have also been involved in these crimes, the exact role of Boko Haram is not known. Yet, kidnapping is a major fund-raising tactic for the group. Boko Haram has held the captives as bargaining chips for the release of their members from state custody. The captive female, adult or child, does chores like cooking and cleaning in the Boko Haram camps. Many of them are sexually abused and forcibly married to the fighters. Some are trained as combatants and some are made to carry out suicide bombings. In one case, three girls sent by Boko Haram exploded suicide vests in a refugee camp and killed 38 people. Brutalization of women and girls by Boko Haram has no other modern equivalent. Islamic Schools: Besides secular public and private schools, many Islamic schools exist in Nigeria, especially in the Muslim majority north. Over ten million children attend such schools, but official oversight and regulation are poor. The fee-charging schools, with students from better off families, have good facilities and combine religious studies with conventional subjects. Children of the poor attend the more numerous free schools which focus on recitation and memorization of the Quran. Many children in the area attend a public school in the morning and an Islamic school later in the day. Some free Islamic schools are boarding schools, mainly catering to boys. In both the day and boarding schools, it is customary to dispatch students to beg for money in the streets in the morning hours. Their collections, meant to pay for tuition, room and board, are handed over to the mallam (senior teacher). Discipline is strict. Caning and whipping are common. The children may also work in the school farm, clean the school area and rooms, and do chores for the teacher’s family. Such treatment, accepted by the parents too, is seen as a way of instilling good work habits, humility, endurance and a sense of respect among the children. Islamic schools for the rehabilitation of youth with mental and behavioral issues and drug addiction problems also exist. Most of the enrollees are boys. The guiding creed is to reform the errant child by combining recitation of the Quran with strict discipline. The child may remain at the school for years. The students at some schools number in the hundreds. Yet, until recently, official inspection or control over these schools was minimal. For reasons as yet unclear, the authorities decided to take a closer look in 2019. In October that year, the police raided a large rehabilitation center in Katsina. Instead of rehabilitation activities, they found about 500 hungry youngsters, packed in six rooms, wallowing in filthy conditions. Many were shackled to the wall and had signs of being beaten. Some had been sexually abused. Of recent, life had become so bad that some inmates had escaped. It was the third facility to get a visit from the police. At each place, similar conditions were encountered. In all, about a thousand youth, of age 7 to 40 years, were rescued. Besides physical and sexual abuse, the common complaints were denial of food and money that was being sent by the parents and making parental visits difficult. After these raids, a few facilities closed shop on their own accord. Following extensive national and international outrage, the government has pledged to close all schools where such abuse occurs and modernize the curricula of Islamic schools. Some abusers have been arrested and children have been reunited with their parents. But concerned scholars and activists say that the governmental response is far from satisfactory. With respect to the rehabilitation centers, they point out that it is not a matter of religion, but the outcome of the pitifully low resources devoted to address mental and physical health problems and education in poor communities. Caning is used in many secular schools as well. Some state governments had already banned begging by school children. But implementation is slow. Lacking other ways of generating meal funds, many schools continue the practice of begging. Sexual abuse and maltreatment of women and children in Nigeria occurs in secular and religious—Muslim and Christian—settings as well as at home. Official survey data show that among females of age 15 to 49, some 30% have experienced sexual abuse. In 2020, 11,200 rape cases were reported to the police. But that is hardly the real figure. Fear of reprisal and ridicule, shame, the tendency to blame the victim and excuse the perpetrator and lax police and prosecutorial action inhibit victims from reporting their assailant. Rape cases are at times settled informally by small payments, and at times, the police are bribed to ignore the complaint. There has been an upsurge of rapes in several Nigerian cities during the corona pandemic era. Political leaders have issued strong statements after high profile cases of rape of minors. Action, funding and support for the victims have not lived up to the rhetoric. A few NGOs, some foreign funded, work on rape prevention, raising awareness, and supporting the victims. But it is a drop in the bucket. Nigeria requires a program to promote gender equality and justice, curb gender-based discrimination, abuse and violence, and tackle the culture of misogyny. The public education and health systems must be funded and improved to serve all Nigerians. The resources and funds for these purposes exit. But presently the wealth of the nation largely ends with up foreign conglomerates, corrupt rulers, and the local elite. The recapture of these funds needs popular action to combat the authoritarian, corrupt political system and the neo-liberal system. The struggle for gender equality and justice has to be contemporaneous with the general struggle for equality and justice. Pakistan: Due to lack of comprehensive registration, the number of madrassas (Islamic schools) is not known but may be as high as 40,000. A majority are part-time schools. Their curricula are dominated by religious subjects (studies of the Quran and Hadith, Sharia law and Arabic), but may contain a few related secular subjects. A typical madrassa is free, provides food and shelter, and as such is popular among poor families. An unknown number but possibly many get funds from Salafist-inclined Saudi Arabian sources. The well-endowed madrassas offer an eight-year program to train the students to be imams (preachers) in mosques across the country. Over 90% of the madrassas adhere to Sunni Islam. Only a minority are Shia. Prior to the 1980s, Pakistani Islamic schools enrolled boys only. But in the recent two decades, women only madrassas have mushroomed. Now about 2,000 registered madrassas enroll about 250,000 girls and women. An unknown number of unofficial Islamic schools that cater for both sexes also exist. The female-only madrassas charge fees, enroll secondary school age students, teach regular and religious subjects, and prepare the students for secondary school exams. Their reasonable fees and efficient management make them a viable alternative to the poorly run Pakistani public education system. Thus, they are popular among lower middle-class families. Girls from these schools usually outperform boys in the national examinations and have good career prospects. In a society with a multitude of barriers that constrict female advancement in many spheres, these schools are like an oasis in the desert. Many prominent madrassas have existed in a state of confrontation with the government and the US allied security, military establishment. They accuse the government of corruption, neglect of people’s welfare, and call for the enforcement of Sharia law edicts. Since some imams espouse loyalty to Al-Qaeda, these schools are accused of fostering terrorism. A violent week-long standoff between militant students and the army at the Red Mosque seminary in 2007 highlighted the conflict. Hundreds of students died. About a hundred were female students. The radical madrassas have been branded a risk to national security and the government has instituted a reform program. But critics call it a flawed measure. As in Nigeria, what is needed is a comprehensive program, with adequate funding and manpower to revamp the entire public education system. In many parts of the country, poor families at present have no option but to send their children to a madrassa. The madrassa system is tainted by the malady of physical and sexual abuse of minors. Rumors, backed by anecdotal evidence, about some clerics being pedophiles have circulated for a while. Some police investigation was done, yet no prosecutions occurred. Media scrutiny has now brought those police records to light. The records and interviews with police officers indicate that respected imams in a number of Islamic schools are child molesters. There are cases in which 11-year-old boys and girls were sexually molested by a cleric that were recorded but not pursued. Media inquiries with victims and their families revealed shocking incidents of violent rape and physical injury. The abuser had often earned the trust of the child and his family by appearing kind and concerned. There is strong pressure on family members to bury the assaults on their children. There is fear that their claims will be dismissed, and they will be ostracized and isolated by the community. There is concern that allegations by children against respected clerics will be found to lack credibility. Fellow clerics rally behind their colleague. The accusers are accused of defaming Islam and blasphemy, a grave misdeed. Some aggrieved families are intimidated into forgiving the accused, making it hard for the police to pursue the case. In other cases, the victim was too ashamed and traumatized to speak. (In Chapter 7, we saw a similar dynamic operating for the litany of sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church.) In one instance, a concerned doctor who saw a child with signs of multiple sexual injuries reported the matter to the police. The cleric was arrested but later released on bail. Despite DNA evidence proving his guilt, he freely walks the streets. The family has yet to get a modicum of justice. A mullah caught red handed molesting a young girl has thus far evaded a trial for his crime. In another case, a 14-year-old girl was taken by her family to a Muslim cleric, a reputed powerful healer, for advice on her persistent migraine headaches. The healer said she was possessed by an evil spirit and that it would take several sessions to cure her. He raped her during those sessions, and she became pregnant. The father filed a complaint with the police, but supporters of the cleric said he was innocent. Concerned police officers and activists indicate that such cases are but a small part of a pervasive problem. The cases of sexual abuse that come out into the open generate much anger among the public. Acknowledging that it is a serious problem, the government has promised strong measurers to deal with it. But, as in Nigeria, action and allocation of resources have not matched the words. Opportunistic politicians need votes but seek to balance the interests of the religious establishment with those of their Western imperial backers. They stand with large landowners and big businessmen, not the common folk. They are more focused on aggressive actions to pursue the effusive ‘War on Terror’ than addressing the socio-economic problems that have made Pakistan what it is today. Thus, faced with the unresolved issue of sexual abuse in the madrassas, a concerned policeman laments: It is the hypocrisy of some of these mullahs, who wear the long beard and take on the cloak of piety only to do these horrible acts behind closed doors, while openly they criticize those who are clean shaven, who are liberal and open minded. In our society so many of these men, who say they are religious, are involved in these immoral activities. Superintendent S Baloch (Gannon 2020). Indonesia: Reports of cases of violence against women, most of which are sexual violence, have been rising steeply of recent in the most populous Muslim nation. According to the National Commission on Violence Against Women, some 340,000 cases of sexual violence were lodged in 2021. The corresponding number for 2020 was 220,000. Among these are cases of rape of very young girls as well. The Commission concedes that the reported number is just the tip of an iceberg. Shame, loss of family reputation, fear of retaliation and the lack of a comprehensive legal framework prevent most victims from reporting their abuse to the authorities. Human and women’s rights organizations have for some time been campaigning for the institution of an effective mechanism to bring the abusers to court, give adequate penalties as well as to prevent such crimes. Their efforts finally paid off as the Indonesian parliament finally passed a comprehensive law relation to sexual abuse in April 2022. Setting out nine different types of sexual abuse, it provides jail terms ranging from four to nine years for those convicted under the law. Victims of sexual abuse are eligible for counselling and compensation. Conservative Islamist parties had blocked the passage of the bill for five years. But moderate Islamist parties and nationwide Islamic organizations like Nahdlatul Ulama favored it. But major implementational issues remain. Will more victims come forward now? Will major efforts to prevent violence against women be undertaken? These are open questions. Britain: Numbering about 3.5 million, Muslims constitute some 5% of the British population. The majority originate from what once was British colonial India (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh). Sunnis outnumber Shias by a large margin. Apart from a small wealthy segment, the Muslim community is divided into two strata—a middle class consisting of small to medium size business owners, lawyers, doctors, academics, engineers, journalists, civil servants, and a low income stratum with menial, often part-time, jobs or no job. Living in sub-standard houses, the latter generally have low educational credentials and face higher risk of chronic health problems compared to the rest of the British society. The rate of degree-level qualification among British Muslims, however, is comparable to other religious and secular groups. The vast majority of Muslim children in the UK attend public schools but a minority attend the 190 or so madrassas that operate in the country. One of seven madrassas receive state funding while others are private schools. While some are part-time institutions focusing on Quranic studies, many are Form VI level schools that combine religious training with high quality secular education. Students from Muslim schools have outperformed students from Catholic and secular schools in Form IV and Form VI level examinations for over a decade. In 2019, of the top ten ranked schools in England, four were Muslim schools and the Tauheedul Islam Girls High School in Blackburn, with an all-female student population of nearly 800, sat in the first position. As with Christian institutions, egregious cases of sexual abuse also have surfaced within Islamic institutions and schools in the UK in recent years. A veteran 81-year-old Islamic studies teacher and preacher at a mosque in Cardiff was convicted of several charges of molesting four 5 to 11-year-old girls in 2017. Over 400 complaints of physical abuse occurring in Islamic schools were lodged with municipal authorities from 2009 to 2011. Only ten were prosecuted and only two offenders were convicted. The cases related to harsh physical punishment, rape and sexual violations of minors. An imam from Stoke-on-Trent was found guilty of sexual abuse of two boys, aged 11 and 15. But families are often pressured to withdraw their allegations. Due to the growing number of complaints, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in the UK extended its investigations beyond the Catholic Church to cover Islamic institutions. The submissions to the IICSA presented two starkly contrasting portraits of the problem. Officials from the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board which speaks for the nearly 600 mosques in Britain claimed that child sexual abuse was a rarity in Muslim communities. Hardly any reports of such misdeeds had been received by this organization. The Muslim Women's Network and Muslim Council of Britain in contrast testified that it was a real problem but was underreported due to associated social stigma and coercion. The victims are afraid to voice their ordeals. Faith Associates, a Muslim consultancy foundation, deposed that cases of child abuse in mosques and madrassas, though frequent, were completely suppressed in one way or another. The story of Nabil Sharma (not her real name), who regularly went to a mosque in Birmingham as a child, is indicative. The Imam, a conniving pedophile, maintained friendly relations with her parents and earned their trust as he secretly began to fondle her. Buying her silence with sweets and threats, he abused her from the age of seven to eleven. Just as he was about to proceed to serious abuse, he was apprehended while abusing another girl. It took Nabil Sharma more than twenty-five years to bring her case into the open and write a book on it. Her aim is to alert the public about the prevalence of child abuse in the institutions they respect and trust. A lot of Muslim people have got in touch through my Facebook and Twitter sites to say the same thing happened to them when they were younger, and they never spoke out for fear of shame and dishonor to their community. … I never saw the Imam again until three years ago. … I decided to report him to the police, but they didn’t feel they would ever find him. The problem is children never know the names of the Imams so I couldn’t tell the police his name. They can’t find records from that time. The Muslim community is very good at hiding and hushing things up, and the police seem scared of upsetting the Muslim community. Nabila Sharma (Chamberlain 2013). British crown prosecutors and the police believe that the cases of child abuse exposed in the media and official inquiry represent a tiny segment of the reality. Some major Muslim organizations have now placed a high priority on tackling harsh punishment and sexual abuse in Islamic institutions. As with the Catholic Church, one may assume that 95% of the Muslim clerics have a kind, caring attitude towards children. But child abuse festers when they close-ranks to protect that one out of twenty among them who is a pedophile, and when officialdom fails to take timely action on the allegations of abuse. Illustrious Muslim women + Despite the social and cultural obstacles they faced, Muslim women rose to the pinnacle of social, political, business, academic, scientific and cultural circles in many nations, in the past and at present. A bright star among them was Fatima Al-Fihri, a 9th century Tunisian Muslim woman educated in Sharia law and Hadith. Of wealthy parentage, she used her money to build a mosque-based school of higher learning that became the first university in the world. Providing instructions in Islamic studies, languages, science, mathematics and astronomy, it attracted students from distant places. In the Golden Age of Islam, Al-Fihri was in distinguished company: Women at the time participated in all fields of life. There were women who championed educational and cultural efforts like Fatima al-Fihri, others who excelled in mathematics such as Sutayta al-Mahamili, the medical field, administration and management, philosophy and the arts. Others played key political roles and ruled important territories in the Muslim Civilization, some of those included Labana of Cordoba of 10th century (Spain), Sitt al-Mulk of 11th century (Egypt), Melike Mama Hatun of 12th century (Turkey), Razia (or Raziyya) Sultana of Delhi of 13th century (India) and many more… (Editors 2021). In the past, there have been numerous women Sufi saints across the Islamic world. Rabia al Adawiyya was born in a poor family in Basra, Iraq in 717. Yet, she became a person of learning whose ideas on faith and worship earned her wide respect. No formal Sufi orders were in existence in those days, but over the course of her eight-and-a-half decades of life she acquired a large following, especially among women. Her way of life questioned conventional gender roles and her teachings regarding unconditional love of Allah were a prototype of the future day visions of major Sufi luminaries. Oh God! If I worship You for fear of Hell, burn me in Hell, and if I worship You in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise. But if I worship You for Your Own Sake, grudge me not Your everlasting Beauty. Rabia al Adawiyya (Mesdaghi 2019). Bibi Fatima Sam was born near the Iran-Iraq border but spent most of her life in Delhi, India. Her mystical practice and theosophical ruminations made her the first and perhaps the most illustrious Sufi Pir of India. She attracted a large male and female discipleship who venerated her as a spiritual guide. When she passed on in 1246, her tomb became a major Sufi shrine where a memorial attended by thousands is held every year. We fast forward to modern times and look at the heads of state of Muslim nations. The list of female Muslim prime ministers and presidents is telling: Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan), Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina (Bangladesh), Tansu Ciller (Turkey), Mame Madior Boye and Aminata Toure (Senegal), Megawati Sukarnoputri (Indonesia), Roza Otunbayeva (Kyrgyzstan), Atifete Jahjaga (Kosovo), Cisse Mariam Kaidama Sidibe (Mali), Sibel Siber (Northern Cyprus), Ameenah Gurib (Mauritius), Halimah Yacob (Singapore), Samia Suluhu Hassan (Tanzania) and Najla Bouden Romdhane (Tunisia). Hundreds of Muslim women have been and are prominent, award-winning media personalities, actresses, singers, models, poets, academicians, writers, scientists, doctors, engineers, lawyers, and judges. Two stars among them are the Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani who won the Fields Medal, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in Mathematics, in 2014, and the Pakistani education advocate Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. Among the singers and actresses of international repute are Umm Kulthum (Egypt), Nurjehan, Munni Begum (Pakistan), Janet Jackson, Bella Hadid, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Iman Abdulmajid (USA), Madhubala, Mumtaz and Shabana Azmi (India). To get a glimpse into the vast world of Muslim women writers of fiction we start with Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (Begum Rokeya) who championed women’s rights in colonial India. She worked on improving education for women and wrote imaginative fiction, including a distinctive work of science fiction. Another outstanding female physician-writer was the intrepid Nawal El-Saadawi, who fought against dictatorial rule and misogyny and penned a series of fabulous works of fiction and non-fiction. A sampling of these writers (alphabetically listed by last name) with their focus and one work is: Randa Abdel-Fattah (Palestine), The Lines We Cross; Leila Aboulela (UK), The Kindness of Enemies; Susan Abulhawa (Palestine), Mornings In Jenin; Layla Al-Ammar (Kuwait), The Pact We Made; Monica Ali (UK), Brick Lane; Amani Al-Khatahtbeh (USA), Muslim Girl: A Coming of Age; Rajaa Alsanea (Saudi Arabia), Girls of Riyadh; Hala Alyan (Palestine), Salt Houses; Tahmima Anam (Bangladesh), The Good Muslim; Fatima Farheen Mirza (India), A Place for Us; Isabella Hammad (France), The Parisian; Zahra Hankir (UK), Our Women On The Ground; Nadia Hashimi (Afghanistan), The Pearl That Broke Its Shell; Rajia Hassib (Egypt), A Pure Heart; Nandini Islam (Bangladesh), Bright Lines; Sheba Karim (USA), That Thing We Call A Heart; Porochista Khakpour (Iran), The Last Illusion; Ausma Zehanat Khan (Kosovo), The Unquiet Dead; Hena Khan (Pakistan), Amina’s Song; Uzma Aslam Khan (Pakistan), The Geometry of God; Mariam Khan (UK), It’s Not About The Burqa; Laila Lalami (Morocco), The Other Americans and The Moor’s Account; Shereen Malherbe (Palestine), Jasmine Falling; Ayisha Malik (Pakistan), This Green and Pleasant Land; Azar Nafisi (Iran), Reading Lolita in Tehran; Dina Nayeri (Iran), The Ungrateful Refugee; Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi (France), Call Me Zebra; Zainab Salbi (Iraq), Between Two Worlds; Marjane Satrapi (Iran), The Complete Persepolis; Elif Shafak (Turkey), Three Daughters of Eve; Leila Slimani (France), The Perfect Nanny; Zeba Talkhani (India), My Past Is A Foreign Country; Jasmine Warga (Syria), Other Words for Home; G Willow Wilson (USA), Alif, The Unseen. In 1991, 35% of all students in BSc programs in Arab states were women. The academic staff of the medical schools in Egypt in 1995 was 30% female. Female representation in science, medicine and other fields across the Islamic worlds gets larger by the day. Currently, in Iran some 60% of the students in undergraduate and master’s level programs in Physics are female, and about half of the Physics PhD degree candidates are female. The barriers facing Muslim women are not lack of talent or skill, but social obstacles that deny them equal opportunities. 8.20 ISLAMIC SOCIALISM Many anticolonial struggles of the 20th century were influenced by socialist ideas. Parties with a socialist or Marxist program were established in some colonies and some intellectuals became renowned socialist theoreticians. Political philosophies that blended local traditions with socialist ideas also emerged, for example African Socialism in Africa, Arab Socialism in the Arab nations, and Islamic Socialism in Muslim nations. Islamic Socialism is based on the notion that the Quran and the teachings of Prophet Mohamed are consonant with building a society that gives equal opportunities in life to everyone, are particularly sensitive towards assisting the poor and downtrodden, and offer a realistic middle path between Western capitalism and Soviet communism. Among the major theoreticians of Islamic Socialism were Ubaidullah Sindhi, Hafiz R Sihwarwl, Ghulam A Parvez and Dr Khalifa A Hakim, Hanif Ramay, Muhammad Iqbal (India and Pakistan), Michel Aflaq and Salah ad-Din al-Bitar (Syria), Ali Shariati (Iran) and Tan Malaka (Indonesia). In contrast to conservative Islamic scholars, they argued that not just Western but specifically capitalist ideas had polluted Muslim societies. Islam and capitalism were incompatible since the Quran proscribed injustice and inequality. Charity and taxation (zakat), a pillar of Islam, were devices to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. The clergy and conservative ulema have hijacked Islam. They are agents of the rich people and promoters of uncontrolled Capitalism. Socialism best enforces Quranic dictums on property, justice and distribution of wealth. Islam’s main mission was the eradication of all injustices and cruelties from society. It was a socio-economic movement, and the Prophet was a leader seeking to put an end to the capitalist exploitation of the Quraysh merchants and the corrupt bureaucracy of Byzantium and Persia. Ghulam A Parvez (Paracha 2013). Some Islamic socialist theoreticians said that the Hadiths deviated, in spirit if not in fact, from the essence of the Quran, and had become instruments of domination by authoritarian rulers. Along with the Sharia law, which was derived from them, the Hadiths should be discarded by Muslims. A socialist path is a correction of the medieval distortion of Islam through Sharia. Ghulam A Parvez (Paracha 2013). They proposed that Muslim states should abolish feudal practices, institute land reform, nationalize banks and major firms, establish state enterprises, plan the economy, expand free public education with emphasis on science, use economic planning, involve workers and people in running economic entities, provide free health care to all and have democratic governance. The state should not control or interfere in religious affairs. Islamic Socialism has much in common with African Socialism; both are akin to the British Fabian socialist doctrine and the concept of a democratic welfare state. Sir Muhammad Iqbal was a leading poet, philosopher and freedom activist in colonial India in the first quarter of the 20th century. His advocacy of a separate state for the Muslims of India was instrumental in the foundation of Pakistan. His vast compendium of spiritual, Islamic, patriotic, philosophical motivational, historical and romantic poems and couplets captured millions of hearts. Many of his poems remain popular in the Hindi and Urdu speaking worlds, and a number have been translated into other languages. Iqbal was an Islamic socialist. Excoriating capitalism, landlordism and imperial domination without reservation, he viewed socialism as a moral and spiritual doctrine. Islam was a socialistic faith because: [it] visualizes a democratic fraternity of dignified individuals, conscious of divine guidance and a centralized welfare organization, with sufficient scope for individual initiative in thought and action, subject to the limits imposed by the Islamic shariah. (Lone 2019). Iqbal was familiar with the works of Karl Marx and generally agreed with the Marxian critique of market capitalism. He labelled Das Capital, the ‘bible of Socialism,’ but in contrast to Marx, he held that socialism should be attained by love and solidarity, not class struggle. His elegant poems on socialism and capitalism praised and criticized the Marxian perspective in the same breadth. In one, he critiqued Marx for overly attending to material forces and sidelining spirituality. The author of ‘capital’ comes of the tribe of Abraham, He is a prophet, without Gabriel. For, in his error there is a hidden truth, With the heart he is a Fidel, with the brain a heretic. The people of the West have lost the heaven, They seek the pure spirit (soul) in the stomach. The pure spirit does not receive color and fragrance from the body, But socialism has no concern other than with the body. The religion of this prophet who does not know the truth, Is founded on the equality of stomach. Muhammad Iqbal (Lone 2019). Yet, Iqbal sympathized with the socialist struggles in Russia. He regarded the 1917 revolution in Russia as a victory for working people everywhere, saying that in severing the chains of capitalism and Tsarist oppression, it was the dawn of a new order. But he opposed the Stalinist regime that ruled Russia after the death of Lenin. Iqbal influenced the introduction of welfare state policies in later day Pakistan. Hadji-Ali Abelkader was an Algerian thinker and activist who played a key role in the leftist struggles in France in the 1920. A prominent member of the French Communist Party and the main trade union confederation in France, he also struggled to launch a worker union and a communist party spanning the North African region. He argued that communists in the West should pay as much attention to the national liberation struggles as they did to the emancipation of the working class. Despite adopting Marxism as his guiding political philosophy, Hadji-Ali was a practicing Muslim throughout his life, and implored communists to adopt a non-dogmatic position towards Islam. They should recognize that French imperialism was based on denigration of traditional culture, including Islam. They should oppose arbitrary colonial restrictions on Islamic practices. Their secular disposition notwithstanding, the French left should not go along with imposing an external vision on other people. They can disagree and educate, but people have the right to national and cultural self-determination. +++ Many political parties and leaders who assumed power after the removal of formal colonial rule had progressive anti-imperialist and socialist leanings. It was the case in Muslim and non-Muslim nations. In the former, the uptake of socialist ideas included, in diverse ways, Islamic Socialism. The prominent leaders in this vein were Gamal A Nasser (Egypt), Saddam Hussein (Iraq), Hafez al-Assad (Syria), Ahmed Ben Bella (Algeria), Salim R Ali (Yemen), Muammar Gadhafi (Libya), Jaafar Nimeiry (Sudan), Mohamed Siad Barre (Somalia), Mohammad Mossadegh (Iran), Sukarno (Indonesia), Zulfikar A Bhutto (Pakistan), and Nur M Taraki and Babrak Karmal (Afghanistan). These leaders instituted radical reforms of the inherited colonial setup, unified the nation, nationalized major companies, implemented welfare state policies, improved the social status of women, sought economic assistance from the USSR and China, and supported Pan-Islamic and Third World solidarity organizations. They stridently opposed the Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people, the Apartheid regime in South Africa and gave material and diplomatic assistance to anti-colonial movements in Africa and across the globe. Their policy pronouncements were often colored with Islamic references. In the early years of their rule, a fair degree of progress on the economic, educational, health and social arenas occurred. In places like Libya and Iraq, the standard of living improved dramatically. In several nations, a liberal discourse on Islam and its social role occurred. But eventually, all of them were undone in varied ways through prevarication and corruption among the senior state officials, flawed implementation of announced policies, inability to disengage from the global capitalist system and its financial agencies, imperial machinations and military interventions, and loss of public support. Purging and persecution of radical socialists and harsh suppression of the opposition undermined their base. Some of the erstwhile Islamic socialists (like Siad Barre and Nimeiry) later became firmly ensconced within the US economic and military fold, while Gadhafi and Saddam Hussein were ejected from power by brutal Western military invasions. Though it has lost its earlier import, the debate on whether Islam is more compatible with socialism or capitalism continues to some extent, particularly among the youth disenchanted by modern neo-liberalism. Thus Akyol (2021) holds that Islam is compatible with capitalism because Islamic empires were based on a free-market economy, not planned economies. He argues that while the Quran emphasizes social justice, it takes the existence of rich and poor for granted and supports the right to private property and inheritance. Noting that zakat is not collectivization of wealth but tax-cum-charity to assist the poor, he points out that the Prophet was a trader who cherished trading and, when he took command, refused to fix market prices. On the other side, Hassanein (2020) states that Islam and socialism are compatible because both uphold human equality and equal rights. Noting that the Constitution of Medina drafted by Prophet Muhammad established an orderly civil society with emphasis on communal responsibility and care for all, he claims that Abu Bakr, the first Muslim Caliph, provided guaranteed basic income to all within his dominion and Omar ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim Caliph, established a welfare state with a wide range of benefits for all strata in society. He holds that the obligatory 2.5% zakat payment is a device to prevent hoarding of wealth, and that by banning interest, Islamic law protects people from exploitation by financial institutions. Such debates have transpired for other major religions too. It is interesting that the two sides examine the same history and scriptures but draw opposite conclusions. 8.21 REFLECTIONS Islam is the religion based on the beliefs that Allah, the all-powerful, most-merciful supreme being created and controls the universe; Muhammad was the last prophet sent to earth by Allah; and the Quran is the infallible book revealed to Prophet Muhammad to guide humans. The five pillars of Islamic conduct are faith in Allah, loyalty to Prophet Muhammad, compassion and charity, fasting during Ramadhan and pilgrimage to Mecca. Muslims believe in the day of judgment and Heaven and Hell. They subscribe to the Hadiths, which relate the example set by the Prophet and elaborate upon the Quranic teachings. As the second largest religion in the world, Islam is the source of spiritual support, a guide to moral conduct and a provider of meaning to life for hundreds of millions. Over fifty nations are Muslim majority nations and large Muslim minorities exist in several nations. Muslims are divided into two major denominations, Sunni and Shia. The latter believe that Ali, the son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad and his direct descendants (Imams) are spiritual beings empowered by Allah to guide Muslims. There are four major schools of law (Sharia law) in Islam and many Muslims identify with one of the two principal Islamic philosophical traditions: Sufism and Salafism. Soon after its birth, Islam became the ideological basis for unifying the hitherto unstable Middle Eastern region under a single Caliph, and rapidly expanded its domain to North Africa, Spain, India and beyond. The early Islamic empires represented elaborate systems of governance and were the global centers of economic and technological development, trade, science, mathematics, architecture, art, philosophical discourse and more. They also provided an atmosphere of tolerance and inclusiveness unparalleled in those times. But especially after the 15th century, imposition of Western imperial domination and internal disarray propelled a long term decline of Islamic rule. Despite formal independence, the deleterious effects of that history persist to this day in most Muslim majority nations. Like in the Bible, the Quran has moral and ethical injunctions that are not always consistent. They concern, for example, slavery and the status of women. But overall, the ethical code in Islam is similar to that found in the other major religions. But there are differences in some practical matters like consumption of halal foods and alcohol. Historically, Islam has served both as the faith of the downtrodden and as a doctrine at the service of the rulers. In the colonial era and at present, there have been Islamic organizations and political parties with progressive as well as retrogressive agendas. Some Islamic parties have allied with imperial powers and authoritarian regimes, and some Islamic parties have struggled for national liberation and representative governance. Islam has been linked with tolerant, liberal governance and with genocidal and terrorist movements. Currently, Muslims in several Asian states face draconian suppression and even genocide, and Islamophobia has spread in an epidemic fashion in the West and elsewhere. On the one hand, as the extremist Wahhabi school spreads its tentacles, a minority of extremists are adopting terrorist tactics, the strife between Shia and Sunni Muslims intensifies, and Sufism faces more attacks. Harsh attitudes towards blasphemy prevail. The secularists, in particular, face extreme danger in some Muslim nations. Yet, many youth in the Muslim communities are adopting secular ideas and rejecting the orthodox Islamic doctrines. Muslims communities generally have a long way to go to assure the issue of equality of women in social and economic life and religious affairs. The progress on this front is slow and is at times marked by setbacks arising from expansion of Salafist tendencies. Like in Christian communities, the problem of sexual abuse of children and women by priests and in the home needs more serious investigation and control. The future of Islam as a moral vision will depend on the stand and actions Muslims will take on the grave problems confronting humanity today: poverty, inequality, authoritarian rule, militarism, race and sex discrimination, cultural intolerance, nationalistic and religious extremism, climate change, species extinction. Will Muslims join hands with other religious and secular forces to tackle these problems? Will they remain in harmony with neo-liberalism or will they gravitate towards a humane, socialistic framework? It is imperative the Muslims act as members of a single human family and dispel the unedifying verdict cast on them by a champion of human rights who was also astute scholar of religions. The brotherhood of Islam is not the universal brotherhood of man. It is the brotherhood of Muslims for Muslims only. Bhimrao R Ambedkar The Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change issued from the International Islamic Climate Change Symposium held in Istanbul, Turkey in August 2015 shows a way forward. Drafted by Islamic experts in engineering, environmental studies, wildlife protection, bioethics, theology, philosophy and Islamic history, the Declaration invokes the authority of the Quran and the Hadiths to lay out a comprehensive, science-based environmental protection policy that will focus on phasing out greenhouse emissions, utilization of non-polluting energy sources, remodel the existent profit-oriented financial system and limit consumption while avoiding harm to marginalized and poor peoples. He raised the heaven and established the balance so that you would not transgress the balance. Give just weight – do not skimp in the balance. He laid out the earth for all living creatures. Quran 55: 7-10 Affirming the overwhelming consensus statements of the climate scientists and with support from twenty global Muslim leaders, the Declaration calls upon Muslims and everyone to recognize that: We human beings are created to serve the Lord of all beings, to work the greatest good we can for all the species, individuals, and generations of God’s creatures. (IFEES 2015). Muslims across the world need to reject narrow-minded, conservative and exclusionary ideas and align themselves with such bold, enlightened and inclusive visions and join hands with the rest of humanity to assure peace, dignity, equality and environmental sustainability in this world. Else, the moral authority of their faith may not be sustainable. CHAPTER 09: SECULARISM ↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔ I am a deeply religious nonbeliever – this is a somewhat new kind of religion. Albert Einstein Humanism is the only – I would go so far as saying the final – resistance we have against the inhuman practices and injustices that disfigure human history. Edward Said Man makes religion; Religion does not make man. Karl Marx THE TERM SECULARISM HAS two meanings: (i) It is a political philosophy that regards religion and state as separate domains. In a secular state, religious beliefs and practices do not determine law or intrude into public institutions, state policy and public education. A secular state guarantees the freedom of religion and non-religion but maintains neutrality towards all faith systems. In contrast, in a theocracy, a particular religion influences public policy and law. (ii) It is an umbrella term for disbelief in divine beings, realms and events. A secularist does not follow an established religion. The terms non-religious and irreligious are often used interchangeably with secularism. Unless stated otherwise, we use secularism in the second sense of the term and define it as: Secularism is a system of beliefs and practices shared by a community that (i) does not accept the existence of supernatural being(s) and/or supernatural realms, and (ii) regards reason and science as the venues for discovering the truth about nature and society. Secularism has two strands. Atheism outrightly rejects the existence of divine entities while agnosticism maintains a neutral stand - their existence or non-existence has not been or cannot be proved or disproved. Secularists have different specific beliefs and values, and adorn varied labels such as agnostic, atheist, secularist, freethinker, humanist, irreligious, naturalist, non-religious, non-theist, non-believer, rationalist, skeptic, spiritual but not religious, and nothing in particular. Their relationships with religion are also not uniform. Humanism, a more organized form of secularism, has a large following. It is a secularist outlook which holds that morality can and does exist without religion. Aptly put, ‘Goodness can exist without God’. An internationally recognized definition of Humanism appears in the Amsterdam Declaration issued by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) in 2002. Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality. The Amsterdam Declaration 2002. We use the following definition of humanism. Humanism is a system of beliefs and practices shared by a community that does not accept the existence of supernatural beings or supernatural realms, has humane ethical norms of human origin and regards reason and science as the venues for discovering the truth about nature and society. Humanism is the highest form of secularism. An atheist or an agnostic is of necessity a secularist. But he or she may not subscribe to all the tenets of humanism. A global survey conducted in 2015 revealed that one out of six persons was not affiliated with any religious faith. Out of the world population of 7.5 billion, the non-affiliated block had 1.8 billion people. But this vast group does not constitute a unified entity. The number of self-identified humanists across the world are estimated as somewhere between 4 to 5 million, that is, less than 0.1% of the global population. The proportion of humanists shows significant variation across nations. But such low numbers are not consistent with global estimates of non-believers that reach 1.8 billion. The inconsistency in large part is due to the type of questions posed in the survey, reluctance to openly identify as secularist and non-inclusion of nations like China in many surveys. More detailed within-nation surveys indicate that de facto humanists globally number in the hundreds of millions. This chapter explores the history, character, key personalities and social function of secularism and its three major strands—atheism, agnosticism and humanism—together with their relationship to religion. It is important to bear in mind that the literature lacks uniformity in the usage of these terms. We look at three questions on secularism-cum-humanism: Whether it is a religion, whether it can provide a moral anchor to individuals and society, and what is its function in human psychology, history and society. 9.1 ORIGIN Attitudes towards religion in all cultures, past and present, have spanned a spectrum. One, there are the devout believers (fundamentalists) who see in every tenet of their faith an absolutely true revelation from a divine power and scrupulously adhere to the decreed practices. In their eyes, only their religion counts; all else is sinful. Two, there are people who formally identify with a religion, more or less accept its tenets, and to a degree, partake in its rites and ritual. More tolerant of other faiths, they do not view a compromise on an aspect of the doctrine as a betrayal and do not defend their faith zealously. Three, there are people who maintain a neutral stand on religious belief (agnostics). They regard divine powers or supernatural domains to be marginal to human affairs and abstain from theological discourse. Four, there are skeptics (atheists) who regard religion is an outcome of cultural history. They claim that stories about supernatural realms and divine beings arose to serve psychological and social purposes. But they acknowledge the social utility of religious belief in certain circumstances. And five, there are fervent skeptics (activist atheists) who deem religion a harmful, unscientific doctrine and practice that ought to be relegated to museums. Thinkers critiquing the prevailing faith have existed in most cultures where religion flourished. But no specific person can be credited as the founder of secularism, humanism or any of its strands. The Indian Caravaka and Lokayata schools that have existed from the Vedic era dispensed with divine beings, eternal souls and did not accept the authority of the Vedas. Instead, they stressed pursuit of knowledge through reasoning and investigation. Original works from these traditions do not exist and the degree of their disbelief is open to question. The Confucian and Taoist traditions in China formulated secular codes of ethics under which rulers and citizens were autonomous beings who bore responsibility for their conduct. While they discarded beliefs in ghosts, life after death and superstition, they utilized ideas like divine mandates and heavenly realms in their philosophical formulations. Buddhism was born as a non-theistic philosophy, a path to ease suffering and attain enlightenment via righteous thought, conduct and compassion. Yet, while rejecting the ideas of soul and a supreme power, it allowed for rebirth and hellish realms. Jainism takes a similar stand on divine creation and rebirth. It too stresses non-violence and simple living as paths to spiritual exaltation. Zoroastrianism accepts the presence of an omnipotent being yet says that people have the capacity to make autonomous ethical judgements. People, not divinities, are responsible for their own conduct. Available evidence suggests that disbelief in divinities and worlds beyond in the distant past was usually of a partial nature. However, since what we know is mostly from writings of religious scholars, the actual story remains unknown. Ancient Greek society was inundated with rituals involving many deities. Legends referring to heavenly domains permeated the popular psyche. Yet, rational, logical inquiry into human and natural affairs received their prime impetus in those times. Thales, Democritus, Pythagoras, Aristotle, Socrates and Archimedes, among others, formulated ideas and modes of reasoning that laid the ground for the eventual development of the scientific method. Apart from polymaths like Archimedes, Greek science was constrained by preference for deductive reasoning over empirical inquiry. The emphasis on rational thought provided an environment in which several philosophers cast doubt on the tales of the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. Diagoras of Melos, who lived about 400 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, is generally deemed the premier atheist of the Greek era. He is particularly known for his pointed dissection of theological thinking. Thus, when asked why there were many portraits of ships that had survived storms after those on board had prayed to gods, he responded by asking why portraits of ships that had sunk during storms were not on display. Noting the abundance of acts of immorality, he queried how gods can protect morality. He also disputed the usual line that invoked godly intervention as an explanation for all phenomena and emphasized the role of reason in interpreting them. As that was too much for the good citizens to swallow, he was chastised and banished from Athens. Melos had company. Thinkers like Anaxagoras, Epicurus, Euhemeros, Protagoras, Thucydides and Xenophanes assailed Greek religious rituals, and beliefs about how gods related to the kings, the tradition of envisioning gods in anthropic forms and assigning them extraordinary powers. Epicurus, for example, proposed that humans could have happy, fulfilling lives through peaceful friendly relationships, seeking knowledge, simplicity and control of anxiety. Gods were not necessary. Some thinkers noted the social utility of inducing fear of gods. Yet, the atheistic views of the Greek rationalists had limitations. We have solid evidence for the existence of people in ancient Greece who criticized certain aspects of traditional Greek religion and we even have solid evidence for the existence of people in ancient Greece who might be termed ‘agnostics,’ but we have no clear, unambiguous, contemporary historical evidence for the existence of people in ancient Greece who outright denied the existence of all deities altogether. (McDaniel 2019). A marked degree of tolerance towards other religions existed under several Islamic caliphates in the Middle East, North Africa and Spain, and the Moghul Empire in India. Their rulers allotted extensive resources to scientific and philosophical inquiry, valued translation of ancient texts and original writing, and built libraries housing hundreds of thousands of volumes. Under royal patronage, scholars—Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian—worked side by side and investigated, discovered, debated and produced a large body of new and translated literature in disciplines relating to the natural, social, medical and religious matters. Arabic was the main language of science across nations in that era. The brand of Islam between the beginning of the ninth and the end of the 11th century was one that promoted a spirit of free thinking, tolerance and rationalism. (Al-Khalili 2008). In this atmosphere of free thought and candor, some scholars ventured into critical scrutiny of Islamic religious beliefs and tenets. And some espoused mild to moderate forms of atheism and humanism. The ability to reason, they held, enabled humans to demarcate right from wrong without supernatural intervention. Morality was an intrinsic human trait. Directing their criticism at Islam, Judaism and Christianity, they did not contest the existence of God but disputed the view that God had used prophets to convey his wisdom to people. Meticulously dissecting the holy books of these faiths, they brought to light the numerous inconsistencies within and between them. Miraculous events defied common sense. As such, they dismissed them in the same manner as claims about sorcery and magic. Stories about angels were seen as myths. They also held that religious rituals such those done during the Hajj were cultural acts that had little spiritual significance. Ibn al-Muqaffa—a distinguished Persian-Islamic writer, translator and philosopher of the early Abbasid era—was particularly dismayed by the strife between religions. Arguing that there was no cause to view any religion as the most elevated, he favored equal treatment and protection for all people. Emphasizing critical reflection of religious beliefs, he said people should have the freedom to choose religion rather than be made to submit to the faith they were born into. But he did not voice doubts about the existence of God. He was later executed, not due to his iconoclastic position, but due to political discord with the Caliph. Jaber Ibn Hayyan—a pioneering chemist, developer of the scientific method and philosopher, also of the Abbasid era—represented a group of scholars who wrote a series of books relating to science, cosmology, medicine and philosophy. Dabbling in esoteric matters such as numerology, astrology and mysticism, they also speculated about the creation of life in the laboratory. As such ideas transcended what was acceptable in the prevailing discourse, they were regarded as non-believers. Other poets, philosophers, scientists, Sufi mystics—Abu Alaa al-Maarri, Abu Nuwas, Omar Khayyam—cast doubt on prevailing beliefs and customs, and emphasized the primacy of human beings in the creation of moral codes. A part of an Omar Khayyam poem is illustrative: Oh, threats of hell and hopes of paradise! One thing at least is certain: this life flies; One thing is certain, and the rest is lies; The flower that once has bloomed forever dies. Omar Khayyam The scope of freethinking in Islamic societies of the past is summed up by an award-winning physicist and historian of science who also served as the chair of the British Humanist Association. Many medieval Muslim thinkers pursued humanistic, rational and scientific discourses in their search for knowledge, meaning and values. A wide range of Islamic writings on history and philosophical theology show that medieval Islamic thought was open to the humanistic ideas of individualism, secularism, skepticism and liberalism. (Al-Khalili 2008). The tolerant, inclusive Moghul rule in India under Emperor Akbar arguably made it a pioneering precursor of the modern secular state. However, subsequent Mogul rulers reverted to discrimination of other religions. Free thinking, rudimentary as it was, declined thereafter as well. 9.2 THE AGE OF REASON The seeds of atheism and humanism were laid around three thousand years ago in India and China. They flowered to a degree in ancient Greece and medieval Islamic empires, but a full blooming had to await the transition from feudalism to capitalism in Europe. The fragmentation created by the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 CE generated a vacuum that was filled by warring states, cultural stasis and dormant economies. A highly exploitative feudal mode of production took hold. And gradually, the Catholic Church under the papacy in Rome emerged as the dominant political force exercising varying degrees of authority over local rulers. After the 10th century, innovations in agriculture, crafts, and transport, growth of regional trade and standardization of languages stimulated emergence of prosperous cities and towns. Mercantile capitalism evolved. Frequent grassroots rebellions countered feudal excesses. As the powers of the nobility weakened, long held beliefs and customs came under scrutiny. The Protestant Reformation, a process under which the ecclesiastical and political authority of the Bishop of Rome was critiqued, unfolded, at first by spurts and then by leaps and bounds, across Europe. The changing economic environment, and the import and dissemination of works by Islamic scholars—Grecian books that they had preserved and their original contributions—laid the basis for a sustained, cumulative growth of science, technology and medicine in the European nations. As fields like Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Geology established firmer footing, beliefs held inviolable by the Catholic Church fell under a cloud of suspicion. Yet, the Catholic hierarchy remained obdurate. What did not accord with the official doctrine was declared heretical. Books were banned. The Holy Inquisition and associated tribunals put on trial hundreds of thousands of Jews, Muslims, Protestants, scientists and so-called witches for alleged transgressions of Christian teachings. Thousands were tortured and burnt alive. Giordano Bruno, a brilliant astronomer, mathematician, poet and philosopher suffered this fate for declaring, on the basis of available data but contrary to Church dogma, that the Sun, not the Earth, was at the center of the solar system. Galileo, another distinguished scientist who espoused the same theory, was placed under house arrest. As the feudal order was gradually transformed at the root, the secular and theological authority of the Church waned. Democratic institutions slowly displaced monarchical rule. Concomitant developments in all the branches of science fueled the rise, under disparate guises, of a worldview doubting that blessings of a divine power were indispensable for order and morality. Rationality began to displace faith as the driving intellectual engine. This outlook gained a firmer footing across Europe in the 18th century, the Age of Reason. Our understanding of natural phenomena, from the microstructure of matter to the motion of heavenly bodies, from the physiology of plants and animals to evolution of life, from different forms of energy and motion to the properties of elements and molecules was revolutionized by the monumental discoveries of a succession of mathematicians, scientists and thinkers—Roger Bacon, Tycho Brahe, Nicolaus Copernicus, John Dalton, Charles Darwin, Rene Descartes, Leonhard Euler, Michael Faraday, Fibonacci, Pierre de Fermat, Carl Friedrich Gauss, William Harvey, Heinrich Hertz, Robert Hooke, Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, Antoine Lavoisier, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Carolus Linnaeus, Ada Lovelace, James Clerk Maxwell, Gregor Mendel, Dmitri Mendeleev, William of Ockham, Alessandro Volta, Alfred Wallace, James Watt and others. Science spawned, and in turn, was stimulated by technological breakthroughs. Industrial production rose prodigiously. Capitalism became the dominant mode of production. The Age of Reason stood on the foundation of an emergent vision of life and a new political reality. Scholars dissected ethics, morality, existence, meaning of life, essence of knowledge and truth, role of religion and validity of religious belief in painstaking, critical, systematic ways. Intellectual effort, not perusing holy texts, was seen as the pathway to enlightenment. Not just the Catholic beliefs but Christianity as such came under rational inquiry and was found wanting. We look at three rationalists of this era. Voltaire was a French rationalist whose caustic satire pummeled intolerant, absolutist political and religious authorities as well as thinkers who justified the existing state of affairs. A vocal proponent of civil liberties, freedom of speech and freedom of religion, he promoted the disassociation of the church and state. His most popular work, Candide, is a novella about a decent, naive young man who has been taught by an eminent professor that he lives in the best of possible worlds. But as he makes his way through life, he encounters a plethora of daunting tribulations as well as horror-filled events and settings that ultimately shatter that optimistic vision. First published in 1759, the witty, engrossing work lampoons, in a thinly veiled style, the powerful institutions of society—church, government and military—and prominent theologians and secular thinkers. Simultaneous translations into major languages and publication in three European countries facilitated a wide readership. But the officialdom was not amused. Declared heretical and treasonable and banned in many places, it circulated beneath the surface. Regarded as an important work in Western literature and philosophy, Candide is now taught in many college and high school courses. Voltaire expressed unease on the view held by Leibniz and personages of eminence that progress in science and governance and religion-based morality would rid humanity of civil strife, war, injustice or famine. History was complex and uncertain. To him, all propositions were subject to inquiry. Humans risk quagmire by blindly following authority: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. Voltaire Voltaire did not elaborate an alternative vision beyond implying that people should seek improvements within their own microsomes. Collective struggles, he claimed usually recreated the problems of the past. In that sense, he also effectively rationalized the status quo. Immanuel Kant: The German philosopher Immanuel Kant formulated an intricate theory of ethics, aesthetics and knowledge which made reason the supreme arbiter. His perspicacious ruminations influenced thinkers of his day and beyond. Now regarded a star of Western philosophy, he held that every person had an endowed ability to reason. Decrying swimming with the tide, he was for autonomous moral reflection, and held that subjecting held beliefs to the test of reason was the key to enlightenment and social progress. The prime imperative for human conduct was the sense of duty or intrinsic moral obligation. Act as you feel duty bound to, without regard for what may ensue. Personal material or psychological gain should not be the decisive factors. His basic ethical tenet is known as the Categorical Imperative: Act according to the maxim that you would wish all other rational people to follow, as if it were a universal law. Immanuel Kant One should not be kind to gain popularity or abstain from thievery out of the fear of being caught but make such choices because of their intrinsic moral worth. His moral creed required dignified, respectful treatment of individuals, never to be used or abused as a means to an end. But he was not an atheist and accepted the existence of God and afterlife. Invoking the premise that the purpose of life was to attain happiness and ethical excellence, he claimed that these propositions were derivable by rational discourse. But now his intricate reasoning along those lines is generally disputed. Baruch Spinoza, a versatile Dutch rationalist who eschewed status, wealth and fame, and was undaunted by excommunication from Judaism has been called the Prince of (Western) Philosophy. Valuing intellectual autonomy, he earned his bread by grinding lenses and lived in modest seclusion to evade restraining institutional norms. Yet, his fame spread across Europe. From his humble abode, he actively corresponded with and had occasional visits from renowned philosophers and scientists. His eminence derives from Ethics, his magisterial opus. Nature and God therein emerge as unitary, inseparable phenomena. Nature is God, and God is nature. And it is not the God depicted in Judaic and Christian holy books. He did not endorse divine revelation or a God who judges people according to their deeds and subjected the Bible to critical analysis. His philosophical inquiries went beyond ethics and foundation of knowledge to politics, religion and science. Distasteful of church dominated, intolerant states, he preferred secular modes of government. His atypical stand on existing theological and political doctrines ruffled official feathers. His ideas were called sacrilegious and he was branded a noxious atheist. All but one of his books, including Ethics, were published after his death. Spinoza espoused a rationalist, rigorous, systematic method of analysis. To lend objectivity to his conclusions, he deployed the axiomatic method—step by step derivation from a set of axioms—of geometry. Nothing in nature is of accidental origin; everything has a cause or causes; change from one state to the next is governed by specific laws; there is no free will. Using this deterministic framework and a few axioms, he ‘proved’ the existence of God-cum-Nature, an entity that is also the ultimate Cause in Itself. Another tenet of his philosophy is that the ethical character of a deed is to be evaluated not in abstract but within the context in which it occurred. Spinoza’s axioms, method and conclusions have spawned extensive critical commentary. The centrality of God-cum-Nature within Spinozism precludes it from being called an atheistic school in the modern sense of the term. Nonetheless, he continues to be heralded because of his skepticism towards the dominant religious beliefs and powers, his emphasis on reason as the basis for ethics, his attempt at rigorous derivation of human beliefs, and his liberal, secular stand on modes of governance. Spinoza departed from organized religion and converted philosophical and scientific inquiry into a modality for attaining liberation from the uncertainties and angst of life. He was a spiritual pantheist. +++ The scientists named earlier—who were not necessarily irreligious—and philosophers like Spinoza, Voltaire and Kant were among many who laid the foundation for modern atheism and humanism. Dissident theologians and priests from established religions also made a mark in this process. Atheism and humanism did not emerge overnight. Nor were they invented by a single person. Like science and in association with science, these world views emerged in spurts, but cumulatively, within the ambit of a theologically pervasive social milieu to mature into the forms we encounter today. 9.3 HUMANIST INSTITUTIONS Secularists (atheists, agnostics and humanists) exist worldwide, but their presence varies from nation to nation. Most secularists have no institutional affiliation. Believing what they believe, they pursue their lives without linking up with others who share their beliefs. Only a minority engages in activities that promote and celebrate the secular and humanistic values and outlook. Secularists are organized by local and international non-governmental associations. Spread across continents, some are a century or two old and some were born recently. They include the American Humanist Association, Atheists in Kenya Society, Council of Australian Humanist Societies, Council for Secular Humanism, Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association, Humanistic Association Netherlands, Humanist Association of Germany, Humanist Association of Ghana, Humanist Association of Ireland, Humanists UK, Humanist Canada, Indian Humanist Union, Norwegian Humanist Association, Philippine Atheists and Agnostics Society, Sapiens Foundation (India), Skeptics Society (USA) and Think Anew (Tanzania). And this is just a partial list. Membership in such organizations is open to everyone but often requires payment of an annual fee. They hold conferences, discussion sessions and education programs in which members and non-members take part. Their officials comprise activist members of long standing and individuals elected by the members. Many engage in social and civic work and promote human rights and women’s rights, champion the cause of discriminated groups, promote religious freedom and tolerance, and work for projects to improve health, education, water and other services in poor communities. They have from below a hundred to several hundred thousand members. A few have over a million members. Several international humanist bodies exist. The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), also called Humanist International, amalgamates several hundred atheistic, humanist, rationalist and related organizations from all over the world. The Amsterdam Declaration issued by the IHEU in 2002, which was unanimously accepted by its members, is now regarded as the principal document embodying the values, aims, principles of humanism. The European Humanist Federation links sixty-three similar organizations from European nations. Their focus varies from education, social activism, religious freedom, family celebration, counseling and meditation to officiating birth, marriage and death ceremonies. Atheist Alliance International and the Skeptics Society also have an international reach. 9.4 HUMANIST CHURCHES Churches, mosques and temples are more than places of worship. Besides reinforcing communal bonds, they provide childcare and educational service, counselling and food to the homeless. For some, it is a place for participation in singing and musical activities. People adorn their finest clothing for holiday service. And it is through a church, mosque or temple that families conduct birth, wedding and funeral rites. A center for worship is also a venue for joyful and needed activities as well as a source for emotional solace. An atheist who has lost a loved one may be comforted by the spiritual atmosphere of and sense of solidarity emitted through a religious funeral. Feeling that your beloved is not lost for good is an important coping mechanism. People pray for relief from economic and social problems and natural calamities. The rites associated with places of worship have millennia of traditions behind them and are deeply ingrained in the psyche of the community. At first glance, the idea of a humanist church is a contradiction in terms. How can one who rejects divinities pray? But in recognition of the social role of places of worship, atheistic and humanistic ‘churches’ or ‘temples’ that serve similar functions can be envisaged. Humanistic and atheistic organizations too often focus on the intellectual aspects of their vision, and deal with education, scientific insight and critical analysis of religious doctrines. They are viewed in terms of what they reject—divine piety—but not as entities with a rationale of their own. That likely is a major cause for their relatively low membership. People do not get by in life just by logical reasoning. Rational and intuitive thought complement each other. Custom and camaraderie among the members are important too. Institutions that provide important services like birth, marriage, and funeral rites and community activities attract families. Recognizing this, some humanist groups have established places where atheists, agnostics, free thinkers, humanists and skeptics can congregate on a regular basis with their families and find the kind of communal atmosphere and services that a church, mosque or temple provides. The Seattle Atheist Church, in Seattle, USA, is an example. In an area where there are nearly 800 Christian churches, it is a unique place that holds regular Sunday services focused on humanist beliefs. Anyone can attend the sessions which are led by invited speakers and community members. After the sermon, congregants sit in circles, relish fruit juice and cookies, and discuss varied issues in a respectful manner. People come with their families. Children have a space of their own. The church activities are run by unpaid volunteers. Humanist Canada, a nationwide body with chapters across Canada, is one of the few humanist organizations with a priesthood. Called officiants, they are trained to conduct personal and family services like naming a newborn, coming of age rites, marriage, divorce advice, conflict resolution and funeral ceremonies. Officiants need a sound knowledge of humanist principles, good interpersonal and communication skills and organizational ability. In some provinces, they are licensed to solemnize marriage. Similar humanist initiatives are active in the UK. But such initiatives are a drop in the bucket. Even atheists are unaware of their existence. Religions have conducted these activities for centuries. Humanists have a long distance to traverse before they enlist participants in similar functions in proportion to their global or national numbers. 9.5 CORE PRINCIPLES Humanist organizations have varying aims and statements of principles. Over the course of the last century, several manifestos were issued by national and multilateral humanist groups. Today, however, there is a single document—the Amsterdam Declaration 2002—which is accepted by most of the humanist organizations as the primary defining document for their movement. We summarize the main principles of this declaration: Humanism is ethical. It affirms the worth, dignity and autonomy of the individual and the right of every human being to the greatest possible freedom compatible with the rights of others. Humanism is a life stance aiming at the maximum possible fulfilment through the cultivation of ethical and creative living and offers an ethical and rational means of addressing the challenges of our time. Humanism can be a way of life for everyone everywhere. The Amsterdam Declaration 2002. The Declaration emphasizes that humanists are duty bound to care for humanity, now and of the future; they need to respect the scientific approach and use science creatively to search for solutions to world’s problems; they must support broad-based democracy and human rights; they should value artistic endeavors like music, literature, performing and visual arts; they should desist from depending on divine revelations for moral tenets; and they must eschew indoctrination, respect all religions, and promote non-dogmatic education for all. In 1965, the International Humanist and Ethical Union adopted the Happy Human icon as its official symbol. It is now used, in varied forms, as the official icon by many humanist organizations. The Happy Human The Declaration sees humanism a voluntary, ethical, rational, empathetic, equitable, rational worldview that respects humanity and nature, and enjoins personal rights with social responsibility. That is humanism in theory. But what is the practice? We address this question in the following sections. We start with describing the lives, ideas and deeds of some of the modern-day luminaries of humanism. 9.6 EXEMPLARY HUMANISTS Humanists are everywhere, in varied occupation and modalities of life. The April 2020 list of distinguished humanists, past and present, has 204 names. It includes eminent novelists, poets, playwrights, editors, essayists, singers, musicians, drummers, pianists, composers, actors, directors, journalists, TV stars, comedians, sports champions, academics, philosophers, physicists, biologists, geneticists, chemists, mathematicians, doctors, surgeons, engineers, inventors, computer scientists, psychologists, anthropologists, historians, economists, educationists, lawyer, judges, social, human and women’s rights activists, peace activists, politicians, left-wing radicals, right wingers, military specialists, corporate moguls and high tech pioneers. The full list is: Clerk Adams, Steve Allen, Woody Allen, Ralph Alpher, Nayef Al-Rodhan, Philip Warren Anderson, James J Andrews, Isaac Asimov, Michael Atiyah, AJ Atiyah, Margaret Atwood, A J Ayer, Ronnie Barker, Jeremy Bentham, John Bercow, Maria Berenice Dias, Marshall Berman, Leonard Bernstein, Niels Bohr, Hermann Bondi, Paul D Boyer, Johannes Brahms, Jacob Bronowski, Lester R Brown, Roy W Brown, Warren Buffet, Mario Bunge, Mary Calderone, Helen Caldicott, George Carlin, Anton J Carlson, Owen Chamberlain, Charlie Chaplin, Noam Chomsky, Winston Churchill, Arthur C Clarke, Auguste Comte, Aaron Copland, Andrew Copson, Brian Cox, Francis Crick, Paul J Crutzen, Marie Curie, Clarence Darrow, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Johann Deisenhofer, John Dewey, John H Dietrich, Paul Dirac, Matt Dillahunty, Baron Dubs, Ann Dunham, Roger Ebert, Umberto Eco, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Barbara Ehrenreich, Albert Ellis, Friedrich Engels, Greg M Epstein, Richard Feynman, Joseph Fletcher, Tom Flynn, Larry Flynt, Joseph Fourier, Sigmund Freud, Betty Friedan, Jerome Isaac Friedman, Stephen Fry, R Buckminster Fuller, John Kenneth Galbraith, Murray Gell-Mann, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Sheldon Lee Glashow, Rebecca Goldstein, Stephen Jay Gould, AC Grayling, David Gross, Greg Graffin, Goparaju R Rao, Daniel Handler, Matt Harding, Sam Harris, Hubert Harrison, Stephen Hawking, Herbert A Hauptman, Bill Hayden, Sam Heads, Matthew Healy, Katharine Hepburn, Dudley R Herschbach, Bill Hicks, Christopher Hitchens, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Julian Huxley, Albert Jacquard, Penn Jillette, Harry Kroto, Margaret E. Kuhn, Paul Kurtz, Corliss Lamont, Norman Lear, Simon Le Bon, Stewart Lee, Yuan T Lee, Robert Lees, John Lennon, Andre Michel Lwoff, Lovato Lovati, Paul MacCready, Seth MacFarlane, Bill Maher, Ashley Montagu, Marvin Minsky, Abraham Maslow, Jonathan Meades, Jonathan Meades, Mario J Molina, R Lester Mondale, Henry Morgentaler, Hermann Joseph Muller, PZ Myers, Jawaharlal Nehru, Erwin Neher, Huey P Newton, Kathleen Nott, Gary Numan, Bill Nye, Joyce Carol Oates, J Robert Oppenheimer, Ellen Page, Linus Pauling, Neil Peart, Steven Pinker, Charles Francis Potter, Karl Popper, Sir Terry Pratchett, Ilya Prigogine, Philip Pullman, James Randi, A Philip Randolph, Curtis W Reese, Anne Rice, Oscar Riddle, Alice May Roberts, Richard J Roberts, Gene Roddenberry, Carl Rogers, Richard Rorty, Joseph Rotblat, MN Roy, Arnold Ruge, Salman Rushdie, Bertrand Russell, Carl Sagan, Edward Said, Jonas Salk, Andrei Sakharov, Margaret Sanger, Jean-Paul Sartre, John Ralston Saul, FCS Schiller, Erwin Schrodinger, William F Schulz, Charles M. Schulz, Rod Serling, Michael Shermer, John Henry Silva, Marc Sinden, Peter Singer, Paul Sinha, BF Skinner, Linda Smith, Wole Soyinka, Benjamin Spock, Pete Stark, Gloria Steinem, John Sulston, Christer Sturmark, Thomas Szasz, Leo Szilard, George Takei, Henry Taube, E Donnall Thomas, Sandra Birgitte Toksvig, Carolyn Tomei, Valentin Turchin, Ted Turner, Mark Twain, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Nikola Tesla, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Peter Ustinov, Cenk Uygur, Gore Vidal, Kurt Vonnegut, Ramswaroop Verma, Alice Walker, James Peter Warbasse, Ibn Warraq, James D Watson, Faye Wattleton, Steven Weinberg, Joss Whedon, Walt Whitman, EO Wilson, Edwin H Wilson, Sherwin T Wine, Steve Wozniak, Thom Yorke, Frank Zappa, and Howard Zinn. (Wikipedia 2020 – List of Humanists). All races, genders, continents, major cultural backgrounds and political leanings feature in this list. A list of 50 top self-identified and activist atheists in the world today appears in the website given in Staff Writers (2020). Other listings of atheists and agnostics have also been compiled. Impressive lists like these give the perception that humanism and atheism have a broad following. But they do not. That Jawaharlal Nehru, who stood next in seniority to MK Gandhi in the Indian freedom movement, and the first and most influential Prime Minister of India, was an avowed atheist hardly affected the level of religiosity or significantly enlarged the atheist and humanist cohort in his nation. And these lists have a critical limitation. If we take a humanist as a person who rejects the existence of supernatural realms or beings and holds that human societies have developed their moral codes not from divine sources but from internal growth, then many progressive and socialist activists and thinkers who ought to be therein are not. Some stalwart socialist humanists and humanists from Africa, Asia and Latin America are named in a later section. Now we overview the lives and perspectives of two outstanding Western humanists of the 20th century, Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell. Albert Einstein + The theories of special and general relativity formulated by Albert Einstein are a revolutionary milestone in our conceptualization of space, time, matter, energy and motion. Verified with numerous experiments and observations, they are a major pillar of modern physics. Like all scientists, Einstein stood on the shoulders of past scientists, particularly Isaac Newton, James C Maxwell and Hendrik Lorentz. Yet, his theories are not the final word and are subject to ongoing scrutiny. Albert Einstein is ranked by many as the greatest scientist of all time. But he was not just a physicist. He was a man of the world. Because of his Jewish background and opposition to Nazism, he had to flee Germany, the land of his birth. He spent the rest of his life in the US, where he rallied against war, fascism and use of nuclear weapons. Espousing racial equality, social justice and freedom from colonial rule, he maintained close contact with leading figures—Paul Robeson and WEB Du Bois among them—in the US civil rights movement. Likening the status of African Americans to that of Jews in Nazi Germany, he visited African American colleges, paid college tuition for Black students, participated in anti-lynching crusades and served as a character witness for activists in court cases. His letter urging noncooperation with the US Senator McCarthy’s pernicious witch hunt was a true sign of courage in perilous political circumstances. Though Einstein felt a strong bond with the Jewish people and keenly empathized with the enormous suffering they had endured, especially in Nazi Germany, he adamantly opposed the Zionist program to establish an exclusive Jewish state in Palestine, and compared the tactics of the extremist Jewish parties to those used by the Nazis. And there was more. Einstein in his later years was a committed socialist. In his article in the first issue of Monthly Review—an outlet that became the premier Marxist magazine in the US and across the world—he explained his distaste for capitalism and preference for socialism in no uncertain terms. Under the title Why Socialism, he wrote: [Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evil. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. (Einstein 1949). Albert Einstein’s views on religion and God were of a complexity that defies a simple label. He had no affinity with an organized religion and did not pray or take part in religious ceremonies or rituals. He did not accept the existence of an omnipotent creator God who judges humans by their deeds and punishes or rewards them. And he rejected the notions of an eternal soul and afterlife and dismissed the idea that the holy books of major religions were infallible divine revelations. Yet, he jettisoned labels like atheist or pantheist to describe himself. In line with Spinoza, he adopted determinism as his basic philosophical stance. All events have sufficient causes; nothing happens by chance. A person’s decision to eat rice instead of bread is, like rain and thunder, determined by prior events. There is no free will. But while Spinoza purportedly derived the existence of an ultimate cause and identified it with God, Einstein viewed the cosmos, with its majestic, sublime features as a God-like entity. Scientific inquiry, which attempts to penetrate these mysteries was, in that regard, a religious activity. He delineated three types of religious belief: Religion of Fear, that emanates from the desire to alleviate the multiple problems and uncertainties of life—illness, pain, hunger, death, natural calamities—by appeals to and appeasement of divine powers. Religion of Morality, which holds that all goodness—love, honesty, kindness, altruism—derive from divine sources, and all social and personal ills emanate from failures to uphold these values. Religion of Wonder, which derives from an innate human curiosity to inquire into the mechanisms of natural phenomena and explore the subtleties of the creations of the human mind. While all three forms of religion have been present in a conjoined fashion, he felt that as human society develops, and life becomes more stable the first two forms will recede and the last will acquire greater import. Morality will eventually have a secular foundation. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hopes of reward after death. (Einstein 1930). And he asserted an unusual integration of religion with science. [The] cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research … [and] that in this materialistic age of ours the serious scientific workers are the only profoundly religious people. (Einstein 1930). Within Einstein’s framework science and religion enrich each other. The multi-talented, ascetic Bengali poet, writer, artist and musician Rabindranath Tagore was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. His vast compendium of works expresses profundity, elegance, simplicity and charm that delicately conveys an unconventional commentary on the complexities and duplicities of life. He supported the Indian struggle for freedom from British colonial rule and promoted communal tolerance. His spiritual and earthly ruminations earned him global fame. Tagore approached religion in non-dogmatic, non-ritualistic, inclusive and mystical terms: Religion is not a fractional thing that can be doled out in fixed weekly or daily measures as one among various subjects in the school syllabus. It is the truth of our complete being, the consciousness of our personal relationship with the infinite; it is the true center of gravity of our life. This we can attain during our childhood by daily living in a place where the truth of the spiritual world is not obscured by a crowd of necessities assuming artificial importance; where life is simple, surrounded by fullness of leisure, by ample space and pure air and profound peace of nature; and where men live with a perfect faith in the eternal life before them. Rabindranath Tagore The national anthems of India and Bangladesh derive from his compositions and that of Sri Lanka draws from his poetry. In 1930, Einstein and Tagore held a face-to-face dialogue on matters like art, literature, beauty, truth, science and religion. The primary issue they debated was whether beauty and truth had an existence independent of humanity. For Tagore, they did not. Einstein, on the other hand, said that while beauty was a human construct, truth, meaning the external reality and the laws governing its operation, exist independently of humanity. But he conceded that the latter assertion, which forms the basis of all scientific endeavors, cannot be proved. It is a foundational axiom. Albert Einstein and Rabindranath Tagore, 1930 Einstein’s conceptualization of religion is encapsulated in his reply to a letter from a young girl: The Riverside Church January 19, 1936 My dear Dr. Einstein, We have brought up the question: Do scientists pray? in our Sunday school class. It began by asking whether we could believe in both science and religion. We are writing to scientists and other important men, to try and have our own question answered. We will feel greatly honored if you will answer our question: Do scientists pray, and what do they pray for? We are in the sixth grade, Miss Ellis’s class. Respectfully yours, Phyllis January 24, 1936 Dear Phyllis, I will attempt to reply to your question as simply as I can. Here is my answer: Scientists believe that every occurrence, including the affairs of human beings, is due to the laws of nature. Therefore, a scientist cannot be inclined to believe that the course of events can be influenced by prayer, that is, by a supernaturally manifested wish. However, we must concede that our actual knowledge of these forces is imperfect, so that in the end the belief in the existence of a final, ultimate spirit rests on a kind of faith. Such belief remains widespread even with the current achievements in science. But also, everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that some spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe, one that is vastly superior to that of man. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is surely quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive. With cordial greetings, Your A. Einstein Einstein was an enigma. While espousing determinism and rejecting free will, he actively promoted peace, non-violence, and racial and economic equality and was in the advisory committee of the Humanist Society of New York. While he portrayed scientific activity in spiritual terms, he rejected the idea that science could provide a basis for constructing a code of morality. While ridiculing stories in holy books as childish, he said he was not an atheist. For him, as for Tagore, music was a deeply spiritual activity. Though the most famous personality of his era, he took anonymous walks in poor neighborhoods and mingled with people. Like Tagore, he had a humble persona, embraced a simple lifestyle and emitted exquisite prose. He was a veritable supernova of humanism. Yet, he was under constant surveillance by the FBI while in the US and was subjected to a despicable campaign to smear his name, brand him as a Soviet spy and destroy his reputation. Bertrand Russell + Born into a premier British aristocratic family and immersed into esoteric and radical ideas from an early age, Bertrand Russell bloomed into one of the most acclaimed mathematicians and philosophers of the 20th century. Principia Mathematica, a mammoth tome authored by him and Alfred N Whitehead, attempts to derive all of mathematics as an integrated framework from basic logical axioms. Though the project was eventually shown to be logically infeasible, its methodology and his other works mark a major point of departure in mathematical logic and analytic philosophy. Overall, his work exercised a significant influence not just in mathematics and philosophy but also in linguistics, computer science and psychology. Russell, like Einstein, did not confine himself to academic pursuits. A man of conscience and integrity, he became active in social and political causes. Twice he landed behind bars: once for his strident pacifism during World War I, and next in 1961, when at the age of 88, he led a march against nuclear weapons. His activism and unorthodox views earned him a dismissal from Trinity College, the annulment of his professorship at the City College of New York and compromised his academic career. The aggressiveness of the Nazi regime tempered his anti-war stance during World War II. But as the Cold War gathered steam, he became a leading voice for nuclear disarmament and was the founder president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament launched in 1958. A 1955 manifesto prepared by him and Albert Einstein and signed by eleven eminent scientists and scholars from capitalist and socialist nations boosted the efforts against the testing and production of nuclear weapons and led to the signing of the partial nuclear test ban treaty in 1963. He also favored admission of China into the UN and a permanent seat for China in the UN Security Council. During and after the Suez Crisis of 1955, Russell opposed Western imperial interventions in the Middle East. While he had backed the establishment of a Jewish state earlier, from 1967 on he opposed Israeli aggression against Arab nations and stood up for the rights of the people of Palestine. He had also supported India’s struggle against colonial rule. As the US escalated its war on Vietnam, he and Jean Paul Sartre chaired the international tribunal to investigate US acts of genocide in that brutal war. While there were a few blotches in his anti-nuclear stance and attempts to promote international cooperation during the Cold War, his overall record leaves no doubt about the side he stood on. He also served as an official of two humanist organizations in Britain. Bertrand Russell’s political vision encompassed promotion of peace, thoroughgoing international cooperation, democracy and Fabian socialism, cultural liberalism and educational reform. While he saw no scientific value in the ideas of Hegel and Marx, was not impressed by VI Lenin or the Russian Revolution, and firmly denounced the Stalinist regime, he deemed himself a socialist and opposed greed, hate and concentration of wealth and power. Bertrand Russell And as if that was not enough, he was a prolific author of popular books, pamphlets, articles and newspaper letters dealing with physics, philosophy, scientific method, ethics, politics, international solidarity, education, marriage and sexuality, freedom of thought and expression, religion and other topics. His views were quite controversial at the time, and many remain so. Russell garnered distinguished honors and awards for his academic and political efforts. The outstanding, accessible and sizeable character of his popular writings earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature 1950, a rare feat for a man whose major tome was readable by less than a hundred people. A topic on which he gave public lectures, debated and wrote several books and pamphlets, and which factored in his Nobel Prize, was religion. Russell began to reflect on and then parted company with Christianity and religion by the age of 18. He found the usual arguments for religion and God superfluous—that an ultimate cause of all that exists has to exist; that the complexity of nature implies a designer; that religion is indispensable for morality. Like Einstein, he admired Spinoza, and did not believe in life after death or hell or divine revelations. Observing that it was impossible to attain certainty on an issue like God, he viewed himself an agnostic in philosophical terms. But in practical terms, he was an atheist who refused to attend church service for any reason. He vocally critiqued the tales and rituals of dogmatic faith and rallied against the institutionalized religion. Holding that they were largely based on fear, lack of knowledge and superstition, he opined that the harmful effect of religious belief overrode its beneficial effect and that religion had played a key role in fostering war, domination, cruelty and human hardships. Yet, in tandem with Einstein, he did not part company with spirituality. Valuing some of the ethical tenets of Christianity, he was struck by a cosmic feeling that arises from contemplation of the mysteries of nature and life, and saw it as the basis for compassion, love and tolerance in personal and social lives. Scientific excellence aside, Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell were, in words and deeds, paragons of humanism with a mystical side who exercised a profound influence on the world they lived in. Despite the horrors they had witnessed, they remained optimistic, and retained faith in science and human resolve. Both were internationalists who saw socialism as the framework for organizing society. There is a big gulf between what they stood for and what the leading lights of humanism and New Atheism of today stand for. 9.7 HUMANISM AND RELIGION Is humanism a religion? What is the source of its ethics? Are humanists more or less ethical (moral) than the religious? Will humanism supplant religion? Will it morph into a rigid institutionalized creed? Will it develop into a medium for genuine human liberation and harmony, or will it become an ideology of a secular elite that controls society through advanced technology like nanotechnology, quantum computing and artificial intelligence? Crucial as they are, for now only tentative, speculative responses to such questions exist. But one thing is evident. Clarity on these issues cannot be attained by simply examining the ideals, ideas and deeds of the luminaries of humanism or atheism. The social, ethical role and significance of religion cannot be garnered simply from looking at what Martin Luther King, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Oscar Romero and Father Daniel Berrigan said and did. In both cases, a study of history and reality is a critical requirement. That is where we face a quandary. Full blown humanism is a barely two centuries old phenomenon. The humanists and atheists of the past, in the East and West, critiqued aspects of religious belief and practice, but held on, even if tenuously or just in public, to the tenets of the prevailing religion. They had little choice. Intolerant theocracies made frank atheism a life-threatening condition. Humanism as a social creed is a recent entity. The less religious socialist societies of the former USSR, Eastern Europe, Asia and Cuba have too short a history to draw definitive conclusions. Separating people as believers or non-believers oversimplifies the reality. Religiosity is a non-binary complex, multi-faceted continuum in both theory and practice. Earlier we partitioned the spectrum of religious belief as follows: devout believers, moderate believers, neutral persons, moderate atheists and devout atheists. It resembles the seven-point scale devised by Richard Dawkins, a famed evolutionary biologist and leading atheist. He categorizes the probability of belief in the claim that ‘God exists’ as Strong Theist (Absolutely Sure), De-facto Theist (Highly Likely), Weak Theist (Likely but Not Sure), Pure Agnostic (Uncertain), Weak Atheist (Likely but Not Sure), De-facto Atheist (Unlikely but Not Sure) and Strong Atheist (Absolutely Not). This scale is utilized in the context of the major monotheistic religions and belief in a single God. Our classification applies to a broader setting that also includes pantheism. Further, we go beyond belief and factor in practice as well. Consider classifying belief on three levels—devout, moderate, none—and adherence in three levels—regular, occasional, never—and look at the two factors, belief and adherence, in a bivariate fashion. Ideally, only the three main diagonal groups that display consistency between belief and practice (devout regular attender, moderate occasional attender, none believing never attender) should exist. But life is not simple. An atheist may attend church service to appease the family, or to not stand out among colleagues and neighbors. Or a devout person may accept a holy book as the word of God but never visit the prayer house because of conflict over organizational or financial issues. Syncretism—simultaneously following two or more religious creeds—is another complicating factor. In Africa, most Christians and Muslims partake in ancestral religious rituals. In the West, particularly in the US, marked portions of Christians, Muslims and Jews ascribe to alternative spiritualist or New Age creeds such as astrology, spiritual healing, meditation, crystal and magnet therapy, shamanism, reincarnation and life force. United States of America + The following table has results from a year 2017 random sample survey conducted in the USA. It combines the responses to two questions: ‘Do you believe in (a Biblical) God?’ and ‘Do you believe in a spiritual force?’ Some 80% of the responders asserted belief in a Biblical God while 19% did not express such a belief. And some 33% of the responders asserted belief in a spiritual force 66% did not express such a belief. The responses of 1% were unclear. A further breakdown of the data showed that 24% believed in both a Biblical God and a spiritual force, 56% in the former but not in the latter, 9% in the latter but not the former and 10% in neither (PRC 2018). Hence, if we consider responses to the question ‘Do you believe in God?’ about one in five are non-believers. But if we combine that with responses to ‘Do you believe in a spiritual force?’ the proportion of non-believers in any kind of a divine power falls to one in ten. A classification based on a different question placed the responders into three groups—Highly Religious (39%), Somewhat Religious (32%) and Non-Religious (29%). About a quarter of the highly religious and about a fifth of the Non-Religious took up New Age type of beliefs as well. The rest of the Non-Religious, mostly male, white, affluent and highly educated, rejected all forms of supernatural beliefs. Persons of young age or liberal political views were more inclined to detach themselves from religion than older persons or political conservatives. The self-identified atheists, agnostics or ‘nothing in particular’ advanced varied reasons for lacking a religious affiliation. In order of importance, these were: doubts about religious teachings, disagreement with the social and political stand of church, distrust of religious organizations, disbelief in God, irrelevance of religion and mistrust of religious leaders. Another survey first done in 2012 and redone in 2017 posed the queries: ‘Do you consider yourself religious?’ and ‘Do you consider yourself spiritual?’ In 2012, some 65% of the responders espoused religiosity while 35% did not express such a belief. And some 78% were inclined towards spiritualism, but 22% were not. By 2017, only 54% espoused religiosity while 46% did not. And 75% were inclined towards spiritualism, but 25% were not. A further breakdown of the data showed that in 2012, 59% espoused religiosity as well as spiritualism but by 2017, that group had gone down to 48%. Further, in 2012, 16% of the responders had distanced themselves from both religiosity and spiritualism, but by 2017, such responders had increased to 19%. (Lipka and Gecewicz 2017). The decline in religiosity over five years is striking. The fall is restricted to the subgroup that is both religious and spiritual while most of the gain was seen among those who saw themselves as spiritual but not religious. Firm atheists, non-religious and non-spiritual, experienced a relative increase but by a smaller margin. When these data were adjusted for various factors, the overall trend in decline of religiosity persisted across gender, racial, ethnic, age, education and political lines. A year 2019 survey reinforced these findings. Over the past decade, the proportion of self-identified Christians fell by 12 percentage points while the atheist, agnostic or ‘nothing in particular’ category rose by 17 percentage points. About one quarter of the adults now fall in the latter group. Within this non-religious group, about a third are self-identified atheists and agnostics. Thus, from 2009 to 2019, the proportion of atheists rose from 2% to 4% and those of the agnostics from 3% to 5%, making their total rise from 5% to 9% (Lipka 2019). These changes are not just manifested in belief but in church attendance as well. The change, occurring within all social and political strata, is more acute among young adults. Financial wellbeing was associated with religious disbelief, and poverty with religious belief (Sherwood 2019). United Kingdom + Britain has an established semi-official church, the Church of England. With the Queen as the supreme governor, it boasts 18,000 ordained and 10,000 lay ministers. With churches littered across the landscape and extensive property, its investment portfolio exceeds $10 billion. Twenty-six of the senior bishops have the right to a seat in the House of Lords. Yet it no longer rules the theological sphere as it once did. In 2011, the number of people attending church service at least once a month stood at 1.7 million. By 2017, that had gone down to 1.1 million. Secularization is more marked in the UK than in the US. In 1983, 66% of the responders to a major national survey deemed themselves Christian and 31% had no religious affiliation. By 2018 these proportions had inverted to 38% and 52%, respectively. Presently, about a fourth of the UK adults are non-religious in the sense that they do not accept the statement ‘I believe in God’. As in the US, irreligiosity is more prevalent among young people. And tolerance towards other religions is on the increase. About four fifths of people have no problems with interfaith marriage. Religious bodies are among the institutions with the lowest levels of public trust. Secularization is more prevalent in Scotland where 59% of the adults declare themselves as non-religious, attending church only for funerals and weddings. About two-thirds of the weddings in Scotland in 2017 were humanist weddings. Europe and Canada + The trend towards irreligiosity is also evident in Canada and a number of European nations. In British Columbia, a Canadian province, survey data indicate that between 45% and 70% of the adults are non-religious. About 60% do not participate in faith-based activities and only 3% go to church at least once a week. And, about 25% of the adults are self-described atheists. Asked if they believed in God, the proportion who said no in the Czech Republic, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands was 67%, 60%, 54% and 53%, respectively. The proportion of self-identified atheists was 25% for Czech Republic, 19% for Belgium, 16% for Denmark, 15% for France, 15% for Slovakia, and 14% for the Netherlands. Long term data-based models indicate that religious affiliation is headed towards near zero levels in nine countries: Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland and Switzerland. That a hitherto staunchly Catholic nation like Ireland appears in this list calls for a more rigorous analysis of the role of religion in the modern era. Association with organized religion, in belief and practice, is progressively on the wane in the affluent societies of the West, and is being replaced by espousal of atheistic, agnostic and non-religious spiritual tendencies. The new generation does not feel bound, emotionally or socially, to the traditional religions that have held sway over the public mind for millennia. India + Atheistic ideas (nastika) that reject the existence or powers of gods and goddesses have been around in India since the Vedic times. Hindu scriptures and doctrines do not explicitly sanction apostasy, heresy or atheism. A Hindu renouncing religion or espousing deviant beliefs does not face a penalty, at least in the earthly domain. But as a violation of dharma, it may lower their chance of attaining eternal bliss. Several atheist organizations have operated in the country since the early 1800s. Some attained international fame. Eminent Indians of the modern era have been non-believers. Among them were: Jawaharlal Nehru (first Prime Minister), MN Roy (Marxist-humanist, eminent political theorist, international activist), Bhagat Singh (socialist freedom fighter), PEV Ramasamy (social reformer), VD Savarkar (freedom activist and anti-superstition campaigner), GR Rao (Gora) and Saraswathi Gora (social reformers, authors and atheist conference organizers), Khushwant Singh (distinguished lawyer, journalist, diplomat, politician and popular author), Amartya Sen (Nobel Prize winning economist and philosopher), H Narasimhaiah (physicist, educator, writer and freedom fighter) and Meghnad Saha (astrophysicist). Yet, India remains a religious nation. The number of non-believers today is unclear. The 2001 National Census of India recorded 700,000 persons in the ‘Other’ (minor religion or no religion) category. In 2011, 2,870,000 (0.3% of the population) stated ‘no religion’ as their status. But other national and state-wide surveys and related indicators paint a different picture. According to the 2012 WIN-Gallup Global Index of Religion and Atheism report, 81% of Indians were religious, 13% were non-religious, 3% were convinced atheists, and 3% were unsure or did not respond. (Wikipedia (2021 – Irreligion in India)). A 2006 survey by a Japanese research center estimated that about 7% of Indians did not follow a religion. Disbelief in religion varies from state to state. Membership of the communist parties, many of whom presumably are non-believers, is over two million. It is thus likely that there are three million or more non-believers in India today and many of them are atheists. As in the West, but to a lesser degree, irreligiosity is more common among Indian scientists. A 2007 survey of 1200 Indian scientists found that 11% of them were not affiliated to any religion. A comparative survey of 1,581 British and 1,763 Indian scientists showed that 68% of the former never attended religious services, and only 19% of the latter never did. And among the British persons of science, 49% conceded that religions were not devoid of basic truths but among the Indians that view was expressed by 73%. Courts have ruled that ‘atheist’ is not a legal category and have blocked attempts to take an oath using the Constitution instead of a religious book. Declaration of religion is not required for official documents like certificate of birth and passport. However, it has to be declared when converting from one religion to another. Ravi Kumar, a 33-year-old man whose official name now is Ravi Kumar Atheist, is perhaps the most celebrated atheist (nastik) in India today. The word ‘Atheist’ is artfully tattooed on each of his forearm; his door nameplate reads Ravi Atheist. To gain official recognition, he petitioned the government of Haryana state to issue him a document stating he had no religion, caste or God. The certificate was duly issued but was later withdrawn after his case came in the spotlight. His appeal to the state High Court was denied but he has launched a further appeal to a higher court to regain the certification. Ravi parted company with Hinduism, his birth religion, at an early age as he felt that he would not get what he wanted through prayer. God is man's creation. God doesn't exist. It is just a word. Ravi Kumar Atheist (BBC 2019). He feels that religion is being exploited by politicians to hoodwink and divide people and justify war and violence. He does not visit temples and says that money spent on religious activities should be spent on education and health care instead. His avowed lack of religiosity has earned him ridicule from relatives, friends and neighbors and made it difficult to get a wife or secure a steady job. His consolation is that his previously devout parents now agree with him and no longer go to the temple. But, unlike other prominent atheists in India, he has thus far been spared violent assault from Hindu extremists. The Global South + Many nations of the Global South presently have legal atheist and humanist organizations. But in many, atheists are persecuted, officially and socially. In some, to profess lack of religious belief is to court death. It makes accurate estimation of the number of atheists difficult. But general indications are that it is quite low. Yet, atheists exist in the most conservative and repressive of places. An international survey of 57 nations done in 2011 indicated that 97% of Ghanaians and 93% Nigerians are religious, placing them at the top of the religiosity scale. Yet, in these and other African nations like Tanzania and Kenya, legally registered atheist or humanist bodies exist. Their meetings attract but a few. The atheists in Ghana and Nigeria comprise less than 0.5% of the population. To utter in public that you do not follow a religion is to invite ridicule and insult as a devil worshipper. Associated with political power and wealth, Catholicism has been the historically dominant creed in Latin America. Movements challenging the official religion arose now and then, but they did not last for long. During the Cold War years, there was the emergence of liberation theology and of highly conservative brands of evangelical Christianity. Brutal suppression, assisted by the US, of the former has placed conservative Christianity in the driving seat in many nations. Brazil, a nation with high levels of economic inequality, crime, social violence, drug use, ghetto life and attacks on indigenous communities, is a case in point. In the past, belief systems other than Catholicism were in a precarious position. During the Cold War, atheism was officially linked with socialism and liberation theology. The penalty was torture and death at the hands of right-wing death squads. With support from US churches, anti-socialist evangelical Christianity made large inroads in the nation. Adherence to Catholicism declined from about 95% in 1960 to less than 60% at present. The vacated space has been taken up by a conglomeration of Protestant denominations, many of which actively promote conservative agendas of the sort found in US elections. Political rhetoric now abounds with calls to protect Christian values, which are said to be under threat from rising secularism. Abortion, homosexuality, traditional African religions, evolution theory, gun control and atheism dominate political campaigns. Public and political views on atheism express disgust, calling it devil worship. Atheists are regarded as no better than drug addicts. The election of archconservative, fascistically inclined JM Bolsonaro to the presidency is pushing the right-wing agenda to the extreme. There is no such thing as a secular state. The state [Brazil] is Christian. Those who do not agree to this can move out. President JM Bolsonaro (AAI 2019). Such virulent rhetoric provides an effective cover to curtail civil liberties, follow neoliberal economic policies that entrench and extend economic inequality, unleash a reckless drive to denude the Amazon rain forest and divert attention from the basic causes of the panoply of grave social ills. In Turkey, which historically was the most secular Muslim majority nation in the Middle East, the nearly two decades of strenuous effort by the ruling party to promote conservative Islamic values and practices seems to be backfiring. While funding for religious departments, schools and clergy has increased, the younger generation is turning away from theocratic versions of Islam and the idea of religion in greater numbers. Fewer pray regularly, fast during Ramadhan or cover their hair. A survey indicated that those who saw themselves as very faithful went down from 32% in 2008 to 7% in 2019. +++ We draw several conclusions form our brief survey of the global trends in religiosity and irreligiosity. One, irreligiosity is gaining traction across the world, even in places where it is a minor feature of the social landscape. Religiosity is declining at faster rates in the affluent, economically stable nations while high levels of religiosity persist in nations in which most people are mired in misery and economic uncertainty. Two, growing irreligiosity in the West is accompanied with a paradoxical countertrend. Extreme right-wing politicians whose base includes not just the corporate sector, but also evangelical Christian denominations often dominate municipal, regional and national offices. Religion intrudes more and more into public policy. The major churches are succumbing to theological dogmatism as well. Religion and parties with extremist religious, xenophobic agendas are gaining more ground in the poverty afflicted nations. India and Brazil exemplify the trend but generally it is more pronounced in Muslim majority nations. Three, in the affluent nations, irreligiosity is more prevalent among well to do people but is markedly less pronounced among the poor and socially marginalized strata. In the poor nations, fervent religiosity prevails not just among those at the bottom but also among the globalized middle classes. 9.8 GOOD WITHOUT GOD? Conduct counts more than belief. Ultimately, one’s behavior towards family, community and others is a truer test of character. The key questions in exploring the association between religiosity and ethical or moral conduct are whether religion is a prerequisite for ethical conduct, whether irreligiosity engenders unethical behavior, and whether the ethical tenets of the religious differ from those of the non-religious, and ultimately, whether a person can be good without God. Accurate answers to these questions require long-term studies of the actual behavior of religious and non-religious peoples. Such studies are not feasible. But surveys have instead elicited opinions on such questions. A 2011/2013 survey of some 37,000 respondents in 39 nations posed the question: Is belief in God essential to be a moral person? The results are summarized below. In the Western nations, the assenting percentages stood below 50%, and in six nations, it was less than 30%. On the other hand, in the less affluent Third World nations, it was above 50%, and in eight, it was over 90%. The nations with the highest levels of concurrence were Indonesia (99%), Ghana (99%) and Pakistan (98%) and those with the lowest levels were Spain (19%), Czech Republic (19%) and France (15%). The US, with the highest level of ‘yes’ responses (53%) among the Western nations, was an exception. Another survey that posed a slightly different question indicated that even in the US, the proportion of the population that deems religion to be essential for morality has declined in the recent years. Thus in 2011 it was 48% but by 2017, it had fallen to 42% (Smith 2017). Detailed analyses in both surveys indicated that in North America and Europe, respondents of lower age and higher education were more likely to say ‘no’ as compared with older, less educated respondents. In the UK, 55% of the respondents of a survey said that atheists and religious people do not differ in terms of morality. In a questionnaire-based study of 656 subjects, levels of empathy and moral reaction to six troubling scenarios were scored and analyzed in terms of religious affiliation, degree of religiosity and socio-demographic features. The findings indicated that broadly atheists and theists had the same ethical standards. Nonreligious and religious participants had similar levels of empathy and showed similar patterns of moral reactions to different moral violations involving both disgusting and non-disgusting contents. (Rabelo and Pilati 2019). One area where the religious differ from the non-religious is participation in political affairs. In many nations of the West where voting is not compulsory, the former, especially the actively religious, are as or more likely to vote in local and national elections than the latter. But their participation is more on the right-wing side. Religious institutions have a long history of charitable and social service activities. Of recent, humanist and atheist organizations are also getting involved in activities like feeding and providing basic necessities to the homeless. Long standing tradition held that crimes were conducted by people who were influenced by the devil; that church goers were not likely to engage in unlawful activities. Many studies to assess the association between religious belief and participation in religious activities, on the one hand, and criminal conduct, on the other, have been done in the US. Some studies show a positive association, but other studies show an absence of a link along these lines. Current overall reviews of the literature have concluded that many studies had methodological problems and no solid evidence exists to say that religion is or is not associated with criminality (ECJ 2021; Sumter et al. 2018). On the issue of attitude towards beliefs other than one’s own, surveys in the West indicate that a similar, wide degree of tolerance prevails among both religious and non-religious groups. Books written by prominent atheists have topped the best seller lists. Such results, though, are not consistent with the well documented rise of Islamophobia among the general public, political leadership and main media in the West. Elsewhere, intolerance of other faiths and virulent hostility towards atheism are ascendant trends. Overall, there is no basis to support the proposition that lack of belief in divinities or divine realms signifies a moral deficit. Atheists, agnostics, humanists, or the unaffiliated go about their lives—in family and social affairs, and at work and school—in much the same way as those who pray in churches, mosques and temples. The moral and ethical standards of the two groups appear equivalent. 9.9 MARX, ENGELS AND LENIN ON RELIGION Conventional wisdom points to the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 as solid proof that socialism and communism are unworkable, harmful systems, and have been buried for good. Free market capitalism and globalization are the sole viable options for all nations, including China and Vietnam. Karl Marx and his ideas were summarily dismissed or denounced by the main media, scholars and politicians worldwide. Only a few die-hards promoted socialist ideas and even fewer held on to the Marxist theoretical framework. The extensive damage caused by the international financial crisis of 2008 put a pause on the pro-capitalist exuberance. Economists conceded that perhaps some ideas of that bearded fellow had relevance. And, for the first time in nearly a century, the presidential candidacy of Bernie Sanders made socialism a non-pejorative term in the US, the global headquarters of capitalism. It was common until the 1970s for humanists and atheists to identify as socialists. Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russel were prime exemplars of that conjunction. Today, ‘socialism’ has been expunged from the humanist and atheist lexicon. Even as its program borrows liberally from socialist doctrines, no major humanist organization includes promotion of socialism as one of its goals. In this section, we explore the relationship between socialism, humanism and religion by examining key ideas of three prominent socialist humanists, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and VI Lenin. Marx and Engels + The idea of a society based on cooperation and equality has a long history. But among the numerous thinkers that have propounded it, none have been more influential than Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In their investigation of the structure and dynamics of human society, particularly capitalism, they delved deeply into philosophy, history, economics, literature, politics, social movements, religion and science. The framework they developed is called Marxism. First, we summarize the main Marxist ideas. Marx and Engels critiqued utopian socialists for believing that an ideal society based on cooperation would emerge through educational endeavors and appeals to goodwill. The struggle for socialism has to utilize empirical, interdisciplinary analyses of the historical development of human society. Humans make their own history, but human endeavors face constraints imposed by existent economic and social conditions. Other than in the early hunting-gathering social formations, human society has been divided into classes—the ruling class, the producing classes and intermediate strata. Social change is driven by the development of productive forces and the ensuing conflict between the classes. Yet, all societies did not experience a uniform process of historical change. The capitalist society has two major classes, capitalists—owners, controllers of the means of production and exchange—and the working people. Human labor is the source of value, but the system of wage labor and market mechanisms enable the capitalists to appropriate the wealth (surplus value) generated by working people (workers and peasants). The relations of production, together with state institutions and laws, and the dominant belief system enable the ruling class to appropriate the wealth generated by the producers. Through intensive exploitation of the working class and rapacious intrusion into overseas territories, a fantastic growth of productive forces precipitated unprecedented improvements in all walks of life in the dominant nations. Yet, operating via the profit motive, capitalism is an inherently unstable system. It cannot serve humanity. The gap between the rich and poor will widen, and the chances of a decent life and genuine freedom will be curtailed for the working people. The struggle in the economic and political arenas between the capitalists and workers for the division of social wealth has the potential for opening the door to the birth of a socialist society. The workers must wrest the control of state power from the capitalists and institute more egalitarian relations of production and representative governance. Marx and Engels firmly stood for international unity of the working people. They revealed that the ideological mechanisms of society—education system, media, political and intellectual elites, cultural institutions and religion—complement the repressive apparatus of the state and act, for the most part, as barriers preventing the people from understanding the essence of the capitalist system and embarking on a united effort to overthrow that system. Marx and Engels were activist philosophers with close connections to the working-class movements. They were hounded by the authorities for their ideas and activism. They did not advocate violence but accurately noted that the ruling class would react violently and use the power of the state to crush any move from below to initiate even minor changes in the status quo. Marxism is not a static system of thought. Many subsequent thinkers have modified and enriched it. It is not a homogenous system either. Disputations among varied Marxist schools exist. The contentions have emanated from the socio-economic and cultural changes that have taken place across the globe over the past two centuries, the experiences of socialist nations and the modern endeavors to attain socialism. Change is not an anomaly but a feature of a grounded, dynamic discipline. But when it was espoused by state authorities, as in the USSR and China, Marxism lost its living feature and became ossified into a bureaucratically enforced dogma. That also occurred within some sectarian Marxist tendencies and parties. The analytic methodology formulated by Marx and Engels and later extended by others remains relevant to this day. A succinct, erudite case for Marxism today appears in the series Thompson (2011a, 2011b, 2011c, 2011d, 2011e, 2011f, 2011g, 2011h) and Gosh (2017). Marx and Engels on religion + Marx and Engels were atheists, in theory and practice. Popular renditions of their views on religion are limited to a single sentence: ‘Religion is the opium of the people’. Their detractors say that they were anti-religious zealots who advocated a total ban religious worship and institutions. Nothing is further from the truth. Their views were complex and nuanced. Marx and Engels viewed religion as a form of social consciousness, a mental reflection of humanity’s struggles against the forces of nature, painful vagaries of life and constrictions of class societies. They observed that historically, religion had fulfilled two social roles, a liberationist role and a repressive role. In the early stage, religion often expresses dissent against tyranny. Christianity, like every revolutionary movement, was made by the masses. (Marx and Engels 1957, Page 184). Christianity was originally a movement of oppressed people: it first appeared as a religion of slaves and freedmen, of poor people deprived of all rights, of peoples subjugated or dispersed by Rome. (Marx and Engels - Boer 2010). After it became the official religion of the Roman Empire and in the feudal era, the Catholic Church became an adjunct to the oppressive, exploitative rule of the landlords, princes and monarchs, and was also an instrument of war and violence. They detailed the persecution by the Christian Church of scientists and reformers whose views had differed even mildly from the prevailing theological orthodoxy. Marx and Engels posited that internalization of religious dogma by the masses lulled their awareness of the conditions of society and work towards changing them. It was an element of the false consciousness generated by history and the social relations. Nonetheless, they realized that religious faith had a real psychic basis in the actuality of oppressive social and economic systems. Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. (Marx and Engels 1957, Page 38). Marx and Engels upheld freedom of religion and denounced coercive or official moves against religious practice. Arguing that the state must not interfere in or support religious activity, they advocated science education and rational thinking as ways to counter beliefs in supernatural phenomena and beings. Equality in original sin had to be superseded by equality and freedom here and now. Reflecting their deep historical knowledge, approach and insight on the subject, Marx and Engels are considered to be among the main founders of the field of sociology of religion. Vladimir I Lenin + Russia of the 19th and early 20th centuries was an autocratic, theocratic feudal society. The rural population lived in slave-like, degraded conditions on huge estates of princes and aristocrats. Movements for democratic and social reform were brutally quelled by the Tsarist police. Activists faced years of exile in the remote, frozen Siberian landscape. The Russian Orthodox Church exercised a virtual monopoly on the religious front. As the largest landowner, and with its dignitaries closely allied to the nobility and the Tsarist regime, it was an integral part of the Tsarist domination, in the spiritual and the material arenas. A popular uprising in 1917 overthrew the Tsarist regime after a protracted struggle. The Bolshevik party, headed by VI Lenin, took the helm of the first ever triumphant socialist revolution. Lenin is the most influential Marxist after Marx and Engels. His meticulous tome, The Development of Capitalism in Russia, his analysis of the nature of the state, and his elucidation of the international, imperialist character of the capitalist system made him a foremost Marxist theoretician. His innovations in the strategy and tactics of socialist movements as well as his vibrant critique of pseudo socialist ideas exercised a long-term influence on the struggle for socialism in the world. Lenin’s views on the history and function of religion did not differ, except in some matters of detail, from those espoused by Marx and Engels. As visions that claimed to explain nature and society, religion and science are incompatible. Religion rewards the toilers in the afterlife, and thereby affords a venue via charity for the exploiters to justify their comforts in the present life. He excoriated the Russian Orthodox Church for its role in social exploitation and urged the clergy to break their ties with the Tsarist police. Noting that a portion of the clergy had allied itself with local and international forces to overturn the socialist revolution by arms, he said that a violent response against them was justified. Lenin stood for a secular state that did not have an official religion and in which freedom of religion was a basic right. In particular, he advocated the separation of the church and state, removal of teaching of religion from schools and eliminating the provision of state funds for religious education. The state should not grant subsidies churches and religious institutions. Yet, he opposed any move to ban religion and declare atheism as the official creed. [Discrimination] among citizens on the account of their religious convictions is wholly intolerable. Even the mere mention of a citizen’s religion on official documents should unquestionably be eliminated. (Lenin 1965, page 8). Lenin said that while the program of the Bolshevik party had a non-theist, scientific basis, religious people who accepted socialist principles could join the party. Advocating a broad program of scientific education which would not hurt the sentiments of the faithful, he urged party members to ‘enrich their minds with a knowledge of all the treasures created by mankind’. (Lenin 1965, page 54). The views of Marx, Engels and Lenin on religion are dispersed within broader works which are strewn with abstruse polemics. Karl Kautsky and Rosa Luxemburg provided the earliest cogent and currently pertinent Marxist analyses of the role of religion in society. The two pamphlets by the latter—Luxemburg (1903) and Luxemburg (1905)—are good guides on the Marxist analysis of religion. An insightful document from India on Marxism and religion was written by the freedom activist Bhagat Singh (Singh 1930). 9.10 SOCIALIST HUMANISM As systems of thought that eschew divine revelation and see morality as a historic, social construct, Marxism and socialism are integral to the humanist tradition. In addition to the pioneering socialists—Marx, Engels, Lenin, Karl Kautsky and Rosa Luxemburg—the usual lists of humanists and atheists can be expanded to include a global bevy of socialist thinkers and activists: Eqbal Ahmad, Tariq Ali, Louis Althusser, Samir Amin, Paul Baran, Simone de Beauvoir, Ben Bella, Waldon Bello, JD Bernal, Charles Bettleheim, Amilcar Cabral, Fidel Castro, Aime Cesaire, Angela Davis, Regis Debray, WEB Dubois, Frantz Fanon, Ruth First, Andre Gunder Frank, Erich Fromm, Eduardo Galeano, Antonio Gramsci, Che Guevara, Chris Hani, Michael Harrington, William Hinton, Eric Hobsbawm, George L Jackson, DD Kosambi, Alex LaGuma, RD Laing, Oscar Lange, Georg Lukacs, Samora Machel, Ernest Mandel, Herbert Marcuse, Fatima Meer, Ho Chi Minh, EMS Namboodiripad, Joseph Needham, Kwame Nkrumah, Sembene Ousmane, James Petras, Eslanda Robeson, Paul Robeson, Walter Rodney, Jean-Paul Sartre, Joseph Stalin, Paul Sweezy, Leon Trotsky, Mao Zedong, Howard Zinn and hundreds of others. That these names are absent in most of the listings of humanists speaks to the pro-capitalist bias of modern humanism. Another reason why socialists are not found here reflects the disrepute brought to socialism by the authoritarianism of Stalinist USSR. Marxists reacted by declaring Stalinism a betrayal of Marxism and that the USSR was a bureaucratic capitalist state. Impelled to revisit the foundation of Marxism, they stressed its humanistic basis. Socialist Humanism (Marxist Humanism) was born as a school of thought. Among the principal figures of this school were Rosa Luxemburg, Antonio Gramsci, Raya Dunayevskaya, Herbert Marcuse, CLR James and Erich Fromm. Socialist Humanism (in varied forms) took its cue from the early writings of Marx to place the individual—not the state, party, institutions, or economic plans—at the front and center. Society should provide individuals with the freedom, environment and means to grow to their full potential. But that cannot be freedom for some and denial of freedom for others. True freedom does not endorse egoism or narcissism. It is a derivative of love and empathy for fellow human beings. Freedom makes you value and respect the freedom of your neighbor and of people from another culture. The goal of [socialist] humanism is a free and universal society in which people voluntarily and intelligently cooperate for the common good. (Hoelscher 2016). Socialist Humanism argues that inequality and capriciousness inherent in capitalism constrain freedom for individuals. The profit motive imprisons all—rich, middle class and the poor. The latter are further shackled by material deprivation and low opportunities in education, job market and good housing. The consumer culture, formal democracy, education and private media foment the vision of a free society. New technology promises to eliminate drudgery and open up a world of possibilities. But pervasive corporate influence and control, orchestrated through subtle institutional mechanisms, make those freedoms a sham. One’s resources and time are not spent the way one likes. People remain at the mercy of forces beyond their control. And furthermore, the war economy and the campaigns to exploit, destabilize and attack other nations imply that the freedom for the few in the dominant nations is at the expense of suffering and misery for a vast segment of humanity. A humanistic doctrine that fails to recognize the acquisitive nature of capitalism and overlooks the maladies and insecurity imposed upon the poor nations and people by neoliberalism and militarism betrays itself by endorsing capitalist values and norms. [Humanism] is utterly incoherent if it fails to focus on the problems of poverty and economic oppression. (Hoelscher 2016). Socialism embodies a mature form of humanism. Historically, Marxism was the significant force that brought atheism closer to humanism. Socialist Humanism challenges divinely inspired doctrines on rational grounds. But that is a start. It is also essential to critique and work for the elimination of the conditions that engender such beliefs. Yet, today most of the humanist and atheist organizations and thinkers have made peace with capitalism and abandoned radical socialist ideas. In the 1960’s, any bookshelf casting a critical psychological perspective on consumer capitalism would invariably stock Herbert Marcuse’s One Dimensional Man (Marcuse 1991) and Erich Fromm’s The Sane Society (Fromm 1990). Both noted that the dazzling but superficial choices in the marketplace, the ethos of the American Dream, permissiveness, and loose cultural norms induced conformism, alienation and social irresponsibility. The psyche adapted itself to the ills of inequality, racism, patriarchy, nationalism, gluttony, insatiable shopping and environmental damage. Yet, instead of succumbing to cynical pessimism, these books envisioned promises of human liberation in the counterculture movement and other struggles of their times. These and other works of towering socialist humanists are as relevant today. Yet, such works remain alien to the bulk of modern left-wing, feminist, anti-racist and humanist activists and thinkers. At best, the new breed of humanists advocate tinkering with some aspects of capitalism but not its complete overhaul. 9.11 RELIGION AND THE PARIS COMMUNE The Paris Commune was the first attempt to establish a state with an explicit socialist program. It emerged following a popular uprising in Paris in March 1871. Occurring in the middle of mass misery, state dysfunction and reckless war, the Commune gave the world a glimpse of what socialism could look like. With support from patriotic elements of the National Guard, a firmly democratic and progressive rule was instituted. State officials were elected and were subject to recall. Child labor, night labor and employer-imposed fines were banned. Rent increases were banned too. The homeless were sheltered in public buildings. The poor freely retrieved their pawned items. Pension support widened. Education and access to cultural sites became free for all. Workers had the right to take over abandoned factories, but the owners were entitled to compensation. Women chaired committees, conducted political agitation and played a front-line role at the barricades. A feminist agenda was in the works. These measures, far reaching for Europe of that era and even now, were implemented quite rapidly. But they could not be sustained. A ferocious assault by the national army demolished the Commune within two and a half months. Some 20,000 men and women died defending it. Internal dissent, lack of support in the rural areas, organizational ineptitude, inability to form an alliance with the middle classes, tactical shortfalls of a vacillating leadership, and shortage of military supplies also played a role. What the Commune lacked, above all, was time. The Christian Church was a wealthy, anti-democratic power broker in France. Living in opulence amidst deep poverty, the senior clergy had strong monarchist leanings. In the urban areas liberal modes of thinking had some influence, but in rural areas, the Church dominated the lives and emotions of the masses. Right at inception, the Commune instituted a separation of church from state, disallowed teaching and practice of religion in schools, and converted church property to state property. The churches were allowed to conduct services but had to open their doors for public meetings. Some untoward actions occurred in the atmosphere of insecurity. The archbishop and his lieutenants were put behind bars and used as bargaining chips to secure the release of commune sympathizers imprisoned by the state. Two of them were later executed. Despite its short life, the long-term influence of the Commune on the development a firmly secular democratic society was unmistakable. It brought the fragile dynamic between organized religion and state under socialism to the fore as well. 9.12 RELIGION IN CHINA For centuries, Chinese people had followed a fluctuating mix of Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist beliefs sprinkled with folk belief systems. Islam and Christianity arrived on the scene in the 7th century. The former gained a foothold in a few areas, but the latter almost died out. Colonial intrusions by Western powers in early 18th century set the stage for a wider spread of Christianity in China, Catholic and Protestant. The British export to China of opium grown in colonial India was a key fulcrum. Britain demanded special trading rights and territorial concessions from the Chinese rulers to conduct the perfidious trade. After two punitive naval wars waged by Britain and France, the Chinese government had no option but to enter into treaties that compromised its sovereignty and cede control of major trading ports to Western powers. As British firms prospered by fueling opium addiction, Christian missionaries from the West secured special rights to operate and proselytize. It was a combination of real and ideological opium the likes of which the world has not ever seen. As Christianity spread, so did anti-Christian sentiments. Churches were accused of abusing treaty rights to avoid tax payment and secure deals for their followers. Foreign powers were blamed for keeping China in poverty. By the end of the 19th century, humiliation and exploitation reached a boiling point, erupting in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. Cities were besieged, foreign owned buildings and churches were looted. Many Westerners and Chinese Christians were killed. Western powers and Japan deployed massive force to put it down. With hundreds of thousands dead on its side, China was made to pay 300 million dollars as reparation to the imperial powers. Yet, anti-foreign sentiment did not subside. Military attacks by Japan and Russia sparked a nationalist fervor. The overthrow of the Qing dynasty and founding of the Republic of China in 1911 incorporated anti-feudal, anti-imperialist as well as anti-religious, especially anti-Christian, tendencies into state policy. Reformist officials and intellectuals denounced religious belief and called for abolition of religion in state affairs and institutions. But mixed signals prevailed as the appeal of Western culture rose in the growing cities and more people converted to Christianity. But now another factor operated on the scene—militant student and worker movements that espoused anti-imperialism, anti-feudalism and advocated socialism. Fierce reprisals from the state led to the murder of hundreds of leftist, patriotic students, workers and intellectuals. Thousands were forced to flee to the countryside between 1919 and 1928. But the central government was weakened by Japanese incursions and dominance of warlord armies in the provinces. Christian missionaries in China engaged in charity, promoted education and modern medicine, opposed opium use and practices like foot-binding of women. But they were an integral part of Western imperial designs as well. Some leaders of the Republican movement were Christians. But reformers, especially students, viewed Western practices and ideas as instruments of cultural and political domination. The militant Anti-Christian Movement of 1923 was but one expression of that line of thinking. From the 1930s on, the struggle against semi-feudalism, landlordism, warlords, autocratic central government and Japanese imperialism was led by the Communist Party of China headed by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. An outstanding feature of this struggle was that unlike the warlord battalions and the Japanese army, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) maintained friendly, humane relations with the rural masses. The warlord and Japanese forces looted temples and churches with impunity, but the PLA refrained from banditry. The main pillars of the Communist Party program were to unify and rapidly develop the nation, eliminate poverty, nationalize and expand industry, agriculture and transport, establish rural cooperatives and provide effective, free educational and health services to the entire nation. While Marxism was the guiding philosophy of the state, religion as such was not a central part of its program. Because of the continued Western hostility toward China, CIA support for the armed Tibetan exiles from India, and desire for cultural autonomy, religious groups seen as serving external interests were proscribed. In the 1950s, due to their allegiance to the anti-communist, reactionary papacy, the local Catholic churches had a difficult time operating. But, at the same time, the Protestant churches grew in size. From the start of the 20th century, China witnessed repeated struggle against archaic ideas, customs and practices that were seen as a hindrance to national development. The Cultural Revolution of 1966 launched to counter elitist, autocratic trends in the Communist Party, was a continuation of the struggle. But led by overzealous, dogmatic youth and students, it fast degenerated into unprincipled and at times violent, attacks on independent thinkers, senior academics, and anyone rightly or wrongly branded as a capitalist roader. Ultimately it petered out, and the Communist Party landed in the hands of an elite bent on instituting a capitalist style economy under the supervision of the state. +++ Presently, as a result of the socio-economic developments since the 1949 socialist revolution, nearly three of four people in China are not affiliated to an organized religion. The 1978 Constitution of China enshrines the freedom of religion. Public institutions are prohibited from promoting religious belief or non-belief, and from granting favors to any religion. Five main religions are recognized: Taoism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam. Most generally operate autonomously but linkages with Western institutions are viewed with suspicion. Religious teaching is disallowed in schools and religious groups cannot engage in politics. Confucianism and traditional Chinese faiths are also protected. Religions, especially those of Chinese origin are regarded as a part of the national culture and supported in various ways. Academic study of religion has gained greater ground and funding. The first World Buddhist Forum was held in China in 2006. China has also hosted other international religious conferences. Like elsewhere, new religions and cults have risen. Some have faced state sanction because of their extremist mode of operation. National and international organizations have conducted many surveys of religion in China in the past two decades. Most show similar results. A year 2014 survey found the following rates of beliefs in divinity; Buddhism (16%), Unspecified or popular sects (7%), Taoism (1%), Protestantism (2%), Catholicism (0.5%), and Islam (0.5%). But 73% of the respondents said they were not affiliated with any religion, making China the most secular nation in the world. Yet, as in the West, disassociation from a mainstream religion does not necessarily imply adoption of atheism on rational grounds. Many irreligious people in China take part in traditional Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian rituals and celebrations as a matter of cultural tradition and many ascribe to old and new, local and imported, spiritualist beliefs. Thus, the multi-billion dollar, multi-episodic, participatory global video game World of Warcraft featuring avatars and extraordinary beings in fantasy universe attracted hundreds of the youth in China. For many, it seemed to fill the void left by the lack of spiritual anchor. Many Chinese view Christianity as a foreign cultural import not linked to authentic Chinese culture. Nonetheless, it has, of recent, experienced a rapid growth. Millions of copies of the Bible and hymn books have been distributed throughout China. And hundreds of new and thousands of old churches with thousands of priests continue to operate across the land. Islam in China + The roots of Islam in China stretch back 1,400 years. At present, somewhat less than 2% (or 25 million people) of the total population is Muslim. Though scattered among all the ethnic groups in China, Hui Muslims (10 million) and Uyghur Muslims (8 million) are the largest Muslim ethnicities. Most Chinese Muslims belong to the Sunni branch of Islam. About 40,000 mosques led by nearly 50,000 Muslim clerics exist across China. Institutions that focus on the study of Islam and the Quran also exist. In comparison, though about 20% of the Chinese people (250 million) adhere to Buddhism, the number of Buddhist temples in China is about 30,000. Chinese Muslims existed in communities with disparate levels of cultural, economic and political integration with the other ethnic, religious groups from the earliest days. There were times when Muslim traders were the major players in the economy, especially in the import export sector; times when Muslims were represented in the Emperor’s court, civil administration and military units; times when Muslim generals were powerful warlords; and times when Muslim ethnicities faced harsh repression. Their status and fate were affected by economic and political factors, not religion. Muslims in China are not a unified block. In the 19th century and the first part of the 20th century, some Muslim ethnic groups united with non-Muslim Chinese groups to oppose Western and Japanese domination, but others remained on the sidelines. Muslim leaders from some ethnicities were allied with Kuomintang whilst others remained neutral or sided with the communist forces. Muslims as well as non-Muslims were killed in large numbers during the conflict between warlords, central government and foreign forces. And intense antagonism between Hui and Uyghur forces emerged from time to time. A larger number of Muslims were massacred by other Muslims. The history of Islam in China is a complex mix of political and economic integration, cultural assimilation, coexistence and conflict, and reflects the dynamic picture of stability and turbulence in the broader Chinese society. It is erroneous to describe the Muslims in China as a long-standing persecuted minority. The Muslim communities in China vary a lot in terms of culture and mode of living. In some areas, the dress codes are conservative while elsewhere Muslim women rarely adorn head gear. Some ethnicities retain pre-Islamic marriage rules. Weddings and special occasions are marked with unique local rites. Popular literature blends Islamic and traditional texts. A vibrant repertoire of folk music and dance styles prevails among these communities. Chinese Muslim cultural practices do not always accord with those in the Middle Eastern Islamic theocracies. Many mosques in China combine local architectural styles with the classic minaret. And Chinese Muslim cuisine has many commonalities with non-Muslim Chinese cuisine. Most Muslim groups have coeducational schools while a few do not. Hui Muslims generally speak Mandarin Chinese while others mainly rely on the local language in family and community affairs. Hui Muslims have liberal attitudes on consumption of alcohol, do not strictly abide by prayer rituals, have low circumcision rates and integrate aspects of Buddhism in their lives. Their education curricula combine modern science with studies of Confucian literature, Arabic language and the Quran. In areas where Hui and Uyghur Muslims are present, they have separate residential areas and mosques. After the socialist revolution of 1949, the experience of Chinese Muslims in terms of removal of feudal bondage, collectivization, education, health economic advancement, social stability and peace was similar to the rest of the society. As for other religions, as long as it did not intrude into political activity, counter the socialist requirements or have external ties, Islam was allowed to function without undue interference from the state. Like Christianity and Buddhism, Islam was targeted by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. They burned the Quran as they put the Bible to flames. After the 1978 relaxation of laws on religious practice, Muslims found as great a scope for adhering to their faith as followers of other religions. Uyghur oppression + The bulk of the Uyghurs live in Xinjiang province where they constitute 45% of the population of the province. About 45% are Han, and the rest are Hui and other ethnicities. Over the past decade, the picture of a placid existence for religions in China has been tainted by many blemishes, mostly in relation to the Muslim Uyghurs. Breakneck development of capitalism has generated deleterious consequences, but unevenly. Removal of the social safety net of the Maoist era, sweatshop, low paid labor, labor migration and skewed investment patterns have enhanced economic inequality and social insecurity in China. The overall standard of living has risen in Xinjiang province, but the Uyghurs are among the groups for whom the pace of improvement has been lower and the adverse effects more severe. Poverty prevails in Uyghur villages. Over one million Uyghur adults have migrated to distant places in search of jobs, most of which provide poor remuneration. They resent the fact that locally, Han workers get the better jobs. Seizure of their land for road, mining and other projects is a major complaint. When they complain of mistreatment the state officials remain unconcerned. The police do not deal with them fairly. A number of young Uyghur men have been shot by the police for minor alleged infractions. Uyghur cultural and religious practices are looked down upon by Han people and the officialdom. Cultural barriers add fuel to the fire. As a result, social tension has been rising, now and then spilling over into physical confrontation. Incidents feed into each other, multiply and produce violent reactions on both sides. Resentment of the policies of the local and central governments is high among the Uyghurs. For long, a minor separatist sentiment has persisted. It is gaining more ground. Influenced by the global Islamic Jihadism, a small radical minority has violently confronted the police and local authorities and killed scores of civilians in several terrorist attacks. The turning point was the 2009 demonstrations by Uyghur workers over maltreatment by management and Han workers. Use of excessive force by the police in response to peaceful protests sparked off widespread looting. In the ensuing confrontations, hundreds on each side were killed. The true number of casualties in the incident and the later Han counter attacks is not known. Such incidents have entrenched bitterness on both sides. The response of the central government was swift, draconian and not even handed. Thousands, mostly Uyghurs were rounded up. A large number were tried and imprisoned after speedy trials. Some were tortured. A few were sentenced to death and executed. Yet, militant separatists continue to mount small scale but violent attacks. Civilians died and state repression became harsher. Tens of thousands of Uyghur adults are presently confined in internment camps where they are required to learn Mandarin, undergo ‘political education,’ and sing patriotic songs. Some camps, where detention is indefinite, are forced labor factories. Extensive police presence and check points restrict movement in the urban areas. Security cameras are ubiquitous. Clampdowns on the social media and internet are more stringent than elsewhere. There is strict control over issuance of passports. Returnees from Muslim majority nations face intense scrutiny. High tech monitoring devices, facial identification algorithms and biometric data—DNA, blood type, fingerprints—are deployed for control purposes. The government justifies the highly restrictive, intrusive measures in the name of fighting ‘separatism, terrorism and religious extremism’. But to the Uyghurs and Turkic Muslims in the province, they amount to a full scale siege. Islam under attack + Over the past five years, social control measures have been extended beyond Xinjiang and the Uyghurs to Muslims from other ethnicities. They translate into a broad assault on the practice of Islam. As with Islamophobia in the West, China has conflated terrorism with religion. Official anti-Islamic actions include closing mosques, destroying mosque minarets and domes, banning the traditional call to prayer, barring Ramadhan fasting for Muslims in civil service, prohibiting long beards and wearing a face veil in public, controlling Islamic education and teaching of Arabic, allowing pilgrimage to Mecca only in government controlled groups, confiscating prayer mats and copies of the Quran, banning the Islamic banking system, and ending halal certification for meat and other food items. Thus far, these actions do not constitute a national trend. In areas where the government does not sense a political threat, Muslims go about their lives and religious practice as they have traditionally done. Even Buddhist monks and temples face a degree of suppression when state officials resent the political implications of their teachings and activities. Chinese policy is driven by the desire to maintain national unity, dominance of the Communist Party and President Xi Jinping, high rates of economic growth and to counter Western measures that seek to undermine China. Religion is a secondary factor in this equation. For the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, there is an additional commercial factor. Not only is the area rich in valued mineral resources but the extensive security measures implemented there are a boon to Chinese technology companies and are an ideal testing ground for their products. Lucrative state contracts have added millions of dollars to their revenue. Controlling the Uighurs has also become a test case for marketing Chinese technological prowess around the world. A hundred government agencies and companies from two dozen countries, including the US, France, Israel and the Philippines, now participate in the highly influential annual China-Eurasia Security Expo in Urumqi, the capital of the Uighur region. The ethos at the expo, and in the Chinese techno-security industry as a whole, is that Muslim populations need to be managed and made productive. Over the past five years, the people’s war on terror has allowed a number of Chinese tech startups to achieve unprecedented levels of growth. In just the last two years, the state has invested an estimated $7.2bn in techno-security in Xinjiang. (Byler 2019). As Silicon Valley companies compete for a share of the growing market, US policy makers remain placid about the sale of high-end electronic technology to China. (Under Trump and Biden, a comprehensive, aggressive anti-China drive has been launched). In China as in the US, Europe and India, neoliberal economics and politics drive policy and official action. Religion and anti-terrorist rhetoric provide a public relations cover for the process. +++ The evaluation of the situation in China needs to take US policy into account. Since the presidency of Barrack Obama, the US has followed a strong anti-China policy on matters of domestic and global economy, arms sales, military strategy, economic influence in Africa, and China’s support for nations like Iran and Venezuela. Protecting US corporations facing stiff competition from Chinese companies, encircling and isolating China—as was the case prior to 1971—are the key planks of this policy. In order to secure domestic and global support, these imperialistic goals are masked under the rubric of promoting freedom and democracy, protecting religious freedom and minority rights. The security and public relations agencies of the US have a sophisticated propaganda machinery to create a global atmosphere to implement its foreign policy goals. Inspired by the work of EL Bernays, deploying that machinery was a standard operating procedure in the Cold War. Among other things, it was successfully used to deceive the world in the decade long war on Iraq. Now that same effort is underway against China. With the generous assistance from rightwing think tanks, Evangelical Christian groups, and conservative and liberal mass media, the anti-China cacophony churns out one negative story about China after another on a daily basis. Britain, the loyal ally of the US, has contributed in in a big way. Donald Trump attained global fame for the brazen, mind-boggling lies he uttered on varied subjects on a daily basis. Fact-checking scholars and journalists have listed more than 18,000 lies he spoke in public from 2017 to the end of his term in 2020. In that spirit, his administration trumpeted blanket distortions and lies about China and Chinese companies on a voluminous scale. Yet, when it came to China, he and his senior officials got the benefit of the doubt from the media that had castigated his usual lies. What was said about China was reported in non-critical terms and repeated often enough to give it an aura of credibility. Independent voices and Chinese officials were ignored, or their views were presented in disparaging terms. In December 2020, John Ratcliffe, the most senior intelligence official in the US, declared that China was attempting to dominate the world and thus represented the most serious threat to ‘democracy and freedom since World War Two’. He also urged preparations for an open conflict with China. His wild assertions were dismissed by a Chinese government spokesperson as a ‘hypocritical,’ ‘prejudiced’ ‘concoction of lies’. Unlike the US, China does not have hundreds of military bases across the world, is not engaged in aggressive military actions in the Middle East and Africa, does not employ economic sanctions and arm-twisting by the global financial institutions to bring nations under its influence. The record since World War II clearly shows that what China is falsely accused of doing is precisely what the US has done and is doing. Such truculent rhetoric helps sell billions of dollars in advanced weaponry and build a coalition to surround China. That was what Ronald Reagan did in relation to the USSR. The more Mikhail Gorbachev, the USSR leader, strove for peace and disarmament, the more outlandish did his rhetoric about ‘the evil empire’ become. Yet, today even senior liberal media gurus disdain to reveal this history and reality to the public. At best, a part of the long-term strategy is framed in terms of the misdeeds of a decidedly Quixotic president. This propaganda machinery affects what the US and global media say of the Uyghurs. Without adducing credible evidence, US officials label the plight of the Uyghurs a genocide. Estimates of the Uyghurs in internment camps are put from a million to three million. The current count of detainees is conflated with the count of those who have passed through the camps. And both numbers are wildly exaggerated. The US State Department places the number in the camps at three million. China is home to one of the worst human rights crises of our time. It is truly the stain of the century. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (Hassan 2019). Yet, photos of only a few detention centers exist. Cases of maltreatment are generalized without evidence. Respected human rights organizations, other Western governments and progressive groups sing the same tune. But many governments seeking economic favors from China, including those in Muslim majority nations, remain silent or echo the Chinese line. When the adamantly Islamophobic US senators and senior officials who could not care less about the fate of the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar or about religious discrimination and violence in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia are overnight reborn as champions of Muslims in China, it is time to take stock. While firmly standing for justice everywhere, we must not be duped into echoing the falsehoods espoused by certified violators of human rights. Pointing fingers at others is not to absolve any party. But it provides context and perspective. For the most part, China is a nation where people of diverse religious beliefs as well as non-believers go about their lives in a peaceful, cooperative fashion and where the government is not particularly hostile against any religion. What it is hostile to are threats to its authority and the sovereignty of the nation. And in any case, it is misleading to regard the current Chinese scene as a confrontation between socialism and religion. China is a capitalist nation, a nation of billionaires and hundreds of millions of have-nots, in which the state bureaucracy exerts decisive power over the economy and society. 9.13 NEW ATHEISM A new brand of atheism has dominated the discourse on belief and non-belief in religion in the West since the late 1980s. The principal celebrities in this upsurge—called New Atheism—are Richard Dawkins (evolutionary biologist), Sam Harris (neuroscientist, science writer), Christopher Hitchens (writer and journalist, deceased), Daniel Dennett (philosopher, cognitive scientist), and Victor Stenger (physicist, philosopher, deceased). Like traditional atheism, New Atheism is skeptical about the existence of supernatural realms and beings that are beyond human cognition. Placing science and reason at the center of the search for knowledge and human progress, it declares that no field, religion and morality included, is immune from dissection via the methods of science. New Atheism is not just an aloof entity. It is a vocal, out-in-the-trenches brand of atheism imbued with the same type of zeal as that of the colonial era Christian missionaries who went to Africa to civilize the ‘natives’ and free them from ‘superstitious’ beliefs. Richard Dawkins, a senior professor at the University of Oxford, is probably the most outspoken proponent of atheism at this time. His 1986 book, The Blind Watchmaker, gave a jump start to the rise of New Atheism. A cogent exposition of the Darwinian theory of evolution, it describes how a complex organ like the eye can—over millions of years—emerge from a step-by-step, cumulative process based on natural selection. An instant best seller, it was a strong counter point to the conservative tide striving to expunge the theory of evolution from school curricula. His later book, The God Delusion, is the premier text of New Atheism. Evidence, logic and probability-based analysis form the hallmark of his approach. Sam Harris is an erudite, outspoken neuroscientist, philosopher and podcaster whose research spans ethics, religion, cognitive neurology, artificial intelligence, politics and terrorism. A forthright critic of religion, he is the author of several bestselling, widely translated books including The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (2004), Letters to a Christian Nation (2006) and The Moral Landscape: How Science Could Determine Moral Values (2012). His major concern has been to expose and defuse the harm that may ensue from actions based on blind religious faith. Christopher Hitchens, the only one without a footing in the natural sciences, was a famed journalist, academic and cultural critic. An author of many books on cultural, social and political issues and distinctive biographies of historic and contemporary personages, his politics prior to around 2000 differed from those of the other four. While they have espoused liberalism of the US Democratic Party variety, he started off as a Trotskyist and, with Noam Chomsky and Edward Said, staunchly opposed US imperial aggression (Vietnam, Panama and Yugoslavia). Yet, after the attacks on the New York Twin Towers, he swung over to ally with rabid neo-conservatives and enthusiastically supported the war on Iraq. On matters of religion, science and morality he was at par with the other four New Atheist luminaries. He saw little good and much harm in religious belief and championed the firm separation of the church and state. His disdain of religious hypocrisy is typified in his iconoclastic exposé of Mother Teresa in The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, and his no-holds-barred assault on the social reality of religion in God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Daniel Dennett, a neuroscientist and philosopher, is a soft-spoken, least combative of the five the sages of New Atheism. His insightful book Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, published in 2006, details the emergence and evolution of religion along scientific lines. Like Dawkins, he views religion as a social system involving belief in supernatural phenomena that has emerged from long term biological and cultural evolution. As such, it is a human, not a divinely derived, phenomenon. Victor Stenger, physicist, philosopher, popularizer of science and skeptic, wrote many essays and popular books on quantum mechanics, science, cosmology, psychic phenomena and religion. Approaching entities like God and divine purpose from varied perspectives, his books adduce not just the paucity of evidence for such phenomena but also reasonable evidence for their non-existence. He has authored fourteen books dealing with scientific interpretation of religion. Among them, The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason is hailed as a simple, clear and polished guide to the subject. +++ New Atheism has evolved into a militant, activist doctrine concerned with advocacy of scientific rationality, critical analysis of holy texts, debunking religious beliefs, and delinking state and religious institutions. Religions are not, if they ever were, neutral or beneficial belief systems. Likening them to harmful dogmas that impede human progress, they are to be contested with vigor. While most atheists and humanists have an attitude of live-and-let-live towards religious belief, the gurus of New Atheism proclaim—just as the religious fundamentalists do—that the two sides are in a mortal ideological combat. In the process, New Atheism has become enmeshed in local and global politics, including matters of social justice, women’s rights, terrorism, war and peace. Among the major religions, Islam is singled out by the new atheists as the key obstacle to a peaceful, humane and rational way of life. The relationship between religion and science at the technical level, including the contribution of New Atheism, is dealt with in Religion, Science and the Pandemic. Here attention is on the societal facets of New Atheism, as shown in the views of five major new atheists. As they do not concur on all issues, our summary is based on their common ground. First, we look at their operational style. New Atheism urges people to base their ideas and opinions on science, rationality and secularism. Every idea that depends on some form of supernatural phenomenon has to be denounced. Since political and cultural opinions are vigorously debated, it asserts that religious views should be held to the same standard. It implores non-believers to openly discuss religion and explain their disagreements with the scriptures and tenets of the major faiths. It calls upon atheists to emerge in the open, show that they form a sizeable group, promote their ideas boldly and publicly ridicule religious teachings. It presents survey data indicating that many scientists, civic and political leaders, educated people and members of the clergy, are non-believers but do not announce it in public. New Atheism claims that this is done in order to protect job, position, housing and reputation. It holds that moderation empowers extremism. It deems deists and agnostics as illogical fence sitters whose neutral stand only sustains backward ideas. It deems teaching religion to children an imposition that violates their right to freedom of belief. Schools should teach children to think in scientific ways. Scientific education should be mandatory. True to their words, the gurus of New Atheism often appear in the media, conferences, websites, and podcasts to pontificate and debate their ideas and visions. Not believing in a common ground between faith and science, they brook no compromise. Their mode of operation—you are with us, or you are against us—is reminiscent of the declaration of US President George W Bush at the start of the final war Iraq. The New Atheist position uses probabilities and science, not certainties and beliefs, to derive conclusions. Like any aspect of human society, religion is subjected to objective, scientific investigations. Religion is unlikely to be of divine origin as ample evidence shows that it is a product of long term natural and cultural evolution. Analogous to the DNA molecule, whose propagation, mutation and selection drives natural evolution, New Atheism posits that memes—self-replicating packets of social information—drive cultural and social evolution. Accordingly, religion, morality and political beliefs can be analyzed as memes. Morality is not inextricably tied to religious belief. It too emerged from natural, cultural evolutionary processes and likely preceded beliefs in divine entities. Pointing to the double standards, inconsistencies and grossly immoral behavior, including rape, child abuse, xenophobia and genocide endorsed in the sacred texts of major religions, it holds that scriptures are a poor guide for codes morality. Seeing the limits of reason, it also allows room for trust, reciprocity and intuition in human relations, and stresses the importance of reason in tackling the ethical dilemmas in society. While accepting that there are political, social and environmental threats to the future of humanity, it declares that violence based on religious faith is a major factor that may precipitate the demise of human civilization. New Atheism says in a loud tone that humanity must devote serious effort to tackle religion-based extremism. And it singles out Islam, not just the extremist Muslims, as the principal danger facing civilization. New Atheism and Islam + The US government both used and turned against Islam, Islamic states and Islamic movements during the Cold War. It depended on the context. Thus, in Afghanistan, Islamic terrorist groups were funded and armed to counter the Soviet Influence. In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, the military was armed, funded and diplomatically shielded in its genocidal campaign to subdue the struggle for self-rule by the people of East Timor, a small, overwhelmingly Catholic nation. Foreign policies of the US and Western allies are not founded on religion. They derive from the drive to control strategic resources, promote economic interests, attain military supremacy and exercise political dominance across the globe. Religion is a tool for use as the situation demands. After the 1991 war on Iraq, escalating tensions in the Middle East and the September 2011 attacks on prominent US targets by a Jihadist group, the anti-Islamic tendency has gained the upper hand. Western military assaults on Muslim majority states (Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Libya) and the subjugation of the Palestinian people together with the retaliatory attacks by the Jihadist groups in Europe have generated virulent tirades against Islamic terrorism and Islam from the leaders of the West. Intense media barrage along such lines has produced a broad and dramatic rise of Islamophobia in the West. Despite the avowed aim of New Atheism to tackle all issues on evidence-based, scientific grounds, on the question of Islam, it has been overtaken by irrational prejudice. While the stands of the gurus of New Atheism differ somewhat, their overall position can be summed up as follows. In the New Atheist mindset, while all religions are bad, Islam of today is the worst of the lot and is branded as the main force propagating evil in the world (Savage 2014, Sparrow 2019). In a Twitter exchange dated 1 March 2013 with Todd Kiancannon, Richard Dawkins opined: Haven't read Koran so couldn't quote chapter & verse like I can for Bible. But often say Islam greatest force for evil today. Richard Dawkins (https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/307369895031603200). We are not at war with terrorism. We are at war with Islam. Sam Harris (Savage 2014). Islam, more than any other religion human beings have devised, has all the makings of a thoroughgoing cult of death. Sam Harris (Savage 2014). The New Atheists mostly support the US led imperial wars (Iraq, Libya), the so-called War on Terror (Afghanistan and Somalia) and the brutal Israeli domination of the people of Palestine. As in the colonial era in Africa, the aggressive incursions are seen as missions to civilize primitive people. The New Atheists largely regard violence against Muslim nations and groups as necessary and ethical. They endorse bombing civilian areas, use of cluster and chemical bombs, torture, assassination, state surveillance, and suppression of democratic rights as just means towards a noble end. Given what many of us believe about the exigencies of our war on terrorism, the practice of torture, in certain circumstances, would seem to be not only permissible, but necessary. Sam Harris (Brown 2009). With reference to Iran, a preemptive nuclear strike is legitimate for the most vociferous New Atheists. The only thing likely to ensure our survival may be a nuclear first strike of our own. Sam Harris (Savage 2014). As for that benighted country [Iran], I wouldn’t shed a tear if it was wiped off the face of this earth. Christopher Hitchens (Savage 2014). They favor bans on the wearing of burqas and hijab, restricting the reading of Quran, halting mosque construction, controlling Islamic schools, curtailing immigration from Muslim nations, outlawing female genital mutilation and other norms to counter the existential threats to the ‘liberal and freedom loving Western civilization’ from a ‘monstrous enemy’. Enmeshed in the ‘clash of civilization’ thesis propounded by the arch-conservative political ideologue Samuel P Huntington, New Atheism declares that Islam cannot be reformed; it must be vanquished. At times, its leaders appear to be wallowing in gratuitous killings. The New Atheists visualize themselves as inheritors of the science-based atheism of the past and pay homage to Bertrand Russel and Albert Einstein. But, with regards to social agenda, nothing is further from the truth. Russel and Einstein took firm pacifist stands, spoke up against war, and worked for the abolition of nuclear weapons. While Einstein and Russel had socialist orientations, the New Atheists ally with social analysts who declare, on shaky grounds, that capitalism has not only brought much progress to the entire human race, but also that it represents the only viable social and economic system. New Atheism gained momentum in opposition to the Evangelical Christian drive against the theory of evolution. Yet, in no time, it joined hands with the same extremist religious right to demonize Islam, project US imperial power, and fraternize with patent war criminals like Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz in the Bush Jr administration. The bellicose style of the New Atheists stands in contrast to the dignified, respectful pronouncements of the icons of old atheism. It also deviates from how Charles Darwin, their premier hero, envisioned dealing with people of religious faith. It appears to me ... that direct arguments against Christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public; and freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds which follows from the advance of science. Charles Darwin (O’Neill 2007). Marx, Engels and Lenin did not advocate a combative approach towards religious belief. Instead, socialists should strive to replace the exploitative economic structure and alienating social relations of capitalism with one in which people control the economy and collectively determine the course of their own lives. They opined that as the degrading conditions that estrange people from reality and sustain mystical, supernatural beliefs dissipate, the need for people to depend on such beliefs for emotional solace would wane as well. A significant portion of the modern humanist movement dislikes the hard-hitting style of the New Atheists. Most non-believers do not ridicule religion in public. They respect the emotional attachment of people to their faith. They hold that the New Atheist tirades alienate people, leaving no room for dialogue and damage the atheist cause. And it strengthens religious extremism. Many humanists feel that believers and non-believers can find common ground in their views towards science and morality, and especially in the urgent task of improving the human condition and addressing problems like poverty, hunger, inequality and homelessness. For New Atheism, these are not primary concerns. It essentially views the human condition as a function of the progress of science and rationality, and thereby becomes detached from the concerns of the common person. Humanism favors broad alliances; New Atheism declares that our way is the only way. [New Atheism] … shifts the focus from the social ills wrought by unjust economic arrangements to an external singularity called ‘religion’. …. Beneath its superficial rationalism, [it] amounts to little more than an intellectual defense of empire and a smokescreen for the injustices of global capitalism. It is a parochial universalism whose potency lies in its capacity to appear simultaneously iconoclastic, dissenting, and disinterested, while channeling vulgar prejudices, promoting imperial projects, and dressing up banal truisms as deep insights. (Savage 2014). 9.14 WOMEN, ATHEISM AND HUMANISM The history of all the major religions has been a history of discrimination against women. Though their status has improved of recent, it remains uneven. In some nations, women’s rights are severely suppressed while in others, they enjoy greater freedom, and almost equal access to education, and well-paid jobs. However, even in the best of circumstances, they too face a glass ceiling in ascending to the executive, decision making ranks and are more likely to work in low-paying temporary jobs. The key factors promoting gender equality are general economic development, responsive governance, secularization of the legal system and separation of religion and state. Take the case of Africa. In the colonial era, women faced two barriers—those emanating from tradition and those imposed by the colonial economy. After Independence, many nations adopted a secular constitution which protected the basic rights of women. Marriage and inheritance laws were improved. Women made reasonable progress in education, politics and the professions in the early years. But due to the neo-colonial nature of the economic policies and resultant political instability, the momentum of the early days was not sustained. Gender parity thus remained an elitist process. The link between secularization, greater national economic autonomy and a responsive government, on the one hand, and enhancement of the status of women was, with some exceptions, also evident in the Muslim majority nations. While the social and civil rights of women in Saudi Arabia and other theocratic Gulf states were seriously curtailed, women made good strides for attaining equality in Turkey, Iraq (under Saddam Hussein), Afghanistan (prior to US destabilization in the 1980s), Libya (under Gaddafi), Malaysia, Indonesia, Sudan (prior to the 1990s), Egypt (under Gamel A Nasser) and Algeria. The failure of the secular, nationalist governments to institute broad based development programs, imperial interventions and political instability allowed a resurgence of movements advocating Islam as the state religion. Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey and Iran (with their own peculiarities) are examples of the trend. In the process, the achievements in the arena of freedom and equality for women began to crumble. A comparison between India and China is illustrative. In 1949, women in both nations were at the bottom rung of the society, oppressed among the oppressed. Among the multitude of social restrictions they faced in one or the other place were punitive domination by parents, husbands, and in-laws, foot binding, arduous widowhood, dowry payment, domestic and external violence, isolation during menstruation, domestic drudgery, poor educational chances, limited property rights, restrictions in religious and public functions, and rape. India at Independence adopted a secular constitution that accorded equal status to men and women. Enlightened public, educational policies enabled a significant section of Indian women to surmount traditional barriers and advance in the economy, politics, business, academia, media, entertainment industry, and civil service. Many now occupy senior positions. But the mass of Indian women and girls, especially in the rural areas, are forced to endure a misery-filled back-breaking life littered with discriminatory practices. Neoliberalism has magnified the gender-based oppressive facets of Hinduism. In secular, socialist China under Mao, foot binding and all social norms restricting women’s lives were abolished, education for women (and men) was vastly expanded, and their health and social status improved in a marked fashion. Now, even as representation of women in the upper echelons of power in China remains poor, the general conditions of girls and women there are much better than what prevails in India. The status and situation of women in capitalist Taiwan and South Korea are similar to that in China. Whatever the nature of the political system, a decent level of economic progress, secularization, fair educational and employment policies, and sustained curtailment of cultural and religious impositions on women are key ingredients for the improvement of the social and economic conditions of women. Religions that do not reform their beliefs and norms with regards to women, and transition towards granting equal spiritual and practical status to men and women are, in the long run, only undercutting their own credibility. One half of humanity cannot be marginalized forever. Women in religion + We laid out the history, doctrinal tenets and the actuality of women in each of the four major religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam in the previous chapters. We further note that the divine entities and prophets of most religions are either male figures or have masculine features. A gender-neutral God, as in Islam, is uncommon. Hinduism, with its multiplicity of gods and goddesses is an outlier. The holy scriptures of most religions provide an ambiguous guide on the question of spiritual and worldly equality of men and women. Some sections imply that men are superior to women while other sections seem to accord them an equal status. Sikhism and Bahai teachings strongly proclaim gender equality. They are a rarity. The senior leaders—gurus, temple priests, monks, lamas, ministers, bishops, imams and sheikhs—of most religions still are predominantly men. But especially in the Western world, women are beginning to break through traditional barriers to lead religious bodies and conduct prayers and other important rituals. Humanism and women + We now examine the status of women within atheism and humanism. Prior to the mid-1800s, patriarchy prevailed all across the globe. Like all social institutions, professions and creeds, the atheist movement was a male dominated movement. But as a result of worker and socialist struggles in Europe and America and the rise of anti-colonial struggles in Africa, Asia and Latin America, women became more active in the political arena. Some blended a degree of religious faith with humanism and some had outright socialist tendencies. Women played a major and active role in the institution, operation and defense of the Paris Commune. From the 1960s, women were at the frontline and many sacrificed their lives in the struggle for freedom from Portuguese colonial rule in Mozambique. Women played a key role in the defense and consolidation of the socialist revolution in Cuba. In many places though, once independence was attained, women suffered a setback. No charter of the secular, humanist or atheist organizations has clauses that subordinate women to men. The problem here is not a doctrinal one. It is that of practice. Patriarchy persists even where secularism has made major inroads. Humanist and atheist organizations are also tainted with patriarchy. Practice at times deviates from principles. Gender and religiosity + The association between gender and degree of religious belief is a key factor in understanding the persistence of patriarchy under secularism. When secular, irreverent ideas were coming to the fore after the French Revolution and during the age of Enlightenment in Europe, female non-believers were viewed with revulsion even by some liberal voices. Some held that women were biologically incapable of expressing doubt on religious matters and atheism was incompatible with female frailty and beauty. Some writers branded female atheists as wretched leeches akin to child killers and a menace to society. The extent of anti-female prejudice was summed up in 1813 by the founder of the British Royal Humane Society: Men contemplate a female atheist with more disgust and horror than if she possessed the hardest features embossed with carbuncles. Thomas Cogan (Englehart 2013). Other than in theocratic nations, attitudes of this kind are rare today. But women still are a minority of the atheist community everywhere. Take the case of the United States. About a fifth (and growing portion) of the US adult population disavows religious affiliation. A random sample survey of over 35,000 adults reported in 2014 investigated the relationship between gender and religiosity. Both genders were equally represented. The primary finding was that there was a consistent chasm between men and women on several measures of belief and practice. Thus, 75% of the men but 81% of the women were affiliated to a religious tradition. Among women, 69% were absolutely certain about their belief in God but among men it was 57%. Among women, 64% prayed at least once a day but among men only 46% did so. 38% of the women relied on religion for moral guidance but only 28% of the men did so. 34% of women said the Bible was absolutely the word of God but only but only 27% of men thought so (PRC 2014a). The general message—that women are more religious than men—has been replicated in anecdotal and sampling studies done worldwide. The basic reasons for the disparity are not biological but derive from upbringing and socio-economic status, and the reality of women in patriarchal societies. Often confined to the home, burdened with responsibility of childcare, and with lower rates of participation in paid work, they gravitate towards church or temple as an escape from the daily drudgery of domestic life, a chance to mingle with people and a venue for emotional solace. One analysis found that the level of workforce participation was the main factor in that regard. The same story holds in India and Africa. Secularist institutions do not have the resources, and organizational structures to be able to have a significant impact on women. The forces pulling women towards religion are much stronger than those pulling them towards secularism. Sexism, racism and atheism + A factor limiting the appeal of atheism, humanism to women, especially those from minority racial and ethnic groups, is the presence of sexist and racially insensitive tendencies within the secularist movements. The overwhelming majority of their members are male, and in Europe and America, are white male. The leaders, prominent spokespersons and conference speakers at major atheist and humanist conferences are mostly men. Reporting biases downplay the achievements of female atheists. Women have penned critical works on atheism, founded acclaimed secular journals, and made significant contributions to the sociology of religion but have not been given due credit. On top of that, a good number of male atheists do not seem to have shed their misogynic or racist views and conduct. Being a numerical minority, even a few incidents of sexual misconduct generates a hostile atmosphere for women. When a couple of women experience sexual harassment at an atheist conference, and their claims are casually dismissed, it affects all the female participants. And when the accused are senior leaders of the atheist movement and other leaders rally to their defense with spurious arguments, it pours salt on the raw wound. Feminist atheists are lectured by the distinguished male atheists to not make mountains out of molehills. They are told that should not compare their situation with that of women in Muslim nations. Male misconduct is rationalized in terms of biological (natural and intrinsic) factors. The New Atheist movement in particular has been afflicted by sexism and patriarchy. The anti-feminist tweets and pronouncements issued by its prominent figures have generated extensive controversy and rebuke from not just women’s groups but also from other humanists. At times, they retract what they have said, only to repeat it later on. As a result, the gulf between atheism and feminism has widened. Women atheists do not expect to encounter within an organization of rational thinkers the type of behavior they experience in the irrational external world. Compartmentalization is another malady. Modern atheist agendas mostly focus on anti-religious skepticism to the exclusion of issues like social justice, racism and patriarchy. In the past, that was not the case, at least not to the extent it is today. Feminists, secular and religious, organizing for the right of women to vote, for example, worked alongside socialists and social justice advocates. Trade unions and socialist parties championed racial and gender equality. Large numbers of women joined the anti-war movements in the 1960s and supported anti-colonial and anti-Apartheid struggles in Africa. Progressive activism now has shed its integrative dimension. Each group drives its own agenda. Some campaign for racial justice, some for abortion rights, some for environmental causes, some for universal free health care, some for supporting the homeless, some for occupational safety, some for children with disability, some for protection of women from domestic abuse, some for removal of religion from public education, and so on. The sense that these issues are interconnected and would benefit by sheer numbers, and pursuance in a coordinated manner would enhance their prospects is not emphasized. Feminism and atheism today are afflicted with the separatist malady as well. In the US, mainstream feminism becomes, especially during the critical election period, a single-issue movement. Candidates who favor women’s right to have an abortion, no matter their stand on imperial wars, pro-corporate policies, funding for public education, or universal health care, are supported. Promotion of secularism is a non-issue. On the other hand, the atheist movement at best pays lip service to the feminist demands and in practice, ignores them. Sexism exhibited in the New Atheist movement drives women away from atheism whilst the feminist backlash reinforces the sexist perceptions of the white males who are the majority of the atheists. Humanist organizations outside the New Atheist tendency and the skeptic groups allied with it have agendas that cover social justice and women’s rights, and combatting sexism, racism and homophobia. They have many women members and leaders. The family-oriented events they organize encourage female attendance. The words of a leading feminist atheist reflect an ideal combination of the two visions. [I] cultivate an ethics of interpersonal and community engagement with other people based on principles of civic mindedness. In this way, my atheism directly informs my feminism. I reject society’s demand that I submit to men. I reject the objectification of women. The ethics of choice—a person’s right to decide what they believe in and what they do with their body—unites the two philosophies. (Bianco 2016). In a climate engulfed by patriarchic ideas and practices, without serious, deliberate steps to combat sexism and other dehumanizing tendencies, the future of atheism is bleak. Rationalism cannot be sustained on the basis of an immoral and illogical foundation that sidelines one half of humanity. 9.15 THREE FEMINIST HUMANISTS In the multiple lists of prominent atheists and humanists found on the Internet only about one in eight are female. But as we noted earlier, these lists have a pro-Western bias and exclude, with a few exceptions, socialist and Marxist humanists. Additionally, they also reflect gender and race bias. The key role played by female humanists and secular feminists in the Third World nations is hardly noted in the history of humanism. Yet, secular women often featured prominently, both on the intellectual and practical domains, in major events in history. Take the atheistically oriented Paris Commune of 1871. All sectors of the poor supported the Commune, but its leading activists were skilled workers, craftsmen — and women. Adult men were the majority, but more women were involved in the Paris Commune than in any revolution preceding it. …. As a general political movement, the Commune was a failure, but as a gender event, it was an extraordinary landmark in the history of the emancipation of women. ... For all its other failings, the Commune maintained the centrality of women’s emancipation as a necessary precondition of democracy. (Holmes 2014, pages 102, 124, 143). Major contributions of female humanists and atheists in drives to institute social change are often a blank page in history. And that is especially so if they espoused an anti-capitalist program. Radical female humanists have been active not just in the West but also elsewhere. But the mainstream atheist and humanist literature does not do justice to that picture. A current case concerns the Sabarimala Temple controversy described in Chapter 5. Located in the Indian state of Kerala, it has traditionally restricted entry to women of the menstruating age under the rationale that doing so would offend the Temple god and endanger his celibacy. After contention from feminist groups, the case landed in the courts. In 2018, the Supreme Court of India declared the practice unconstitutional. Priests and the mass of devout men and women were outraged. Riots ensued as some women tried to enter the Temple. Two women managed to gain entry in January 2019, but only under police protection. But, for the most part, the police have sided with the Temple priests. The case is now before the Supreme Court. Though the issue is an intra-religious one, it is women from secular and Marxist groups from Kerala and adjoining states that are leading the fight. Castigated by senior members of the Hindutva espousing national ruling party. they have endured hateful vitriol and extensive harassment. Why is entry into temple so important for atheists? (Aazhi 2019). For the activists, the barrier faced by women is not just a religious one. It is integral to the norms that denigrate women. As such, all women, believers or not, are affected by it, and have to struggle against it. Some of these bold women activists have been pelted with stones, attacked in their homes, received death threats, faced travel restrictions and jailed on spurious charges. Some have gone into hiding, fearful of the safety of their families. Yet, they persist. Below we examine the lives and ideas of three secular feminists who are regularly overlooked in the lists of atheists and humanists. Eleanor Marx + Eleanor Marx, the youngest daughter of Karl Marx, was born in 1855. Her formal schooling was quite limited, in part due to the family’s poor finances and in part, reluctance on her part. Not that she was averse to learning. In their cramped, poorly furnished home, shortages of food, clothing and medicine prevailed. Rent and doctor’s bills were always overdue. But writing material and books were in abundance, a haven for the inquisitive reader that she was. Apart from acting and gymnastic lessons, she was a product of home schooling, self-education and informal tutoring by parents, sisters and family friends. The major socialist and cultural luminaries of the time were among her informal teachers. Her two principal teachers were her father Karl Marx and god-father Friedrich Engels. And what a fabulous education it was. As she played around her father writing Capital on a cluttered desk, she pestered him with queries. He put her on his lap and continued a long story that brought his theory of political economy alive in a fictional form. That story bloomed into the keen insight she gained into Marxian economics. Gently guiding her via letters, home visits, and tours of working-class areas, Engels showered her with books and ideas to ponder on. Eleanor Marx In that multilingual abode, she began to speak and read German, French and English from an early age. She had a fun-filled literary diet that combined a wide range of popular children’s books with Homer, Shakespeare, Don Quixote, Shelly, the Arabian Nights and more. Many were read to her by her father. By the time she was five, she recited their sections with alacrity. Her list of early readings spanned a diverse, voluminous terrain. So as to better grasp the plays of Ibsen, she taught herself to be proficient in Norwegian. Chess was a welcome diversion. Imbibing tactical moves from nanny Helen Desmuth, she deployed them successfully to trounce her venerated father. From Engels, she learned Chess history, widening her cultural horizon in the process. With family and others, she went to sea resorts, museums, parks, bookshops and, when her parents could afford it, theatrical and musical shows. When they later moved to a roomier place, she took delight in caring for the new residents—kittens, puppies and birds. It was a one-of-a-kind education in an atmosphere brimming with love and erudition. She had formed independent views on Irish, Polish, English and Italian politics and working class struggles from her early teen years. By the time she was 16, she was effectively Marx’s secretary, going with him to meetings and exchanging ideas with leading voices from all walks of life. Eleanor’s intellectual rapport with her father was such that before he died in 1983, he anointed Engels and herself as the executors of his literary estate. He left them the arduous task of bringing out his unpublished work and facilitating translations of his main works. It was a task she executed with diligence. So as not to drain the meagre family income, Eleanor worked as a private tutor and schoolteacher, wrote articles for magazines and did paid odd jobs for writers and publishers. Yet, she was an activist above all. She and her elder sister landed in Paris under assumed names when the Paris Commune was on the defensive. At a great risk to themselves, they channeled letters between the communards and their supporters, and were briefly locked up by the police. Later, Eleanor worked with a leading communard to write, translate and revise the History of the Commune of 1971, a primary source for books and papers on the Paris Commune that were written afterwards. Eleanor’s views on women in society were rooted in the pleasant and loving care she had from her mother Jenny, nanny Helen and de facto aunt Annie Burns. Their dignified resilience, elemental sagacity and love for family and humanity inspired and infused her with profound empathy for women everywhere. The Paris Commune reinforced those feelings. Among the lessons she imbibed from the short-lived state was the centrality of women in the struggle for a just society and the need to fight for gender equality in tandem with the fight for basic economic transformation. It was a time when women in Europe were confined to domestic servitude or the worst paid, risky jobs. They could not vote, hold office, enter universities or join the professions. Socialists often posited attainment of socialism as a prerequisite for gender equality. Middle class feminists sought the right to vote, education and equal pay for equal work without attention to basic social change. Disagreeing with both views, Eleanor proclaimed that the miserable lives of working-class women could be transformed only by integrating class struggle with the struggle for equality between men and women—in the home, education, public affairs and work. She earnestly began to implement that strategy in 1876 by assisting female candidates standing for municipal office, combatting sexism in trade unions and political groups, advocating sex education and repeal of anti-women legislation, and lectures on socialism to female workers. One of her campaigns covered Jewish women working in hazardous, abysmally paid jobs and who were also victimized by anti-Semitism and misogyny. To better interact with them and give support to their strike, she enhanced her linguistic repertoire by learning Yiddish. Eleanor enriched feminism in practice and theory. Her feminist vision emanated from Marx and Engels, in particular, the incisive analysis of Engels in the Origin of Private Property, Family and the State and from contact with women at home and work. Her articulation of progressive feminism was clearer and more poignant than Marx or Engels. Further, she proposed a concrete program for socialist feminism and joined many struggles waged by working class women. The book she co-authored with her common law partner Edward Aveling—The Woman Question—remains one of the most erudite works on the liberation of women. One example it gives is: In Germany at the present day the woman is a minor with regard to man. A husband of low estate may chastise a wife. All decisions as to the children rest with him, even to the fixing of the date of weaning. Whatever fortune the wife may have he manages. She may not enter into agreements without his consent; she may not take part in political associations. (Aveling and Marx 1886). Such restrictions imply that: Women are the creatures of an organized tyranny of men, as the workers are the creatures of an organized tyranny of idlers. Even where this much is grasped, we must never be weary of insisting on the non-understanding that for women, as for the laboring classes, no solution of the difficulties and problems that present themselves is really possible in the present condition of society. All that is done, heralded with no matter what flourish of trumpets, is palliative, not remedial. Both the oppressed classes, women and the immediate producers, must understand that their emancipation will come from themselves. (Aveling and Marx 1886). Arguing that misogyny derives not from natural law but from social structure and combatting sexism has to be a priority in the struggle for socialism, it critiques those who remain content to work within the confines of capitalism and mostly deal with the problems of middle-class women: [Those] who attack the present treatment of women without seeking for the cause of this in the economics of our latter-day society are like doctors who treat a local affection without inquiring into the general bodily health. (Aveling and Marx 1886). While women should unite across class lines, working class women should be aware of the role of upper-class women in their subjugation. On the other hand, working men subjugate working women, and do little to alleviate the 24-hour domestic drudgery women endure. Patriarchic tendencies within trade unions and workplaces must be eliminated. Yet, solidarity across class lines should not come at the expense of solidarity between working women and men. Eleanor’s feminism enriched and was enriched by radical feminists like Annie Besant, Rosa Luxemburg, Olive Schreiner and Clara Zetkin with whom she interacted. In 1909, Clara Zetkin and other radical women took the initiative of the Socialist Party of America a step further to launch the International Women’s Day, a day that is now celebrated each year. Though Eleanor was no longer alive, her vision lived on. Eleanor Marx, … the mother of socialist feminism, … was one of the first and most prominent leaders of the new [British] trade unionism, bringing feminism into the heart of the movement. (Honan 2015). Her involvement in trade union and worker’s struggles was nothing short of legendary. Starting with the Women’s Trade Union League in 1986, she focused on publicizing work conditions in factories employing young girls, organized industrial action and galvanized support for the strikers. As one of the leaders of the Bloody Sunday demonstration in London in 1987 and later day rallies, Eleanor not only organized behind the scene, but also gave speeches and stood in the front-line facing police batons. When men activists took to their heels, she stood her ground, imploring others to do likewise and was roughed up. Her publicized reports castigated police violence against activists and women. Eleanor was a major force in the establishment of political parties with a socialist program. After joining the Social Democratic Federation and being elected to its executive board, she became disenchanted with the reformist, chauvinistic agenda adopted by its main leaders. With William Morris and others, she founded the Socialist League. Sidelined by conservative, envious male union leaders, she still managed to attend the inaugural conference of the Independent Labor Party as an observer. Yet, her efforts to direct the Party’s program towards socialism based on class struggle did not take off, and she returned to a reinvigorated, radicalized Socialist League. Even when her views failed to carry the day, her spirited, lucid oratory often moved the delegates. Eleanor was a valued editor and a prolific translator. She edited four key works of Karl Marx and translated the book on the Paris Commune she had helped to write, a book on anarchism by G Plekhanov, and several works by leading German socialists into English. She was a presence on the cultural arena too, translating four plays of Henrik Ibsen and the highly controversial Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. Besides, she acted in plays, wrote two incisive essays on Shelly that depicted him as a socialist poet and engaged in extended dialogue with literary luminaries like George Bernard Shaw, Olive Shriner and William Morris. She felt that the stage was an important medium for highlighting women’s issues and advancing the feminist cause. After extensive research for a biography of her father, she began a draft, but death intervened before it could be completed. Yet, even the draft provides material unavailable from other sources. And this is but a limited listing of the products of her pen. As a public orator, she had few equals. Her vibrant speech at the first May Day rally in London in 1890 highlighted the event. Her lectures in thirty-five American cities drew large, appreciative crowds. In plain, clear terms, she negated the gross distortions about socialism and socialists in the media. For working people, they were an eye opener. Lambasting the hazardous, dire conditions in factories and mines, she joined the ongoing campaign for an 8-hour workday and against child labor. Where a strike was going on, she joined in. Even the largely hostile main media could not fail to express appreciation at her erudition, charisma and modest demeanor. Like Marx and Engels, Eleanor was an internationalist who decried the jingoistic attitudes of union and political leaders. When the occasion arose, her sympathies extended to the conditions of people in South Africa, India and Sudan. Thus, when British imperial forces under General Gordon were handed a defeat by the Sudanese resistance, she said it was a victory for the working people and spoke out against the cries for punitive revenge. At the personal level, Eleanor was a compassionate, respectful, dignified being whose courtesy and charm extended to allies and foes alike. Yet, her mild-mannered persona, distinctly modest attire and plain hair style did in no way detract from a magnetic presence. The incisive, fruitful exchanges that were her hallmark took place in a friendly fashion. Only the utter bigot failed to feel good in her welcoming presence. Her voluminous correspondence with comrades, family, Engels, and others attest to a distinct combination of qualities. Totally devoted to her family, she spent three years taking care of her ailing parents. Her partner’s reluctance prevented her from bearing a child. But she loved children and was delighted when her nephews paid a visit. Like her father had done for her, she spoilt them while educating them at the same time. +++ It was on the question of religion that many strands of Eleanor’s outlook and personality came together. As a child, she was never baptized, made to pray or attend church service. Her father quenched her inquisitiveness on religion by telling her stories about Jesus Christ, the prophets and early Christianity. She learned that in the early stage, Christianity had stood for the underdog but later it was appropriated by emperors, kings and popes for their own ends. To those who ascribed the oppression of women to purely religious and cultural factors, she said, that women’s ‘social condition is a question of economics, not of religion or of sentiment’. Though a life-long socialist atheist, she respected the right of people to practice their faith and appreciated the basis of popular religiosity. Valuing the cultural heritage of Judaism and Christianity, she had no qualms about Christmas celebrations for children. We cannot too soon make children understand that Socialism means happiness. Perhaps some friends …. will object to a Christmas tree. If they … should, I will only remind them of the origin of the Christian festival – of the beautiful old Pagan feast that celebrated the birth of light. Let us, like the Christians, adopt this old story to our purpose. Is not Socialism the real ‘new birth’, & with its light will not the old darkness of the earth disappear? Eleanor Marx (Thompson 1976). Tragically, the life of this majestic human being was smudged by a lasting dark stain. In 1884, she became the common law wife of Edward Aveling, a well-known secularist and socialist. It took her a while to realize that Aveling was a serial womanizer who loved luxurious living and financially cheated her and many acquaintances. He even misappropriated union and party funds, and never accounted for his extravagant expenses. Despite being warned, she remained loyal to him and excused his behavior as due to some infirmity and took care of him whenever he was ill. In 1898, just after she had nursed him back to his feet, she learned that Aveling had married a younger woman. It was the last straw, and she ended her anguish with poison. The ultimate irony was that a noble, kind woman who had valiantly campaigned for women and against misogyny was felled down by an abysmally vulgar misogynist. Eslanda Robeson + Eslanda Robeson was born in 1895 in a middle class, progressive, cultured African American family. It was an era of intense racism in the US. A star in school, she overcame pervasive racial barriers to secure a scholarship and graduate with a degree in Chemistry from Columbia University (1920). Her subsequent education comprised a masters level degree in Economic Anthropology from the London School of Economics (1938) and a PhD in Anthropology from Hartford Seminary (1946). At LSE, she was mentored by Bronislaw Malinowski, a leading anthropologist of the day. After her first degree, she joined in the Surgical Pathology Laboratory in the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital as an analyst. Within a short time, she headed a hospital laboratory—a first for an African American. In that time, she met Paul Robeson, and in 1925, they got married. As Paul continued to hone his skills in song, music and stage acting, she supported the family. Realizing that without full-time firm support his career prospects would be dim, she left her promising job and became his guide and manager. Unlike him, she had a solid business acumen. Connecting him with movers in the world on entertainment, she handled all essential matters like selecting voice trainers, making travel plans, booking venues, organizing auditions, making performance schedules, handling bills and controlling finances. Their child, Paul Jr, was born in 1927. To her chagrin, her husband turned out to be an inveterate philanderer, having one affair behind her back after another. Much turmoil ensued, and at one point, they were on the verge of divorce. A shared progressive vision and activism, feelings for each other and practical concerns saved the union. But it was with the tacit acceptance that while Eslanda would continue as his business and household manager, she was also free to strike out a path of her own. Eslanda Robeson Eslanda’s world outlook derived from her outspoken socialist, anti-racist, feminist mother. And the Black cultural renaissance blooming in New York, London and Paris swept her and Paul further to the left. The list of their close associates—Langston Hughes, Zora N Hurston, WEB Dubois, Shirley Du Bois, Emma Goldman, CLR James, JBS Haldane and many others—attests to their worldview. Eventually, their activism extended beyond working to end racial segregation in the US to supporting anti-colonial struggles in Africa, India and the Caribbean, promoting global socialism, and opposing fascism and imperial wars. These were not passing concerns but central, defining features of their lives. While Eslanda and Paul worked side by side in some political work, she also charted out an independent trajectory on many fronts. I realize the people are not going to live my life for me. I am going to have to live it myself. Eslanda Robeson (Ransby 2013). And that she did in a unique style. Meeting African supporters of Marcus Garvey galvanized in her a keen interest in African affairs. Over a twenty-five-year period starting from 1936, she went to Africa—Congo, South Africa, French Equatorial Africa, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Zanzibar, Kenya—many times. But these were not tourist trips. In many a place, she put up for three to six months, grounding with the common folk, middle class Africans and European missionaries. It was often under the gaze of European intelligence agencies. She kept a detailed diary and records of her interviews. Along the way, she developed an appreciation of how colonial exploitation and racism kept Africa poor, under-educated and a degrading place for women. She drew close parallel between Africans and African Americans in southern states of the US. Depicting Africa with racist anthropological constructs was the norm in that era. Rejecting it, her 1945 book African Journey, affirms the dignity of African people, shows their reality from a non-colonial perspective, highlights African culture and illuminates the abject plight of African women. Endorsed by Pearl S Buck, it garnered wide acclaim from quite disparate sources. Eslanda became an unflinching, firm advocate of African independence after her first trip. It was her initial trip that catalyzed Paul’s support for that cause. She was the key behind-the-scene player in the Council on African Affairs, the main organization promoting African freedom in the US founded and led by Paul Robeson and WEB Dubois. She and Paul connected with key African leaders—Jomo Kenyatta and Kwame Nkrumah—and African artistes like Habib Benglia. Eslanda worked for Black and Pan-African women’s rights groups, one of which she had helped to found. She was among the few females at the All-African Peoples Conference in the newly independent Ghana in 1958. The conference opened as she and Shirley Dubois walked arm-in-arm with President Kwame Nkrumah into the meeting hall. Here she rubbed shoulders with Julius Nyerere, Sekou Toure, Patrice Lumumba, Frantz Fanon and other African giants. While she and Shirley supported the agenda, they expressed dismay at the paucity of female delegates and the patriarchal conduct of the male delegates. She rounded the year with trips to Nigeria and Trinidad. When their passports were revoked by the US government, Paul and Eslanda were offered citizenship by Ghana. But they declined. Refusing to declare defeat, they fought until the passports were revalidated. Her perceptive message about Africa was: Africa is in revolution. Eslanda Robeson (Ransby 2013). Another anti-colonial cause Eslanda embraced was India. Indian and African American thinkers and activists had begun to join hands from the 1920s. For her it started with an interview of none other than MK Gandhi in London in 1931. She met him as he sat on a cold office floor, spinning his cotton wheel. Besides his devotion to non-violence and utter simplicity, she was struck by his firm espousal of equality for all races. After this meeting, support for India became a life-long pursuit. Her bonds with India were cemented through family level friendships with JL Nehru and his activist sister, VL Pandit. A dinner at the Robeson house in London in 1938 began a conversation that would last over two decades. Nehru and Paul later addressed a major rally for Indian self-rule. Of like mind and mood, Eslanda and Nehru frequently exchanged letters, opinions and books. When Nehru, Pandit and other Indian leaders were imprisoned by the British, she campaigned for their release. When Indian leaders visited the US, they yearned to attend plays in which Paul performed. When Nehru sought to visit the USSR, she enabled him to secure a visa. When Pandit’s daughters studied in the US, they spent weekends at the Robeson’s. To them, Eslanda was a surrogate mother and Paul Jr, a brother who took them to the theatre and cultural venues. She and Pandit connected in person when the latter became a senior UN official and she, a UN correspondent. The Cold War era antipathy of the US government to Paul and Eslanda created difficulties in relations with Nehru and Pandit. Yet the warm ties endured. [Eslanda’s] relationship with [Nehru] and the Pandits represented the kind of cross-cultural Third World solidarity that [she] thought was essential to the realization of peace and justice in the postcolonial world. (Ransby 2013). An additional anti-colonial struggle with which Eslanda was associated was Guyana. And it was also bolstered by personal ties with the independence leader Chedi Jagan and his wife Janet Jagan. She, Shirley Dubois and Janet were de facto sisters. The UK and US governments conspired and worked against the Jagans because of their leftist politics. Eslanda, for her part, exposed the colonial realities in Guyana in articles and talks. Remarkably, both Jagans were later elected, at different times, the Prime Minister and President of Guyana. Paul and Eslanda were internationalists who connected their views on racism with class oppression and imperial domination. Influenced early by WEB Dubois, they linked up with Marxist and socialist activists, artists and thinkers from across the world while they were in London. CLR James was one. They backed trade union actions in North America and UK. Paul acted in plays that countered negative media propaganda and portrayed unions in a sympathetic light. He also used his stardom to publicize their cause, giving free concerts for striking miners and factory workers. And Eslanda stood behind the curtain to cheer him. During the anti-fascist struggles in Spain in the 1930s, they joined the international socialist brigades to visit the dangerous front lines to boost the morale of the resistance. From then on, they paid a series of visits to the Soviet Union. Welcomed as distinguished guests, they encountered Soviet life under Stalin and his successors. Two of Eslanda’s brothers were working in the USSR. Paul sang in flawless Russian to cheering audiences in city after city. Upon enrolling Paul Jr in a local school, they remarked that in doing so, he was spared the rabid racism he would have experienced in a typical US school. Paul and Eslanda developed close camaraderie with prominent artists and senior leaders in Russia including Nikita Khrushchev. They returned to Russia several times to attend conferences, vacation and get medical treatment. And they went to China two months after the communist revolution of 1949 overthrew centuries of feudal tyranny. Meeting senior party leaders and through organized tours, they witnessed the unfolding of the most gigantic social transformation of the twentieth century. Eslanda also participated in the founding of the United Nations. Their socialist activism only earned them extreme hostility from the US establishment. Though hounded during the anti-communist witch hunt of the McCarthy era, they refused to yield, even after their passports were seized and they were forced to cancel important engagements abroad. As Eslanda quaintly observed: All I ever feared were cats. Eslanda Robeson (Ransby 2013). During trips covering nearly 40 countries, Eslanda’s prolific pen poured out poignant commentaries many which were published in magazines and newspapers. They gave authentic yet critical accounts of key events and issues that otherwise failed to receive fair or adequate coverage. The book she co-wrote with Pearl S Buck, American Argument, was a major success. Veritably Eslanda was a multitalented person—campaigner, in words and on the streets against racism, social injustice, colonial rule and war; eloquent public speaker; influential anthropologist; author of notable books and papers; investigative journalist and correspondent for the UN; and a fervent champion of women’s rights. Human rights groups sought her endorsement. And she wrote plays, novels and biographies and was a fine vocalist, movie star and producer. Laden with responsibilities, including supporting Paul’s musical career, she could not pursue those lines of interest as much as she would have like to. To cap it all, she was an excellent photographer. Never without a camera, the arresting snapshots of the places she visited and people she met received applause for artistic merit. It is unfortunate that much of her huge body of photos has been lost. Though Paul popularized classic Negro Spiritual songs, he and Eslanda were secular humanists, not religious believers. He sang for freedom and dignity. They regarded African American churches and religiosity a part of a valued cultural tradition of resistance that stretched back to the days of slavery. This is a brief sketch of a one-of-a-kind human, all the more remarkable in that her writing and activism persisted despite battling the ongoing malady of cancer in the 1950s and 1960s. She also had to provide bedside care for Paul whose health declined seriously. Before she succumbed to cancer in 1965, a number of events to honor her contributions to human, gender and ethnic rights were held, and she was awarded several prestigious international prizes and medals. Her life genuinely embodied of dictum: In fighting a just cause, in resisting oppression, there is dignity. Eslanda Robeson (Ransby 2013). Nawal El Saadawi + Nawal El Saadawi Born in 1931 in rural Egypt into a large middle-class progressive family, Nawal El Saadawi was a precocious child eager to learn. With support from her parents—an uncommon thing for a girl in Egypt then—she excelled in school, won a scholarship to pursue medicine at the University of Cairo and graduated as a psychiatrist in 1955. Her parents died early, leaving her the responsibility to care for her brothers and sisters. Nawal had grown up with a strong distaste for female circumcision that she endured as a child. The tradition of arranged early child marriage had almost been her fate. Medical practice in her hometown sensitized her more to patriarchal customs that compounded the destitution of rural women. The Marxist outlook she had developed in the course of her university studies led her to posit women’s issues beyond cultural constructs and link them with economic injustice and imperial domination of the Arab nations. Her medical experience and passion for writing were fused into an on-the-site as well as a broad-based campaign to combat misogyny and improve the status of women in Egypt and the Arab world. Her forthright, unsparing criticism of female genital mutilation, child marriage, domestic violence, restrictive female dress codes, traditional marriage and divorce rules elicited strong opposition from the orthodox Islamic hierarchy and local power brokers. She also fought for the rights of her female patients, many of whom had been mistreated in their homes. Women are half the society. You cannot have a revolution without women. You cannot have democracy without women. You cannot have equality without women. You can’t have anything without women. Nawal El Saadawi As her prominence as a doctor and promoter of women’s health grew, she was transferred to the Ministry of Health headquarters in Cairo, and in a while became the Director of Health Education at the Ministry. Along the way, she founded the Egyptian Health Education Association and held editorships of Health Magazine and Medical Association Magazine. Not limited by artificial bounds, her activism extended beyond health and gender matters into firm promotion of democratic and human rights. In the process, she co-founded the Arab Association for Human Rights and the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association. She also served as the president of the latter, led the Egyptian Women’s Writer’s Association and became a UN advisor on women’s affairs. The passion for writing she had inculcated as a child now found an outlet. Her path breaking work, Women and Sex, which located the degradations suffered by women within an overall socio-economic context, was published in 1972. The state and religious authorities became more hostile to her social and political activism, and tendency to speak truth to power. Danger has been a part of my life ever since I picked up a pen and wrote. Nothing is more perilous than truth in a world that lies. Nawal El Saadawi Demoted at work and stripped of her editorial and professional positions, she plunged headlong into writing and human rights activism. Her strident voice produced harsh reactions from the Egyptian government and conservative Muslim groups. In 1981, she landed behind bars, denied pencil and writing paper. Yet, she went on, writing on toilet paper with eyebrow pencils provided by female inmates, and founding the Arab Women Solidarity Organization along the way. Mounting death threats from Islamists and official persecution forced her to flee her land of birth in 1988. Her forthright condemnation of how women were treated in the Arab world and advocacy for secular political rule were not to the liking of the officialdom. When you have increasing power of religious groups, oppression of women increases. Women are oppressed in all religions. …. Education should be totally secular. I am not telling people not to believe in God, but it should be a personal matter which should be done at home. Nawal El Saadawi After a long sojourn of teaching, writing and activism in the US and other places, she returned to Egypt in 1996, her voice and pen sparkling as ever. In 2011, at the robust age of 80, she was in the streets in the anti-Mubarak protests in Egypt. El Saadawi’s phenomenal literary output includes eleven novels, eight short story collections, four plays, six memoirs and ten non-fiction books. While she also speaks English and French, she writes in Arabic. Many of her acclaimed books have translations in 30 languages, and a number are global blockbusters. In a passionate yet eloquent and elegant prose, her books and essays propagate themes that resonate beyond the Arab world to vibrantly tackle gender, political, theocratic and imperial domination. With a plethora of honorary degrees and prizes from international institutions under her belt, she remains an unassuming yet rambunctious and unbowed voice for human dignity, and opponent of theocratic rule and imperial interventions. Even as it is risky to read some of her books, book discussion clubs devoted to her work exist in Egypt. According to her, there is a long way ahead before billions of women across the world can feel liberated: Women in most countries have not achieved much, because they can't be liberated under the patriarchal, capitalist, imperialist and military system that determines the way we live now, and which is governed by power, not justice, by false democracy, not real freedom. Nawal El Saadawi +++ Eleanor Marx, Eslanda Robeson and Nawal El Saadawi are, in words and deeds, stellar atheists and humanists. Yet, you will not find these superstars and many like them in most of the lists of prominent atheists and humanists. Such omissions mask the link between humanism and socialism and distort the history and essence of humanism. Humanism without socialism is like a peacock without its dashing feathers, lackluster, unappealing and devoid of the social power to take off towards a humane future. 9.16 ATHEISTS: AN ENDANGERED SPECIES? Apostasy or renouncing the ‘true’ faith is a sinful deviation in Christianity and Islam. Heresy or beliefs and acts that contradict, modify or depart from the scriptures or cast doubt on the authority of God are sinful under Catholic, Protestant and Muslim viewpoints. Blasphemy or anti-religious utterances, mocking sacred ideas and denigrating holy practices are as well proscribed. In Islam, where conversion to other faiths is disallowed, terms like infidel or kafir have similar connotations. For centuries, and under most faith systems, heretics, atheists and skeptics have endured discriminatory offenses ranging from prejudice, isolation, denial of civic rights and imprisonment to execution. Hinduism + In theory, Hinduism does not vilify disbelief. But life has not always reflected theory. Hindus have often opposed and engaged in deadly strife with other faiths and deviant tendencies. We noted many instances of Hindu-Muslim, Hindu-Sikh and Hindu-Christian violence in Chapter 5. These conflicts had political and economic undertones as well. The emergence of Hindutva as the dominant political ideology and the rule of BJP under Prime Minister Modi have heightened intolerance among Hindus. Liberals, secularists, free thinkers and atheists who criticize official policies have increasingly faced violence from militant Hindus. Well-known secularists have been murdered by the zealots. N Dabholkar, a Pune doctor who combined social work with exposing the perils of blind faith and ‘miracle cures,’ was the first prominent victim. He was shot while on a morning walk in 2013. The secularists G Pansare and MM Kalburgi were killed a few years on. P Murugan, a campaigner against superstitious beliefs, and his family received death threats in 2019. KS Bhagwan, another skeptic, faces similar peril. Others have received serious injuries. The extremists intimidate atheists and secularists by disrupting meetings, staging mock funerals, vandalizing property and invading homes. There is an under-the-surface organized network that mobilizes and trains these gangs. The Hindutva groups that constitute the social base of the ruling BJP are the ultimate instigators of the network. That the police rarely give priority to cases in which Hindu extremists stand accused emboldens them. Often the assailants escape detection, and if they are apprehended, it takes years for charges to be filed. At times, the police and state authorities are complicit in these assaults against the secularists. Every Indian citizen is categorized by religious affiliation. Courts have ruled that ‘atheist’ is not a legal category and attempts to take an oath using the Constitution instead of a religious book have been blocked. The secular Constitution notwithstanding, each Indian must declare a religion to get state services. Nonetheless, there are many longstanding secular and atheist organizations in India, and some of their leaders have attained international fame for their contributions to humanist and atheist thought. Census data and other sources on the number of secularists in India are not consistent. Membership of the established communist parties, many of whom presumably are non-believers, is over two million. It is thus likely that there are three million or more non-believers and atheists in India today. Under the climate of fear and intimidation, most have double-lives and participate in holy rituals to retain an outward appearance. To openly be an atheist or a vocal critic of Hindutva in India today is a risky proposition. Buddhism + Buddhism does not scripturally sanction apostasy or atheism. To renounce his or her faith or espouse deviant beliefs does not entail a penalty, at least in the earthly domain. But as observed in Chapter 6, Buddhists organizations run by firebrand monks have gained greater political influence in Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Spewing rhetoric of authentic Buddhism, they have unleashed violent campaigns against Muslims. But attacks on atheists as such have not been reported. Japan, constitutionally a secular state which protects freedom of religion, is an interesting case. With 98% of the population of Japanese ethnicity, it is an ethnically and culturally homogenous nation. Officially it is projected as a visitor-friendly, multicultural society. But astute analysts depict it as cosmetic multiculturalism. A strong undercurrent of disdain for foreign cultures and a sense of uniqueness prevails in Japan. Thus, though it is a highly educated nations and Muslims are less than 0.1% of the population, two out of three Japanese adults see Islam as an extremist religion and favor restrictive practices on Muslims like those in force in European nations. Anti-Muslim prejudice prevails across the political spectrum. A significant majority of the Japanese follows Buddhism or Shintoism or a combination of the two. An annual official survey of religion found 69% attending Shinto rituals, 67% attending Buddhist rituals and 8%, rituals of other faiths. But an earlier survey found that 69% did not belong to any religion. Another survey found that about a third of the adults are ‘convinced atheists’ even though they partake in Buddhist and Shinto ceremonies. Such data imply that the majority does it for cultural rather than ‘religious’ reasons. Associating religion with belief in a God or gods, only about one in eight say they are religious. Yet, two out three ascribe to a spiritual belief. While two out three Japanese mistrust religious bodies, only one in five mistrust major companies and only one in ten express mistrust of schools. People take pride in and trust local institutions but have a negative perception of ‘foreign’ entities. Further, Japan has a long history of suppressing beliefs that challenge state authority or the dominant national outlook. Japan has for long been atheist friendly. With about a third of the people openly ascribing to irreligiosity, atheists and free thinkers have not faced and do not face discrimination in Japan. Prime ministers, politicians, scholars, writers, and philosophers have explicitly worn the badge of a non-believer. Since the 1930s, secular organizations have been active in Japan. Besides opposing superstition, their agendas have broad-based socialist and anti-imperial clauses. Some of them faced harsh crackdowns in the past, but that was more due to their political and not anti-religious activism. Earlier we saw that tolerance of other faiths does not necessarily imply tolerance for lack of faith. Japan, in contrast, shows that tolerance of atheism does not necessarily imply a tolerant attitude towards other faiths. National chauvinism can override religion. Christianity + After designation as the official religion of the Roman Empire, transgressions from Christianity— disbelief, apostasy, heresy and blasphemy—became punishable offences. During the 11th century, a veritable Catholic terror machine, the Inquisition, dealt with the offenders. The penalty for the sins ranged from excommunication, property confiscation to death. Death at the stake for heretics and alleged witches was commonplace. Fear of the Inquisition drove skeptical thinkers, writers and scientists to modify how they presented their ideas. Drawing the ire of the theological authority was highly risky. The onset of the Protestant Reformation in 16th century offered little respite. Eminent European scholars, philosophers and jurists held that civil rights should not be extended to people who did not believe in God or the immortality of the soul. Among them were Thomas More (author of the famed socialistic novel Utopia), Thomas Aquinas (eminent philosopher) and John Locke (political theorist, father of liberalism). As apostates and enemies of Christ, Jews were punished en masse. Protestant reformer Martin Luther held that they were possessed by the devil. Note, the Jewish Torah requires the believer to put to death any person, even a close family member, who entices him or her away from the true God. Tens of thousands had been executed for faith related transgression by the Christian authorities in Europe and the Americas by the early 1800s. Of course, more often than not, potent political and economic motives lurked behind the punishments. Not so much querying the doctrine but questioning the rulers was the key misdeed. The last known imposition of apostasy related death in Europe occurred in 1826. Now such a punishment is illegal. In Europe and the UK, the number of those who identity as non-affiliated or non-believer, have been rising. In some of these nations the proportion of ‘convinced atheists’ is now at levels that were previously the domain of firm religious believers. Thus, in Norway, it is about 40%, Czech Republic, 35%, France 20%, Australia 15%, and Iceland 15%. Laws that discriminate against atheists do not exist in Europe, the UK, Canada and Australia. Atheists are elected to the legislature, hold high office and run major public institutions without controversy. In the UK, successive conservative governments have tried to counter the anti-religious tide by funding private church affiliated schools and other measures. In 2012, funds from a billionaire supporter were secured to distribute the Bible to schools. However, the humanist community was able to counter this move by securing permission to distribute the Young Atheist’s Handbook to public schools in 2014. The US stands out among the Western nations on this issue. Even as humanism and non-belief are rising, public espousal of firm atheism remains rare. Prejudice towards atheists is rife among the public. They are associated with low morality, criminality, hedonism, and socialism. One survey indicates that some 40% of the electorate, Republican or Democrat, would not vote for an atheist for president. A recent count found that of the more than 10,000 state legislators in the US, only one was an admitted atheist. And only one Congressperson was a declared non-believer. In the US, institutionalized and hidden discrimination against atheists has been detected in relation to jobs, professional opportunities, social networks and within the judicial system. Non-religious parents have been denied child custody. Politicians and officials utter derogatory views about secularists in the media without suffering backlash. Only Muslims are held in lower esteem than atheists. A Christian majority nation where atheists face daunting social, political obstacles is Brazil. The anti-atheist tide has intensified with the election of JM Bolsonaro as president in 2019. The targets of his right-wing agenda and authoritarian governance have included atheists. After his declaration that Brazil is God’s country, harassment of atheists and followers of traditional African religions has multiplied. People liken them to drug addicts. In part, this is the legacy of the Cold War and the violent suppression of liberation theology in the 1960s. Rising Islamophobia has energized white supremacist, Christian identity groups in the West. Inspired by hate-filled rhetoric of right-wing politicians, they have attacked mosques and Muslims, immigrants and racial minorities. But no report of directed assaults on atheists from such groups has hit the headlines as yet. Islam + Apostasy and related acts are crimes under Islamic (Sharia) law. Doubting the authority of Allah, questioning the authenticity of the Quran and casting aspersions on the Prophet are major offences. Inducing Muslims into other faiths is proscribed. Penalties range from annulment of marriage, seizure of children and property to death. Recantation, if done in a timely manner, is often taken as a mitigating factor. The Islamic world is an outlier in relation to dealing with heresy, apostasy and atheism in the modern era. Such acts remain criminal offenses in 16 out of 46 Muslim majority states. In Iran and Saudi Arabia, the death penalty may be imposed, but actual executions are rare. At times Islamic leaders issue edicts calling for the death of prominent apostates. Two well publicized cases include the author Salman Rushdie and the producers of cartoons about Prophet Mohamed in Denmark. Large numbers of Muslims support severe punishment for apostates and unbelievers. In the last two chapters, we took note of Muslim terrorist fronts like Al-Qaeda, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), Taliban, Boko Haram and Al Shabab that have operated in recent years. These groups have primarily attacked Western forces, civilians and institutions and their perceived allies. Now we look at how atheists are faring in the Muslim world. Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation, has historically practiced a tolerant form of Islam. Traditional belief systems in the islands functioned alongside Islam in a syncretic fashion. By constitution, it is a secular state. Freedom of expression is protected by law. Six major religions are accorded official recognition. Public criticism of religion, especially Islam, invites social ostracism and legal sanction. A declared atheist who had placed material on Prophet Mohammed online in 2012 was jailed for two and a half years. A similar fate awaits a university student who posted critical views on Allah and the Quran in 2018. The anti-blasphemy law of 1965 has been used against Shia Muslims, Christians and Ahmadiyyas as well as atheists. Fundamentalist schools of Islam propagated by hardline religious leaders and populist politicians have gained ground of recent. Militant Islamic fronts are perpetrating bombings of tourist areas and Christian centers. Muslim mobs have also attacked Buddhist temples and the Ahmadiyya community. Atheists have been warned by tirades issued by conservative theologians. Even though they form a tiny minority, they feel they are next. Meetings and online communication among atheists are fraught with risk. Atheists tread cautiously, assuming double identities—religious in public but not among fellow disbelievers. Open gatherings of atheists that began in 2008 now draw fewer participants. Pakistan has alternated military rule with democratic governance since the 1950s. Relations with the US, India and Afghanistan have played a central role in its socio-political trajectory. It was infected with US sponsored Islamic extremists operating in Afghanistan during the 1970s. Conflict with India over the status of Kashmir made it an operational base for Kashmiri freedom fighters, who over time adopted a fundamentalist Islamic ideology. Religion was a tool for the military and ruling political parties to legitimize sectarian, landowner dominated and economically deficient rule. Moves to turn the nation into a fully Islamic state, however, did not succeed. A vibrant opposition movement championing the rule of law, freedom of expression, democracy, separation of religion and state, and socialism managed to thwart such moves. The military, the all-powerful national intelligence agency and hardline Islamic clerics continue to pillory, intimidate, persecute and assault human rights and democracy advocates. Yet, the oppositional voices persist. Pakistan is formally a multi-party state with stipulated roles for the different organs of the government. The judiciary in particular has often played an independent corrective role for executive abuse. On the other hand, Islamic groups are more vocal and aggressive in politics and education. They also oppose vaccination drives for polio and other diseases (including the corona virus). Sectarian strife between Sunnis and other sects of Islam periodically assumes violent proportions with the latter paying a large price in terms of lives and property. The call to make Sharia Law the law of the land becomes louder by the day. Now it commands the majority opinion. To get an identity card, one must register one’s religion. Changing the religious designation is not allowed. The political slide towards religious extremism has generated a counter tendency. A noticeable minority of Pakistanis have turned towards secular outlooks. Polling done by an international agency found that the proportion of non-believers (atheists, agnostics, skeptics) rose from about 1% of the adult population in 2005 to about 2% in 2012. Some secularists have openly or anonymously taken religious extremism to task on online platforms and the media. Advocating removal of religion-based restrictions in public life, they stand for peaceful resolution of sectarian differences. And some have put Islamic beliefs under scrutiny. The religious conservatives, often backed by the state, are fighting back. Atheists and blasphemers are in the crosshairs of the police. Charges are leveled against people who upload what is said to be anti-Islamic content on social media. Many legislators have demanded firm action; a High Court judge has branded them as ‘terrorists’. A media campaign to expose them has been launched and their online accounts are being frozen. An unknown number of free thinking and atheist bloggers were abducted, presumably by a state agency, and held for several weeks in January 2017. Some were tortured, and some later fled to safer shores. Under the new cybercrime law, online blasphemy may elicit the death penalty. The ruling party tries to appease and neutralize radical Islamic groups by cracking down on secular voices. Draconian laws propel the mainstream media into self-censorship. Avenues of expression for free thinkers, liberals and socialists are narrowing. Critical Twitter feeds from both sides, especially around the 12th of February, the birthdate of Charles Darwin, that used to proliferate in the past, have become muted. An atheist in Pakistan has no legal identity, civil rights and medium for expression, and faces grave risks. Bangladesh was a part of the province of Bengal during the British rule in India. The partition of India in 1947 made it a part of Pakistan, and in 1971, after a gruesome struggle, an independent nation. From the Mughal era to the British era, and in tandem with the rest of Bengal, it developed a rich literary, poetic, musical, cross-religious culture unified by the Bengali language and a broad-based education system. Bengali culture integrated Hindu, Bengali and Muslim views and customs with a spattering of English and Christian ideas and practices. People in Hindu majority West Bengal and in Muslim majority East Bengal identified themselves more as Bengalis rather than as Hindu or Muslim. A crucial feature of the post-1947 Bengali landscape was the presence of an active communist movement with membership in the millions. Its legacy extends into present day Bangladesh. Atheism and secularism have been a minor but tolerated part of the Bangladeshi culture for quite a while. After gaining autonomy in 1971, the elitist ruling parties failed to follow economic, social and political policies that would generate across the board improvement in quality of life, accountable governance and social stability. Mass poverty endured, especially in the rural areas. Presently Bangladesh is a major global sweatshop center. Tens of thousands of lowly paid workers, many females, toil for long hours under hazardous conditions to make high-priced designer apparel and other items for Western consumers. Exploitative practices of the landowners and merchants drive farmers and fishermen into debt and poverty. Formal democratic, constitutional rule is a façade. Abuse of human rights—torture, kidnapping, and extrajudicial killings—by state agencies is the norm. The US and UK governments have, for their part, funded and trained these agencies in the name of countering international terrorism. Independent media are routinely suppressed. While the Constitution protects freedom of religion, the atmosphere of tolerance on the religious front is eroding, both due to populist pandering by politicians and the actions of the radical Islamic parties that have recently gained traction. Religious conflicts are on the rise. Muslim militants attack Hindu, Buddhist and Christian communities and places of worship. Though their influence waxes and wanes, they are propelling Bangladesh towards a state where Islam is the official religion. Of recent, the poverty-ridden nation has become a distinctly deadly place for people promoting secular ideas. If you are seen to publicly disparage religion, especially Islam, or criticize the fundamentalist movements you are in deep trouble. While secular groups seek to enshrine a firm separation of religion and state and the ouster of extremist parties from the political arena, radical Islamic groups declare war on atheism and blasphemy, and demand that atheist bloggers should be hanged. The secularists resort to words and occasional peaceful marches. But the religious extremists issue death threats and take up machetes. Instead of providing them constitutional protection, the police detain prominent atheists, seize their books from bookshops and charge them with insulting people’s religious sentiments. As the secularists promote multi-cultural tolerance and deride narrow minded mullahs, their publishers face official harassment and their online accounts are regularly suspended. And it gets worse. From the 1990s, Bangladeshi authors, academics and secularists have risked death for critiquing religious fundamentalism. Humayun Azad was a distinguished writer and professor who had authored numerous critical but elegant books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Islamic extremists however did not respect his erudition and progressive outlook. In early 2004, he was assaulted with cleavers by four militants from an extremist Islamic party. He died few months later. Though the party was banned, the killings did not stop. Three well known atheists were hacked with machetes in 2013; one died from his wounds. Two prominent secularists were hacked to death in 2015. The wife of one lost her finger. In the same year, an atheist blogger writing for a science magazine received death threats. His blog was banned, and he had to flee abroad. In 2017, the same fate befell a young atheist blogger. Journalists and academics have also been targeted by the extremists. On top of relentless harassment and death threats from the vigilantes, the shops that sell books by Bangladeshi free thinkers have been vandalized. The nature of intolerance is illustrated by the tragic case of RK Siddiquee, Professor of English at Rajshahi University, the second largest university in the nation. An erudite, mild-mannered, well-liked and respected academic, he was highly knowledgeable in English literature. He edited a literary journal as well. Not an atheist, he adhered to Islamic practices, gave funds for the repair of a mosque in his hometown, and sponsored cultural groups. As a diligent academic, he strove to give his students a broad perspective by exposing them to multiple strands of English literature. Some students of a fundamentalist bent however felt that some of his material insulted Islam. On a fine day in April 2016, he was accosted by four men while walking to work. And they butchered him. Though the deed was done in open, his killers have vanished into thin air. His murder sparked months of protests by students and teachers at his university. Lecturers at all public universities in the nation staged a three-day strike in his memory. Nonetheless, the deed sent a chilling message to the academic community—stray out of line and you will be next. The parallels with the attacks by Hindu extremists on Professor Feroz Khan at the Banaras Hindu University in 2019 are striking. The attacks by the Islamic extremists are occurring at the same time as the state authorities undertake widespread suppression of journalists and leftist opposition voices in Bangladesh. Other professors have also received death threats and a hit list of 40 at-risk academics has been found. The effects are multiplicative. Lecturers, researchers, reporters, members of the NGOs as well as secularists are driven into self-censorship and silence. As the government fails to act against the killers, the Islamist view of putting religion at the helm of politics becomes more popular and fundamentalist radicalization of the students makes further headway in the academic arena. Voices of tolerance, social justice and rational discourse in Bangladesh are in grave danger. As an indicator of laxity of the authorities to purse cases of egregious violence against secularists, it took nearly 18 years for the courts to convict four men for the murder of Human Aziz. They were sentenced to death in April 2022. Nigeria has a relatively small group of open secularists who mainly operate under the umbrella of the Humanist Association of Nigeria. They mostly hold discussions and conferences and promote secularism through educational writings. Yet, Mubarak Bala, the President of the Association has spent more than two years in police custody. Bala rose into prominence after renouncing Islam in 2014. Many conservative Muslim clerics were deeply angered. That he was the son of a respected Islamic scholar made it worse. His family had him confined to a psychiatric facility for 18 months, but he did not relent. In April 2020, after posting comments that criticized various aspects of Islam on social media, he was arrested by the police. Charged with violating religious crime and cybercrime laws, he was denied visits by his wife and lawyer for many months. Even after the ruling of the Nigerian Supreme Court that he be freed on bail and appeals by UN Human Rights Committee and other international organizations, he remained in custody with no explanation given to his legal defense team. Two years on, under a process that violated basic judicial norms, Bala was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to 24 years in prison. Had he been tried under Sharia law, as conservative clerics had demanded, he could have got the death penalty. With Bala’s conviction, … [humanists] have become endangered citizens of Nigeria. Leo Igwe, Nigerian Humanist Association. (Gamble 2022). +++ The position of secularists and atheists in much of the Islamic world is not enviable. In Malaysia, state authorities have put them on notice; in Egypt, they risk long term jail; and in Somalia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and Russia they are harassed by fundamentalists and state officials. A year 2020 report based on interviews of 76 non-believers from Colombia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka revealed that they and their colleagues risked ridicule, isolation, public discrimination and violent attacks from zealots and the state. Female atheists are forced into marriage and reconverted. General opinion on atheism is turning more hostile. Over 50% of the Nigerians support the death penalty for apostates. In many nations, free thinkers and atheists remain incognito. In terms of numbers, serious attacks on atheists and skeptics across the world are much lower than attacks on people of unpopular faiths. In Pakistan, for example, the number of atheists recently killed for their beliefs does not exceed twenty. But the number of Shias killed by Sunni fanatics goes into the hundreds. Yet, attacks on atheists are in a class of their own. Designed to send a loud message and terrorize them into acquiescence and silence, there are carried out in a gruesome fashion, often in broad daylight. Ahmed Shaheed, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, notes: In my observations, humanists, when they are attacked, are attacked far more viciously and brutally than in other cases. Ahmed Shaheed (Ahmad et al. 2019). The modern discourse on religious freedom and persecution of people of faith often ignores the key fact that the freedom not to believe, as enshrined in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, is also threatened. +++ From the days of the Cold War, the US has projected itself as a champion of religious freedom standing in opposition to ‘godless communism’. But, as we saw earlier, it was a self-serving stand designed to conceal its imperial objectives. Even after the end of the Cold War, the US rhetoric about protecting people from discrimination on the basis of religious belief did not abate. A law passed in 1998 created the US Commission on International Religious Freedom with the mandate to issue annual reports on religious freedom across the world. The report supposedly guides how the US relates to different nations on this critical issue. The speeches of President George W Bush regularly invoked God and promoted religious tolerance. The fine words crafted by his speech writers described Islam as a ‘peaceful,’ ‘vibrant faith’ that brings ‘hope and comfort to billions of people’ and ‘inspires countless individuals to lead lives of honesty, integrity, and morality’ (Bush 2002). But actions count more than words. As any fair assessment of his domestic and foreign policies would show, his faint claim to morality was extinguished by the sheer brutality of the attacks he authorized on Afghanistan and Iraq, and the ensuing toll on civilians and civilian infrastructure. Under President Barack Obama, signals on matters of religion took an effusive hue. His executive orders relating to religion sent mixed signals. Though his political base did not contain a distinct faith group, he continued the faith-based initiatives—criticized for eroding the separation of state and church—begun by his predecessor. At the same time, he spoke as a broad-minded leader who valued the freedom of religious and non-religious people alike. In December 2016, he signed an amendment to the 1998 law which extended the protection of freedom of belief to non-believers. Atheists and humanist organizations in the US were elated by the move. Finally, they had official recognition and support. But words did not match deeds. While the US annual report on religious freedom for 2016 strongly excoriated Egypt and Saudis Arabia for religion-based discrimination, he continued, in the name of fighting terrorism, to provide military weapons amounting to billions of dollars and security support to these repressive regimes. He was an outstanding salesperson for the US arms industries during his tours of Asian nations. He institutionalized drone-based extra-judicial killings. He was responsible for the record numbers of combatant and civilian deaths by drones in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Among his crowning glories was the total demolition of Libya, throwing it into utter chaos and destabilization of the neighboring nations. He bears the main responsibility for the deadly civil wars, chaos and religion-based violence that ensued in the region. At home, he strongly supported big business and major banks, did little to remedy the adverse effects of the 2008 financial crises on the common person, and only took baby steps to address the major problems of delivery of decent, affordable health care to all. His loyal political base, the African American community, experienced little change in economic status. And as he continued militarizing the police, disproportionate, deadly police violence against people of color proceeded as usual. It is difficult to grasp how humanists can support such a double dealer. Yet, they did and still do. 9.17 REFLECTIONS Non-believers comprise a sixth of the global population. But they do not constitute a unified organizational or philosophical community. Ranging from people who explicitly deny the existence of divinities to those with a neutral stand on the issue, they have diverse views on social, political and economic matters. People unaffiliated to a faith system have included prominent social and natural scientists, writers, philosophers, media and entertainment stars, lawyers, social reformers, human rights activists, business moguls, feminists and politicians. Some non-believers are political conservatives while some are socialists. Historically virtually all cultures had thinkers espousing views with an aura of agnosticism, atheism or humanism. But mature manifestations of atheism came about within the process of development of capitalism and expansion of scientific knowledge in Europe and the US. Today atheism and humanism are a global phenomenon. Adherence to the prevailing religion, particularly Christianity, has been falling in a dramatic fashion in the Western world. But in the US, it is less marked. But declining religiosity has however occurred at the same time as increasing beliefs in spiritualism. Apart from a few Asian nations including China, religiosity remains unchanged or has risen elsewhere. Because of the severe consequences of being an atheist or humanist in many Third World nations, their numbers are not known. Many atheists and humanists who took a public, critical stand on religious issues and extremism have been attacked and murdered. Besides religious fanatics, state forces have also been complicit in these deeds. Atheism is an endangered belief system in most nations. According to most surveys and studies done on the issue, there are no significant differences between believers and non-believers in terms of moral and ethical standards, in theory and practice. Believers as well as non-believers may have admirable ethical values and perform worthy deeds in an altruistic fashion. At the same time, it is important to realize that believers and non-believers capable of ascribing to debased ethical standards and committing morally repugnant deeds also exist. Take the case of Islamophobia—irrational hatred of Muslim people and Islam. Over the past two decades, Islamophobia has been rising in Western nations. Egged on by right wing politicians and the media, the majority of their people view Islam and Muslims with suspicion. Many back restrictions on Muslim dress codes, mosque construction, and Islamic schools. Yet, atheism and generally tolerant attitudes are also rising in these nations. The only way to reconcile the apparently contradicting trends is to presume that Islamophobia prevails among the atheists and humanists as well. The leaders of New Atheism effectively if not explicitly and unashamedly take stands that not just denigrate Muslims and Islam but advocate merciless attacks on Muslim majority nations as well. Their proclamations on Islam resonates on the same frequency as the rhetoric of radical white nationalist groups. Atheism and humanism face criticism from a religious angle and from a socialist angle. The former blames these outlooks for the obsession with materialism (consumerism), loss of a moral anchor and break down of social harmony. Lacking the unifying spiritual compass of religion and God, moral relativism, under which all kinds of misdeeds will be justified, will dominate humanity, and lead to chaos and suffering. The religious perspective points to the USSR under Stalin to oppose atheism. But that is a knee jerk form of critique without a sound evidentiary basis and conceptual foundation. On the other hand, modern day atheism and humanism are critiqued by socialist writers for playing up rational skepticism and individual conduct and according scant attention to the sociological and historical dimensions of religious faith. They are also faulted for scientifically unjustified extrapolation of the laws of natural evolution into the societal domain (Social Darwinism). Human societies, while subject to biological forces, have trajectories that are governed by a complex interplay of social, economic and cultural factors. Social evolution is not reducible to random genetic mutation and natural selection. Further, secularism has been taken to task for placing humanity at the center, akin to what theologians do, and ignoring its interrelationship with nature and all life on earth. Another charge levelled at modern atheism and humanism is that they function within the structural and ideological framework of capitalism, notably its neoliberal variety. When they recognize the ills of neoliberalism like economic inequality and racism, they propose reformist solutions that leave the foundation of capitalism intact. It is of interest to note that Steve Wozniak (electronics expert, cofounder of Apple Inc., and philanthropist) and Warren Buffet (astute investor, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and philanthropist) are atheists or agnostics. These multi-billionaires, who regularly feature at the upper end of the list of the richest people, are among prime beneficiaries of a global economic system that exploits working people across the globe, spawns militarism and social instability and undermines democracy. Their philanthropy but marginally addresses the malignant maladies brought on by neoliberalism and provides it with a positive public image. As they and their ilk, with the assistance of governments, pocket billions even in times of crisis, hundreds of millions of people become poor and face extreme hardships. Payment of adequate taxes by the multi-millionaires and billionaires would suffice to tackle problems like malnutrition and inadequate health care on the planet. Their presence in the list of atheists is often seen as a positive sign by atheists. In reality, it is anything but. Neither religiosity nor absence of religious faith guarantee moral conduct. Both are capable of inducing moral decency as well as gross immorality. What will it mean to have a predominantly godless country? The great difficulty with answering this question is that theology and morality are only tenuously related. Habits of kindness, decency and tolerance come from practice rather than belief. Religions are justly feared because they often don’t practice the more loving parts of what they preach. But atheism is no guarantee of moral virtue or even tolerance, as the rhetoric of the ‘New Atheist’ movement towards Muslims made very clear. Any set of beliefs about God can be used to justify selfishness and cruelty. (Editorial 2019). If humanity has to have a future, the religious and the irreligious have to set aside their divinity related differences and join hands upon a common moral imperative to combat social injustice, economic inequality and reckless environmental damage. There is no other alternative. CHAPTER 10: NEOLIBERALISM ↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔ We have not reached the consensus that to eat is a basic human right. This is an ethical crisis. This is a crisis of faith. Jean-Bertrand Aristide All the world has been converted and Washington is the modem Mecca. CLR James When the church hears the cry of the oppressed it cannot but denounce the social structures that give rise to and perpetuate the misery from which the cry arises. Archbishop Oscar Romero TODAY THERE EXISTS a faith system whose influence and power exceeds that of any religion. Though not a religion in the traditional sense, it has many features of a religion. Called Neoliberalism, it is akin to a religion in that it has a powerful force that is revered, and its core beliefs are almost beyond disputation. Though it lacks a single founder, prophet or exact date of origin, Neoliberalism has venerated sages whose texts have amplified its doctrine. 10.1 ORIGIN AND BELIEFS The theoretical roots of Neoliberalism were laid in the 18th century during the initial phase of the development of capitalism. Liberal economics of that era glorified individualism and free markets. But that faith was shaken by the catastrophe visited upon the global economy in the 1930s. Policy makers became receptive to the ideas of John Maynard Keynes who theorized that stabilizing the economy and ensuring sustained growth needed a greater state involvement. It would also neutralize worker militancy and the threat of a socialist take over. But it was after WW II that the welfare state came into operation. The Keynesian dictum brought health care, education, water and power services under public purview. The state invested in rail and urban transport and key industries, exercised greater control over the financial sector, provided pensions, and enhanced worker and disability benefits. Neoliberalism seeks to reverse such measures and the other gains won through student and worker struggles in the 1960s. The capitalist class now wants the entire pie. The demise of the socialist system in 1990 and weaker popular movements gave it the chance it needed. Presently, neoliberalism is the central economic system in the world. Monopolistic proselytization and economic arm twisting by the powerful financial titans have ensured that few can escape from its vice like grip. Neoliberalism reasserts the primacy of the classical liberal economics. Its fundamental pillar is belief in a powerful entity called the Market, or the Free Market. You cannot see, touch, hear or talk to it, yet it is omnipresent. It has power over humanity and the global ecosystem. Respect and obey the Free Market, else its forces will rip your community apart. But, like an unpredictable god, it may cause dire effects even when you faithfully abide by its laws. Humans cannot fathom the divine wisdom of the Market, but its ‘invisible hand’, makes it a self-correcting entity. Despite ups and downs, universal prosperity (economic Nirvana) will prevail eventually. The five basic commandments of Neoliberalism are: The Commandments of Neoliberalism 01 The Market, only the Market is Divine 02 Work Hard, Invest, and Buy and Sell 03 Compete, Accumulate and Consume 04 Maximize Profit, Minimize Cost 05 Privatize, Privatize, Privatize Neoliberalism instructs individuals that accumulation and spending are the ideals of a noble life. Its tenets include: greed is good, charity is bad; austerity is virtuous, entitlements are sinful; and liberalization is holy, protection is satanic. Neoliberalism requires unhindered globalization, that is, opening up of national economies, free transit of goods and services, special dispensation for multinational corporations and financial institutions and unimpeded repatriation of profits. Big government, nationalization and economic planning are abominable entities, the enemies of the Free Market. It mandates curtailment of trade unions and social justice organizations. As promoters of ‘class war’ they are ‘barriers to progress, enemies of the poor’. To advocate socialism is blasphemy of the highest order. Poverty arises from laziness and lack of initiative. Work hard, be creative, be a true believer (entrepreneur) and you will prosper. People are responsible for their own life and situation. Sloth should not be rewarded by state handouts (corporations are mysteriously exempt from this rule). [Neoliberalism] is a holistic ethos and vision for society, one that aims to remake as many areas of life as possible on the model of market competition. (Kotsko 2021). By projecting the Darwinian notion of the survival of the fittest onto human society, Neoliberalism configures competition as the prime feature of human existence, converts citizens to consumers, designates workers as associates and limits freedom of speech to the marketplace of ideas. Higher education is recast from intellectual exploration into training for employable skills, and business and management departments acquire more prestige and funding. Attempts to limit competition are treated as inimical to liberty. Tax and regulation should be minimized, public services should be privatized. The organization of labor and collective bargaining by trade unions are portrayed as market distortions that impede the formation of a natural hierarchy of winners and losers. Inequality is recast as virtuous: a reward for utility and a generator of wealth, which trickles down to enrich everyone. Efforts to create a more equal society are both counterproductive and morally corrosive. The market ensures that everyone gets what they deserve. (Monbiot 2016). Neoliberalism has two major denominations: Fundamentalist Neoliberalism and Moderate Neoliberalism. Both operate within the ambit of capitalism. No other way to organize the economy is feasible. The former holds that smooth, sustained growth mandates strict adherence to the tenets of Neoliberalism. But the latter advocates partial relaxation of the Keynesian variety, especially in times of general economic malaise. Each has its influential political and media backers. Neoliberalism prefers a façade of democracy whereby choice is confined to parties wedded to one of its denominations. But it can effectively function under theocratic or secular authoritarianism as well. Neoliberalism forms the core of modern day economics. It is not a fringe sect. The disputations within economics are not between Neoliberalism and anti-Neoliberalism but between Moderate Neoliberalism and Fundamentalist Neoliberalism. 10.2 PROPHETS, SCRIPTURES AND CATHEDRALS If a single prophet of Neoliberalism has to be identified, it must be the 18th century political economist Adam Smith. His pioneering work, The Wealth of Nations, opened up new vistas in economic thought and presented valuable insights into the operation of the capitalist system. Despite his cautionary messages, it ultimately rationalized capitalism, enshrined the worship of the Free Market and was later instrumental in the birth to Neoliberalism. It did for capitalism what Catholicism had done for feudalism. What Catholicism does and what economics does is kind of act as dogma. The point of dogma is to remove doubt, because where there is doubt … there is fear. (Yablon 2020). Adam Smith’s economic philosophy was expanded and modified by a series of apostles. Friedrich Hayek, author of the widely read anti-socialist work, The Road to Serfdom, deemed individualism a positive characteristic and dismissed the notion that all humans are born equal. Inequality arises from human nature. Hayek deemed the Market an efficient inventor and distributor of knowledge, and castigated planning and public education. Ludwig von Mises, a fervently anti-socialist economist and political thinker, displayed his theories in numerous works. His 1949 book, Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, remains a basic book for economic studies. He and Hayek were attendees of a conference in 1938 in Paris where the term Neoliberalism was first used. Libertarian Ayn Rand (The Fountain Head, Atlas Shrugged) and the philosopher of science, Karl Popper (The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Open Society and Its Enemies) are two sages whose ideas enriched Neoliberalism but from different angles. Milton Friedman was no doubt the premier guru of modern-day Neoliberalism, and the Chicago School with which he was associated, one of its top sanctuaries. The neoliberal order is scattered across the globe, consisting of economists, econometricians, development specialists, marketing experts and financial consultants. They preach in academies, governmental finance and developmental ministries, thinktanks and other institutions. Their total number is around a hundred thousand. Sainthood in this belief system is granted through the bestowal of the Nobel Prize in Economics. The principal cathedrals of Neoliberalism are located in the US and, to some extent, in the UK. One is the Open Society Foundation set up by the multi-billionaire investor George Soros. Soros was inspired by Karl Popper. Other promoters of Neoliberalism are the American Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Institute of Economic Affairs, the Centre for Policy Studies and the Adam Smith Institute (Monbiot 2016). The London School of Economics is a hallowed premier institute for Moderate Neoliberalism. The Mont Pelerin Society, founded in 1947 in a meeting of key ideologues of capitalism that was chaired by Friedrich Hayek, continues to be an influential but under the surface driving force of the doctrine. However, Neoliberalism did not prevail just from intellectual discourse. Its supremacy is principally owed to the support it garnered from the two most powerful leaders of the capitalist world in the 1980s: Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. The former famously opined ‘There Is No Alternative’. Both aggressively attacked worker unions, instituted pro-corporate policies, weakened the social safety net, pressured Third World nations to open up their economies, and worked to bring the socialist nations to their knees. The first country to fully adopt the neoliberal agenda was Chile under the dictator Augusto Pinochet. Lee Kuan Yew, who led Singapore for several decades, was an erudite global voice espousing an admixture of Fundamentalist Neoliberalism and Moderate Neoliberalism. The luminaries of Moderate Neoliberalism now include Joseph Stiglitz, Robert B Reich and Amartya Sen. The US dominated financial behemoths, the IMF and the World Bank, had the practical task of bringing nations across the world into the neoliberal fold. The pro-corporate World Trade Organization enforces the rules of the game. It has the legal power to override national parliaments. The US government is the ultimate inquisitional enforcer of Neoliberalism. The truly recalcitrant deviants face the wrath of the Pentagon. From 1991 on, global leaders of all shades, leftist, liberal, social democratic, conservative, theocratic and dictatorial have come under the spell of Neoliberalism. Only Cuba remains outside its ambit. But possibly not for too long. Veritably a new global religion, Neoliberalism, has been revealed. Economics offers a comprehensive doctrine with a moral code promising adherents salvation in this world; an ideology so compelling that the faithful remake whole societies to conform to its demands. It has its gnostics, mystics and magicians who conjure money out of thin air, using spells such as ‘derivative’ or ‘structured investment vehicle’. And, like the old religions it has displaced, it has its prophets, reformists, moralists and above all, its high priests who uphold orthodoxy in the face of heresy. (Rapley 2017). 10.3 A RELIGION? Economists say that Economics is a science. Wide usage of empirical data and sophisticated mathematical models give the impression that that is indeed the case. Intricate models constitute the heart and soul of modern economics. Suffused with sophisticated formulas, most papers in Economics journals can be deciphered only by those initiated into the creed. But modern economics, especially its neoliberal wing, is not a science. Its models lack a critical scientific property: testability. The summary measures it deploys have basic flaws, much of the data are of questionable accuracy, the models have poor explanatory power, and its prescriptions often spell economic hardships for the majority of national populations. And it has an ingrained elitist bias. There is a general lack of recognition that Third World nations that strictly adhered to the neoliberal recipes from the IMF and the World Bank generally landed in the sordid pit of mass poverty. Those that prospered did so because they did not implement their major prescriptions. As was demonstrated by the Asian Financial Crises of 1997 and the global economic meltdown of 2008, capitalism remains an unstable system prone to major catastrophes. Even as major signs of an impending crisis accumulated, mainstream economists remained theocratically wedded to their models. Later, it was called ‘irrational exuberance’. When the blow fell, veritable chaos ensued that was contained only through trillions of dollars in bailouts for banks and major firms by the central banks. Subsequently, it was grudgingly conceded that the mathematical models of economic analysis did not allow for singularities in which the usual course of action would produce the opposite consequences. Mainstream economics gurus said that the bearded apostate (Karl Marx) perhaps had a point. But it was a temporary concession, soon forgotten, as stock prices rebounded. The return to normality had entailed massive transfers from public coffers into corporate accounts and enriched the erstwhile speculators. But those realities were pushed under the rug by the media, politicians and neoliberal thinkers. Religion forbids doubt. Facts and reason are irrelevant. Only faith matters. Correspondingly, Neoliberalism, more so the fundamentalist denomination, forbids doubt in the power of the Market, and demands faithful adherence to its commandments no matter the consequences. Eminent economists from the Harvard University conveyed that message to Russia in the 1990s. The result was bread shortages, dismantled academies and scientific institutions and a major reduction in life expectancy. Since Vladimir Putin has abandoned the draconian neoliberal prescriptions, he is Enemy No 1. Disasters ensued as urban water systems across Africa were privatized. Major state bailouts were needed to resolve the crisis. Yet, the problem was ascribed to bad actors; faith in privatization did not suffer. The core beliefs of Neoliberalism are sacrosanct. Just as any religious service includes a profession of faith, membership in the priesthood of economics entails certain core convictions about human nature. Among other things, most economists believe that we humans are self-interested, rational, essentially individualistic, and prefer more money to less. These articles of faith are taken as self-evident. (Rapley 2017). Extensive research showing that cooperation has always been central to human survival and prosperity is ignored or ridiculed by neoliberal pundits. A failure of its prescriptions, however resounding, only calls for more extreme neoliberal measures. Despite some degree of conservatism, dissension is the norm in science and established laws are also subject to reappraisal. But that is not so with Neoliberalism. It harbors virulent intolerance towards disbelief, in principle and practice. Professors, junior faculty and graduate students in economics must toe the neoliberal line. Else they risk effective excommunication. Research grants may dry up; journals may not accept articles for publication; promotion may take too long; and thesis advisors may be hard to find. With the exception of a few established intellectuals, dissidents and doubters of Neoliberalism have a hard time surviving in the modern pro-corporate world. In Chapter 3, we adopted the following definition of Religion. Religion is a system of beliefs and practices shared by a community that is based on acceptance of the existence of supernatural beings and supernatural realms and has stories, rules of conduct (ethical norms) and rituals that are taken to be of divine origin. Along that conceptual perspective, Neoliberalism qualifies as a doctrine of faith. But one feature distinguishes it from traditional religion. For example, a devout Hindu knows that he is Hindu and is proud of the fact. The fate of many more humans depends on Neoliberalism than is the case for any religion. Valuing individualism and competition over solidarity and cooperation, private initiative over state intervention, billions of adults have, in some fashion, been indoctrinated into this creed. Yet, only a few are acquainted with the term Neoliberalism and even fewer know what it means. Like a secret faith system, the neoliberal creed and its deity (the Market) rule by anonymity. How can people unite against what they are not aware of? They say this politician had bad policies but the system escapes blame. It has no name. People remain divided over ethnic, race, gender, religious and national lines. Electoral choice revolves around wedge, sectarian issues. Like a religion, Neoliberalism is dogmatic and serves the interests of the dominant class. Unlike most religions, it does not have room for ideas that uphold social justice and equality. While Christian Socialism and Islamic Socialism are established tendencies, Neoliberalism is profoundly inimical to socialist ideas. A caustic poem entitled ‘IMF: International Mitumba Foundation’ penned by the stellar Kenyan poet, author and activist Ngugi wa Thiongo exposes the duplicity of the prescriptions of the gurus of Neoliberalism. It is a protest to the downsizing of a Kenyan university. Mitumba is a Swahili word for second-hand throw away items dumped on African nations from the West; MaTumbo, meaning stomach, refers to potbellied politicos and academics of African nations; bakshish means reward and kubwa means large. IMF: International Mitumba Foundation First, they gave us their tongues. We said, it is okay, we can make them ours. Then they said we must destroy ours first. And we said it is okay because with theirs we become first. First to buy their aircrafts and war machines. First to buy their cars and clothes. First Buyers of the best they make from our Best. But when we said we could best them By making the best from our best Our own from our own They said no, you must buy from us Even though you made the best out of your best. Now they make us buy the best they have already used And when we said we could fight back and make our own They reminded us they know all the secrets of our weapons. Yes, they make us buy the best they have already used Second hand, they call it. In Swahili they are called Mitumba. Mitumba weapons. Mitumba cars. Mitumba clothes. And now IMF dictates mitumba universities To produce mitumba intellectuals. They demand we shut down all departments That say We have to stand on our ground, The best ground from which to reach the stars. But mitumba politicians kneel before IMF, International Mitumba Foundation, And cry out Yes sirs We the neo-colonial mimics milk the best bakshish. Mitumba culture creates MaTumbo kubwa For a few with Mitumba Minds. Ngugi wa Thiongo (Prashad 2021). 10.4 RELIGION AND NEOLIBERALISM In practice, if not in theory, religious leaders and institutions across the world today have adapted to the tenets of Neoliberalism. Its opponents within the religious circles are few. The character of the adaptation and opposition to Neoliberalism varies from religion to religion. Hinduism + In Hindu tradition, Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth, prosperity, youth and beauty. Submitting offerings to and reciting special sutras for this powerful deity who can grant one a good life is a central part of the Hindu tradition. Her flower bedecked photos and statues adorn temples and homes. Stories in the Hindu scriptures invoke Lakshmi and other deities and commend individual initiative and effort, accumulation of wealth and ethical business practice. praise making money, individual effort and empathic business management style. Hindus perform special rituals to obtain her blessings. Displeasing Lakshmi may anger her and plunge the family into poverty and suffering. Tales and teachings about Lakshmi are cited by Hindu thinkers that Hinduism is compatible with pursuance of financial gain, prosperity and capitalism. The union of Hinduism with capitalism was strengthened from the 1980s as the RSS, a Hindu supremacist movement, rose into prominence in the social and political arenas. Sri Gaja Lakshmi Firmly opposing the Nehru era welfare state policies, RRS and BJP, its political wing, attracted the newly increased ranks of rich farmers and the urban middle class. RRS and BJP strove to transform India into a Hindu nation through exploiting sensitive issues like cow slaughter and the Babri Masjid dispute that resonated with Hindus from all the social strata. And they complemented their fundamentalist goals with a pro-business economic program. During his tenure as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, the BJP leader Narendra Modi launched business-friendly policies aimed to make India a modern, powerful Hindu nation. India needed to abolish central planning and focus on technology, private initiative, foreign and local investment, and trade. India could embrace Neoliberalism without being Westernized if this program was implemented according to Hindu values and traditions. In 2015, Modi won the premiership with a huge majority. He was popular with the masses, Hindu priests and the CEOs of the major corporations. BJP rule is characterized by the state-temple-corporate (STC) complex in which religion is highly commercialized and the state and major corporations are intertwined in Hindu affairs. The RSS is now formidable nationwide force with an armed militia. Modi’s rule is increasingly authoritarian, filled with pro-Hindu, anti-Muslim rhetoric. Employing measures that exacerbate religious tensions and violence, he has undermined freedom of the press, academic freedom, public education, the secular Constitution, and democratic governance. Yet, his popularity extends beyond India into the diasporic Indian communities across the world. While a strong secular, student and Muslim opposition to BJP policies exists, there are too few voices within the Hindu priesthood that firmly oppose Hindutva flavored neoliberal programs and are of little political import. Hindutva-draped Neoliberalism in India has made little indent on extreme poverty and the caste system and has generated a vast economic divide. It has heightened communal and religious tension to a feverish pitch. By early 2022, rampages by Hindutva vigilantes directed against mosques, Muslim residence and shops were regular feature of life across the nation. Saffron clad militants armed with swords and pistols were provocatively redirecting Hindu religious processions through Muslim areas, shouting anti-Islamic slogans, vandalizing mosques and sparking off communal violence. Bigoted pronouncements by major politicians, a not-evenhanded police response and tepid words from Prime Minister Modi and his senior associates emboldened the extremists. As one witness said: A Hindu mob smashed beer bottles inside the mosque, put up saffron flags there and chanted Jai Shri Ram [Hail Lord Ram]. A caretaker of the mosque started resisting them, leading to a brawl. It was only after they started to desecrate the mosque that Muslims got angry and clashes started, and stones were thrown. Tabreez Khan (Ellis-Petersen and Hassan 2022). By keeping the common folk divided, Hindutva religiosity effectively cloaks neoliberal fundamentalism. The two belief systems complement each other. Buddhism + Compassion, interconnectedness, austere living, preserving animal life and respect for the environment are important tenets in the teachings of Gautama Buddha. Buddhism parted with the caste system and enhanced the status of women. For such reasons, Buddhism earned the respect of eminent scientists like Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, Stephen Hawking and personages like BR Ambedkar. The Dalai Lama, the global voice of Buddhism today, has rallied against national and international inequality, poverty and hunger, rampant consumerism, exploitation of poor nations by multinational firms, and environmental damage. Along with Noam Chomsky, he endorsed the World Localization Day, a program convened by veteran activist Helena Norberg-Hodge to dismantle pro-corporate globalization. And he has allied himself with human rights causes of varied kinds. The Dalai Lama criticized the Soviet economic system during a 2014 event organized by the American Enterprise Institute, a major neoliberal thinktank. He then followed it up by criticizing the American economic system for lacking compassion, stressing greed and creating vast inequalities. These characteristics of Buddhism and its major luminary appear to set it apart from Neoliberalism. The global reality, however, reveals another picture of the relationship between Buddhism and Neoliberalism. The Asian nations with a Buddhist majority and leaders professing loyalty to Buddhism—Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand—have adopted unblemished neoliberal policies. Dispensing with the Buddhist tenet of universal compassion, these leaders have launched draconian pogroms against minority populations, particularly the Muslims. Earlier we noted the astounding growth of the meditation and mindfulness movement in the Western nations. It is now a multi-billion dollar enterprise with centers in most cities of the West. Drawing from Hindu and Buddhist traditions, meditation and/or mindfulness is prescribed for control of stress, depression, hypertension and promoting a balanced, healthy lifestyle. It is also utilized by corporations to reduce stress and anxiety generated by the neoliberal work environment and enhance productivity. State institutions use meditation and mindfulness to ameliorate the problems created by austerity measures. In sum, meditation and mindfulness has become a balm to relieve the painful symptoms caused by Neoliberalism and divert attention from their root causes. The focus is on salvation at the individual level; cooperative struggles for systemic transformation are eschewed. It is a two-sided tool. Stripped of its ethical and contextual roots, mindfulness-based practices borrowed from Buddhist and Zen lineages risk shoring up the very sources of suffering from which the Buddha set out to liberate himself and others. But practiced correctly, mindfulness – aligned with and informed by acknowledgement of powerful institutional sources of suffering – can be a pathway to critical engagement and resistance. (Doran 2018). On several occasions, the Dalai Lama has expressed ambivalent, if not distasteful, views towards the role of women in Buddhism, refugees arriving in the Western nations and life-conditions in Buddhist nations. Inconsistent stand on neoliberalism is not uncommon among Buddhist luminaries. In practice Buddhism and Neoliberalism can operate in harmony. The brutal generals of Myanmar, the self-proclaimed true defenders of Buddhism, are devotees of neoliberal economics as well. Christianity + The verses and parables in the Bible relating to money, poverty and wealth lack consistency. Some verses castigate money changers and the wealthy, deprecate hoarding, and sympathize with the poor, but some promote wise investment and acquisition of wealth. For example, the passage [It] is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Bible, Matthew 19:24. is taken to mean that wealth is a barrier to eternal salvation. The Parable of the Sheep conveys that those who are kind to others, especially without expectation of anything in return, are blessed while the selfish who pass up the chance to assist the needy are unlikely to ascend to Heaven. A passage imploring generosity reads: Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. Bible, Matthew 5:42. But the Parable of Talents (Bible, Matthew 5:16-30) has a pragmatic take on wealth generation. A wealthy person embarking on a journey entrusts his wealth to three employees. The two with the larger portion invest it, make profit and give the master double the entrusted amount upon his return. But the one with the lowest amount puts it in a safe place and returns the exactly entrusted amount. The master rewards the former for their initiative and castigates the latter for his laziness and dismisses him. Jesus thus declares: For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. Bible, Matthew 25:29. Some theologians and scholars point to parables reflecting a critical attitude towards money making to claim that Christianity does not endorse capitalist and neoliberal values and practices. But others single out the parables that elevate profit making as a positive activity to argue that Christian ethics are in harmony with capitalist and neoliberal ethics. In terms of their proclamations, the former represent the majority. While conservative evangelical churches liken investment and profit to a religious duty, the main Catholic and Protestant denominations stand against greed and profiteering. Justin Welby, the senior prelate of the Church of England has criticized Neoliberalism. As the corona virus was spreading across the planet, he opined: The next wave coming is the economic one … We have a choice there as a nation and as a society and as a world. Do we take hold of our destiny and make sure the differences are mitigated, abolished where possible — or do we just let things happen, do we let the market rule, in which case there will be enormous suffering. Archbishop Justin Welby (Murphy 2020). To the displeasure of Western leaders, Pope Francis, the head of the global Catholic Church, has trenchantly criticized Neoliberalism. Human rights are not only violated by terrorism, repression or assassination, but also by unfair economic structures that create huge inequalities. Pope Francis (Santiago 2015). The pro-neoliberal stand is firmly endorsed, in theory and personal practice, by senior televangelists in the United States. Commanding huge in-person and TV audiences in the US and beyond, these multimillionaire heads of megachurches preach the Prosperity Gospel. Its principal message is that poverty and ill-health are inimical to Christianity. Pray, and God will reward you with riches, good health and happiness. With their extravagant lifestyles including flying in personal jet planes, they give truth to their words. Some conduct faith healing sessions; some have authored blockbuster inspirational books. Some have advised US presidents and global political leaders. Though several Bible-thumping preachers have been caught up in financial and sexual scandals and despite disapproval from other Christian sects, their appeal among the laity remains strong. With the recent spread of evangelical Christianity in Latin America and Africa, the pro-neoliberal Prosperity Gospel has gained a foothold on a global level. The political and economic reality in the Christian dominions across the world displays a uniform characteristic. Whether it is a Protestant or Catholic majority nation, and whatever the religious inclinations of its leader and the ruling party, Moderate or fundamentalist Neoliberalism rules the land. Despite the misgivings of Christian luminaries towards Neoliberalism, a consistent, a vocal Christian movement against this pernicious political-economic doctrine does not exist. Liberation theology and Christian Socialism have but a miniscule footprint today. The prelates of Neoliberalism at the citadels of IMF and the World Bank in Washington, DC, have the power to override any economic policy edict issued by the clerics of traditional religions. Islam + Prophet Muhammad grew up in Mecca, the main center for transshipment of goods in the Middle Eastern region. After his marriage to Khadija, he became a wealthy trader who was respected for his fair dealings and honesty. Upon assuming the mantle of prophethood, the primary message of his sermons was that worldly wealth is a mirage; spiritual wealth attained through devotion to Allah is true wealth. As recorded in the Quran and the Hadiths, he enjoined Muslims to avoid idleness, excessive material indulgence and intoxicants, and practice charity without seeking fame or publicity. They should be kind to orphans, the poor, travelers, and captives of conflicts. Proscribing loan interest and gambling, he told traders to shun hoarding, price gouging, defective goods, false weights and measures, speculation and deceitful contracts, and told employers to treat their workers justly and pay them fair wages in a timely way. Business should be mutually beneficial and consensual. Timely repayment of loans was important. The truthful and trustworthy businessman will be in the company of Prophets, saints and martyrs on the Day of Judgment. Jami-al-Tirmizi, Vol 3, Chapter on Business, Hadith Number 1209. (IEP 2022). The Islamic empires in the Middle East, North Africa, Spain and India were prosperous centers of trade, production of fine goods, and development of science and technology. That commercial activities occurred under a defined legal system designed to ensure fair, just and transparent transactions was a key reason underlying their prosperity. In terms of principles and practice, Islam is compatible with mercantile capitalism. But the Muslim empires of the past did not transition into mature capitalist formations based on wage labor. After the middle of the 19th century, virtually all Muslim nations came under direct or indirect Western imperial control. Their economies were structured into dependencies of Western economies. Islam often became a religion of resistance to foreign rule and anti-capitalist Islamic parties appeared on the scene. Fast forward to the present. Like the rest of the world, all Muslim nations function under neoliberal economic policies. Be they theocratic nations like Saudi Arabia and Iran, de facto dictatorships like Kazakhstan and Egypt, or pseudo-democracies like Indonesia, Tunisia and Bangladesh, the economic rules of the game are those favored by the IMF and the World Bank. Some retain broad welfare policies, but privatization, liberalization, globalization and suppression of worker movements drive the policy. Some analysts have claimed that the presence of crony capitalism, wide scale corruption, bloated administration and favoritism in granting business licenses in many Muslim nations shows that free market capitalism and Islam are not compatible. That is a spurious argument. The anomalies are normal features of dependent capitalist nations, be they Muslim or non-Muslim. Muslim leaders say that measures like Islamic banking, obligatory zakat payment by corporations, credit cards that disallow buying alcohol, income support for citizens, broad charity drives, free health care and education ensure that even as the nation follows free market policies, the government primarily serves the community (ummah). But facts demonstrate otherwise. Despite the Quranic injunction against excessive accumulation of wealth, their nations sport billionaires and multi-millionaires whose collective wealth vastly exceeds that of the majority. Their opulent lifestyle mirrors that of the wealthy elsewhere. Despite the aura of Islam in public life, the youth and the middle classes in Muslim nations are fixated by Western culture and propensities. For a large segment of the population in neoliberal Nigeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sudan and other Muslim countries, abject poverty and suffering are the norm. At times, the councils of Islamic scholars (ulama) inveigh against aspects of neoliberal economic practices like stock trading and declare them haram. But these are minor contradictions in the context of an overall compliance with the neoliberal order. Corporations in Muslim nations function in much the same way as corporations in non-Muslim nations. They maximize returns to their stockholders, not the ummah. Today, Islamic banks follow the same practices that non-Islamic banks do (including the use of derivatives) but describe them differently, so that they conform with Sharia. (Sorman 2011). Influential, decades old Islamic movements have openly fallen in line with Neoliberalism. As an economist with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood said: Our economic program is a free-market society in order to pursue social justice. Sameh al-Barqui. (Sorman 2011). Islamic scriptures and traditions do not formulate economic policy in Muslim nations. Neoliberalism overrides any economic policy edict issued by Muslim clerics. 10.5 REFLECTIONS Neoliberalism exercises greater influence over humanity than any religion. Its tenets of individualism, privatization and reliance on the Market dominate individual thought and public policy, in rich and poor nations. Yet, even the guardians of the neoliberal doctrine concede that it exacerbates inequality and, if unchecked, may generate to another major global economic crises. Discerning analysts indicate Neoliberalism fertilizes daunting problems like hunger, extreme poverty, refugee crisis, authoritarianism and extremism, global climate change and loss of biodiversity. Yet, its dominance in national and international policy platforms remains. When rough seas are abreast, only a temporary veer towards Moderate Neoliberalism is contemplated. Neoliberalism has been a stumbling block in dealing with the corona virus pandemic that began in late 2019. Governments across the world have shown themselves incapable of controlling corporate power in health and related sectors, and instituting tax and revenue policies that would shift wealth and income to the bottom segments of the population. They have issued massive economic relief and stimulus packages for citizens, but the corporate sector has been the most significant beneficiary. As a result, corporate monopolies cemented their dominance, their profits skyrocketed, billionaires reaped immense rewards, the poor became poorer and inequality reached an unprecedented level. This point is elaborated in the forthcoming sequel to this volume, Religion, Science and the Pandemic. Neoliberalism is a dogmatic faith-based, not an evidence-based, doctrine. It serves the interests of the 1%, not humanity. It is an eminently syncretic doctrine in that billions of people who follow other faith systems ascribe to the tenets of Neoliberalism as well. Most of the atheists and irreligious today abide by neoliberal tenets. At best, they seek to reform, not eliminate, it. The only consequential challenge to this doctrine comes from a democratic but uninhibited socialist perspective. Control of the state has to be wrested away from the corporate sector and the super-rich to the broad majority. Only that can ensure that policies that will effectively tackle the major, daunting global problems are instituted. The fundamental ethical-moral challenge to the followers of all religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Shintoism, Confucianism, Judaism and traditional religions—and the secular community is whether they will recognize the existential threat to humanity and the planet posed by this pernicious doctrine and join in the struggle to banish it, or will they continue with business as usual? Our civilization – so competitive, so individualistic, with its frenetic rhythms of production and consumption, its extravagant luxuries, its disproportionate profits for just a few – needs to downshift, take stock, and renew itself. Pope Francis (Murphy 2020). CHAPTER 11: RUMINATIONS ↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔ Religion is an embodied phenomenon because the human religious way of being has evolved for millions of years as the bodies of our ancestors interacted with the other bodies around them. Brandon Ambrosino I conceive of God, in fact, as a means of liberation and not a means to control others. James Baldwin Community is more important than faith. Belonging is more important than belief. Gathering is more important than God. Phil Zuckerman Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. Lucius A Seneca PEOPLE POSSESS an explicit or implicit worldview, a framework of ideas, which they take as self-evident and which helps them make sense of the world and give meaning to their lives. For five out six of the over 7.5 billion humans, religion is a key element of their worldview. One out of six, some 1.2 billion, have however cast aside notions and practices deriving from conventional religions. Belief in divine beings (God, Allah, Brahman, bodhisattva, Dalai Lama, Prophet, Imam, Angels, Nyame) and supernatural realms (heaven, hell, purgatory, Naraka) is the primary basis of religion. It projects that life does not end after physical death. A soul, spirit, element of a universal soul, lives on. Some religions say it is reborn. There are monotheistic religions with a single supreme deity, and there are polytheistic religions with a blend of gods and goddesses. Some religions incorporate an interventionist God, while a few see Him as a creator who remains aloof from His creation. Pantheists see nature as a spiritual phenomenon. Secularists, who doubt the existence of divine entities, span the gamut from atheists, agnostics, skeptics, rationalists, humanists to nothing-in-particular. The spiritual-but-not-religious are spiritually inclined but do not formally associate with a traditional religion. Many of them connect to a dazzling array of creeds that are labeled New Age Beliefs, Alternative Beliefs or traditional faiths. Syncretism, or belief in more than one religion or spiritual creed, is common across the world. Humans are social animals. Faith systems are shared beliefs and rituals. They unite people, infusing a sense belonging, security, meaning and giving emotional solace. But they also desensitize people to the suffering of others and induce them to accept injustice and inequality or participate in unethical conduct. Religions are dynamic entities. They reflect and reinforce social structure. As society evolves, so does religion. Scriptures acquire modified meanings and new rituals are observed. Some religions decline or die off. New religions or denominations are born. Founded by Zoroaster about 3,500 years ago in Persia, Zoroastrianism was the first major monotheistic religion in the world. After a millennium, with a large priesthood, majestic temples and an elaborate theology, it was the official religion of the Persian Empire with millions of followers. A thousand years on it was supplanted by Islam. With less than 200,000 devotees today, mostly in India, Iran and the West, it is headed towards extinction. This chapter summarizes the history and features of religion and outlines its positive and deleterious features. It also gives responses to the seven key questions posed in Chapter 1 and gives a prescription for promoting interfaith tolerance and enhancing the positive features of religion. 11.1 HISTORY The religious generally say that their religion came into being through divine revelation, or a special form of enlightenment. Scientific investigations into the past point to biological, environmental, social, economic and cultural factors that over half a million years engendered the evolution of beliefs that later congealed into rudimentary religions. Some scholars argue that moral norms essential to group unity and survival preceded belief in divine beings. Moral norms—respecting the space of other members, refraining from inner group conflict and sharing food—are present in basic forms in many animals. Paleolithic communities had a primal religion that blended polytheism with pantheism. People in that era lived by hunting, gathering and fishing for the most part. Social stratification, division of labor and trade were rudimentary. A shared vision of existence created a basis for group identity and fostered within group unity and empathy. It embodied a code of morality that served as a mechanism to control behavior. People ascribed divine powers to natural objects and worshipped them. These powers provided hope in hazard-filled, unpredictable circumstances. Tribal shamans guided worship, provided spiritual comfort and healing herbs and linked people to the ancestors. Myths about the origin and fate of the universe and humanity that gave meaning to life and events abounded. A diversity of rituals including trance inducing dances marked special events. Primal religions were an inextricable segment of the cultural and knowledge base, and as such, guided the survival of the group. Occurring in thousands of distinct forms, only a few survive to this day. Reflecting the absence of exploitative social hierarchies, primal religions were egalitarian doctrines that fostered respect for nature as well as unity, empathy and reconciliation within the group. Primal religion was the glue that bonded a classless society, provided psychological sustenance and fulfilled the intellectual curiosity of the people. As humans settled in sedentary communities, lived off agriculture, animal husbandry, manufacturing and trade, human society became more stratified. An accepted medium of exchange, harnessing of animals and use of carts with improved wheels extended trade. Discoveries of the properties of natural objects and events, and accurate time keeping improved production. Language and mathematical knowledge attained higher vistas. Instead of immediately being consumed, grains, staples, smoked meats, and other food items were stored. The spectrum of healing herbs expanded as well. Towns and cities emerged. In the process, a few persons came to own large acreages of land, large animal herds, trading entities, buildings, gold and other items. The masses worked for them as slaves or dependents or undertook their own small scale economic activities. A stratum with special skills straddled the middle ground. Inequality reached its zenith as kings and emperors took the helm. In the light of the material inequalities, maintaining stability became more critical in the permanent settlements. And that unity had to derive from an internalized outlook. Thus, from the shamanistic creeds of the Paleolithic era, religion evolved to a formalized and elaborate system of beliefs and rituals overseen by a bevy of priests under the tutelage of the king and the upper social echelons. Religion evolved as an institutionalized, systematized creed with an elaborate theology, impressive rituals and rules, large temples and a dedicated priesthood Gradually shedding the egalitarian features of primal religion, now it paid homage to the king in heaven and to the king on earth. The latter represented the former or was blessed by him. Religion gave solace, spiritual comfort and meaning to the individual but rationalized and sanctified the existent social inequalities as well. Religious rituals bonded the adherents, but for purposes good as well as bad. Rituals help us to live out our values and make us less anxious. Ritualistic practices can help to bring a degree of predictability to an uncertain future. Ritualistic behavior can improve social bonding when we practice it collectively. Rituals can stimulate inter-group bias. And cause harm. (Ambrosino 2019a). Stratified societies were major engines of economic, cultural and political development. Accumulation, competition and war by the powerful catalyzed innovation. Elaborate laws promoted social stability. August religious creeds sported ethical norms that improved interactions in different domains of life, and substantively contributed to the knowledge base of society. Yet, in the long run, as the elite strata receded into excessive indulgence and neglected production and welfare of their subjects, the societies ossified. Progress was stalled as elite factions fought for power, and the dejected masses rose up in revolt after revolt. The elites as well as the commoners invoked religious sentiments, in their own fashion, to justify their cause. Weakened by internal strife, some societies degenerated into chaos while others succumbed to invading forces. In some cases, more dynamic social formations emerged. It was an uneven process. Religion in class societies provided hope to the common folk but, implicitly if not directly, also served injustice and tyranny. [All] religions, faiths, theological philosophies, and religious creeds and all other such institutions in the long run become supporters of the tyrannical and exploiting institutions, men and classes. Bhagat Singh Elite profligacy in kingdoms and empires tainted the priestly stratum. The religious orders amassed land and wealth, engaged in usury and political intrigue, conducted majestic rituals to honor the king and became alienated from the bulk of the devotees. Becoming targets of popular uprisings, their holy evocations fell from grace. And new belief systems under differently stratified societies emerged. We take it for granted that religions are born, grow and die – but we are also oddly blind to that reality. When someone tries to start a new religion, it is often dismissed as a cult. When we recognize a faith, we treat its teachings and traditions as timeless and sacrosanct. And when a religion dies, it becomes a myth, and its claim to sacred truth expires. Tales of the Egyptian, Greek and Norse pantheons are now considered legends, not holy writ. (Paul-Choudhury 2019). The Neolithic era social stratification had not only brought forth a vast gap between the few at the top and the multitude, but also induced mass poverty, more deadly warfare and poor environmental stewardship. Despite the major progress in science and technology and increased average life span since then, these problems remain as the fundamental problems facing humanity today. Religions have factored in both the causation and control of these problems. Modern day religions embody the progressive, sparkling features and the retrogressive, blemished features of the ancestral faith systems. Here we supplement the examples of the dual character of religion given earlier with two more examples. +++ Myanmar: Some 90% of the 54 million people in Myanmar are Buddhist. The landscape is dotted with imposing, exquisite monasteries and pagodas. An estimated 500,000 monks and 75,000 nuns preside over religious rites and ceremonies. Subjected to exacting training from a young age, the priests are a respected, popular, disciplined social group. Support from the sangha is essential for political legitimacy: all the governments vie for their blessings. Monks and nuns in large numbers were involved in anti-colonial struggles. Their activism endured after Independence. Tens of thousands of monks and nuns have been in the frontlines of opposing military rule. Instrumental in the partial restoration of democratic rule under Aung Suu Kyi, they refilled the streets after the military assumed total control in February 2021 and arrested her. Yet, before and under Suu Kyi and to this day, a significant segment of the monks and nuns actively took part in the military backed pogroms against Rohingya Muslims and ethnic minorities subscribing to traditional religions. By law, monks cannot form or join political parties, or give sermons that pertain to politics. The monasteries fall under state jurisdiction and receive governmental support. Yet, their political influence remains immense. The number of monks and nuns slightly exceeds the size of the military. The generals in power now have a two-pronged strategy to deal with the religious (and civilian) opposition to their rule. Liberally using brute force, they violently attack and gun down street marchers, including monks and nuns, vandalize and loot monasteries, withhold their funds and launch intimidation campaigns. Yet, by visiting temples, praying and giving alms, the generals try to appease the sangha by casting themselves as defenders of Buddhist and Burmese culture. Some senior monks have received lavish gifts from the military regime. The military often tries to tap into the religious sentiments of the Burmese for their purposes. The generals often appear on television overseeing the construction of temples and capping stupas with jeweled umbrellas. (FAD 2022). Though a large number of monks and nuns continue to oppose them, the generals have won support from leading nationalist monks, and to a degree, have driven the majority into silence. As hundreds of monks languish under lock and key, the military leader, General Aung Hlaing, has unveiled plans to construct ‘the biggest sculpture of a sitting Buddha in the world’. (Mendelson 2022). Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng But many monks and nuns are unimpressed. In tandem with the Buddhist priests risking their lives is Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng, a Catholic nun. Witnessing an anti-military demonstration in March 2021, and envisioning a of hail of bullets, she interjected herself into the standoff, bravely kneeling down and urging the soldiers not to shoot the protestors. ‘Shoot me instead,’ she said. The stalemate was diffused. Conservative pro-military monks like Bhamo Sayadaw and Sitagu Sayadaw combined with the religiosity of General Aung Hlaing are the pugnacious face of religion; Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng and her Buddhist counterparts denote its admirable, noble face. Rwanda: Rwanda is a Christian majority nation with 44% of the population Roman Catholic, 38%, Protestant, and 12% Seventh Day Adventist. The remaining 6% are Muslim, Jehovah’s Witness, non-religious or other. At 85% of the population, the Hutus form the largest ethnic group. The rest are Tutsi, at 14%, and Twa at 1%. Its population in 1994 was below 8 million. This small nation has a long history of ethnic conflict. From April to July 1994, it was engulfed by a horrific genocide in which more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in a planned campaign by the Hutu Interahamwe militia, governmental forces and civilian allies. We focus on how Rwandese churches and clergy related to the genocide. Media reports of the time and subsequent investigations by international war crimes tribunals revealed beyond doubt that the Christian church was heavily implicated in the genocide. While a few Hutu clergy opposed state sanctioned discrimination of the Tutsi, and a small number acted with great courage to protect them, many Hutu priests and nuns, mostly Catholic but also Protestant, willingly cooperated with the genocidal forces. Archbishop Vincent Nsengiyumva, the top Catholic prelate in the nation, was a senior figure in the ruling party and was close to the hate-espousing regime. Not only did he deny that there was a genocide in progress but also stood by as Tutsi clergy were captured and killed by the Interahamwe. Other bishops went further. Preaching the gospel of hate from the pulpit, they encouraged Hutu civilians to participate in the killings and played a frontline role in it. When about 2,000 Tutsis took refuge inside a church, its pastor, Father Athanase Seromba gave the key to the Interahamwe with the approval for the church to be bulldozed so as to kill those inside. Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, the senior priest at the Holy Family Cathedral in Kigali, actively aided the Interahamwe in the rape and killings of hundreds of Tutsi refugees and civilians. The Ntarama Catholic church was a killing site for some 5,000 people. Around 200 Tutsi priests and nuns were also killed. [The] Church in the Rwandan genocide was key in the escalation of violence. … Its culpability does not rest on the actions of a few within the clergy. Rather, the Church is to blame as an institutional entity. (Deliperi 2020). Sister Felicite Niyitegeka While the extremist senior and junior Hutu priests joined the murderous rampage, most Catholic and Protestant clergy apparently approvingly kept quiet. Only a few spoke out or actively protected the victims. One hero was Sister Felicite Niyitegeka. Though a Hutu, she gave shelter to Tutsis in her church and home and helped them flee to neighboring Zaire. But the Interahamwe caught up with her and killed her and the 30 Tutsi then present at her place. Archbishop Vincent Nsengiyumva was killed in June 1994 by the Rwanda Patriotic Front forces. Some major pro-genocidal priests were later brought to trial and convicted in local and international courts, but some prominent extremist priests escaped to Europe. Aided by priests in Italy, France and the UK, they secured jobs, protection and at times, a new identity. The Vatican played a vital role in this cover-up effort. After the genocide, a Catholic network helped priests and nuns who had been complicit in the violence to reach Europe and evade justice. (Sherwood 2017). After the violence ended, the Vatican spirited guilty members of the clergy out of the country, and over time, quietly worked them into parishes across Europe. (McGreal 2014b). After years of silence and denial, the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Rwanda admitted in 2016 that ‘church members planned, aided and carried out the genocide’ and issued a formal apology (AP 2016b). The Vatican did not give the matter serious consideration until Pope Francis admitted to the visiting Rwandan President Paul Kagame in 2017 that Catholic priests and nuns had participated in the genocide and asked for forgiveness. But his admission fell short of full accountability. The Church of England has also faced accusations of harboring priests alleged to have been party to mass murder and official cover up of the genocide. While Archbishop Vincent Nsengiyumva and his compatriots must languish in religion’s Hall of Shame, Sister Felicite Niyitegeka is among its gems. She was posthumously bestowed with the Imena Award, the highest national honor in Rwanda. There are very good Christians who are compassionate and caring. And there are very bad Christians. You can say that about Islam, about Hinduism, about any faith. That is why I was saying that it was not the faith per se but the adherent. People will use their religion to justify virtually anything. Archbishop Desmond Tutu. 11.2 HIGH POINTS On average, 82 of 100 people in the world today follow one of the four major religions (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism), 16 are irreligious or secular, and 8 follow smaller religions or faith systems. This book has delved into the beliefs, scriptures, rituals, rites, organization, priesthood, history and social function of the four major religions, five smaller religions (Ahmadiyya, Confucianism, Sikhism, Seventh Day Adventism, Traditional African Religion) and Secularism. It observed that religious systems had contributed positively to human culture, ethical advancement, and social harmony but had also instituted beliefs and practices that rationalized and backed social injustice, greed, and conquest. A synopsis of the constructive features of the four major religions follows. Language and literature + The venerated texts of the four major religions (the Vedas, the Pali Canon, Bible and Quran) and the associated compendium of the scriptural texts are, by any standard, literary masterpieces of gargantuan scope. Written when books were a rarity, material for writing was scarce and vocabulary was limited, they represent milestones in linguistic development. The Vedas and other Hindu canons enhanced Sanskrit and Hindi. The Pali Canon and other Buddhist texts enriched diverse Asian languages. The Bible boosted Latin, and its translations enriched European languages including English, German and Spanish. And the Quran substantially advanced Arabic style and lexicon. Brahmin gurus, Buddhist monks, Christian clergy and theologians and Muslim and Sufi theologians were among the small stratum of literate people in their days. Scribes copied the volumes of religious and secular works on varied issues they wrote. The copies were distributed widely. The ensuing demand for paper, ink, pen and stylus stimulated production and improved the technology used for writing and production of books. While requirements of civil administration and commerce influenced the process, religion was a critical stimulus as well. Ethics + Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam emerged in settings with diffuse, unfair and unevenly applied moral and ethical codes. The powerful, the rich, the special groups were favored over the commoners and the marginalized. The status and treatment of slaves, servants, women, captives and outsiders were subject to the whims of the master or the governor. The emergent religions conveyed the basic message that every person held the same spiritual status. Everyone deserved fair and equal treatment. Promoting good will towards all, empathy, compassion and charity, they taught that attending to people in distress was an act of faith and was as important as prayer. Important ethical edicts were codified: Laws of Manu, Eightfold Noble Path, Ten Commandments, and Five Pillars of Islam. These edicts shared basic values. Each of the four religions, most minor religions and humanistic codes incorporate the Golden Rule. Stated in three forms, it reads: Golden Rule Treat others as you would like others to treat you. Do not treat others in ways that you would not like to be treated. What you wish upon others, you wish upon yourself. Wikipedia (2022 – Golden Rule). The Golden Rule identifies the individual with humanity (Lord’s creation) and comes out as the central ethical percept in the four major religions. It covers and supersedes other important ethical percepts. To give an example: The commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,’ 'You shall not murder,’ 'You shall not steal,’ 'You shall not covet,’ and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself’. St Paul (Bible, Romans 13:8-9). The scriptures of the four major religions are rife with inconsistencies and fail to live up to modern ethical standards. Their historical practice fell far short of the theory. On the status of women, treatment of homosexuals and non-believers, and economic justice, they lag behind the times. Yet, their ethical codes represented a decisive step forward in the development of more enlightened codes of ethics and human rights. They are among the historical antecedents of what today is adjudged as right and wrong. Social ties formed through religious affiliation, furthermore, promote adherence to ethical codes. Governance and economy + The kingdoms and empires which emerged upon the heels of the four major religions brought peace, stability and economic progress. They fomented laws and rules that reflected the religious ethical codes, and gave rise to organized administration of justice, clear rules for economic transactions, specific systems of taxation and formal charity institutions. Under a unifying religious ideology, these empires sparked innovations in technology, crafts, agriculture, transport and trade. A general era of prosperity ensued. Among the examples are the Mauryan Empire and Gupta Empire in the Indian subcontinent (Hinduism), the Ashoka Empire in the Indian region (Buddhism), the Byzantine Empire across Europe (Christianity) and the Abbasid Caliphate across the Middle East and North Africa, and the Islamic Caliphate in Spain (Islam). Culture + Each of the four major religions played an instrumental role in enhancing the social culture. In addition to literary works, they stimulated and supported works of art, music, sculpture and design of objects and structures, both for religious and general purposes. Their enormous repository of sacred hymns and chants, singing and recitations with or without musical accompaniment are a splendor to behold. Moreover, they stimulated music, song, theatre and musical instrument development in general. The thousands of temples, pagodas, churches, mosques, shrines and religious constructions attest to a fabulous creative output. Religious art stimulated art in general. Construction of religious structures improved building methods which went on to improve construction of streets, villas, homes, factories, schools and hospitals. Scholarship and science + Hindu and Buddhist emperors, Christian kings and Muslim Caliphs promoted learning and innovation. They set up schools, libraries, universities, research institutions and hired religious and secular scholars and experts. Universities in the world have religious roots; many are still run by religious organizations. Yet, the philosophic roots of science and religion are fundamentally antithetical. Religion is a culture of faith; Science is a culture of doubt. Richard P Feynman Nonetheless, it is inaccurate to claim that religion has been against science throughout history. At the applied level, religion has often marched along with science. The centers of learning in religious empires pursued secular and scientific subjects under the rationale that God implored humans to grasp the wonderous nature of His creation. Laws of science were laws set in motion by God. Scientific discoveries were blessings from God. Leading scientists were firm devotees; some were theologians of repute. Disputations among the religiously inclined scholars and scientists were common and did not generally elicit clamp downs from the authorities. Tolerance + Interfaith tolerance was observed in varying degrees in several kingdoms where one religion was the dominant or official faith. Though its adherents received preferential treatment, members of other religions had a leeway to practice their faith and were represented in the higher political and economic echelons. Examples include the Ashoka Empire (Buddhism), the Abbasid Caliphate and the Mughal Rule under Akbar (Islam). Some theologians proclaimed the fundamental equality of religions. As a Catholic theologian of the liberation theology tradition and an icon of Hinduism both opined: In the Father's house we shall meet Buddhists and Jews, Muslims and Protestants... Halder Camara I am a Christian and a Hindu and a Moslem and a Jew....Looking at all religions with an equal eye, we would not only not hesitate but would think it our duty to blend into our faith every acceptable feature of other faiths. MK Gandhi (Nazareth 2022). Adoption of neoliberal economic norms and associated cultural practices by religiously varied national populations favor intercultural and by extension, interfaith tolerance. Thus, religious holidays—Christmas, Eid and Diwali—are enjoyed, albeit in commercialized guises, across faith and national boundaries. For example, visiting the imposing Christmas Tree at the Rockefeller Center in December is an annual ritual for New Yorkers of all backgrounds. Families go to admire the sights, the lights, the Snowman and have fun. With a Christian stamp in formal terms, it exemplifies secularization and unification of religions. As a scholar ponders: Have we all – Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, shamans, etc. – become Christianized or has the Christmas tree itself assumed a whole different set of meanings? (Dabashi 2021). Taking the cue from a resolution passed by the UN General Assembly, King Abdullah II and Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan initiated the World Interfaith Harmony Week. In operation since 2010, it is observed during the first week of February of each year. Based on two tenets—Love of God and Love of the Neighbor or Love of the Good and Love of the Neighbor—the principal aim is to ‘create mutual tolerance among the followers of different religious denominations’ and ‘to build a society of respect and tolerance without resorting to protests, harm, and loss to others’. (WHIW 2022). The two formulation these tenets assures inclusivity of all kinds of faiths, spiritual traditions, and secular and irreligious persons and groups as well. This UN recognized project receives funds from governments, religious bodies, philanthropic organizations and individual donors. Each year, the HM King Abdullah II of Jordan Prize is awarded to individuals or organizations for their exemplary efforts to promote interfaith harmony. The recipients of the 2021 prize were: Wellington Interfaith Council, New Zealand; The Religion and Politics Forum, Japan; and Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, India. Over 1,000 events fostering interfaith dialogue are held across the world under the auspices of WIHW every year. Attempts to broaden the purview of WIHW beyond faith issues to social justice and global environment have been made but have yet to gain official recognition. It is noteworthy that King Abdulla, the main patron of WIHW, has been a strong ally of the United States whose imperial policies have been responsible for fertilizing the seeds of religious conflict throughout the world. Have WIHW related activities affected grassroots level attitudes on interfaith tolerance or are they mainly elite level events of the neoliberal NGO variety? That question remains. Comfort and support + Religious rituals, especially prayer, are a primary fountain of emotional support for billions. The faithful prays to enter a realm beyond the ordinary, to connect to a higher power, to express love for the master of the universe, for forgiveness, blessings and protection from worldly and spiritual harm. The hustle, bustle and anxieties of life evaporate. Prayer sooths the mind. Making doubts vanish, it anchors life. It provides relief. The divine being is there for you. Undoubtedly, prayer is integral to religion. Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening. MK Gandhi For many, prayers are as much a part of life as meals, rest and sleep. Hindus pray to Brahman, Krishna, Lakshmi and other deities; Buddhists pray to Buddha, a bodhisattva or to connect to cosmic consciousness; Christians pray to God; Muslims pray to Allah; Sikhs pray to a God beyond description; and Jews pray to Yahweh (Adonai). They pray at different times, in varied styles, in special or usual attire. They pray individually and with other faithful, at home, prayer house, or public venues. They sit, stand, kneel or make other movements as they pray. An enchanting variation of praying styles between and within religions exists. Christian Prayer Symbols Hindu Prayer Symbol Muslim Prayer Symbol Prayers generally involve moving hands. Clasping, raising or waving one or both hands in different ways occurs as the devotee recites the holy words and chants, or sings. Hands are common prayer symbols. Prayer connects and bonds people. Praying is caring. You pray for your child, spouse, parent, relative, and the departed ones. You pray for the nation and humanity. You pray for a stable, prosperous life. Faith and prayer sustain people in times of grief and calamity. When a loved one dies, a serious illness strikes, an accident or a job dismissal occurs, praying assuages the pain. Centuries old funeral rituals with communal participation are of incalculable benefit in coping with the loss of a parent or a child. That one lives on in the nether world raises the possibility of an eventual reunion. People pray for rain or peace when drought or war strike. It gives hope amid uncertainty. Buddhist Monks Praying Muslim Women Praying for Eid al Fitr Buttressed by centuries old communal customs, the psychological benefit of religion to the believer is undoubtedly significant. And that emotional effect is amplified when praying with fellow believers in a church, mosque, temple or other venue. Congregational prayers generate bonding and empathy. A severe drought in Ethiopia in January 2022 put millions at risk from death due to malnutrition and hunger. An affected mother complained to a reporter: We don’t have milk to give to the children. My child is sick due to lack of food, and this happened because of the drought … Our cattle have been harmed by the drought. We have lost so many. We pray to Allah for rain. Shems Dire (Ayene and Davies 2022). The issue here is not whether prayers have an objective positive effect. No solid scientific evidence to support such claims exists. The relevant studies remain controversial. Yet, people pray no matter the outcome. Whether their loved one did or did not survive, the blessings of the divine savior are sought. The question is: Do prayer, meditation and related rituals affect the person who prays? Studies indicate that prayer can alleviate stress, subdue fear and anger, combat loneliness, enhance inner peace, provide encouragement and relief, ameliorate depression and anxiety, improve mental health, foster empathy and augment the sense of purpose in life. It anchors an uncertain, unstable existence. Spiritual meditation works better than secular meditation. Prayers do not induce miracles. They should not replace effective measures. But they are a useful adjunct with little or no adverse sequelae. Billions pray and derive emotional benefits. Atheists who doubt the material effects of prayer still advocate it as a harmless activity that has emotional benefits and generates empathy. Sharing a meal has evolutionary roots with religious overtones. Reciting words of gratitude before and after meals, grace, cuts across religions and cultures. Some faith traditions practice a minute of meditative silence before commencing a meal. A Protestant grace can be: For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly grateful, Amen Before putting food in the mouth, Muslims say: Bismillah ir raḥman ir raḥim (In the name of Allah, the gracious, the merciful) And they end the meal with: Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah) Hindu and Buddhist traditions have pre- and post-meal chants drawn from their scriptural texts and historic custom. A Zen meal invocation (gatha) is: We receive this food in gratitude to all beings who have helped to bring it to our table, And vow to respond in turn to those in need with wisdom and compassion. An extended humanist grace declares: For what we are about to receive let us be truly thankful …to those who planted the crops …to those who cultivated the fields …to those who gathered the harvest. For what we are about to receive let us be truly thankful to those who prepared it and those who served it. In this festivity let us remember too those who have no festivity those who cannot share this plenty those whose lives are more affected than our own by war, oppression and exploitation those who are hungry, sick and cold In sharing in this meal let us be truly thankful for the good things we have for the warm hospitality and for this good company. Source: Wolf (2016). While people focused on food and the company may just say ‘bon appetite’ (good appetite), benedictions of grace embody a spirit of humility, gratitude and compassion. In essence, they place believers of diverse faith as well as secularists and humanists on a common plane. Grace harmonizes humanity. 11.3 BLEMISHES The benefits bestowed by religion are counterbalanced by four opposing factors: inconsistency in the scriptures; subservience to unjust, oppressive secular authority; intolerance of other faiths and non-believers; and adoption of anti-science viewpoints. Distorted ethics + The scriptures and derivative holy texts of the four major religions contain ambiguous, contradictory statements on important events and ethical edicts. Violence and peace, revenge and forgiveness, treatment of other doctrines, punishment for law breakers, status of women, and prayer versus practice, among other things, evoke contradictory prescriptions. Two pairs of Biblical statements are indicative: For by grace are ye saved through faith…not of works. Bible, Ephesians 2:8,9 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Bible, James:24 (Goad 2014). Submit yourself to every ordinance of man…to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors. Bible, I Peter 2:13 We ought to obey God rather than men. Bible, Acts 5:29 (Goad 2014). The religious say that the holy texts were transcribed by humans. It was they, not God, who introduced the inconsistencies. Yet, which is divinely ordained, and which is erroneous? There is no clear answer. Genuine contradictions are called paradoxes that need to be resolved through prayer and reflection. The issue transcends theological disputation. The major point is practice. Historically scriptures were used both to validate and oppose slavery, war, colonialism, ethnic cleansing, genocide, dictatorial rule, patriarchy and discrimination of women and minorities. Venerated priests, mullahs, monks, lamas, swamis and gurus were involved in abuse, fraud, discrimination and even violent deeds. The keeper of noble ethics perpetrated ignoble deeds. Words and action too often differed. As Isaac Asimov, the famed science communicator, opined about the multi-millionaire American televangelists: If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul. Isaac Asimov The spiritualist movements that came into being in the West since the 1970s are now mostly run like business entities. Compared to historical churches, they are more likely to be tainted by financial misdeeds. Those looking for spiritual community and teachers in late capitalism—outside of historically robust religions that integrate and nurture pro-social projects —will encounter very few organizations that are not business pyramids organized around leaders who have little to offer beyond charisma. (Remski 2021). Abuse of children and women + Child abuse and sexual predation on women are veritably ugly blotches that have stained religious institutions across continents. No religion or nation has been immune from this malady. Here we note two additional examples. USA: A broad survey of yoga training by Hindu gurus and meditational training by Buddhist monks mostly in the US revealed that almost all are run like profit-making businesses and that sexual abuse of women was present across the board. Almost no yoga or meditational tradition was exempt, but a culture of silence hid the misdeeds for too long. An authentic spiritual guru is a rarity in the neoliberal environment. UK: The year 2021 report of an official inquiry into sexual abuse of children in England and Wales covered ‘38 religious organizations and settings in England and Wales, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baptists, Methodists, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism and nonconformist Christian denominations’ (Sherwood 2021). Concluding that sexual abuse had occurred in many situations, it faulted many religions for failing to provide adequate protection to children. Thousands, if not more, children are at risk. Theocratic intolerance + Each of the major and minor religions has deviated from the principles of equality espoused in its holy texts. When religion was allied with wealth and political power, the deviation became sharper. Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Islamic institutions across history were the backbone of theocratic and dictatorial rulers and regimes and were complicit in the maltreatment of their people. People professing faiths other than the official faith were subject to discriminatory laws and treatment and reduced to the status of second class citizens. The citizens in these states adopted an us-versus-them mentality and looked down on other religions. Only devotees of their faith could attain spiritual salvation; the others would roast in hell. The extremist factions went beyond sanctioning belief and social discrimination to killing and elimination. The Islamic theocracies of the Middle East and other Islamic nations, the fundamentalist backed regimes of Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil), Donald Trump (USA) and Narendra Modi (India), the exclusivist governments of Myanmar and Sri Lanka vividly illustrate the officialization of intolerant tendencies. A few recent cases of official and broad-based religious intolerance are in order. Christmas in India: The year 2021 Christmas season was far from a festive season for several Christian communities in India. Alleging that Christian missionaries were using the event and giving gifts to convert Hindus and Hindu children to their religion, extremist Hindu mobs entered churches and disrupted prayers and celebrations. The vandals smashed statutes of Jesus Christ and destroyed Santa Claus effigies. Attacks on Christians in India involving physical violence, burning the Bible and more increased 60% from 2016 to 2019. Some 300 such attacks occurred in the first nine months of 2021. Following the latest incidents, the government of India for the first time acted against the Missionaries of Charity, an organization founded by Mother Teresa. Its bank accounts were frozen, and restrictions on foreign funding sources were placed. Fundamentalist Hindu groups had for long accused the organization of converting Hindus. Thus far its international clout has immunized it from state control. That is no more; the fundamentalists have prevailed. Some Indian states have enacted or are in the process of enacting laws against supposedly ‘forceful’ conversions. Tripura: Religious violence in the Indian state of Tripura has historically been rare. Bordering with Bangladesh, it had 25 years of communist governance until 2018. In that year, the Hindutva espousing BJP became the ruling party in the state. Attacks on the Muslim community, which accounts for 9% of the state population, have increased. Frenzied mobs from an affiliate of the RSS, the parent body of the BJP, have targeted Muslim facilities and Muslims in several towns in the state. They vandalized 16 mosques, burning prayers mats and smashing other items therein, in the second half of 2021. Muslim homes and shops were set alight. The attackers say they are avenging the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh. They escape apprehension most of the time. Though the central and state government ministers publicly deplored the attacks, local and Delhi-based lawyers investigating them have faced official harassment. The BJP sees these anti-Muslim moves as a means to consolidate its political base in the state. But, given the longstanding fraternal relationship between Hindus and Muslims, many Hindus are deeply troubled. Muslims in India: Several cities in India have of recent placed restrictions on Muslims holding Friday prayers sessions at open public venues. Among them is Noida, a township outside New Delhi. The state and city administrations are under BJP control. Muslim prayers in public parks were the norm until 2018, when a ban was imposed. An opposition politician opined: The BJP wants to create division between Hindus and Muslims so they can get votes in the election. It’s a direct attack on the Muslim population. (Kumar 2018). Gurgaon, a city near New Delhi, is witnessing rightwing Hindu mobs staging vociferous protests at public places where Muslims have prayed for decades. As a result, the number of prayer sites shrank from 108 in 2018 to 20 in December 2021. Yet, the extremists are not satisfied. Gathering support from Hindus in the city, they accuse the Muslims of engaging in ‘land jihad,’ or surreptitious land seizures. To their credit, some Sikh and Hindu leaders have expressed support for the Muslims and offered them the use of their venues for prayers. Largely poor migrant workers, most Muslims reside near the city center where there is an acute shortage of mosques. Gurgaon's town planners have allocated space for more than 42 temples and 18 gurdwaras but just one plot for a mosque in the newly developed parts of the city, according to the Gurgaon Muslim Council. Five years ago, two Muslim trusts failed in their bid to acquire government plots being sold for religious purposes. (Biswas 2021). Religious extremism has a common cause with the political establishment in India. On the other side, Muslim theocracies in the Middle East have severe restrictions on the construction of Hindu temples and Christian churches. Nigeria: Some 50% of the 200 million Nigerians are Muslim. And over 90% of the Muslims are Sunni. Since the emergence of Boko Haram militancy over a decade ago, the mostly Muslim northern Nigeria has been engulfed in deep turmoil. Many civilians have died or otherwise suffered at the hands of Boko Haram and the army. In addition, the Shia minority feels marginalized as its religious activities are blocked by the authorities. In 2015, the army opened fire on a Shia religious procession, killing some 350 Shias. Their leader was charged with terrorism and he and his wife were placed in custody. In September 2021, a group of Shias were marching in a traditional festival. It was a peaceful event. Yet, the police attacked them with tear gas and bullets. At least 8 Shias were killed. Despite calls by human rights organizations, accountability for such the killings does not exist. Nor have Sunni Muslim leaders condemned these atrocities. Brazil: In 1971, 90% of Brazilians were Catholics. Now Catholics form 51% and Protestants form 31% of the population. The rest follow the traditional Afro-Brazilian religion or are irreligious. Most Protestants are evangelicals whose creed has an orthodox, literal interpretation of the Bible. Their denotation—born again Christians—projects that only they are the authentic Christians. Brazilian evangelism is a politically activist creed aiming to make Christianity the official state religion. Its support was instrumental in the election of Jair Bolsonaro to the presidency of Brazil. Events and policies adopted since then have boosted the prospects of a theocratic Brazil. One state institution after another is falling under the evangelical spell. The Supreme Court is the latest to fall in line. Evangelism is aligned with neoliberalism. The upper class reaping major rewards from neoliberal policies is its objective base. The double dealings and misguided policies of the past left governments influenced many in the middle and poor classes to shift their support to the right wing parties backed by the evangelicals. Evangelism has a major presence in the crime-ridden, drug-infested, poor shanty towns. Even the leaders of the violent gangs in these areas claim to be born again Christians. The ascendancy of evangelism in the political arena has come along with increasing religious intolerance. Hate speech by state officials and attacks on minority religions have risen. The Afro-Brazilian community is a major target. Its places of worship of traditional religion have been torched and vandalized, and worshipers have suffered injuries. As in the US, religious fundamentalists are keen on placing existing progressive measures for racial equality, abortion, birth control, sexual orientation and influence of religion in education on the chopping block. Pakistan: A Sri Lankan national managing a factory in Sialkot, Pakistan, was alleged to have taken down posters with Islamic verses from the walls in the work premises. Accused by enraged Muslims to have committed blasphemy, he was attacked and beaten to death. Later, his body was set on fire and his car was overturned. Horrific images of the slogan-chanting perpetrators were posted on social media. The murderous attack created wide national and international outrage. As the victim was a foreign national, the incident had the potential to create diplomatic tension. The police acted swiftly. Ninety-two people were arrested and charged with murder before the Anti-Terrorism Court. Convicted a year later, six received the death penalty, nine were jailed for life and the rest got sentences ranging from one two years. Yet, blasphemy is a crime with a possible sentence of death and lynching after accusation of blasphemy is a part of life here. Death penalty, by the state or a mob, does not resolve anything. France: In August 2020, Mira, a sixteen year old French girl posted a strong anti-Islam message on Instagram. Her video proclaimed: The Quran is a religion of hatred. There is only hatred in it. Mira (Durie 2021). Earning 10,000 followers, she received about 100,000 messages of hate as well. After investigations by the French police, eleven people were charged with online harassment and convicted under a recent cyber-bullying law. It became an issue of freedom of speech, nothing else. Her right to free speech was supported by the major and the far right French politicians. Blasphemy and criticizing religion are not crimes in France, online bullying is. Despite having had to change school, Mira continues with her spiteful online tirades against Islam, blacks and Arabs. But the matter transcends freedom of speech. This episode comes in the context of a long colonial history of denigration of Islam and immigrants from North Africa. Reflective of the rising tide of Islamophobia in Europe, the UK and USA, it is linked to the Western imperial drive to dominate the global landscape. In early 2022, as France entered the national election season with Emmanuel Macron, the incumbent rightist and Marine Le Pen, his far right challenger being at the forefront, Islamophobic political rhetoric and disputes on immigration issues diverted attention from concerns about neoliberalism that had been raised by the popular Yellow Vests just a short while back. India: A particularly egregious episode of Islamophobia transpired in India in December 2021. Speakers at a rally organized by Hindu religious leaders in Uttarakhand state openly encouraged mass murder of Muslims in the nation. Even if just a hundred of us become soldiers and kill two million of them, we will be victorious … If you stand with this attitude only then will you be able to protect ‘sanatana dharma’ [an absolute form of Hinduism]. (Al-Jazeera 2021c). Several speakers echoed the same line, and one called for a unified pogrom of the kind being pursued against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. One senior member of the BJP, the national ruling party, was a guest at the event. The police say they are investigating. But the BJP leadership has been silent. Such an official stance has only encouraged militant Hindu mobs to attack mosques, Muslim shops and residences, causing extensive damage and injury to many. The militants seem elated when they are able to place their saffron colored Hindu flags inside the Muslim places of worship. Sweden: In April 2022, a far right anti-immigration, anti-Muslim Swedish party announced a plan to stage public burnings of the Quran in April 2022, which overlapped with the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan. As the burnings began, riots and violence broke out. The extremists clashed with protestors opposed to their plans. With police cars and a bus set on fire and stones being thrown, the police had a hard time containing the violence. Several people were injured, and scores were placed under arrest. Quran-burning had occurred several times in the past five years. The current burning plan was the beginning of an electoral campaign of the far right, nationalist party. Its Swedish-Danish leader talks about Muslims in the same way as Adolf Hitler talked about Jews. The enemy is Islam and Muslims. The best thing would be if there were not a single Muslim left on this Earth, then we would have reached our final goal. Rasmus Paludan (Al-Jazeera 2022b). Angering Muslims across the world, many governments of Muslim nations condemned the Quran-burning event. That such events occur in nations that were once upon a time seen as bastions of tolerance and supporters of anti-colonial movements in the Global South is a sad indicator of how far to the right the pendulum of inter-faith tolerance has swung today. +++ This is a small sampling of hate and intolerance that people and institutions of religions are capable of demonstrating in this modern era of information and global connectivity. No question, the active extremists are a minority, and often causes beyond religion are at play. But persistence of intolerance and the lack of decisive action by faith leaders to eradicate it are troubling. The verdict of a personage of global eminence almost a century ago still reverberates: For while religion prescribes brotherly love in the relations among the individuals and groups, the actual spectacle more resembles a battlefield than an orchestra. Albert Einstein Anti-science disposition + Religion has a two-sided relationship with science. There were religious societies where science and technology flowered and religious societies where the opposite prevailed. Some luminaries in science were religious believers and some were atheists or agnostics. Some held that religion and science are complimentary; some held that they are mutually exclusive. In the modern times, orthodox believers have opposed teaching of the theory of evolution in schools, promoted pseudo-scientific doctrines like Intelligent Design and opposed stem cell research. An in-depth exposition of the linkage of science and religion is presented in the forthcoming Religion, Science and the Pandemic. 11.4 SECULARISM Secularism, or the disposition to disbelieve in the divine, occurs in several forms—atheism, agnosticism, humanism, skepticism and irreligious. It has been present in association with all the major religions from the early times. But its flowering ensued at the onset of the Age of Enlightenment in Europe. The constitution of most modern states is based on the separation of the church and state. Today, about one of six persons does not follow an established faith. The secular world view has taken hold dramatically in the Western nations over the past decades. But it is more a generational, not age-related effect. Some studies project that despite the current political prominence of evangelical doctrines, formal religions are heading towards extinction in the West. But in Africa and much of Asia and Latin America, religiosity is stable, if not on the rise, even among the educated middle class. Secularism there is a socially insignificant and perhaps an endangered entity. China and Japan are exceptions to the rule. Here the level of religiosity is low though most people adhere to some of spiritual belief. As a philosophical doctrine, secularism takes two forms. One sees religion and irrational thinking as the principal barrier to progress and enlightenment. It campaigns for broadened science education and open criticism of religious and pseudo-scientific beliefs. And the other sees the social system in which religion prevails as the major barrier to progress and enlightenment. Criticism of religion is augmented by criticism of politics, and of economic and social structures. Humanism is a form of secularism with embedded moral principles. Socialism is a form of humanism. Cognizant of the unscientific nature of religious beliefs, it critiques the role religion has played in justifying injustice and mystifying the masses. Yet, it also recognizes a positive side to religion and does not preclude allying with religious forces to work for a society based on social justice. Christian Socialism and Islamic Socialism exemplify that alliance. And so does the liberation theology doctrine of Latin America and the Philippines that involves the integration of Christianity and Marxism. Humanist and atheist organizations currently operate worldwide. Their constitutions do not have the contradictory ethical declarations found in the religious scriptures. They do not denigrate any belief system in a selective fashion or condone discrimination of women. Sexual abuse of children and women that has tainted religious institutions is a rarity in humanist groups. Social science studies and surveys generally show that the religious and the irreligious do not differ significantly in terms of moral and ethical standards. The idea that as societies become more secular, moral standards will decline has no factual foundation. They opposite may be true. A broad international comparison concluded: It is the highly secularized countries that tend to fare the best in terms of crime rates, prosperity, equality, freedom, democracy, women’s rights, human rights, educational attainment and life expectancy. … And those nations with the highest rates of religiosity tend to be the most problem-ridden in terms of high violent crime rates, high infant mortality rates, high poverty rates and high rates of corruption. (Zuckerman 2015). A year 2011 UN study of homicide found that the ten nations with the highest homicide rates were highly religious nations while those with lowest homicide rates were amongst the most secular nations. A similar conclusion emerged from an examination of homicide and child abuse and religiosity in the states of the US. Yet, there is a major caveat to such data: It is, of course, impossible to conclude from any of this data that secularism, in and of itself, causes societal well-being, or that religiosity causes social ills. Peacefulness, prosperity and overall societal goodness are undoubtedly caused by multiple, complex factors — economic, geographic, cultural, political, historical and so forth. (Zuckerman 2015). Conservative pastors claim that those who abandon the church are inclined to sinful deeds; they look down upon believers and hate God. But they give no evidence to support such claims. In the face of serious illness and calamities, even atheists and humanists are said to remember God and pray. To test this claim, an international team of researchers obtained online responses from 1,000 non-religious people drawn from the UK, US, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Turkey, Brazil, Canada and Australia. Asked to recall the times of major personal problems in their lives, it was inquired whether their secular worldview had assisted them to understand their plight and cope with it. The respondents generally indicated that belief in science, randomness in life, impermanence of living entities, humanistic ideals, and living a responsible life had assisted them to accept what had occurred and cope with the loss. Overall, they retained an optimistic disposition. We have one life. We have this one opportunity to enjoy our brief moment in the sun, while doing the most good we can to help our fellow creatures and protect the natural environment for future generations. Survey Responder (Xygalatas 2020). The overall conclusion of the survey did not support the claim of secularists turning to prayer in times of distress. What this research suggests is that worldviews and beliefs, whether religious or secular, can provide comfort and meaning in even the very toughest situations. (Xygalatas 2020). Paradoxically, the rise of irreligiosity does not imply that people are adopting scientific, rational criteria to explain and judge personal and general events. Their views are influenced by multiple biases relating to economic status, race, ethnicity, national origin and media content. Religion is a single and not the key factor. A computerized perusal of millions of fiction and non-fiction books written in the past two centuries found that logical, evidence-based modes of expression rose after the 1850s. However, since the 1970s, emotive, faith-based modes of expression have gained greater currency. It is not just a Trump era ‘post-truth’ phenomenon. Neoliberalism generates a vast gap between perception and reality, and cements confirmation bias. Evidence that confirms what you ‘know’ is remembered and that which casts doubt on it lands in the dustbin. +++ Secularism (atheism, humanism) is tainted with major blemishes as well. Historically, well known secularists and secularist organizations often strayed beyond their shining principles and landed in a deep ethical quagmire. In tandem with Christian missionaries, they supported colonialism in the name of ‘civilizing the native’. As social democrats, they saw the welfare state as the ideal state. Capitalism was acceptable provided it was reformed. With dependence on a skewed vision of science, many secularists supported the doctrine of eugenics that climaxed in the Nazi era concentration camps (see Religion, Science and the Pandemic). Of recent New Atheism has become the face of modern atheism. Rooted in the natural sciences, it campaigns not just against religious and irrational beliefs in general but takes a particular aim at Islam. By labelling Islam as the root of all evil, the New Atheists have supported deadly Western imperial ventures like the war on Iraq. Paradoxically, in this crusade they allied with their supposed foes, the fundamentalist Christian evangelists. New Atheism is a middle-class movement enamored by the progress of science but is suspicious of feminism, anti-racism, post-modernism and socialism. Of recent, secularist organizations have also faced accusations of sexism and discrimination of women and minorities. A progressive stand on religion does not see it as a foe to be vanquished but a symptom of social alienation. It works to transform the system that engenders profound alienation, a system based on inequality, social injustice and militarism. Religion is not a product of genes. It is a product of humanity’s interaction with nature and the evolution of class-based human society. I would submit, then, that to insist, as the New Atheists do, that religion must be thrown onto the scrapheap of history forthwith, while at the same time mostly ignoring the problems of poverty and inequality, is the height of irrationality. As a matter of pure logic, it’s really no different than believing in the existence of angels. (Hoelscher 2019). To remain relevant and have a broad appeal, secularism, like religion, needs to concern itself with the problems of global humanity, and focus on empathy and communal connections rather than mostly on debunking paranormal claims or on intellectual discourse over religion. 11.5 TENTATIVE RESPONSES Our survey of the beliefs, scriptures, practices, social function and history of major and minor religions, secularism and neoliberalism gives a foundation upon which we may address the seven crucial questions posed in Chapter 1. Now I present my ruminations about these questions. But I do so with a proviso: The corona pandemic has drastically transformed religious practice. Started prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, this book barely covers these changes. Further, the answers given below need delineation of the linkage of religion to science, mathematics and eugenics. These matters are covered in the sequel to this book, Religion, Science and the Pandemic. Hence, while my answers may need modification, the issues are important enough to warrant tentative responses at this juncture. These answers are my conclusions. I encourage my readers to cast a critical eye at them and draw their own conclusions. Question 1: Are some religions more exalted than other religions? The scriptures and histories of the institutions, leaders and followers of religions do not provide evidence to designate any religion truer or more spiritually exalted than any other religion. The ethical injunctions of the major religions are comparable. Each religion has been associated with ennobling deeds, and each has demonstrated the capacity for pungent deeds. The religious should heed the advice proffered by the venerated sage of non-violence: I came to the conclusion long ago . . . that all religions were true and also that all had some error in them, and whilst I hold by my own, I should hold others as dear as Hinduism. Mohandas K Gandhi and heeds the words of an influential Muslim leader: And I further pray that all who truly and sincerely believe in GOD, be they Christian, Jew, Buddhist or Brahmin, who strive to do good and avoid evil, are gentle and kind, will be joined in Heaven and be granted final pardon and peace. The Aga Khan III Question 2: Is religion essential for morality? Religious belief and practice do not guarantee moral conduct; neither does lack of religious faith and non-participation in religious activities imply proclivity to immorality in words and deeds. Yet, a secular worldview does not shield people from influence by a host of biased, ethically dubious ideas prevalent in the modern era. Moral conduct is more determined by social, cultural, political and economic factors rather than by religiosity as such. The religious and the irreligious stand on an equal moral ground. Equal proportions of each value family loyalty, freedom, compassion and believe that life has an underlying meaning. For the former, the meaning emanates from divine sources while for the latter, it derives from history, social norms, a scientific outlook and evolutionarily internalized factors. People possess an intrinsic ability to lead their lives in ways they consider worthy and purposeful. Question 3: Can secularism and religious belief coexist? History and current conditions show that generally religions can function relatively freely in secular societies, but secularism is rarely tolerated in theocratic societies. Question 4: Are science and religion compatible? The foundations of religion and science are not compatible. The scientific disposition values doubt, the religious mindset abhors it. Yet, in practice, religious people have adapted to the theories and innovations of science. Scientists have a flexible attitude towards religion. Some scientists are agnostics, some are very religious and some reject and castigate religion outright. Fundamentalist believers often campaign against the theories and practices of science they say violate scriptural teachings. Though politically influential for now, in the long run, they probably stand on the wrong side of history. Question 5: Do divine beings and divine realms exist? My response to this crucial query has to await the relevant exposition in the sequel to this book: Religion, Science and the Pandemic. Question 6: What is the future of religion in a neoliberal world? The survey-based projections of the future of religion and secularism alluded to above presume the persistence of Neoliberalism as the dominant global social formation. Given the existential challenges faced by humanity and the conflicts generated by the sharp increase of inequality within and between nations, that assumption is of dubious validity. If these challenges are not tackled successfully, the future of humanity and our ecosystem will be endangered. Dogmatic believers may proclaim it as a sign of salvation, but it will be a vacuous claim. Religion cannot have a morally upright future unless it truly embraces love for all humans and joins the struggle against social injustice, inequality, racism, patriarchy, corporate greed, militarism and environmental despoliation. And the same holds for secularism. Question 7: How can harmony between faith systems be promoted? Currently there are hundreds of national and international organizations engaged in promoting peaceful coexistence between different faiths. But their effect on attitudes and actions at the grassroots level, especially in places where a significant discord exists, has been not that dramatic. In the next section, I add to these voices and give my proposals to promote interfaith harmony. 11.6 SPIRITUAL HARMONY To reiterate, I am a secular humanist and do not believe in the existence of divine entities and supernatural realms. But I fully respect the right of people to have and practice religious beliefs. I observe that religion is an essential component of life for the vast majority of humanity. I appreciate the positive contributions of religion to individuals and communities but am dismayed at its association with oppressive, human rights violating forces, and at the injurious interreligious and intrareligious conflicts in the past and at present. Religious symbols from left to right, top to bottom: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, the Bahai Faith, Eckankar, Sikhism, Jainism, Wicca, Unitarian Universalism, Shinto, Taoism, Thelema, Tenrikyo, and Zoroastrianism. In my opinion, interfaith harmony is a perquisite for a humane future on this planet. Religions must coexist in harmony and curtail faith related conflicts, including conflicts with the irreligious. The influence of supremacist voices of any type has to be reduced through education and social ostracism. Promotion of interfaith harmony needs to transcend the praiseworthy but basically elitist World Interfaith Harmony Week type of endeavors and stress broad-based anti-neoliberal activism as an essential ingredient of genuine harmony. Despite my secular disposition, I now take the liberty to proffer a set of ideas to promote interfaith harmony and enhance the positive features of religion. Declaration of Spiritual Equality: Whatever their belief system, religious or not, all humans have equal spiritual worth. A person’s moral and spiritual standing is determined by his or her deeds, period. No religion has a greater divine right than any other to worldly resources and benefits. When two-three different religions claim that only their own religions are true and all other religions are false, their religions are only ways to Heaven, conflicts cannot be avoided. Rabindranath Tagore. Adoption of a Declaration of Spiritual Equality along these lines by all faiths should be the foundation of promoting harmonious existence between them. Common Ethical Principles: Three versions of the Golden Rule and the two tenets—Love of God and Love of the Neighbor or Love of the Good and Love of the Neighbor—together with accepted ethical norms like respect for truth, honesty, non-violence and equal treatment of people in legal, public and economic matters should be enshrined in a universal moral code adopted by all nations, religions and secularists. Separation of Religion and State: Religion is a personal matter; it does not pertain to broader societal matters. Societal laws and the legal system, and the basic rights of citizens, including freedom of speech should not be based on the scriptures of any religion. Blasphemy laws and similar restrictions on free speech should be abolished. Claims or reparations for injury and insult on religious grounds should be pursued in the courts using accepted legal standards of defamation and libel. Religious bodies must declare mob justice and terror attacks totally unacceptable. Hate speech, incitement to violence on religious grounds and faith-based denigration of people must be dealt with by the civil authorities in accordance with the law. There are priests who excoriate other faiths in hateful or derogatory ways. A Muslim doctor in Sri Lanka was alleged to have secretly sterilized 4,000 Buddhist women. Though the charge was without foundation, Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thero, a senior Buddhist monk went on national TV to declare: Some female devotees said [the Muslim doctor] should be stoned to death. I do not say that. But that’s what should be done. Don’t eat from those [Muslim] shops. Those who ate from these shops will not have children in future. WSG Thero (Al-Jazeera 2019). On the other hand, an African American pastor who combines religious faith with social justice activism expresses profound tolerance and compassion: We cannot let narrow religious forces highjack our moral vocabulary, forces who speak loudly about things God says little about while saying so little about issues that are at the heart of all our religious traditions: truth, justice, love, and mercy. Reverend William Barber II (Kilgore 2018). Religious people should distance themselves from the former voices and embrace the latter. Religion, Science and Education: The methods of science, not religion, should form the foundation of knowledge. The content of school education and books used therein should not be restricted or affected by religious doctrines. What is taught in Biology or History, for example, has to be set by the experts in the field, national authorities and civic organizations. Valid disagreements over teaching methods and topics must be resolved through transparent, ongoing dialogue. Religious Studies should be a subject taught in primary and secondary schools. Using an historical, sociological approach it should cover diverse belief systems without bias towards any. The primary school course should cover basic material on the beliefs, practices and history of religions, and the secondary school course should contain more advanced material. A global organization like the UNESCO could be the umbrella body under which the standard curricula and course material are prepared. Depending on local priorities, they could be translated and modified. Religious communities should be free to teach about their religions to their children but that should be done after school hours and in their own settings. In December 2021, the Indian Minister of Education informed the Indian parliament about the proposal to mandate the teaching of the Bhagavat Gita in schools, colleges and technical institutes in the nation. He noted that parts of the Hindu scriptures were already being taught. Some state governments have also introduced such proposals. These proposals are in accord with the supremacist doctrine being pursued by the ruling party and the extremist organization that form its social base. Educational policies that are biased towards a particular religion or which denigrate religion as such have no room in a democratic, humane society. They will not only miseducate the children but also entrench animosity towards other religions in the young minds and lead to violent conflict. Dress and Clothing: Subject to laws about indecent exposure and which are cognizant of gender equality, neither the government nor any other body, religious or secular, should dictate what people can or cannot wear in public spaces. What to wear is an exclusively individual decision. Organizations may have specific dress codes on their premises, but this authority should not apply elsewhere. Yet, this common-sense dictum has increasingly come under attack in the past two decades as one European nation after another has restricted or banned the wearing of face and body coverings by Muslim women. Though phrased in religion neutral terms, these regulations are a part of the tide of Islamophobia sweeping across Europe. Instead of upholding women’s right to determine their own personal lives, Western feminist and humanist groups have succumbed to anti-Muslim prejudices. Such dress injunctions have of recent been instituted in Myanmar and parts of India and China. Educational institutions have borne the brunt of the restrictions. Ensuing tensions have led to school closures, as in India. Some schools traditionally required all students to wear a specified school uniform. Other schools have been more flexible. Making sudden changes to school dress rules is rarely justified. Often, they further marginalize minorities and heighten interreligious tension. If deemed necessary, changes to school uniforms should be made only after extensive community consultations and dealing with cultural sensitivities. Principled Tolerance: While rituals and symbols are important elements of religious practice, they should not form a basis for inciting violence towards people who express them in ways not agreeable to the devotees. People should have the right to critically review religious scriptures and express their views in public and the religious have an equal right to respond and criticize them. Fatwas against writers or speakers who express different views are absolutely unacceptable. Devotees need to inculcate a confident vision of their faith and peacefully but firmly ignore or verbally react to their detractors. Principled tolerance is a sign of strength, not weakness. Is Islam such a weak religion that it cannot tolerate a book written against it? Not my Islam! Malala Yousafzai Zealous focus on symbols and rituals signifies insecurity not confidence. There is no prohibition of the images of Prophet Muhammad in the Quran. Historically, a more tolerant attitude prevailed in Muslim societies. But now, conservative clerics have taken the matter to extreme in order to shore up their dwindling authority. If religion, instead of being the manifestation of a spiritual ideal, gives prominence to scriptures and external rites, then does it disturb the peace more than anything else. Rabindranath Tagore People of faith and secularists should focus on spiritual essence, not symbols. Acceptance of Conversions: Religions are in decline in some parts of the world and remain stable or are on the increase elsewhere. But presently the decline is primarily not due to conversion from one religion to another or from religiosity to irreligiosity. Conversions occur everywhere but do not have a major impact on the overall numbers. It is a generational effect. People who are born say Hindu or Muslim largely remain so and people with a secular outlook were generally inclined as such (through family and other influences) at an early age. Usually, people do not alter their belief system as they age. But some do. Consider two conversions. Jeffrey Lang, a Professor of Mathematics at University of Kansas, departed from Christianity and adopted atheism. Dissatisfied at a later age, he became a Muslim: I had hard questions when young, like ‘why God allows innocent people to suffer on earth?’… I became an atheist… When I was 28 and read the Quran, it was original. It gets you to ask questions and then gives answers and then creates more questions but a couple of passages later I would see an answer. Jeffrey Lang (Caglar 2020). Daniel E Barker, an evangelical preacher for two decades, one day took the decision, with his wife, to reject religious belief and now is a lead secularist voice in the US. I was happy with the fulfillment of my Christian life; on the other hand, I had intellectual doubts. Faith and reason began a war within me, and it kept escalating. I would cry out to God for answers, and none would come… When I finally discarded faith, things became more and more clear. Daniel E Barker (Caglar 2020). As enshrined in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, people have the unconditional, fundamental right to practice the religion of their choice and change their religion at any time in their adult life. Those who chose to convert have the right to do so and are to be treated in a respectful manner. Every religious body has the right to publicize its faith, invite people into it, and hold public, educational programs that can be attended or viewed by anyone. But proselytization must not be based on any form of compulsion—economic, political, social or cultural. Christianity became the main religion in Africa during the European colonial era because of its linkage with the colonial rulers. Religious institutions with large endowments, connections to centers of power, and extensive manpower should not leverage them to proselytize and gain converts. An interfaith commission should oversee a fair interplay of religious and secular ideas in the public sphere. The Bible encourages Christians to spread the message of Christ. Today, several Christian organizations, especially the evangelicals, have programs to target people of different faith backgrounds, present them with arguments casting doubt on the spiritual worth and validity of their faith and imploring them to be saved through Jesus Christ. Well-funded organizations, mostly based in the US, openly or covertly advocate Christian proselytization under a supremacist framework that implicitly or explicitly denigrates other faiths. Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist organizations have prepared guidelines with answers for their followers to counter the Christian conversion drive. The Fuller Seminary is a graduate level American Christian college with over 3,500 local and international students. The statement of faith of this multi-campus, multidenominational, evangelical institution affirms: God, by Word and Spirit, creates the one holy catholic and apostolic Church, calling sinners out of the whole human race into the fellowship of Christ's Body. As evangelicals, we believe men and women are lost without Jesus Christ; we believe that terrible judgment awaits all who reject Jesus as Lord and Savior. Fuller (2022). Decrying ‘theological liberalism,’ it affirms the scripture as ‘the final authority for Christian faith and practice’ and enjoins all believers to spread the word of God. It also runs the Fuller Studio, a multi-media body that creates videos, and blogs related to the beliefs and practice of Christianity and publishes a magazine. While promoting interfaith dialogue, it also features voices that decry multicultural, postmodernist compromise, and call for an unapologetic, frontal effort to bring everyone into the Christian fold. Fellow evangelicals, evangelize, evangelize, and then evangelize some more. Preach the Word and reach the world. Do not buy into contemporary sociocultural discourse and betray the truth of the Gospel. Jesus is unmatched. The Gospel is irreplaceable. Salvation in Christ alone is a must. Ayman S Ibrahim (Ibrahim 2022). The gentle, innovative proselytization drive initiated by a group of nuns of different national backgrounds but resident in Italy, stands in contrast to that aggressive advice. Inspired by Pope Francis to be more outgoing and active, a group of nuns of different national backgrounds, but residing in Italy have recently formed a women’s football team. Competing in women’s football leagues, they train seriously. For them, it is more than just fun and sport. They see it as an avenue to attract young people to their faith and promote women’s rights. They proselytize by kicking the ball. [We] are fortunate in that we can unite our passion for football while evangelizing. Sister Livia (Giuffrida 2022). Following the Quran, Muslims are required to abide by ‘dawah’, that is, to invite non-believers to Islam and educate them about Allah, the Prophet and the wisdom of the Quran. However, this has to be done without coercion or compulsion. Content to adhere to the five pillars of Islam, most Muslims do not engage in proselytization. Some Muslim organizations like the Tablighi Jamaat focus on public education drives. They have manuals, books, videos and Internet material as well as programs to train those who will spread the message of Islam. Some Wahabi (Salafi) groups funded by Saudi Arabia and fundamentalist groups promote ‘true Islam’ through political activism and even violence. Their aim is to establish an Islamic caliphate across the globe. Other than in Europe and the US, conversion into Hinduism rare. Unlike the other major religions, Hinduism is mostly confined to India, the land of its birth. Most of the Hindus across the world, particularly the Global South, are Hindu migrants from India or their descendants. One major reason for this is that to be a Hindu, one must be in a caste. Caste membership is determined at birth. One cannot just join a caste. It’s a fact that caste is a South Asian problem and no religion can claim that its followers do not practice caste in some form or another. But the difference is that among the Hindus, caste has religious sanction whereas caste among non-Hindus it is without religious consecration. This makes the caste practice among Hindus rigid and thus prevents them from welcoming others into their fold. (Mandal 2021). Religious people must castigate groups that utilize compulsion, coercion or unfair advantage to bring people into their faith or restrict people from leaving their faith on their own free will. Religion based discriminatory stratification that prevents people from joining a religion should be nullified. If converts are misguided, God will judge them, that should be the stand. Public educational proselytizing efforts conducted with civility and respect are acceptable; force and denigration of others are not. As Prophet Muhammad declared: There is no compulsion in religion. Quran 2:256. Yet, in many Muslim majority nations, it is against the law to leave Islam, and in 13 nations, it is an offence punishable by death. Such laws should be repealed immediately. Gender Equality and Sexual Preference: All religions and secular traditions must embrace unrestricted, comprehensive equality of women and men. Women should have the same rights and opportunities to participate in religious activities, be ordained as priests, conduct prayers and rituals, be involved in decision making and assume leadership positions. Continual, thoroughgoing efforts to eliminate and police gender-based discrimination and abuse including sexual abuse of children and adults should be in place within each religious and secular community and organization. The accused perpetrators should be reported immediately to the appropriate authorities. Discrimination against and spiritual denigration of homosexuals and people with alternative sexual preferences should be prohibited by religious authorities. Religious bodies should participate in development of a public-health based sex education program in secondary schools and beyond. Joint Celebrations and Inter-Faith Prayers: When celebrating their holy days, religious communities should make concerted efforts to invite people of other faiths into the celebrations and festivities. Interfaith prayers should be held on a regular basis and involve the clergy and lay folk from all the religious traditions. Secularists should be invited as well. Promotion of harmony between religions and between religions and secular traditions is a matter of ongoing communal effort, not to be restricted to a few symbolic occasions. CHAPTER 12: FINALE ↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔ No religion which is narrow and which cannot satisfy the test of reason, will survive the coming reconstruction of society in which the values will have changed and character, not possession of wealth, title or birth will be the test of merit. Mohandas K Gandhi When I meet a new person, I don’t see race or religion. I look deeper. We must learn to satisfy our conflicts peacefully and to respect one another. Muhammad Ali One can never predict or foresee what lies ahead when it comes to humans and religion. Phil Zuckerman AS WE REACH THE END of this book, there remain fundamental questions about religion. Does religion have a future? Is a particular religion more likely to prevail than other religions? Is an offshoot of an existing religion or a new religion with a large following likely to emerge? And does secularism have a future? Our earlier review of these issues mostly reported projections based on survey results. The key findings were: Traditional religions are on the decline in Western nations but not so in the Global South. Secularism, including atheism, is on the rise in Western nations but is a perilous creed elsewhere. Abandoning traditional religions, however, does not imply that a spiritual perspective has been abandoned. Many people retain belief in some type of a higher power. And many adhere to more than one faith. New alternative faith systems tend to crop up now and then, but at best they operate within a marginal corner. In this chapter we examine why and how some individuals changed their faith system, explore the psycho-social underpinnings of religious belief and look at Quakerism to illustrate the dynamic nature of faith systems. We aim to gain a further insight into the questions posed above. We then look at five ethically illustrious individuals—religious and non-religious—whose visions and actions are not only conducive to peace and interfaith harmony but also for the formation of a united front to confront the constellation of the grave problems facing humanity today. 12.1 TRANSITIONS Most people remain faithful to their childhood faith system. Some venture away from it, and transit to other belief systems or exhibit plain disbelief. Later, some revert to their original religious base. Among those who change, many embrace more than one faith system. Spiritual paths are highly varied. Why individuals change between religiosity and disbelief or from one faith to another can give vital clues regarding the persistence and future of religion. Bryan Mealer, a 40-year old Texan with three children, began to distance himself from his ancestral evangelical creed because it was increasingly being dominated by intolerant, conservative clergy and right-wing politicians. The exposure of child abuse scandals in churches magnified his doubts. As a freelance journalist in the Congo, he came across extensive suffering caused by civil war and was perplexed why God did not come to the rescue of the largely Christian Congolese people. Once he came across a distraught mother cuddling the dead body of her infant. When she ascribed it to God’s will, he lost his faith. Aghast at the toxic vitriol of the US evangelicals against ‘immigrants, refugees, minorities, and the poor and the sick,’ he stopped going to church altogether, and did not expose his children to Christian beliefs anymore. One day during his routine morning jogs he met and befriended David Peters, an Episcopalian priest. Growing up in a strict evangelical family, David became a priest at a young age, enlisted in the US army as a chaplain and participated in the 2003 US aggression on Iraq. The ugly realities of war, family break up and the isolation he experienced upon return shook his faith. David slid into mounting depression until one day he heard a strange voice that rekindled his faith. Returning to the fold, he became a pastor at a broad-minded Episcopalian church. After their encounter, Bryan began an extended conversation on theology, war and life with David which influenced him to join the Episcopalian church. Now spiritually content, he feels that his new spiritual home is more inclusive and has values suitable for his children. I’m reclaiming my faith at a time when American Christianity is in crisis, when the institution of Jesus Christ – a radical humanitarian who was killed by the police – has been co-opted by corporate conservative interests, culture warriors, and the false religion of Fox News, just as it was by slavers and segregationists. (Mealer 2017). Darren Hewer grew up agnostic within a loving, well-to-do family, with little knowledge about religion. Embarking on university studies in computer science and with a circle of atheist friends, he too rejected the existence of divine entities. Though he secured good grades in his courses, towards the end of his degree program he felt a psychic void in his life. He could not pinpoint what, but something was amiss. It was then that he looked at religion in a serious manner. He closely examined Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Mormonism and Christianity with the aim of finding a faith that not only provided emotional solace but also rang true. He was not enamored with Hinduism and rejected Buddhism because of its ambivalence about the existence of God. Comparing Prophet Muhammad, the Mormonism founder Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ, he was struck upon realizing that the first two claimed to have the right way, but Jesus said that he was the right way; that he was God. The person of Jesus Christ struck me as being authentic, in a way that the others didn't. (Hewer 2022). He studied the Bible with care. Initially he doubted its historical accuracy. But after further exploration he concluded the New Testament is the most reliable among all the records from those days. After attending church services and being inspired by the preacher to seek God in his own way, he embarked on Biblical contemplation and nightly prayers. Reading a Biblical tale about a farmer and a flock of birds one night, he had an intense emotional moment, started to cry and found God. Today, he is a devout Christian with a message to his fellow humans: It is today my humble prayer that you will know God via His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and thereby know the intense and life-changing love that God has waiting for you. (Hewer 2022). Ismail Sloam was raised as an Episcopalian in the US state of Virginia. From a young age, he raised pointed questions in Sunday school. Thus, he queried why, if Jesus was the son of God, did he have to die at the cross. The response he got most of the time—have faith and accept—only pushed him away from the church. His brother, on the other hand, was an ideal Christian, almost never missing Sunday service. Ismail saw the Bible as an error-filled history book written by multiple authors. A year 1976 visit to Afghanistan brought him, for the first time, in contact with Muslims and Islam. Impressed by their culture and by how the Quran provides a comprehensive guide to life, he began an extended study of Islam. Feeling that the Quran accorded equal spiritual status to all religions and contained satisfactory answers to the questions that had been swirling in his mind for long, he became a Muslim. Ioni Sullivan, born in a middle-class, atheist British family, is now married to a liberal Jordanian and has two children. Like her parents, she has a higher degree. Work assignments in Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Israel brought her in touch with Muslims and the Quran. People led difficult lives yet drew strength from their religion. She found Islamic tenets of fasting, charity and modesty as admirable avenues for self-control and spiritual purity. After reading an English translation of the Quran and learning Arabic, she became a Muslim. Now a local authority employee in Lewes, UK, she is the only woman in town who wears the hijab. Anita Nayyar, a social psychologist in London, comes from an Anglo-Indian background. A devout Christian, she was immersed in church activities in her teenage years. Some of her Hindu relatives had been killed by Muslim mobs during the partition of India. As a result, her view of Islam was a fairly negative one. Later, after joining college, she acquired many Muslim friends. She found them as pleasant and considerate as her Christian friends. Debating religious issues with them, she became enamored with Islam and, at the age of 18, converted. Her father accepted the fact, but other family members were not too pleased. Today, she is a practicing Muslim who regularly meets her five-times-a-day prayer obligation. But she does not wear a hijab. And as a feminist, she is dismayed that women cannot pray in a mosque. Dr Annie (Amina) Coxon is a seventy-two year old consultant physician and neurologist in London. Though from a Catholic background, she had not drawn spiritual satisfaction from Catholicism. For years she searched for an alternative. It was well after getting her medical qualifications and under the influence of some of her Muslim patients and a series of dreams that she found it and became a Muslim at age 51. Adorning the hijab only during Ramadhan, she adheres to all Islamic tenets. But, as a white person, she has had a hard time finding a welcome among the ethnic, immigrant Muslim communities in the UK. Now she has many Muslim friends. But most of them are from Africa. Islam, she says, has given her ‘serenity, wisdom and peace’. Kristiane Backer, a TV presenter of age 47, was raised in a not-that-devout Protestant family in Germany. Rising to fame, she was stationed at a major Europe-wide channel in London, UK. In her show, she interviewed prominent global personalities. By material standards, she had a successful life. Often, she partied in elite circles. Yet a lacuna of the spirit, a psychic angst, lurked underneath. After meeting a leading Pakistani cricketer, reading the books on Islam he gave her, and touring many parts of Pakistan upon his invitation, she was deeply impressed by the spirituality she encountered. The Muslims I met touched me profoundly through their generosity, dignity and readiness to sacrifice for others. The more I read, the more Islam attracted me. I converted in 1995. Kristiane Backer (Mistiaen 2013). Ten years later she fell in love with and married a Moroccan-American man. However, things have not gone well for her. After her conversion became public knowledge, she was vilified in the German media and was fired from her prestigious position. Her marriage ended in a divorce because she felt her husband was too controlling. But she remains a faithful Muslim and works for a UK TV station. Her programs deal with presentation of Muslim lifestyles and values. Her outlook remains positive. I have no regrets. On the contrary: my life now has meaning and the void that I used to feel is filled with God, and that is priceless. Kristiane Backer (Mistiaen 2013). Andrea Chishti, aged 47, teaches in a secondary school in Watford, UK. She also gives reflexology therapy. Originally from Germany, her father was an atheist, but mother was a devoted Christian. Christianity was a key part of her early education. In college, she fell in love with a Pakistani Muslim born in the UK. Over the course of a three-year relationship, she developed a keen interest in Islam, converted and married him. Their parents were not happy but eventually reconciled to her conversion and marriage. Now she has two children and a contented family life. She wears the hijab only when she attends religious functions. But as a white person, her interactions with the Muslim community often become awkward. Taking such matters in her stride as common issues of life, her faith remains strong. Islam has strengthened my ethics and morals and given a good foundation for our family life. Andrea Chishti (Mistiaen 2013). John Campos is a Mexican-American living in Texas, USA. As an adult, he waded through books on religion in search of a spiritual home. Enticed by its beliefs, scriptures, life philosophy and practices like yoga, he finally found it in Hinduism. Now a practicing Hindu, he regularly prays at the local Hindu temple. He is dismayed to find that many Hindu youth in the US have ceased to value their faith and have embraced a Westernized outlook and lifestyle. When I’m asked why I chose to practice Hinduism, my answer is founded on my practical experience of the spiritual happiness that it has brought me. (Campos 2004). Hindu scriptures prescribe the religious functions one is allowed to perform according to one’s caste. Every Hindu in India has a caste; a casteless Hindu is a bird without feathers; it cannot fly. Without a caste, is John Campos an authentic Hindu? Syed Waseem Rizvi was, until recently, a high profile Muslim leader in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. As a Syed—recognized descendent of Prophet Muhammad—he had the uppermost status within Islam. As the chairman of the Shia Waqf Board, he oversaw the management of Muslim endowments and property in the state. But after claiming that some verses in the Quran sanctioned violence, he had become a controversial figure in the Muslim community. He also but not with success petitioned the courts for the removal of these passages. Upon writing a book that was critical of Prophet Muhammad, he began to receive death threats. Even his family severed their ties with him, and he was forced to live in isolation. In December 2021, he formally abandoned Islam and became a Hindu. His new Hindu name is Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi. His induction was officiated by YN Saraswati, a rightwing Hindu priest who heads the large Dasna Devi temple and is one of the most senior Hindu priests in India. Formerly, the Dasna Devi temple was open to everyone. Under the tutelage of Saraswati, it has instituted a police-enforced rule that forbids entry of Muslims. Rizvi’s conversion has major religious and political implications. By allying with the hate-spewing anti-Muslim Saraswati, he has handed a political bonus to the BJP and its parent organization, the RSS. Roping in a high-rank Muslim into their fold boosts the exclusionary Hindutva ideology. But the conversion entails a theological enigma. Since a Hindu must have a caste, Rizvi, as his new last name shows, was assigned to the Tyagi caste, the caste of his inductor. The Tyagi caste is a middle level farming caste. It thus downgrades Rizvi from a Muslim of the highest rank to a middling Hindu rank. Induction into the highest Hindu caste was out of the question. A Brahmin is born a Brahmin. The Brahmins would automatically reject him. The downgrading is unlikely to inspire any Muslims to become Hindu. Further, whether the Tyagi caste members will welcome Rizvi as one of them is also open to question. Kusala Bikhshu grew up in a Lutheran family in Iowa, USA. After moving to Los Angeles in his teens, he was influenced by the questioning atmosphere of the 1960s and became an agnostic. Experiencing an emotional crisis when he was twenty-eight years old, he left his job, and rambled across the state trying to understand what life was about. Subsequently, he returned to his previous employer but started a more disciplined life. Inspired by a devout woman, he attended church services. But the attachment did not last. I wasn't feeling anything sitting passively in a pew, I wanted to be an active participant in my own salvation. (Bikhshu 2022). Venturing into books about religions, he was strongly drawn to Buddhism. He started learning the intricacies of meditation at the International Buddhist Meditation Center in Los Angeles that had been founded by a Vietnamese monk. Inspired by the sermons of Buddhist monks, he took the vows of a lay Buddhist and was given the name Kusala. His journey into Buddhism took him into a fifteen year discipleship of a senior Sri Lankan Buddhist monk. Undergoing the various stages of training for a monk, he was ordained as ‘a Bhikshu (monk) in the Zen tradition of Vietnam’. He had finally found his calling. Thubten Chodron had grown up with a typical middle class upbringing within a not-that-religious Jewish family in a Christian neighborhood in Los Angeles. Her boyfriend during her teenage years was a Catholic. It was the era of protests against the war on Vietnam, racial discrimination and gender inequality. She posed questions of life and death, war and peace, prejudice, family stability, consumerism, suffering and meaning of life to her teachers, parents, rabbis and priests. I could not understand why a compassionate God would punish people, and why, if he were omnipotent, didn't he do something to stop the suffering in the world? (Chodron 2010). She was told that such questions were futile, ad was urged to have faith to be saved. Being of a scientific persuasion, she could not accept that type of answer. After graduating from a California university, she qualified and worked as a teacher and married. One day, in 1975, she found herself at a lecture session in a bookstore given by two Buddhist monks. To her surprise, she found that the questions which had plagued her since childhood were being raised there. Months of immersion in Buddhist literature, attending meditation sessions, and encountering humble and happy Buddhist nuns convinced her to adopt the Buddhist Dharma. It suited her countenance. Buddhism respects our intelligence and does not demand blind faith. We are encouraged to reflect and examine. Also, it emphasizes changing our attitudes and our heart, not simply having a religious appearance on the outside. (Chodron 2010). She resigned from her teaching job and joined a monastery in Nepal to lead a life of meditation, learning and community work. Ultimately, she decided to become a Buddhist nun. Her marriage did not endure, but her parents came to accept her choice. After ordination in a Tibetan Buddhist order, she traveled across Asia and the West learning, teaching, going on silent retreats, and interacting with nuns and lay people. Now Chodron is a venerated nun and scholar in the Buddhist world. The author of several books on Buddhism, she heads a Buddhist monastery in Newport, USA, and teaches Buddhist psychology and philosophy. In her interactions with Buddhists in Asia, she has faced challenges relating to gender equality, language, unquestioning attitudes, initiative, hierarchy and the chasm between Western and Asian Buddhism. She attributes the barriers to institutions and culture, and not to the teachings of the Buddha. Her attachment to Buddhism remains vibrant and robust. But she has not voiced concern about the violent pogroms against the Muslims in Myanmar that is being supported by Buddhist monks and nuns. Muhammad Syed, born in the US but raised in Pakistan in an assiduously religious environment, returned to the land of his birth when he was slightly over 20 years of age. In the era of unrelenting attacks on Iraq, he joined the anti-war movement but was dismayed at the rise of fundamentalist views among his Muslim friends. Both his parents had doctoral degrees and he had acquired a liberal, science-oriented perspective. Exchanges with friends on issues of religion and politics prompted him to a deeper study of the Quran and the Hadiths. Unable to reconcile what he found there with science and history, he left Islam. When he informed his parents, they were shocked but also concerned about his spiritual wellbeing and safety. Muhammad felt isolated and desolate until he met others who had distanced themselves from Islam. One among them was Sarah Haider, a person with a similar family background, who had also distanced herself from Islam. Together they initiated a support group, Ex-Muslims of North America, to assist people who had left Islam but were facing strong opposition from family and the community to relent and return to the fold. Some young Muslims had left their faith because of excessive parental control over what they should wear, and who they should associate with. A number were afraid for their own safety or were facing psychological trauma. Today the support group has about 1,000 members. These former Muslims now are atheists. The group tours university campuses and cities in the US and conducts open discussion sessions. Because of the threats they have received, a police officer is usually present during their meetings. A similar group operates in the UK. Muhammad is well read. Unlike the New Atheists, he does not castigate Islam in a blunt way but takes a science-based, historic perspective: You can find beauty within Islam itself. It's an amalgam of many, many ideas. Some are good, some bad. A lot of them are outdated, because it was the 7th Century. It doesn't mean they're all bad. Personally speaking, one of the better things in Islam is the emphasis on charity. Muhammad Syed (Amos 2017). Mahad Olad, a Kenyan now resident in the US, began to walk away from Islam after he heard a Muslim priest justify the terrorist attack that had killed a child and wounded nine people in a suburb of Nairobi. He does not observe Muslim rituals anymore. I realized I couldn’t overlook the fact that today’s Islamic extremists are driven by a political ideology, an ideology derived from Islam’s most sacrosanct texts. (Olad 2017). His parents, siblings and friends are displeased at the turn his life has taken. Many no longer communicate with him. But through the Internet, he located the Ex-Muslims of North America and is now happier in the company of like-minded people. 12.2 WHY RELIGION? The spiritual transitions described above illuminate the diversity of spiritual needs of humans. They are but a small sample of a much broader diversity. They tell us that even in this age of science and technology, people have a need to believe, to reach out to a higher power. Religion is a more resilient social phenomenon than was projected by sociological studies done in the 1960s. It remains a vibrant entity in the early twenty first century. At the same time, these stories also illustrate that people can have a satisfactory spiritual life without formally adhering to a religion and that no particular religion will implant spiritual satisfaction to all. Transitions between faith systems occur mostly among the educated middle classes of the economically advanced nations. Overt transitions are possible when people can choose. But in most parts of the world, such a choice is explicitly or effectively denied. The poor rarely have luxury to rethink their religious beliefs. Yet, looking at between religion transitions gives a vital insight into the answers to the questions stated at the outset of this chapter. Which religion will attract the most recruits? Will irreligiosity prevail over religiosity? Will a new major religion emerge? History educates us that the landscape of faith is not a static one. But in what direction the change will occur is not easy to forecast. A multiplicity of factors, group level and individual level, are at work. Economics is a major factor, but its effects are neither simple nor direct. Group level factors + Social Stability: Historically, religion unified societies and gave a common set of acceptable rules and modes of conduct. Religion was a means for social control. Today, only in overtly theocratic nations is that the case, and even there its influence has waned. In stable secularized nations of today, the values and practices enshrined in the Constitution, the legal, political and education systems, and the mass media unify nations and control social conduct more than religion does. Fealty to the nation, race or ethnicity override fidelity to religion. But when social stability is jeopardized by internal conflict, economic disarray, war or natural calamities, the level of religiosity tends to increase. More people pray for divine intervention to set things right. Yet, a few people who cannot come to terms with why God has been so unkind to them, or their families turn away from religion. Prosperity: Broad-based economic progress and ensuing social stability tends to make the nation less religious. Absolute poverty and life insecurity intensify religious belief. And so does economic inequality. Individuals do not necessarily become less religious as they make material gains. The emergent middle class in some nations of the Global South where absolute poverty and high inequality exist is more devout than the generation of their parents. In general, the prevalence of secularism is associated with economic prosperity, social stability, a social safety net, education, race and improved race and gender relations. Economic Equality: In rich and poor nations, economic disparity is strongly associated with religiosity. That was a key conclusion emanating from an analysis of data collected between 1981 and 2007 from 76 nations: [Economic] inequality increased the probability that the typical person considered himself or herself to be religious, held God in high importance for his or her life, believed in an afterlife, and believed in hell. (Didonato 2013). For the masses, religion provides emotional support. By teaching them to ascribe their problems to divine forces, posit the hand of God behind all things and value spiritual rewards over worldly gains, religion sanctifies the existent social order and its unequal structure. The wealthy engage in charity and donate funds to religious institutions, earning favorable opinions from the common folk. The often well-publicized presence of the super-rich at major religious events raises the public profile of the upper class. Religion smoothens the friction within an unequal social order. Wealth and Power: Religion today is a global multi-billion dollar enterprise. Many prayer venues and religious institutions—Christian, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu—own substantial financial assets and property. Many have large revenue streams from their adherents, and many get large donations from very wealthy individuals. Religious institutions often invest their funds in the stock market and have a vested interest in the maintenance of the economic status quo. Further, in nations with an official religion and other nations too, state funding and proximity to state power affect the scale of religious activity. Wealth and power enable religious organizations to conduct activities that help retain and expand their membership. The proliferation of televangelism and mega-churches, mosques and temples across the world illustrates this process. Other examples are the growth of evangelical Protestantism in Latin America, the increasing influence of Salafism in the Muslim world fueled by Saudi Arabian largess and solidification of fundamentalist Hinduism in India. Atheist and humanist organizations, in comparison, have a miniscule financial muscle or property base. Migration: Either through normal interactions spawned by globalization or often due to outbreak of civil war and imperial interventions, many people in the recent past have moved across borders in search of safe havens for their families. A risky transition for hundreds of thousands, they end up in an abode that is culturally alien and where the welcome mat, if there was one, soon wears thin. Though many blend into the mainstream by adopting newer cultural norms, migrant communities tend to turn inwards and become more religious for varied reasons. Establishing their enclaves, they build places of worship and hold communal events that will bring them and their families into contact with each other on a regular basis and provide a psychological blanket to deal with the discrimination they face at work, school or in public places. Thus, in the West, even as religiosity (Christianity) overall is on the decline, among the immigrant communities (Muslim, Hindu, Catholics or other), it is not. That also applies to the historically marginalized minorities in the West. Demographics: The populations of the Global South nations have grown at a faster rate than those of the prosperous nations of the West and Asia. And the level of religiosity has remained stable or has been increasing in the poorer nations. These two trends imply that in the long run, unless the socio-economic conditions improve significantly, the overall level of religiosity across the globe will increase. That applies equally to Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. In the Western nations, the embrace of irreligiosity is more marked among the youth but that is not yet the case in the Global South where a much larger proportion of the population is young. If marked general prosperity ensues and initiates a demographic transition, the Global South may mimic the trend towards irreligiosity in the Western youth. Women and marginalized communities generally have lower educational and economic opportunities. With limited life horizons, they are less drawn to atheism than are the economically secure men from the dominant stratum. Religion tends to provide them a supportive environment even as it does not address their basic underprivileged status. They find a traditional sanctuary in the church, temple or mosque that is denied to them in the world beyond. Role Model: Priests and religious leaders are expected to be morally upright, selfless, sincere individuals devoted to the spiritual and worldly well-being of their flock. Generally, a small segment of the clergy are morally exemplary, self-sacrificing, inspirational persons. The majority perform their duties in line with their rank, get along well with their congregations, do not cheat or abuse, but do not venture beyond the call of duty. It is a minority who, while adorning a noble façade, engage in financial, sexual and other forms of misconduct and criminality. The problem is that these rotten apples get away with their misdeeds for too long, and often because of protection from church and state officials. Thus, when the horrific conduct and the cover-up become public knowledge, the priesthood is tainted. The revelations induce some followers to leave the religion and discourage outsiders from joining. In particular, they alienate the youth, and make them less religious. The multitude of clerical scandals that have been exposed in the past two decades notwithstanding, investigations on this front still have a long way to go. According to a report based on a nationwide investigation, from 1950 to now, about 330,000 children in France were sexually abused. In Canada, Ireland, Belgium, Australia, Spain, Italy, Portugal and the UK, campaigns by the victims and media revelations prompted the authorities to investigate the allegations. In some nations, comprehensive inquiries have been conducted but in other nations, they are just taking off. In Latin America, home to nearly 40% of the world’s Catholic population, substantial anecdotal evidence of clerical misconduct exists. But the often close linkage between the church hierarchy and the state has meant that few official inquiries have been launched. All major and some minor religions are affected by clerical misdeeds, but the investigative process has gone the furthest for Christianity, and mainly for the Catholic churches. Official investigations of abuse of children, women and nuns by priests in the non-Christian nations are either non-existent or at a nascent stage. When priests promote discrimination and violence against some social groups, it can be a double-edged sword. Some believers will be attracted by their words, but others will be repelled. Some will disassociate themselves with institutionalized religion—the church and the clergy—but continue to practice their faith on a personal basis. Syncretism: Asian Buddhists combine Buddhism with Hinduism, Shintoism, Confucianism or traditional religions. Muslims and Christians in Africa follow the rituals and hold the beliefs of their ancestral religions. The majority of Christians in the US subscribe to a New Age belief creed such as astrology, crystal healing, reincarnation, and paranormal phenomena. By providing a flexible worldview, syncretism broadens the religious base. Enduring Religiosity: Religiosity breeds religiosity. Parents transmit their religion and values to their children who are acclimatized to religious ideas and functions from an early age. Such an influence is stronger in the nations of the Global South. Religious bonds within communities here are strong, and adherence to the religion of birth tends not to diminish from one generation to the next. Individual level factors + Moral Compass: People generally regard themselves in a positive light, as good persons who care for others. To the believers, religious precepts provide a moral compass, a guide to conduct, and come to be a part of their mental repertoire. If they give money to a homeless person, they feel happy. They have done their duty to their faith. They are content. Coping Instrument: A religious outlook serves as a coping mechanism in the midst of personal and general adverse events in life. Why did your child get cancer; why was your house destroyed in a flood; why did your mother die? It was God’s will or the consequence of your past-life deeds. Religious beliefs cushion the impact of life’s difficulties and induce emotional tranquility. Fellow believers provide a supportive community and aid the congregant come to terms with a sad reality. Life Regulator: The rites, rituals and celebrations of religion lend order and structure to life. The adherent is conditioned to the ensuing rhythm and feelings of tranquility and harmony with fellow adherents. Internalization of such conditioning from an early age becomes a powerful magnet attaching him or her to the faith. Universal Explanator: Religious belief provides a general and handy explanations for small and large events. Why did it rain today? Laws of meteorology and analysis of weather data give a probability-based explanation. A person of faith may add that it was God who made those laws. Why was she involved in road accident today, even though she was driving safely she usually does? Investigations from different vantages may provide the causative factors. But whatever that factor, the question will remain. Why was it as it was? The person of faith, like many eminent philosophers, would reason that there has to be an ultimate cause, the supreme universal being. Some scientists ascribe the laws of science to God’s design. Pillar of Spiritual Quest: Humans are inquisitive animals. Hundreds of thousands of years of evolution has instilled in them a sense of wonder at the occurrences around them and beyond. It has provided a survival and developmental advantage over predators and calamities. Despite major gains in understanding the huge multiplicity of natural and social phenomena, many things remain inexplicable. What is life? What is consciousness? Is there life after death? And so on. Such a gap has propelled people to believe that there is a spiritual dimension, a world beyond this world that subsumes all phenomena. Religion answers big questions on life, death and reality: Where did this universe come from? What is the meaning of life? Are people responsible for their actions? By providing clear answers, it helps people fulfill a spiritual void. The answers come in distinctive forms. Rarely based on rational analysis or objective evidence, they mostly derive from faith-based feelings and life experience. Even the non-religious are susceptible to such tendencies. [Around] three-quarters of atheists and nine out of 10 agnostics are open to the existence of supernatural phenomena, including everything from astrology to supernatural beings and life after death. (Paul-Choudhury 2019). The Cost of Disbelief: It is not easy to abandon behaviors, a vision on life and a supportive community that has been you from childhood. Leaving a religion is often an anguish-filled process. The leaver has to find a new social life. Without adequate support from like-minded persons, she may sink into deep depression. These costs help maintaining religiosity, especially among the youth. +++ Which societal and personal level factors will exercise the dominant influence upon humanity and what forms of religiosity or non-religiosity will come to prevail are matters rather difficult to predict. Perhaps a completely new belief system with a large following will emerge. One major international study projected that over the next thirty years, the global level of religiosity will increase from 84% to 87%. Christianity and Islam will have almost equal representation, and the proportion not attached to a formal religion will decrease slightly. But this study assumed that neoliberalism will remain the dominant global social formation. 12.3 FOUR ICONS Now we describe the life and work of four icons of religion and humanism. Desmond M Tutu + God's love is too great to be confined to any one side of a conflict or to any one religion. Desmond Tutu Born in South Africa in 1931, Desmond M Tutu was baptized a Methodist but later joined the Anglican church. He wanted to study medicine. But health problems and poor family finances prevented him from doing so. Instead, he trained as a teacher, earned a bachelor’s degree, and taught in a high school. In 1958, outraged by the passage of discriminatory legislation that limited the scope and quality of education for Africans, he resigned from teaching. It was a dreary time. Africans and colored communities faced stricter restrictions in education, residence, travel and employment. New Pass laws compelled non-whites to carry identity cards all the time. Long-term family separation added to their misery. Racial discrimination was being institutionalized in all the domains of life. Desmond M Tutu Influenced by Reverend Trevor Huddleston, an anti-Apartheid cleric, Tutu became a priest. Ordained in 1960, he went on study theology at a college in London, UK, and gradually rose up the ladder of the South African Anglican church. Besides serving in various priestly capacities in Lesotho and South African churches, he taught theology at a South African seminary. Under the sponsorship of the World Council of Churches, he traveled across Africa and Asia, trips that also enabled him to connect with social justice and freedom activists. Having begun to publicly express his views against the racist Apartheid system in the mid-1960s, he used the pulpit to mobilize people to undertake non-violent struggles to dismantle it. He firmly supported a global economic and political boycott of the racist regime. With many South African freedom fighters in prison or exile, he became one of loudest internal voices standing up to racist rule. His valiant, bold efforts earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. He was ordained the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in South Africa in 1986, making him the first African to hold that position. Even after white minority rule unraveled in 1991 and South Africa held its first free election in 1994, his activism continued. Appointed to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he was tasked with looking into major human rights violations during the Apartheid era. The Commission was mandated to induce the perpetrators to confess their criminal deeds and apologize to the victims and the nation. Hearing gruesome, gut-wrenching testimonies from the victims and perpetrators, he was often moved to tears. Only a person of unblemished moral credibility and resolve could have guided the process in a way as to make the hitherto deeply divided nation move towards unity. Tutu saw the Commission as a first but necessary step in a long journey. He did not rest with the promotion of interracial harmony but campaigned for economic justice, equality and good governance as well. In particular, he criticized the policies of the African National Congress whose rule had made a few Africans stupendously wealthy, done little to reduce the wealth gap between the races and left the masses in the townships and rural areas in misery. In 2013, he announced that he would no longer vote for the ANC candidates. He also stridently rallied against corruption, homophobia and violence against women. As a respected statesman, he worked on the international front to promote peace in conflict ridden zones such as Cyprus, Northern Ireland and Kenya. Likening the treatment of Palestinians by Israel to that of Africans under the Apartheid system, he also condemned the US war on Iraq and opposed the Chinese control of Tibet. He supported the people of neighboring Zimbabwe by criticizing the authoritarian, incompetent rule of Robert Mugabe. Teaming up with senior religious figures in different nations, he was at the forefront of promoting global religious tolerance and harmony. His God was the God of the downtrodden. People often speak of God being even-handed. God is not even-handed. God is biased, in favor of the weak, of the despised. Desmond Tutu Desmond Tutu understood the severe ramifications of global climate change, especially for the poor nations. Calling it a major moral challenge, he urged immediate action to deal with it. Tutu faced the sad, unjust reality around him with optimism, resolve and a unique sense of humor. His steadfastness and endearing, smiling persona earned him local and international fame and respect and popularity. When he died in December 2021, he was mourned as a heroic icon for human rights in the nation and abroad. [Desmond Tutu] was South Africa’s Martin Luther King – a Christian clergyman who worked, non-violently, for racial justice and equality. Steven Gish (Reinl 2021). Janani J Luwum + Janani J Luwum was the Catholic archbishop of Uganda and adjacent areas when the army commander, Idi Amin, overthrew the democratically elected government of Milton Obote in 1972. Though initially supported by Britain and Israel, Amin soon turned against them, and instituted a draconian regime of persecution, torture and murder that killed up to 500,000 Ugandans, displaced many more and expelled the entire Ugandan Asian community from its homeland. His corrupt mode of governance turned the economy into shambles. The internal opposition was terrorized into silence. One of the few voices that bravely criticized him in public and demanded an end to the killings was that of Archbishop Janani Luwum. The government accused him and fellow Christian leaders of treason and planning a coup. Though the charges were baseless, he was placed in custody, beaten and shot without a trial. Today, Archbishop Janani Luwum is honored as a hero in Uganda and a martyr by Anglican churches across the world. His day of birth, the 16th of February, has been a public holiday in Uganda since 2015. Janani J Luwum Malala Yousafzai + I truly believe the only way we can create global peace is through not only educating our minds, but our hearts and our souls. Malala Yousafzai Malala Yousafzai was born in 1997 in the hinterland of Pakistan in a Sunni Muslim family of slightly above average means. Her father composes poetry and operates several private schools in the area. Largely educated by him, she became fluent in Pashto, Urdu and English at a young age. Her home area was dominated by the Pakistani Taliban who had slapped a ban on education for girls. Among other things, they destroyed more than a hundred girls’ schools. Barely 11, Malala could no longer attend school. But she did not just sit back. With encouragement from her father, she teamed up with a local BBC reporter to campaign against the cultural restrictions and denial of education and freedom of movement to girls and women. As it was a risky work, her initial blogs and reports appeared under a pseudonym. Her lucid, moving narrations received broad online and media attention. Besides castigating the Taliban, she also criticized the Pakistani military for not taking adequate and timely action to protect the local population from the Taliban. The adverse publicity generated by her reports, solidarity actions by boys’ schools, and military assaults pressurized the Taliban to partially lift the ban on school attendance for girls. Even though her home area remained a conflict zone with the people suffering from bombs being dropped by both sides, she continued her educational activism in national and international fora. But It made her a prime target for the Taliban. Her father had already received death threats. In October 2012, as she was on a bus returning home from a school examination, she was singled out by a Taliban gunman and shot. The attack caused serious face, neck and shoulder wounds. But after several months of treatment in Pakistan and the UK, she survived and made an almost complete recovery. Two other girls on the bus received minor injuries. Malala Yousafzai The widely publicized assassination attempt was condemned by global leaders. Large scale protests were held in Pakistan and elsewhere. In the aftermath, the first Right to Education law was ratified in Pakistan. Further, fifty prominent Muslim clerics in Pakistan derided the attack and issued a fatwa against the gunmen who had carried it out. It was also denounced by the local council of Islamic scholars. Yet, the Taliban had no regrets. Sharia says that even a child can be killed if he is propagating against Islam. Pakistan Taliban Spokesperson (Wikipedia 2022 - Malala Yousafzai). Unceasing threats from the Taliban have not deterred Malala. Her campaign for women’s education goes on. Now a global celebrity, she was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, the youngest person to secure the prize. She has garnered many national and international awards. Her 2015 book, I am Malala, is an international best seller. Continuing her education in the UK, Malala secured high grades in the O-level and A-level examinations, and in 2020, graduated with honors from the University of Oxford. She is widely recognized as a champion for women’s and children’s rights, has addressed the UN and other institutions and has been received by international leaders and celebrities. She oversees a not-for-profit fund, the Malala Fund, that supports girls’ education worldwide. She has castigated the mistreatment of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, supported Palestinian people and Syrian refugees, derided anti-Muslim policies of India including the occupation of Kashmir, faulted the asylum policies of Australia and criticized the Western intrusion in Iraq and Afghanistan. But her reception in Pakistan has been a mixed one. Conservative Muslim clerics and some media columnists have criticized her views. Officials of the 173,000 strong federation of private schools castigated her for promoting secular education and banned her book in their schools. She and her father have been branded as ‘anti-Islam,’ ‘agent of the West,’ ‘anti-Pakistan,’ and ‘a Jewish agent’. Public events to oppose her ideas have also been held. Malala is an articulate and consistent champion of women’s and children’s rights and of global peace, justice and decent lives for all humans. Instead of according attention to her progressive vision and placing her actions in the context of the pro-democracy struggles in Pakistan, the media in the West projects her as a lone, but extraordinary person in the conservative world of Islam. Reflecting the prevailing Islamophobia in the West, it is a picture that paints Muslims as narrow-minded people. While the media highlight her criticism of the Taliban, they downplay the fact that she is a firm opponent of US drone strikes in Pakistan and Afghanistan. During her visit to the White House, she told US President Barack Obama that the drone strikes were killing civilians, worsening the lives of the people and fomenting hatred in the region. But that was lost in the media coverage of the event. Malala is a practicing Muslim who married according to Muslim rites and has clearly declared her loyalty to Islam, Pakistan and Pashtun ethnicity. And her progressive, tolerant vision of Islam demarcates culture from scripture. Traditions are not sent from heaven. They are not sent from God. It is we who make cultures and we have the right to change it and we should change it. Malala Yousafzai Holding that misogyny, oppression of women and child marriage derive from history and culture, she says: Nowhere is it written in the Quran that a woman should be dependent on a man. The word has not come down from the heavens to tell us that every woman should listen to a man. Malala Yousafzai Men have no divine right to dictate what women should wear. Only the woman has the right to decide what she should wear. She opposes both the imposition of the burka by the conservative Islamists and the bans on the burka and hijab in Western nations and parts of India. Let the woman be free to decide, be it burka, hijab, jeans, shalwar kameez, bikini or whatever. Women are constantly being told to put on or take off various items of clothing, constantly sexualized or suppressed. We are beaten at home, punished at school and harassed in public for what we wear. Malala Yousafzai (TET 2022). She does not wear the burka. Her favored dress is a modest, colorful shalwar kameez commonly worn by urban Pakistani women and a shawl that partly covers her hair. To her, education is the key to women’s liberation. More funds are needed for schools, books and pens, not for bombs and the military: [Education] is our basic right. Not just in the West; Islam too has given us this right. Islam says every girl and every boy should go to school. In the Quran it is written, God wants us to have knowledge. He wants us to know why the sky is blue and about oceans and stars. Malala Yousafzai Malala is also a socialist who sympathizes with Marxism. Thus, to an audience of Pakistani Marxists, she had no reservations to assert: I am convinced Socialism is the only answer …. Only [it] will free us from the chains of bigotry and exploitation. Malala Yousafzai Malala is an astonishingly articulate, clear-headed visionary who smoothly blends the struggle for emancipation of women with an unapologetic loyalty to Islam, a strong distaste for the Taliban with firm criticism of Western intervention in Afghanistan and Pakistan, commitment to education with a socialist outlook and serious dedication to her cause with a joyful demeanor. James Baldwin + The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us, and the light goes out. James Baldwin James A Baldwin was born to a single mother in Harlem, New York in 1924. Three years later, she married a Baptist preacher. Growing up poor in a racist environment, and a conflict-ridden relationship with his stepfather, he had to take part-time jobs from an early age to support his family. Fond of literary master pieces and movies, he excelled at school. His teachers encouraged him to pursue creative writing. His essays, stories and poems were published in church and local outlets, winning prizes and accolades. Impressed by his talents, some teachers went out of their way to familiarize him with the vast world of theatre and literature. He also edited the high school magazine. The realities of life for young black persons in the US were restrictive and dispiriting. Prospects for a sound education or a good job were very limited. At age fourteen, Baldwin was anguished about the direction his peers were heading. Boys and girls had detached themselves from their families and school to indulge into drugs, alcohol, petty crime and worse. Tensions with his stepfather made him unhappy. The narrowminded efforts of the priestly stepfather to protect his son from the ‘evils’ of modernity, reading and movies, had alienated Baldwin from the church. Yet, desolate, afraid of being sucked into a life of aimless bluster, unable to fathom his budding homosexuality, but determined to get an education, Baldwin sought love and refuge in the church. To support the large family, he, the eldest son, discontinued his schooling. For a sensitive young man, it was a difficult choice. He lurched from one low-paid manual job to another, encountering racist treatment from white workers and employers everywhere. Yet, the frustrations of life notwithstanding, he continued writing essays and short stories and later embarked on crafting full length novels. James Baldwin Expecting respite from racism, Baldwin migrated to Paris when he was 24 years old. And it was there, in the company of eminent writers, poets, artists, philosophers and activists, that his literary and conceptual bearings became solidified. By 1956, he had published two novels (Go Tell It on The Mountain and Giovanni’s Room) and a collection of essays (Notes of a Native Son) to great critical acclaim as well as controversy. The civil rights movement in the US was gathering steam and he could not just stand by. Returning home, he immediately plunged into the thick of the struggle. Marching, writing and speaking, he interacted with progressive leaders, activists and personalities of the day. Later, he returned to Paris and spent the major portion of his life there. In both places, he often lived in poverty and lacked a fixed abode. His personal life was marred by difficult relationships with other men, depression and occasional suicidality. Baldwin wrote five outstanding novels, several plays and short stories and numerous essays. His luminous prose, erudite reflections, commentary on the American society and insights into human psychology and sexuality made him one of the most prominent literary figures of the era and won him awards and fellowships. Baldwin also connected, often in close, personal terms, with an array of distinguished writers, activists, social scientists, musicians, celebrities, philosophers and historians in the US and Europe, and a few from Africa as well. A number of upcoming writers and artistes, who later rose to fame in their fields, credited him for the positive influence he had exercised upon them. Baldwin’s political philosophy transcended the struggle against racism. It should not be just about equality for a race but equality for all citizens. He was a humanist who held that socialism was the remedy for the deep-rooted problems of American society. An outstanding thinker and activist, a crafter of sparkling gems of prose, verse and commentary, he was a steadfast champion of human rights and gay rights. +++ James Baldwin’s views on religion defy simple classification. His father was a Pentecostal preacher, his mother, a devout Christian. The overbearing demeanor of his father had alienated him from the church. Yet, faced with a disheartening life around him in his teen years, he attended church services where he found the ecstatic devotional Pentecostal atmosphere soothing. Church hymns and rites fascinated him. Encouraged by the local minister, he trained to be a Junior Minister at age 14. He attended school as usual but preached on Sundays. His enticing voice, youthful ardor and vibrant delivery made him a popular preacher. It boosted his confidence. With support from his teachers, his literary output bloomed at the same time. As he studied the Bible and explored church life, he saw that the religions of the black folk and the white folk were the same. Both worshipped the same God in the same way. But their lives were so different. After three years of preaching, one question vexed him day and night: And if [God’s] love was so great, and if He loved all His children, why were we, the blacks, cast down so far? Why? (Baldwin 1962). Unable to get a satisfactory explanation, he sought an alternative. The world around him offered two choices: racial ‘integration’ or separation. Rejecting the first as tokenism within a white, Christian power structure, he turned to Islam, and engaged with Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam. But the racially exclusionary creed he encountered there was abhorrent to him. Discrimination cannot be solved by discrimination. It can be solved only by love and respect. The glorification of one race and the consequent debasement of another—or others—always has been and always will be a recipe for murder. …. Whoever debases others is debasing himself. (Baldwin 1962). Ultimately, after early age immersion into Pentecostalism and three years of delivering eloquent sermons during his teenage years, he parted company with organized Christianity. He visualized African-American Christianity as an outcome of cultural genocide that had accompanied slavery. The church was a unifying institution for blacks, during slavery and now. But it united them on terms provided by the white world. It limited their aspirations, gave room for hope when there was none and made people too willing to accept suffering. The white man’s church and God were not his church and God. His God was a God of liberation. If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him. James Baldwin (Baldwin 1962). In 1970, Baldwin engaged in a wide-ranging, seven-and-a-half hour public exchange with the anthropologist Margaret Meade. She claimed that despite its practical shortfalls, Christian values were the ultimate source of morality. You and I, what we have in the belief in the brotherhood of man, of all men, of the power of love, we got out of the Christian tradition. Margaret Mead (Popova 2015). Alluding to the contradictions in the Bible and the ugly historical record, he depicted the dominant white Christianity of America in blunt terms: I remember the photographs of white women in New Orleans, several years ago, during the school integration crisis, who were standing with their babies in their arms, and in the name of Jesus Christ they were spitting on other women’s children, women who happened to be black, women with their babies in their arms. … I cannot understand that religion. James Baldwin (Popova 2015). Yet, Baldwin did not advocate abandonment of Christianity. He realized that the church had become integral to African-American life and that black people had imprinted on it a stamp that transformed it into an institution of their own. It was a venue where black people spoke their minds, eased the pain inflicted upon them by the white society and expressed solidarity. With its rousing music, singing and movements, it nourished the soul, provided release, and strengthened resolve. We Shall Overcome, the song that effectively was the anthem of the civil rights movement, had its roots in the black churches. Even though church-centered life made African Americans more resilient, it also induced submissiveness, undue patience and hope on a divine entity to change their lives. Priests were a major portion of the leadership of the civil rights movement. Most were inclined towards gradualist integration within the existing socio-economic structure and did not fathom the hollow nature of American democracy. Accommodating to the status quo was not Baldwin’s vision. He also decried the homophobia prevalent in the black churches. Yet, Baldwin did not align with the rejectionist vision of Malcolm X either. Envisioning human unity under a fundamentally changed social and political structure, he advocated unity based not on blind belief but on reason and knowledge. It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have. James Baldwin Baldwin did not regard himself an atheist. Enamored with the ebullient spirit of black Christian worship, he was attracted to pastoral eloquence, enticing hymns and music and the humble, fired up congregants. A spiritual essence existed even within the racially debased white church. In spite of everything, there was in the life I fled a zest and a joy and a capacity for facing and surviving disaster that are very moving and very rare. …. The church was very exciting. It took a long time for me to disengage myself from this excitement, and on the blindest, most visceral level, I never really have, and never will. There is no music like that music, no drama like the drama of the saints rejoicing, the sinners moaning, the tambourines racing, and all those voices coming together and crying holy unto the Lord. There is still, for me, no pathos quite like the pathos of those multicolored, worn, somehow triumphant and transfigured faces, speaking from the depths of a visible, tangible, continuing despair of the goodness of the Lord. James Baldwin (Baldwin 1962). Though Baldwin lambasted Christian practice and theology in his novels and essays, he retained the essence of the spirituality he had imbibed from his days at the pulpit throughout his life. 12.4 A MODEL BELIEVER Hindus cremate the dead. At times, the family has a shrine (samadhi) made for the departed one which is placed in the crematorium grounds. The master sculptor of shrines at Barisal Mahashashan, the largest Hindu crematorium in Bangladesh, is a Muslim named Taher Ali Khan. Over the past three and half decades, he has crafted more than ten thousand samadhis. In a nation where the Hindu minority has often found itself under siege from fundamentalist Muslim groups, Khan is a shining beacon of interfaith amity. A humble man of modest means, he does not cut corners but sculpts what the family desires with single minded diligence. He is respected and admired by the Hindus but is often criticized by fellow Muslims. They say that by making idols, he betrays the spirit of Islam. But Ali Khan sees it in another light: My prophet said to find bread by honest work. And he advised us to refrain from stealing, hurting others or committing any crimes. I work here constructing tombs. I don’t see anything that would jeopardize my religion. I consider Hindus to be my brothers and sisters. Taher Ali Khan (Al-Jazeera 2021). Taher Ali Khan Would the world embrace the humility and moral decency of Taher Ali Khan, it would be a far better place than it is now. 12.5 QUAKERISM Stand still in that which is pure. George Fox Quakerism, formally the Religious Society of Friends, is a faith tradition that was founded by George Fox, a Protestant dissident, in Britain in the middle of the 17th century. Arguing that Christians had deviated from the piety of the apostolic era and decrying rigid organizational structures and undue attention to rituals, Fox advocated ethical living and cultivation of the ‘Inner Light,’ the spirit of God present in each person. His ideas were rejected by the main Christian denominations, and he was imprisoned eight times on charges of heresy. Yet, his charisma and enticing vision earned him a growing but modest following. Facing persecution for their beliefs and nonconformism in Britain, many Quakers migrated to North America where they established strong and influential branches but still remained a distinct minority. Today the adult Quakers (Friends) number less than 400,000. Though spread out across the world, about half are in Africa, particularly East Africa. There are more Quakers in Kenya than in any other nation. Quakerism does not have a central organization, a formal hierarchy or a priesthood though the Quaker groups in Africa partly operate like traditional churches and employ pastors. In most nations, local branches hold monthly meetings to deal with practical matters. Members may also raise other issues. An annual meeting of representatives of local branches is convened as well. Followers of faiths other than Christianity also attend Quaker meetings. Quakers congregate once a week for worship, but those sessions are less formal than in a typical Christian church and may be held on any day of the week. Non-members may attend. The sessions comprise periods of collective silence punctuated by expression of the thoughts by persons touched by the spirit. Quakers avoid rigid ceremonies, baptism and sacraments and do not observe the Sabbath or even the main Christian holy days like Easter and Christmas. Refusal of oaths of obedience toward authority is a basic part of their creed. Quakers believe in Jesus Christ and generally accept that the Bible is an infallible, divinely revealed book. But they do not regard it as the sole source of spiritual enlightenment and, reflecting their tolerant spirit, they consult the books of the other faith traditions. They also accept personal insight acquired through meditational communion with God as a source of spiritual wisdom. In case of a conflict, the Bible has the primacy. With a flexible stand on heaven, hell and afterlife, they reject the notion of original sin and hold that there is inner goodness in all humans. Instead of ritualized worship, they emphasize moral living based upon non-violence, pacifism, equality, modest dress and living, honesty, abstinence from gambling and smoking, and minimal use of alcohol. Quakerism has a better record than other Christian denominations in promoting gender equality and accepting homosexuals within its fold. Some Western branches carry out same-sex marriages as well. Quakers oppose the death penalty and do not favor a stringent ban on abortion, divorce, birth control or euthanasia. But they urge people facing such quandaries to seek counselling and medical guidance before deciding. Quaker women activists have played, often in creative ways, a key role in the struggle for women’s rights. Margret Fell, a founding Quaker, utilized the Bible and Quaker belief in the spiritual equality of all humans to make a case for the equality of men and women in secular affairs as well. Arrested for her beliefs, she spent many years in prison. Quaker activist Anne Knight wrote what is usually considered the first leaflet calling for women to have the vote, arguing that a female influence on Parliament would lead to more peaceful and just decisions. (QSS 2020). Quaker Star While Quaker scientists have contributed to fields like botany, psychology, astronomy, chemistry, entomology, pharmacy and crystallography, Quakers have been divided on the validity of the Theory of Evolution ever since it was first described by Charles Darwin. But after strong initial opposition, most Quakers in the West accept the theory but those in Africa largely reject it in favor of creationism. Quakerism is not a theologically unified entity. Several divisions based on the emphasis placed on the different aspects of Christian faith, practice and social activism exist, but all ascribe to the basic tenets laid down by George Fox. Interestingly, an atheistic-cum-agnostic strand that values collective action through a religious organization also exists within Quakerism. Quakers value practice over pronouncements and encourage individuals to set an example for others through ethical conduct. Driven by the firm belief in equality and dignity of all humans and stress on moral integrity, Quakerism became a socially engaged tradition devoted to justice and human rights from its early days. Opposing war, slavery, racial discrimination and the opium trade in China conducted by British companies, they campaigned for women’s right to vote, prison reform, poverty alleviation and improved public education. During the first world war, they assisted many conscientious objectors. But going beyond pacifism, they seek to identify and address the root causes of international conflict. Recognizing their stellar contributions to global peace, the year 1947 Nobel Peace Prize was bestowed upon the principal American and British branches of Quakerism. Quakers are not just opposed to war, but to all forms of violence. George Fox was personally opposed to the use of violence. He refused to defend himself when he was attacked and often, when the violence was over, had kind words or actions for his attackers. (BBC 2009). With a deep sense of responsibility towards life and future generations, Quakers are committed to the protection of the planetary environment. But they hold that measures to safeguard the environment should not unduly harm poor peoples and nations. The rich nations must bear the major costs of the efforts, reduce wasteful consumption patterns and fossil fuel usage to the levels recommended by scientists. The red and black star symbol is used by many Quaker relief and service agencies. Despite having an ethical code that emphasizes social justice and equality, Quakers and important Quaker personalities have stood on both sides on key issues like capitalism, colonialism, imperialism and corporate globalization. Quaker opposition to slavery was contemporaneous with slavery becoming an impediment to the development of industrial capitalism based on wage labor. Their emphasis on thrift and avoidance of debt reflected an emerging capitalist ethic of saving and investing. David Ricardo, one of the fathers of liberal economics, was a Quaker. Importantly, Quaker investors founded major banks, insurance agencies, iron works, pharmaceutical, match and footwear industries, railways and shipbuilding enterprises, and chocolate, confectionary and biscuit making factories. Quaker entrepreneurs were the forward-looking drivers of the process of transformation of mercantile capitalism into industrial capitalism. But in order to assuage their humanitarian ethic, they promoted capitalism with a human face. They envisaged a system where workers would get a fair wage, work under safe conditions and be treated decently. Companies would avoid deceptive advertising even as the owners strove to profit and accumulate. Joseph Rowntree and George Cadbury, the pioneering leaders of the global chocolate industry, and especially the latter, championed an idyllic brand of capitalism. John Cadbury, who founded a tea-and-coffee shop in Birmingham in 1824, practiced a brand of ‘Quaker capitalism’ that valued hard work and ‘wealth creation for the benefit of the workers, the local community, and society at large,’ rather than large profits only for the entrepreneurs themselves. (Reynolds 2010). But despite some successes on their part, their dream was not sustainable in the context of fierce competition between capitalists and capitalist nations. Colonization of overseas territories to find raw materials for their industries, and markets for their manufactures which entailed brutal suppression of the colonized peoples and use of highly exploited labor was central to industrial capitalism. And capitalist nations fought brutal wars in the bid to establish their colonies. It was a reality that mocked any idea of a benign ‘Quaker capitalism’ and peace between the major capitalist nations. From the early days of chocolate manufacture, cacao, its basic ingredient, was produced using forced, and in places, slave labor. Farmers who grew it in small plots were paid pitifully. Today, cacao is grown in many nations of the Global South but nearly three quarters of the total is from West Africa. The top ten producers are Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Dominican Republic and Colombia. The cacao bean is largely purchased for the factories of the major chocolate makers like Mars, Hershey’s and Nestlé. The global cacao industry is now worth more than 100 billion dollars. In the recent decades, the cacao industry has seen numerous exposés of egregious violations of human and labor rights at primary production level. Use of child trafficking and child labor and long hours of work under unsafe conditions are common. In West Africa alone, over two million children work on cacao farms. In places like Brazil, use of slave labor persists. Many farm workers and small-scale farmers earn less than the pitiful $1.90 poverty level set by the World Bank. Living in miserable conditions, many are plagued by ill health due to exposure to toxic chemicals and backbreaking toil. The child worker is fed poorly; malnutrition is rampant. Abject poverty induces families to sell their children to the traffickers. Some NGOs have launched fair trade drives to ensure a fair return for the cacao producers and eliminate child labor. Some confectionary makers have faced lawsuits and have pledged to not purchase products tainted with child labor. But at the same time, they have thrown a denser blanket of secrecy over their sources and taken minimal public relations type of action to address the problem. The usual corporate bluster and whitewash prevail but children and adults working on cacao farms continue to suffer. Seeking to boost export earnings, the neoliberal governments of the producing nations have failed to take adequate action to protect children and farmers. Chocolate companies keep certifying their products to tell consumers that they source their cocoa ethically, but these companies continue to enable abuse on cocoa farms. (FEP 2022). The modern cacao production and chocolate manufacturing industries are a legacy of Quaker capitalism. Quakerism was not as much an anti-colonialist and anti-neocolonialist creed as it was an anti-slavery creed. Reviewing the history of Quaker contributions to capitalist development, a Quaker analyst declares that: [Quakers] helped to create the modern prison system with the innovation of the penitentiary [and were] the driving force behind the industries and economic structures that shaped emerging industrial capitalism. (Davison 2006). But he goes on to lament that Quakerism was instrumental in the creation of an economic system that: has become carcinomic, an engine of unlimited consumption and growth, not to mention the blood on its hands, from the Western Front in World War I to the streets of Baghdad. (Davison 2006). Quakerism quintessentially epitomizes the paradoxical nature of religion. On the one hand, its luminaries have included outstanding reformers, champions of human rights, respected writers and popular entertainers. Quakers feature among the founding personalities of human rights, peace, disaster relief and human rights agencies like Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Oxfam. Many Quakers take a progressive stand on pro-corporate globalization, punitive sanctions, neoliberalism and protecting the environment. Notorious leaders and purveyors of neoliberalism, racism and imperial aggression have also stood within the Quaker ranks. For example, Herbert Hoover, the frankly racist and inept 31st President of the United States, was a Quaker. Eminent Quakers have profiteered from the establishment of and masking exploitative child labor in the nations of the Global South. Quakerism has vacillated from open activism against discrimination and injustice to quietism and tacit acceptance of the status quo. Today, some chapters of Quakerism stand out as the most humanistic, internationalist, anti-racist, feminist and anti-neoliberal faith movements. A minority, mainly in the West, openly espouses socialism. The Quaker Socialist Society in Britain is a leading voice among them. But in Africa, where the majority of the Quakers live and where violations of human rights are a major concern, their churches have mostly taken a conservative stand on social and political issues and have rarely been immersed in local struggles for human, civil and economic rights. Church service in most Western Quaker groups is without pastoral lead and is like a silent spiritual vigil, a far cry from traditional Christian worship. But in the African branches, it often is led by a pastor and includes rousing hymn singing sessions. Quakerism manages to blend adherence to the main tenets of Christianity with Sufi-like cultivation of the inner spirit and social activism. It is flexible enough bring conventional religiosity, atheism, socialism and neoliberalism under one roof. Not a homogeneous movement over time and space, its history demonstrates the contradictory complexity of religion. That religion is a paradoxical, dynamic entity is exemplified by two leading lights of Protestantism, each of whom founded a major Christian tradition. One swung towards social injustice and the other, towards social justice. Jonathan Edwards, an 18th century American philosopher and pastor is regarded as the principal theologian of Puritanism and Evangelicalism. His works constitute a part of the canon of the conservative Christian circles to this day. As an unapologetic segregationist slave owner, he regarded slave labor to be vital to the American economy. To justify his stand on theological grounds, he was not averse to using selected and distorted extracts from the Bible to attack the opponents of slavery. Edwards held that: So long as slaves … were purchased legally, humanely treated, and every effort was made to convert them to Christianity—it was all fine. (Poletti 2022). John Wesley, who also lived in the 18th century, was an influential British theologian and pastor. As the main founder of the Methodist tradition within the Anglican church, he changed many liturgical practices and steered the church towards social activism, including the abolition of slavery and prison reform. Though persecuted at the outset for his unconventional views, later on he became one of the most popular pastors in England. His opposition to slavery was forthright: Ever since I heard of [slavery] first I felt a perfect detestation of the horrid slave trade. (Poletti 2022). Here we have two influential luminaries of Protestantism projecting widely divergent views on a matter of central importance to humanity. Yet, each saw his position to be in consonance with the Bible, which to them was the word of God. 12.6 UNITY AND STRUGGLE Religious conflict is a part of several major interrelated problems confronting humanity today. Human-caused dramatic climate change and environmental degradation combine with disastrous famines and outbreaks of pandemics to threaten planetary life and enhance the social instability caused by vast economic disparities, oligarchy and poverty. The growing complexity of the global economy and the short-term, profit-centered horizons of the major economic actors add to the intrinsic cyclical instability of capitalism. Rivalries between major powers, the grotesque nature of modern military technology and militarism threaten peace everywhere. And growing divisiveness based on ethnicity, race, and religion induced by authoritarian political parties have the potential to cause damaging social chaos and civil conflict. The existence of life on this planet is at risk. It demands international grassroots level unity and action by people from all religious and secular traditions. It is a struggle against the elitist forces and institutions that crop up and benefit from the socio-economic system that forms the foundation upon which these problems rest. Unified action for change is hard to envision if the religious—some six out of seven humans—accept that suffering arises from sin or past deeds. In truth, both the sinful and the virtuous suffer. Thereby, and in the spirit of interfaith cooperation, they need to concur that humans are not able to fathom the mind of a divine power. Hence, they and the irreligious need to focus on matters humans can grasp, that is, on the natural, historic, societal forces and outlooks that induce and enhance the human plight, and devise strategies to deal with them. They have to place the struggle against neoliberalism, the globally dominant socio-economic system that underlies these problems, as the primary priority, both at the spiritual and secular levels. +++ The over-a-century of Western intrusion in Afghanistan typifies the neoliberal system. The latest phase witnessed horrific bombings, drone attacks and operation of special forces. In early 2022, the Western invaders withdrew in a chaotic manner. The billions they expended stupendously benefited the arms manufacturers in the West. But it did not and was not meant to institute a stable, democratic social order in the nation. The puppet regime they had propped up collapsed rapidly, enabling the Taliban to once again swiftly seize power and impose a theocratic order. Western governments have now seized Afghanistan’s overseas assets and blocked financial transfers for the country, worsening its status from an emergency to a calamity. The nation faces a huge crisis of hunger and joblessness. Over 90% of the families are food deficient. Women and women-led families are the most affected by job losses and severely curtailed education. Health conditions are abysmal from one end of the country to another. The liberal Western media can only engage in lamenting how the US and its allies abandoned the Afghan people. But the US military was never there to uphold their interests, liberate women, or deal with religious extremism and terrorism. It was there to serve a profit-driven, imperial system. Under its hegemony, growing opium became the sole reliable way to earn a living for large numbers of rural people. That the Afghanis are now immersed in deep poverty under a harsh, theocratic regime and women are egregiously being denied their fundamental rights is a logical consequence of the nature of the US intervention. As in Iraq, it could not have been otherwise. Militarism is the obverse side of neoliberal economics. +++ The current projections are that at least for the next thirty years, around 85% of humanity will remain within the formal embrace of a religious system. Of the rest, the greater portion will adopt a spiritual perspective. Frank secularists will not only remain a minority but also decline from around 7% of the global population today to around 5% in 2050. Due to the existent odium towards atheism in many countries, sociologists feel that atheists are often reluctant to identify themselves as such and their true proportion may be twice as high as what is suggested by survey data. The bulk of the secularists will continue to be, as they are now, in China. Even a trenchant, erudite critic of religion concedes that religion will not wither away any time soon. It has become too integral to human existence. Humans need comfort in the face of pain and suffering, and many need to think that there’s something more after this life, that they’re loved by an invisible being. There will always be people who believe, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they remain the majority. Phil Zuckerman (Nuwer 2014). But what kind of religion will prevail? Will it rationalize the unjust neoliberal social order, or will it advocate a humane order based on universal dignity, equality and harmony? That is the primary choice facing both religion and secularism at this critical phase of the neoliberal era. Religion emerges as a culture of resistance but then it gets absorbed by the power structures. Nonetheless, a resistant strain survives as part of popular resistance and reemerges from time to time. However, victories gained by this resistance can be reabsorbed by the dominant structures as resistance weakens. Professor Abdul Paliwala (personal communication). The next thirty years constitutes a decisive period for humanity. It is the period during which the fate of humans and life on this planet will probably be decided. People of faith and secularists must decisively reject neoliberalism and embrace the culture of resistance. Else, the chance of a harmonious, stable, just, prosperous but environmentally sustainable future for humans will decline precipitously. The faithful of all traditions, spiritualists of all shades and secularists have to be cognizant of retrogressive ideas that lead to inequality and divisiveness. They must form a united front against neoliberalism and its economic, political and military institutions. Progressive religious and secular groups often campaign against specific neoliberal, pro-corporate policies. Now they have to firmly oppose all its ills: privatization, war, inequality, worship of the market, pro-corporate free trade, divisiveness, downsizing of education, public health, and militarism. To date, hardly any major faith has clearly opposed capitalism and imperialism, and none has enunciated a systemic alternative. It is time to go beyond volunteering, charity and narrow development projects, propose a systemic objective and act accordingly. Capitalism and militarism have to go. Going beyond halfway programs, the religious, secularist and progressive movements must promote a democratic socialist program based on peace and international solidarity. Their program must be guided by science and ethical tenets of compassion, equality and universal solidarity. Racism, ethnic discrimination, gender bias, religious preference and nationality-based bias have no place within this program. While adopting non-violent means of struggle, they should not desist from open civil disobedience. They need to work for a governance that will place state power under popular, transparent control, manage the economy in a cooperative manner, expunge economic inequality and ensure sound environmental management. Humans need to embrace a universalized Golden Rule, have deep seated respect for different beliefs, adopt a morally edifying outlook and reject creeds that rationalize divisiveness, plutocracy, authoritarianism and theocracy. Many icons of the past and presents have shown us the way. Archbishop Desmond Tutu was a valiant campaigner against apartheid and an uncompromising champion of social justice and global harmony. It behooves upon people of goodwill to endorse his enunciation of God’s dream. God's dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion. Desmond Tutu Malala Yousafzai, a model of women’s rights, justice and human decency, wisely warns us that quietism and complacency cannot take us far. If people were silent nothing would change. Malala Yousafzai James Baldwin, the visionary writer and anti-racist and social justice activist who decried segregationist and homophobic religion, eloquently informed us that with collective and sustained effort, fundamental change is within reach. The impossible is the least that one can demand. James Baldwin John G Whittier, a 19th century American poet, ardent anti-slavery activist and a fervent Quaker, had a simple recipe to enjoin faith with practice for a collective struggle against capitalism. In a gender-balanced form, it reads: O noble human! fold to thy heart thy brother and sister; Where pity dwells, the peace of God is there; To worship rightly is to love each other, Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer. John Greenleaf Whittier Rumi, the celebrated Sufi sage and scholar, saw the essence of the spiritual quest not in rituals or places of worship but within the depth of one’s being. I looked in temples, churches and mosques. But I found the Divine within my heart. Jalal al-Din Rumi Pope Francis, a visionary pontiff, adds that our spiritual quest is incomplete without concrete actions to promote justice and human dignity. The great biblical tradition enjoins on all peoples the duty to hear the voice of the poor. It bids us break the bonds of injustice and oppression which give rise to glaring, and indeed scandalous, social inequalities. Pope Francis Muhammad Ali was the boxing champion who adamantly refused to join the aggressive US war on the people of Vietnam. Though he risked his title, a heavy fine and a jail sentence, he did not budge from his pacifist stand that derived from his religious belief. Ali poignantly informs us that compassion is a fundamental human obligation. Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth. Muhammad Ali People of faith and secularists must draw inspiration from these and other morally decent humans to struggle for a just, humane, and egalitarian social order. The dispiriting answer given by this beautiful child must be, once and for all, be relegated to the trash can of history. SOURCES ↔↔↔↔↔ The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. Albert Einstein 1. INTRODUCTION AFP 2022; AP 2022; DK Publisher 2013; DW 2019; Hirji 2011, 2014; Parrinder 1969; Reuters 2014; Roth 2019; WIHW 2022; Wikipedia (2021 – Religion). 2. LEXICON DK Publisher 2013; Wikipedia (2021 – Religion). 3. A FIRST LOOK Section 3.0: Hackett and McClendon 2017; Wikipedia (2021 – List of Religious Populations). Section 3.1: BBC 2010; DK Publisher 2013; Khan 2015; Knipp 2017; Misachi 2017; Regus 2017; RLP 2020; Wikipedia (2019 – Ahmadiyya, Humanity First, List of Ahmadis, List of Ahmadiyya Buildings and Structures, Mirza Ghulam Ahmed). Section 3.2: Berling 2019; DK Publisher 2013; Littlejohn 2010; Wikipedia (2019 – Confucianism). Section 3.3: BBC 2009; DK Publisher 2013; Shiva 2015, 1991; Singh 2006; Wikipedia (2019 – Air India Fight 182, Sikhism). Section 3.4: Bruce and Crawford 1995; Lawrence 2006, 2008; Mahdawi 2016; Markel 2018; Oksman 2016; Smithers 2009; Sweney 2016; Usborne 2016; Wikipedia (2019 – Seventh Day Adventism). Section 3.5: Aranda 2017; DK Publisher 2013; Louw 1998; Mbiti 2015, 2020; Mwipikeni 2020; Nussbaum 2003, 2011; Olupona 2014; Paris 1994; Parrinder 1969; Wikipedia (2019 – Anansi, Bantu Mythology, Bantu Peoples, Religion in Africa, Traditional African Religion). Section 3.6: Dennett 2006; Harari 2018; Petruzzello 2019; Saxton 2006; Wikipedia (2019 – Religion). 4. ORIGIN Section 4.1: Alan 2015; Ambrosino 2019a, 2019b; DK 2013; Hammerschlag 1989; Leaky and Lewin 1977; Mark 2018; Olupona 2014; Peoples, Duda and Marlowe 2016; Rossano 2007; Smitha 2019; Suzman 2017a, 2017b, 2019; Watts et al. 2015; Wikipedia (2019 – Paleolithic Religion). Section 4.2: Doucleff 2017; Finkel 2009; Hadza Fund 2010; Marlow 2010; Matthiessen 1972; Minority Rights 2019; Peter 2019; Peterson 2012; Wkipedia (2019 – Hadza People). Section 4.3: Alan 2016; Ambrosino 2019a; Anderson 1969; Baker 1970; Bellwood 2004; Bender 1975; Cartwright 2019; Gordon Childe 1981, 1985; Leaky and Lewin 1977; Suzman 2019: Wikipedia (2019 – Neolithic Revolution). Section 4.4: Baker 1970; Bender 1975; Blakemore 2019; Cauvin 2000; Cortazar 2007; Harari 2018; Hodder 2011; Mastin 2010; Suzman 2017a, 2017b, 2019; Wikipedia (2019 – Neolithic, Neolithic Revolution). 5. HINDUISM Section 5.1: DK Publisher 2013; Flood 2009; HC Editors 2019; Heitzman and Worden 1995; Jayaram 2012; Patheos 2019; Wikipedia (2019 – Hinduism). Section 5.2: Das 2017; DK Publisher 2013; Flood 2009; HC Editors 2019; Heitzman and Worden 1995; Jayaram 2012; Knott 2016; Patheos 2019; Swami Prabhupada 1986; Wikipedia (2020 -- History of Hinduism). Section 5.3: Das 2017; DK Publisher 2013; HC Editors 2019; Heitzman and Worden 1995; HW Editors 2019; Jayaram 2012; Knott 2016; Swami Prabhupada 1986; Violatti 2013. Section 5.4: Das 2017; DK Publisher 2013; HC Editors 2019; Heitzman and Worden 1995; HW Editors 2019; Jayaram 2012; Knott 2016; Swami Prabhupada 1986; Violatti 2013. Section 5.5: Das 2017; DK Publisher 2013; HC Editors 2019; Heitzman and Worden 1995; HW Editors 2019; Jayaram 2012; Knott 2016; Mahawar 2017; Swami Prabhupada 1986; Violatti 2013; Wikipedia (2020 -- History of Hinduism). Section 5.6: BBC 2015; Biswas 2010; Hickel 2018; Kashif 2016; Marshall 2011; Rathi 2017; Singh 2015; Tharoor 2017. Section 5.7: Kashif 2016; Luce 2012; Marshall 2011; Singh 2015; Wikipedia (2020 -- Indian Independence Movement, Indian National Congress). Section 5.8: Ahmed 2019; Anonymous 2019; Bhardwaj 2019; HUK 2022; Jana 2017; Kant 2014; Kashif 2016; Marshall 2011; Nanda 2012; Paxton 2017; Petrasch 1932; Reddy 2019; Wikipedia (2020 -- Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Ahimsa, All India Muslim League, History of Hinduism, Indian Independence Movement, Indian National Congress, List of Fasts Undertaken by Mahatma Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi, Satyagraha). Section 5.9: AFP 2019; Agrawal 2019; Bagchi 2015; Bhattacharjee 2019; Biswas 2019a; Brennan 2019; Carrier 2012; Chakrabarty 2019; Chaudhury 2018; Chaudhury 2019; Croucher 2019; Dalmia 2015; Das 2018; Das 2019; Democracy Now 2019; Dhillon 2019; Doshi 2016; Dutt 2018; Ellis-Petersen 2019a; Ellis-Petersen, Rahman and Khan 2019; Filkins 2019; Gatade 2019; Harman 2004; Iyer 2018; Jha 2016; Kuchay 2019; Mishra 2019; Nanda 2011; Patnaik 2019; PTI 2019a; Rajdev 2019; Ramachandran 2019; Sikarwar 2019; Singh 2018; Smith C 2014; Srujana 2019; Worth 2018. Section 5.10: Adams 2012; Al-Jazeera 2019a, 2019b; Barton 2019; Basharat 2009; BBC 2018; Biswas 2018; Biswas 2019b, 2019c; Bose 2019; Catalyst 2018; Chandrasekhar 2015; Connellan 2010; Cousins 2019; Haridas 2021; Jain 2019; Kishwar 1985; Luce 2012; Matheswaran 2019; Narayan 2018; Nilanjana 2019; Pathak 2019; Rajesh 2015; Ramachandran 2019; Rodrigues 2008; Salim 2018; Tewari and Tewari 2009; Thakkar 2019; Wikipedia (2020 -- Mahatma Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu, Women in India). Section 5.11: Anadolu Agency 2019; Arni 2009; Biswas 2014; Brennan 2019; Brent 1972; Clary and Narang 2019; Chaudhuri 2019a, 2019b; Croucher 2019; Ellis-Petersen 2019a, 2019b, 2021; Haridas 2021; Himanshu 2019; IANS 2020; Karnik and Balachandran 2015; Luce 2012; Mander 2020; Nanda 2011; News 18 2019; Phalnikar 2010; PTI 2019b; Rajdev 2019; Ratcliffe 2019; Rehnamol 2019; Sarma 2017; Shekhar 2018; Singh 2009; Tiwari 2020; Varma 2019; Venkatachalam 2019. Section 5.12: Anadolu Agency 2019; Arni 2009; Ellis-Petersen 2019b; Gopal 2019; News 18 2019; Rehnamol 2019; Roy 2019; Tiwari 2020; Varma 2019. 6. BUDDHISM Section 6.1: Boyette 2013; DK Publisher 2013; Keown 2013; Lopez 2001; Patheos 2019; Skilton 1997; Wikipedia (2019 – Buddhism). Section 6.2: Boyette 2013; DK Publisher 2013; Keown 2013; Lopez 2001; Patheos 2019; Skilton 1997; Wikipedia (2019 - Buddhism, Naraka – Buddhism). Section 6.3: Boyette 2013; DK Publisher 2013; Goodman 2017; Harari 2015; Keown 2013; Lopez 2001; Patheos 2019; Skilton 1997; Wikipedia (2019 – Buddhism, Buddhist Socialism). Section 6.4: Baggini 2018; Boyette 2013; DK Publisher 2013; Harari 2015; Keown 2013; Lopez 2001; Patheos 2019; Skilton 1997; Wikipedia (2019 – Buddhism, 2020 - Meditation). Section 6.5: Boyette 2013; DK Publisher 2013; Keown 2013; Lopez 2001; Parenti 2007; Patheos 2019; Skilton 1997; Wikipedia (2019 – Buddhism, Buddhist Economics). Section 6.6 (Tibet): Banyan Columnist 2011; BBC 2004; Boyette 2013; Conboy and Morrison 2002; Diwakar 2018; Finnigan 2012; Ford 2018; Hore 2017; Keown 2013; Lixiong 2002; Lopez 2001; Neuss 2009; Parenti 2007; Patheos 2019; Skilton 1997; Whitehouse 2008; Wikipedia (2019 – Buddhism, Serfdom in Tibet Controversy); Zizek 2008. (Sri Lanka): Aneez and Shah 2019; Arnold and Turner 2018; Boyette 2013; Chu 2014; Chowdhury 2013; DK Publisher 2013; Gomes 2022; Guha 2022; Johansson 2018; Keown D 2013; Lewis 2022; Macy 1992; Patheos 2019; Peter 2019; Philosophyzer 2017; Reuters 2019; Staff Writer 2020; Tambiah 1992; Waidyatilake and Sivaloganathan 2018; Ward 2007; Whitehouse 2008; Wikipedia (2019 – Buddhism, Demographic of Sri Lanka, Religion in Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Tamils). (Myanmar, Thailand): Al-Jazeera 2019; Arnold and Turner 2018; Augilar 2018; Beech 2019a, 2019b; Boyette 2013; Editorial 2018; Godrej 2008; Jerryson 2014; Khin 2020; Lehr 2017; Lewis 2015; Monbiot 2017; Orwell 1929; Peter 2019; Skilton 1997; Tanakasempipat 2019; Ward 2007; Wikipedia (2019 – Aung San Suu Kyi, British rule in Burma, Buddhism, History of Thailand, Myanmar, Politics of Thailand, Rohingya People). (India): Burke 2014; Comment 2015; Editor 2017; FII Team 2016; Jha 2019; Kishwar 2017; Luce 2008; Molefe 2018; Ray and Ray 2012; Roy 2014a, 2014b; Sarkar 2013; Sarvan 2019; Shah 2019; Shanmugavelan 2014; Varagur 2018; Vij 2014; Wikipedia (2019 - BR Ambedkar, History of Buddhism in India). Section 6.7: Arnold and Turner 2018; Carrette and King 2004; Chau 2012; Cohen 2017; Colin 2013; Confino 2010; Conboy and Morrison 2002; Diwakar 2018; DK Publisher 2013; Doran 2018; Duerr 2010; Findlay 2018; Forbes 2019; Ford 2018; Fordham 2019; Freeman 2017; Goyal, Singh, Sibinga et al. 2014; Gray 2010; Hanh 1992; 1999; Harni 2019; Kaszniak 2017; Keown 2013; Khullar 2016; Konrath 2010; Kreutz 2018; Lama 2009; Lennerfors 2015; Lopez 2001; Love 2019; Loy 2007; Michaelson 2014; Oliver 2019; Patt 2001; Purser 2019a, 2019b; Rapaport 2019; Rockwood 1996; Rubin 2001; Saari and Harni 2019; Sarner 2018; Schaufenbuel 2015; Scherer and Waistell 2017; Sharkey 2020; Staff 2020; Stetka 2017; Tan 2010, 2016; Valkenburgh 2014; Victoria 2006; Wikipedia (2019 - Buddhism, Buddhist Economics, Buddhist Socialism, Meditation); Wulfhorst 2009; Zizek 2008. Section 6.8: Aiko 1993; Al-Mahmood 2011; AP 2016a; Augilar 2018; Booth 2017; Boyett 2016; Brockes 2009; Campano 2013; DK Publisher 2013; Doepke 2011; Doward 2019; FII Team 2016; Finnigan 2012; Gayle 2015; Gupta 2019; Holmes-Tagchungdarpa 2015; IJM 2015; Keown 2013; Lewis 2015; Livni 2019; Lopez 2001; Manandhar 2018; Ming 2020; Monbiot 2017; Moura 2020; O’Brien 2019; Parenti 2010; Pattanaika 2016; Pattisson 2017; Paudel and Dong 2017; Price 1999; Rinpoche 2018; Roshi 2013; Rowan 1993; Sarkar 2011; Schak 2019; Tanakasempipat 2019; Tsomo 2004; Wikipedia (2019 – Aung San Suu Kyi, BR Ambedkar, Buddhism, Women in Buddhism). Section 6.9: AP 2016a; Boyett 2016; DK Publisher 2013; Goodman 2017; Keown 2013; Lopez 2001; Monbiot 2017; Parenti 2010; Patheos 2019; Patt 2001; Wikipedia (2019 – Aung San Suu Kyi, Buddhism). 7. CHRISTIANITY Section 7.1: Boyett 2016; DK Publisher 2013; Engels 1894; Harari 2015; Patheos 2019; Wikipedia (2021 -- Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, Religious Fanaticism); Woodhead 2014. Section 7.2: BBC 2021; Boyett 2016; DK Publisher 2013; Patheos 2019; Woodhead 2014. Section 7.3: AAGM 2020; Boyett 2016; DK Publisher 2013; Patheos 2019; Wikipedia (2019 -- Christian Ethics, Christian Views on Slavery); Woodhead 2014. Section 7.4: Du Bois 1982; Boyett 2016; DK Publisher 2013; Patheos 2019; Woodhead 2014; Wikipedia (2019 – Christianity, Christianity in the United States, Christian Culture). Section 7.5: Anonymous 2019; Beaud 2001; Cartwright 2019; Ebeling 2016; Editors 2008; Editors 2019; Engels 1894; Little 2019; Mustin 2015; Orlandis 2008; Wikipedia (2019 -- Church and State in Medieval Europe, Protestantism, Reformation). Section 7.6: Aschoff 2015; Beaud 2001; Bigelow 2019; Bouie 2011; Bruenig 2015; Cassidy 2011; Contributors 2019; Engels 1845; Fan 2019; Freund 1983; Gali 2019; Harari 2015; Higginson 1861; Hirji 2019; Kelly 2014; Kirchschlaeger 2016; Kruse K 2016; Marx 1867, 1992; Marx and Engels 1848, 1969; McDonnell 2018; PBS 2022; Porter 2003; Roe 2018; Rodney 1972; Tawney 1938; The Editors 2018; Weber 2010; Wikipedia (2019 -- Atlantic Slave Trade, Christian Views on Slavery, Christianity and Colonialism, Denmark Vesey, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion); Woodhead 2014; Zauzmer 2019. Section 7.7: ADST 2015; AFR Editors 2019; Bernstein 2001; Bloomberg Editors 2012; Boff and Boff 1987; Chapman 2009; Clark 2017; Colby and Dennett 1995; Collyns 2019; Coman 2019; Dault 2014; Galeano 1997; Heinerman and Shupe 1988; Kirby 2003a; Kirby 2003b; Kirby 2008; Kozloff 2008; Leffel 2017; Lernoux 1991; MacEoin 1975; Miller 2018b; Novak 2010; Preston 2019; Schlesinger and Kinzer 2005; Settje 2011; Singer 2019; Sjorup 2006; Stoll 1990; Sutton 2019; Thomas 2003; Thomas 2005; Wikipedia (2019 -- Christianity in the United States, Religion in the United States). Section 7.8: AFR Editors 2019; Amadeo 2019; AU Editors 2019; Barber 2017; BBC 2005; Bothwell 2018; Clark 2017; Gershom 2019; Gilbert 2017; Greenhouse 2009; Kilgore 2018; Kuruvilla 2019; Marchese 2020; Novak 2010; SCMP 2019; Tikkanen 2022; Washington 1991; West 2004; Wikipedia (2019 -- Daniel Berrigan, Dorothy Day, Great Society, Martin Luther King, Poor People’s Campaign, Roy Bourgeois). Section 7.9: AU Editors 2019; Baker 2019; Bote 2019; Buajitti 2015; Dolan 2017; Douthat 2019; Dowling 2007; Maxwell 2017; Moore 1994; Parker 2016; Pew Forum Editors 2019; Sharlet 2008; Stewart 2020; Wasik 2008; Wikipedia (2020 – Benny Hinn, Billy Graham, Christianity in the United States, Creflo Dollar, Jesse Duplantis, Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, National Prayer Breakfast, Pat Robertson, Religion in the United States, Televangelism). Section 7.10: Aldred 2019; Al-Jazeera 2020a; Aratani 2020; Basham 2019; Bessner and Sparke 2017; Blake 2019; Borek 2019; Butler 2019; Cassidy 2011; CNS 2020; Conley 2021; Duina 2019; Fitzgerald 2019; Flynn 2019; Gardner 2020; Gidron 2021; Gonzalez 2002; Graham 2020; Hassanein 2017; Hedges 2017; Hess 2015; Lamb 2020; Lecaque 2019; Lofgren 2019; Maxwell 2017; Milanovic 2020; Miller 2018a; Monbiot 2016; Moore 1994; Olson 2020; Paul-Choudhury 2019; Pepinster 2020; Pew Forum Editors 2019a, 2019b; Ratner 2017; Regencia 2020; Saxton 2006; Seidelman and Watkins 2019; Shenon 2019; Sherwood 2018, 2020; Smith 2017; Smith 2016; Sparks 2019; Stanton 2018; Thompson 2019; Timmons 2019; Villa-Vicencio 2004; White 2020; Wikipedia (2020 – Donald Trump, The African Church, The Trump Organization); Wraight 2019; Young 2020; Zucher 2016. Section 7.11: Andres 2019; BBC 2016; Bello 2009; Bello, Kinley and Elinson 1982; Buenaobra 2016; Caraballo 2017; Choo, Tan and Goh 2020; Ciba 2015; Cornelio and Maranon 2019; Del Rosario 2018; Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica 2020; Ellis-Petersen and Fonbuena 2018; Esmaquel 2019; Fabiola 2016; Fallows 1987; Gabriel 2018; Gamboa 2018; Hilsdon 1995; Holden 2012; Isaac 2014; Kawano 2018; Land Links 2017; Maboloc 2017; Mendoza 1983; Miller 2020; Morales 2017; Padilla 2018; Ratcliffe 2020; Regencia 2018, 2020; RLP 2020a, 2020b, 2020c; Robles 2017; Shirley 2004; Soriano 2019; Suarez 1987; Tilghman 2016; Torres 2020; WFF 2020; Wikipedia (2020 – Anitism, Christianity in the Philippines, Extrajudicial Killings and Forced Disappearances in the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, Jose Rizal, Philippines, Religion in the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, United States Military Government of the Philippine Islands); Willis 2018; Youngblood 1990. Section 7.12: Bruenig 2018; CARA 2020; COE 2016; CRIN 2020; Davey 2020; Denney, Kerley and Gross 2018; Dias 2019; Elliot 2008; Herbeck 2019; Horowitz 2019; Lauer and Hoyer 2020; Reuters 2019a; Shellnutt 2019; Sprober et al. 2014; Wikipedia (2020 – Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Cases, Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Cases by Country, George Pell). Section 7.13: Alba 2019; Al-Matary and Ali 2014; Batchelor 2013; BBC 2011; Benson 2009; CARA 2020; Chengu 2015; Commentators 2009; Cruzada and De La Cruz 2019; DeGeorge 2019; Dias 2019; Doyle 2019; Doyo 2017; Elliot 2008; Green 2017; Harding 2018; Hilsdon 1995; Hlati 2020; Horowitz 2019; Kamm 1981; Koehler and Calais-Haase 2018; Malta et al. 2019; Martin 2018; Mbabazi 2018; McDonald 1998; Meyer 2018; Mkwalo 2019; Morris 2019; Ngundo and Wiggins 2017; Nunning 2017; Orendain 2016; Orr 2015; Penner 2014; Poggioli 2019; Press Release 2020; Riches and Jennings 2016; Roces and Tam 2019; Sherwood 2016, 2020; Siu-Maliko 2006; Stankorb 2019; Stark 1997; Theroux 2015; Williams 2016; Wikipedia (2020 -- Anna Ali, Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Cases, Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Cases by Country, Josephine Bakhita, List of Methods of Torture, Women in Church History). Section 7.14: Archibold 2014; Bedford 2014; Bengali 2016; Chatterjee 2003; Chenard 2016; Forbes 2010; Hitchens 1996; Jones and Brown 2007; MacIntyre 2005; Smoker 2014; Wuellenweber 1998; Wikipedia (2020 – Criticism of Mother Teresa, Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa). Section 7.15: Bantayog 2020; Braun 2020; Hilsdon 1995; Kamm 1981; O’Connell 2019; Orendain 2016; PWAG 2020; Ramirez 2006; Roces and Tam 2019; SPAN 2005; Wikipedia (2020 – Pope Francis, Sister Mariani Dimaranan). Section 7.16: Al-Jazeera 2020b; Campbell 2012; Dettloff 2018; Jacobs 2018; Ollman 1965; Roys 2016; Stockman 2018; Wikipedia (2020 – Christian Socialism, Cornel West, Teresa Forcades); Wojcik 2020. Section 7.17: Charnysh 2017; Coman 2019; Editorial 2019; Miller 2020; Pepinster 2020; Wong 2019; Zauzmer and Bailey 2020. 8. ISLAM Section 8.0: PRC 2012a, 2012b; Wikipedia (2019 – Islam, Islam by Country, Non-Denominational Muslim). Section 8.1: Armstrong 2002; Aslan 2011; Cole 2018; DK Publisher 2013; Irving 2007; Patheos 2019; Ruthven 2012. Section 8.2: Armstrong 2002; Aslan 2011; Boyett 2016; DK Publisher 2013; Irving 2007; Malik 1997; Patheos 2019; Ruthven 2012; Wikipedia (2019 – Five Pillars of Islam, Islam, Islam by Country, Quran). Section 8.3: Armstrong 2002; Aslan 2011; Boyett 2016; DK Publisher 2013; Patheos 2019; Ruthven 2012; Wikipedia (2019 – Islamic Ethics). Section 8.4: Batrawy 2019; BBC 2009c, 2009d, 2009e; Boyett 2016; DK Publisher 2013; Noor and Pickup 2017; Patheos 2019; Wikipedia (2019 – Islamic Music, Mosque, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Sufi Music, Umm Kulthum). Section 8.5: Aslan 2011; Boyett 2016; Cole 2018; DK Publisher 2013; Lindsay 2008; Menocal 2002; Patheos 2019; PBS 2020; Wikipedia (2020 – Caliphate). Section 8.6: Aslan 2011; Boyett 2016; de Bustinza 2016; DK Publisher 2013; Editorial 2005; Lindsay 2008; Mastin 2020; Menocal 2002; Morrison 2020; Oran and Khaznehkabti 2009; Patheos 2019; Sterns 2010; Wikipedia (2020 – History of Baghdad, House of Wisdom); Yalman and Komaroff 2001. Section 8.7: Armstrong 2002; Aslan 2011; Ballhatchet 2019; BBC 2009a; Edwards 2017; Hasting 2019; Lindsay 2008; Macguire and Stewart 2017; Menocal 2002; PBS 2020; Wetherington 2015; Wikipedia (2020 – Caliphate, Caliphate of Cordoba). Section 8.8: Al-Khateeb 2019; Anonymous 2014; Anonymous 2020; Armstrong 2002; Aslan 2011; Ballhatchet 2019; BBC 2009b; Bhaga 2007; Boyett 2016; DK Publisher 2013; Editors 2020a; Editors 2020b; Iftikhar 2015; Maddison 2006; Mukerji 2010; Rana 2020; Riaz 2008; Samson 2011; Sonali 2020; Szczepanski 2019; Thomas 2018; Wikipedia (2020 – Islam in India, Mughal Empire). Section 8.9: Bader, Maussen and Moors 2011; Wikipedia (2020 – Muslim Brotherhood). Section 8.10: Al-Jazeera 2016; Anonymous 2020; Armstrong 2002; Aslan 2011; Bader, Maussen and Moors 2011; Bass 2018; Becker 2004, 2011; Bevins 2017; Godlas 2020a, 2000b; Hopewood 2010; Massoud 2019; Nasr 2020; Omissi 1991; Schwartz 2009; Sharp 2003; Waldman and Zeghal 2020; Wikipedia (2020 – Iraqi Communist Party, Islamic State of Iraq, Muslim Brotherhood, Religion in Iraq). Section 8.11: Agastia 2017; Alatas 2013; Al-Jazeera 2016; Aslan 2011; Bass 2018; Belford 2016; Bevins 2017, 2020; Colorni 2015; Emont 2017; Fealy and McGregor 2010; Firdaus 2019; GSP Editor 2020; Harsono 2020; Hawley 2016; IN Editor 2015; Lovell 2018; Maulia 2017; McGregor 2009; Melvin 2018; Naureckas 2017; Oktavianti 2020; Oxfam 2020; Parciany 2009; Pakpahan 2015; Penders 1968; Perry 2016; Pols 2018; Robinson 2018; Roosa 2006; Saefullah 2018; Sprague 2011; Surangya 2018; van Doorn-Harder 2019; Vulliamy and Barnett 1999; Waldman and Zeghal 2020; Wikipedia (2020 – Abdul Muis, Abdurrahman Wahid, Communist Party of Indonesia, Dance in Indonesia, Dutch East Indies, Indonesian Mass Killings of 1965, Indonesian Ulema Council, Islam in Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama, Pancasila); Wolters, Legge and Adam 2020. Section 8.12: Agunbiade 2020; Akinwotu 2020; Elton 2020; Giesen and Klitzke 2020; Isaacs 2003; Max 2020; NH Editors 2003; Osborne 2020; RLP Editors 2020; Ross 2015; Steinwand 2020; Sunday 2019; Wikipedia (2020 -- Abuja National Mosque, Gobarau Minaret, The National Christian Centre, Nigeria). Section 8.13: Ali 2008; Ali and Sudiman 2016; Aminrazavi 2016; Armstrong 2014; Aslan 2011; Atlas 2016; Azal 2016; BBC 2009c, 2009f; Bissada 2018; DK Publisher 2013; GebauerI 2007; Geoffroy 2018; Khan 2017; Kumar 2011a, 2011b; Moaveni 2017; Patheos 2019; Pourhamzavi 2014; Specia 2017; Uzayr 2014; Webster 2014; Wikipedia (2019, 2020 -- Ibn Arabi, Islamic Music, Mullah Nasruddin, Rumi, Sufism); Winter 2017. Section 8.14: Ali and Sudiman 2016; Ali 2008; Armstrong 2014; Aslan 2011; Conesa 2018; DK Publisher 2013; Durie 2013; Kumar 2011a, 2011b; Patheos 2019; Pirbhai 2007; Pourhamzavi 2014; von Hein 2017; Wagemakers 2016; Wikipedia (2019, 2020 -- Ibn Arabi, Mullah Nasruddin, Rumi, Salafism and Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia, Sufism). Section 8.15: Ali 2008; Aminrazavi 2016; Atlas 2019; Azal 2016; BBC 2009c, 2009f; Geoffroy 2018; Kumar 2011a, 2011b; Moaveni 2017; Thomas 2018; Wikipedia (2020 – Political Islam); Winter 2017. Section 8.16: Atlas 2019; Engelhardt 2014; Johnson 2004, 2005, 2007; Lebovic 2020; Wikipedia (2020 - Abu Sayyaf, Al-Nusra, Christian Terrorism, Druze, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, List of Islamist Terrorist Attacks, State Sponsored Terrorism, State Terrorism, Yazidi). Section 8.17: Acconcia 2015; Ali-Dinar 2020; Al-Jazeera 2019a; Bennyworth 2011; Bouttia 2019; Brown 2019; Burke 2020; Cheeseman and Fisher 2019; CNS 2017; Daily Sabah 2020; Fazi 2019; Ferguson 2019; Gallup 2012; Gottschalk 2019; Greeman 2019; Hussey 2015; Khakpour 2017; Maimona 2019; Mishra 2020; New America 2019; Ozcan 2019; Peace and Chabal 2019; Safi 2020; Sasnal and El-Menouar 2020; Wajahat 2011; Waldman and Zeghal 2020; Wikipedia (2020 – Charlie Hebdo, Islam in France, Islamic Salvation Front, Islamic Terrorism in France, List of Terrorist Incidents in France); Willsher 2020a, 2020b; Wilson 2020; Yates 2018. Section 8.18: Alvi 2013; Amri 2019; Atlas 2019; Baloch and Ellis-Petersen 2020; BBC 2009c, 2009d, 2009e; Beaumont and Kingsley 2013; Ghanmi 2016; Lall 2015; Luck 2018; McCarthy 2014; Naumann and Elvers-Guyot 2019; PRC 2012a, 2012b; Quandt 1994; Sen 2020; Wikipedia (2020 – Islam in Egypt, Islam in Tunisia, Non-denominational Muslim, Persecution of Shias, Persecution of Sufis, Sufi–Salafi relations, Sufism in Pakistan). Section 8.19: AFP 2020; Al-Asi 2020; Al-Jazeera 2019a, 2019b; Al-Khamiri 2019; Al-Maghafi 2019; AP 2020; Arif-Fear 2015; Asiedu 2019; BBC 2017, 2020; Brahmi 2021; Butt 2009; Chamberlain 2013; Cheng 2016; Dhillon 2017; Djelloul 2018; Editors 2021; Ellis-Petersen 2020; Ernest 2019; Faber 2020; Gannon 2020; George 2021; GNB 2020; Hashim 2014, 2020; Hornak and Azhar 2014; Ibn Kathir 2020; Islam 2011; Khakpour 2017; Khattab 2020; LaForgia and Wong 2020; Lamb 2019; Llewellyn 2022; Mahdi 2020; Mesdaghi 2019; Ojigho 2021; PBS 2020; Power 2015; PRC 2012a, 2012b, 2013; Reuters 2019; Schneider 2009; Segram 2013; Sen 2020; Sharma 2012; Siddqui 2020; Smith 2019; Solomon and Alheri 2019; UNICEF 2017; van Doorn-Harder 2019; Vanguard 2017; Waldman and Zeghal 2020; Wibawa 2019; Wikipedia (2020 - Ali Abdullah Saleh, Houthi Movement, Islamic Feminism, Islam in the United Kingdom, List of Muslim Feminists, Madrassas in Pakistan, Saudi Arabian-led Intervention in Yemen, Women in Islam, Yemen); WPR Editors 2019; Wright 2020; Zakaria 2018. Section 8.20: Akyol 2021; Birchall 2019; Harman 1994; Hassanein 2020; Iqbal 1923; Jalil 2019; Lone 2019; Paracha 2013. Section 8.21: AI 2020; Ali 2020, 2021; Ali and Sudiman 2016; Al-Jazeera 2019b, 2009c, 2009d; Aminrazavi 2016; Arab and Maleki 2020; Atlas 2019; Bissada 2018; Cole 2018; IFEES 2015; Kumar 2011a, 2011b; Pirbhai 2007; Sasnal and El Menouar 2020; Segram 2013. 9. SECULARISM Section 9.0: DK Publisher 2013; Epstein 2009; Wikipedia (2020 – Amsterdam Declaration, Humanism, Secular Humanism). Section 9.1: Al-Khalili 2008; Cohen 2019a; Dawn 2011; Haught 2020; Hutcheson 1998; Khan 2015; McDaniel 2019; Nowaria 2010; Rabelo and Pilati 2019; Saad 2017; Stenddud 2000; Wikipedia (2020 – Atheism, Diagoras of Melos, Humanism, Ibn al-Rawandi, Ibn al-Razi, Jabir ibn Hayyan). Section 9.2: ABH 2020; Al-Khalili 2008; Bristow 2017; Wikipedia (2020 – Atheism, Baruch Spinoza, Immanuel Kant, Voltaire, Humanism). Section 9.3: Epstein 2009; Wikipedia (2020 – Atheism, Humanism). Section 9.4: Epstein 2009; Wikipedia (2020 – Atheism, Humanism). Websites - seattleatheist.church, www.humanistcanada.ca. Section 9.5: Wikipedia (2020 – Amsterdam Declaration, Humanism). Section 9.6: Bricmont and Baillargeon 2017; Carlisle 2013a, 2013b, 2013c, 2013d, 2013e, 2013f, 2014a, 2014b; Corrigan 2010; Editor 2015; Einstein 1930, 1949; Einstein and Burch 2018; Francis 2017; Gewertz 2007; Jammer 1999; Jerome 2000; Moreno 2005; Popova 2012, 2013; Russell 1926, 1929; Schwartz 2020; Simpson 2017; Spencer 2018; Wikipedia (2020 – Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, Rabindranath Tagore). Section 9.7: AAI 2019; Alper 2018; Bailey 2011; BBC 2019; BCHA 2019, 2020; Carrell 2018; Cohen 2019; Daniyal 2015; Grayling 2013; Humanism UK 2020a, 2020b; Lipka and Gecewicz 2017; Lipka 2019; McKernan 2020; Pearce 2017; PRC 2018a, 2018b; Rodell 2019; Sherwood 2019a, 2019b; Stein 2012; Winston 2016b; Wikipedia (2021 – Irreligion in India, The Church of England). Section 9.8: BHA 2014; ECJ 2021; Editorial 2019; Epstein 2009; Freyne 2018; Keenan 2016; PRC 2014a; Rabelo and Pilati 2019; Sherwood 2019a, 2019b; Smith 2017; Sumter et al. 2018; Wikipedia (2020 – Secular Humanism). Section 9.9: Boer 2010; Engels 1880; Gosh 2017; Lenin 1965; Luxemburg 1903, 1905; Marx and Engels 1848, 1957; Singh 1930; Thompson 2011a, 2011b, 2011c, 2011d, 2011e, 2011f, 2011g, 2011h. Section 9.10: Boer 2010; Bofelo 2017; Engels 1880; Epstein 2014; Farr 2020; Fromm 1990; Gosh 2017; Hoelscher 2016; IMHO 2013; Lenin 1965; Luxemburg 1903, 1905; Marcuse 1965, 1991; Marx and Engels 1848, 1957; Smith 2020; Thompson 2011a, 2011b, 2011c, 2011d, 2011e, 2011f, 2011g, 2011h; Wikipedia (2020 -- Raya Dunayevskaya). Section 9.11: Gopnik 2014; Oxley 2001; Wikipedia (2020 – Paris Commune). Section 9.12: Beydoun 2019; Byler 2019; Clydesdale 2020; Davidson 2020; Gan 2018; Hammond 2019; Hassan 2019; Markowitz 2020; McMurray 2020; Myers 2019; Wang 2018; Wikipedia (2020 – Edward L Bernays, Religion in China, Religion in Cuba, Religion in Russia, Religion in Vietnam). Section 9.13: Anthony 2019; Asma 2011; Brown 2009; Burkeman 2019; Cadwalladr 2017; Dawkins 2015, 2016; de Waal 2013; Dennett 2006; Freyne 2018; Harris 2005; Hitchens 2009; Kaufman 2017; Hoelscher 2019; Megoran and Foster 2018; O’Neill 2007; Njoroge 2020; Savage 2014; Seo 2013; Short 2019; Stenger 2009; Wikipedia (2020 – New Atheism); Wolf 2006; Zeiler 2007. Section 9.14: Bianco 2016; Cameron 2016; Chemaly 2013; de Vaus and McAllister 1987; Englehart 2013; Gupta 2019; Holmes 2014; Hrushetska 2013; Lee 2014; Marcotte 2012; McCreight 2010; Mohamed 2019; O’Sullivan 2015; Pollit 2014; PRC 2014b; Rizvi 2016; RLP 2020a, 2020b; Toni 2012; Wikipedia (2020 – Gender and Religion). Section 9.15: Aazhi 2019; AADR 1986; Bader 2013; Boyd 2013; Brown 2015; Buhle 2020; Cooke 2015; Gupta 2019; Haynes 2019; Holmes 2014a, 2014b; Honan 2015; Hrushetska 2013; Kambon 2015; Khaleeli 2010; Lester 2013; Peace 2019; RLP 2020a, 2020b; Tarzi 2019; The National 2007; Thompson 1976; Umoren 2014; Wikipedia (2020 – Eleanor Marx, Eslanda Goode Robeson, Gender and Religion, International Women’s Day, Nawal El-Saadawi); Wolf 2020. Section 9.16: AFP 2018; Ahmad 2019; Akinwotu 2020; Ali 2016; Anthony 2019; Bagri 2016; BBC 2019; Bush 2002; Choudhury 2018; Cohen 2019b, 2019c; Daniyal 2015; Devichand 2015; Egbunike 2020; Flood 2014; Gamble 2022; Ganguly 2019; Graham-Harrison and Hammadi 2016; Hazarika 2020; Igwe and Jacobsen 2018; Johnson 2016; Kulkarni 2018; Libit 2009; Mahmud 2022; Nadiya 2016; NH Editor 2018; Rosenfeld 2017; Schonhardt 2013; Shahid 2017; Shepherd 2012; Sherwood 2020; Staufenberg 2016; Wikipedia (2020 – Apostasy, Apostasy in Islam, Discrimination Against Atheists, Heresy, Irreligion in Bangladesh, Irreligion in India, Kaffir, Religion in Japan, Socialism in Bangladesh); Winston 2016b; Yamashita 2022. Section 9.17: BBC 2009; Borst 2007; Editorial 2019; Lennard and Wolfe 2017; Singh 1930. 10. NEOLIBERALISM Section 10.1: Bello 2009; Bello, Kinley and Elinson 1982; David 2007; Monbiot 2016; Rothschild 2020; Whyte 2020, Wikipedia (2022 – Adam Smith, Neoliberalism). Sections 10.2 & 10.3: Adelman and Paliwala 2021; Bessner and Sparke 2017; Beyer 2012; Borek 2019; Chappel 2015; Monbiot 2016; Moreton 2015; Prashad 2021; Whyte 2020, Wikipedia (2022 – Adam Smith, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, Neoliberalism); Yablon 2020. Section 10.4: Ahmed 2020; Berlinerblau and Joshi 2021; Beyer 2012; Brown 2016; Carr 2021; Chauhan 2017; Costagliola 2021; Daher 2020; Doran 2018; Eliacık 2015; Ellis-Petersen and Hassan 2022; Esposito 2022; Fraser 2018; Gauthier 2017; George 2014; Ghosh 2020; Hargaden 2018; Hayat et al. 2021; Higgins 2021; Hoksbergen and Madrid 1997; IEP 2022; JFI 2022; Jordan 2014; Khambati 2018; Kotsko 2021; Leshem 2016; Markoe 2014; Milanovic 2020; Mona 2012; Moodie 2020; Moreton 2015; Murphy 2020; O’Connell 2018; Patnaik 2020; Pattanaik 2019, 2020; Payne 2018; Polychroniou 2022; Rose 2017; Roxburgh 2019; Santiago 2015; Shankar 2008; Sherwood 2020; Sorman 2011; Spaulding 2021; Thorbecke 2020; Unsaldi 2013; Wikipedia (2022 – Capitalism and Islam, Eye of the Needle, Lakshmi, Prosperity Theology, Turning the Other Cheek); Wilmot 2017; Yogaranta 2018. Section 10.5: Blankholm 2010; Dabashi 2015; Gauthier 2017; Grosvenor 2018; Patnaik and Patnaik 2019; Simmons 2019; Stiglitz 2019; Stojanov 2017; Tooze 2021. 11. RUMINATIONS Section 11.1: AFP 2021a, 2021b, 2022; AP 2016b; Deliperi 2020; FAD 2022; McGreal 2014a, 2014b; Mendelson 2022; Sherwood 2017; Suzman 2019; Wikipedia (2022 – Athanase Seromba, Felicite Niyitegeka, Religion in Rwanda, Vincent Nsengiyumva, Wenceslas Munyeshyaka). Section 11.2: AHA 2022; Ambrosino 2019a, 2019b; Ash 2021; Boyett 2016; Dabashi 2021; DK Publisher 2013; Formica 2010; Hooper 2020; Littlefair 2017; PC 2014; Rajhans 2018; Rogers 2020; Vann 2015; WIHW 2022; Wikipedia (2022 -- Grace (Prayer)); Wolf 2016; Xygalatas 2020. Section 11.3: Al-Jazeera 2021a, 2021b, 2021c, 2021d, 2022a, 2022b; Ayene and Davies 2022; Biswas 2021; Durie 2021; Ellis-Petersen 2021; Garcia 2022; Goad 2014; Kumar 2018; Naqvi 2021; Pankhania and Hargreaves 2017; Remski 2021; Sherwood 2021; Sri 2020. Section 11.4: Brown 2009; Burkeman 2014; Burton 2013; Cooper 2018; Dandia 2020; Epstein 2009; Farmelant 2009; Freyne 2018; Gordon 2013; Hoelscher 2019; Jacobsen 2017; Lipka 2019; Mason 2018; Molyneux 1985; Ngu 2020; Prashad 2018; Priest 2018; Scheffer et al. 2021. Section 11.5: Bullard 2016; Paul-Choudhury 2019; Weir 2020. Section 11.6: Al-Jazeera 2019; 2021e; Ash 2021; Caglar 2020; De Silva 2022; Foster 2021a, 2021b; Fuller 2022; Gilbert 2017; Giuffrida 2022; Headley 2018; Huda 2018; Ibrahim 2022; Kiefer 1977; Kilgore 2018; ; Mendelson 2022; Mwesigye 2017; Malik 2021; Ngu 2020; 2021; Rahman and Cullity 2021; Rheault and Mogahed 2007; Sharma 2021; Sri 2014; UN Declaration of Human Rights; Wikipedia (2022 – Dawah); Young 2020; Zuckerman 2015. 12. FINALE Section 12.0: Jenkins 2016. Section 12.1: Alves 2022; Amos 2017; Chodron 2010; Hodgson 2010; Khare 2022; Ojha and Sharma 2021; Olad 2017. Section 12.2: Ambrosino 2019a, 2019b; Didonato 2013; Lopez 2022; Solt et al. 2011; Woodward 2001. Section 12.3: Adu-Gyamfi 2021; Alexander 2020; Baldwin 1962; BBC 2021; Dunbar 2022; Hashim 2018; Johnson 2004; Kumar 2022; Mathis 2020; Norton 2014; Popova 2015; Reinl 2021; TET 2022; Waraich 2014; Wikipedia (2022 – Desmond Tutu, James Baldwin, Janani Luwum, Malala Yousafzai, Pentecostalism); Yousafzai 2015. Section 12.4: Al-Jazeera 2021. Section 12.5: AFSC 2020; BBC 2009; Davison 2006; FEP 2022; Morse 2004; Patheos 2022; Poletti 2022; QSS 2019, 2020; Reynolds 2010; Rhoads 2006; Shvili 2020; Wellman 2014; Wikipedia (2022 – George Fox, Herbert Hoover, Margret Fell, Quakers). Section 12.6: Al-Jazeera 2022; Ambrosino 2019a, 2019b; Bullard 2016; Dunbar 2022; Fisher 2019; Giuffrida 2022; Johnson 2021; Kemp 2019; Keysar and Navarro-Rivera 2013; Lopez 2022; Nuwer 2014; Weir 2020; Woodward 2001; Zuckerman 2015, 2019. CREDITS ↔↔↔↔↔ Truth has nothing to do with the conclusion, and everything to do with the methodology. Stefan Molyneux Direct extracts of material from other sources are shown in italics and their sources are indicated. Quotes from eminent personalities at the start of each chapter and elsewhere are available at many websites. No sources are given in this case. All extracts from external sources are used bearing the doctrine of fair use in mind. A total of sixty-nine images appear in the book. Sixty-two are in the public domain; for five, the copyright status is unclear and for two, the source is not known. The sources are given below. Images on the cover are the Christian Cross, Islamic Crescent and Star, Hinduism symbol Om, and the Buddhist Dharma Chakra. All are extracted from Wikipedia. The sources for the symbols in each chapter are given in the order of appearance. All images have been re-colorized, but the outcome has varied according to the quality of the original. FRONT MATTER Yin-Yang Symbol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yin_yang.svg 1. INTRODUCTION Eternal Knot, Buddhist Symbol https://www.ancient-symbols.com/images/buddhist-symbols/original/eternal-knot.jpg Multifaith Poster Pass a Method, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php? curid=25255735 2. LEXICON 3. A FIRST LOOK The White Minaret Symbol https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:White_Minaret_Symbol.png Shui, Chinese Character for Water https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3144278 Ik Onkar, One Supreme Being https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=82340349 Khanda, Symbol of Sikhism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanda_(Sikh_symbol) Hippopotamus Carving for Divining Brooklyn Museum: https://commons.wikimedia.org/ w/index.php?curid=22482600 Adinkra Symbol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gye_nyame.png Anansi the Spider Symbol http://www.adinkra.org/htmls/adinkra/anan.htm Bantu Mythological Chameleon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_mythology 4. ORIGIN Pottery from Indus Valley Civilization, India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottery_Neolithic https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59376224 5. HINDUISM Om: Brahman -- The Universal Soul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aum_Om_black.svg Lord Vishnu Narayana Source: Unknown The Akshardham Temple Complex, Delhi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_Hindu_temples Lord Mahavir: The Torchbearer of Ahimsa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lord_Mahavir_Gold MK Gandhi and AG Khan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Badshah_Khan.jpg MK Gandhi and J Nehru, 1946 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gandhi_and_Nehru_in_1946 MK Gandhi and S Naidu, 1931 Salt March https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarojini_Naidu 6. BUDDHISM Buddha Meditating Under a Bodhi tree https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhi_Tree Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Noble Path https://www.buddha101.com/p_origin.htm Dharma Chakra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmachakra Ashoka Chakra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka_Chakra 7. CHRISTIANITY Fish Symbol http://religious-symbols.net/index.html The Latin Cross http://religious-symbols.net/index.html Notre Dame de Paris Wikipedia (2020 – Christian Culture). The Last Judgment by Michelangelo Wikipedia (2020 – Christian Culture). US Quarter Dollar Wikipedia (2020 – Quarter (United States coin)). Southeast Christian Church, USA https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/ thumb/5/55/Southeast_Christian_Church.jpg/ Saint Augustine Paoay Church, the Philippines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St._Agustine_Paoay_Church_02.jpg Jose Rizal Wikipedia (2020 – Jose Rizal) Human Rights Activists Memorializing Victims of Drug War. Wikipedia (2020 – Philippine Drug War) Inquisitional Dunking Wikipedia (2020 -- List of methods of torture). Mother Teresa with a Child https://www.motherteresa.org/index.html Medal of Freedom, USA, 1985. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:President_Reagan_presents_ Mother_Teresa_with_the_Medal_of_Freedom_1985.jpg Pope Francis (2021) Quirinale.it, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115828333 Sister Mariani Dimaranan Wikipedia (2022 - Sister Mariani Dimaranan) 8. ISLAM Arabic Inscription for Allah https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid= 49331661 A Sura Inscribed on a Camel Bone https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/ Surat_al-Fatiha_ inscribed_upon_the_shoulder_blade_of_a_camel.jpg Crescent Moon Wikipedia: Reference desk/Archives/Science/2013 July 31 Mosque of the Companions, Massawa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque_of_the_Companions,_Massawa Jama Masjid, Delhi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque#/media/File:Jama_Masjid,_Delhi.jpg Rub el Hizb https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1184053 Cheraman Juma Masjid https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23715377 Sundanese Traditional Folk Dance Wikipedia (2020 – Dance in Indonesia) Demak Great Mosque Tropen Museum, https://commons.wikimedia.org/ w/index.php?curid=8599844 A Modern Mosque in Central Java. Wahyu Saefulloh, https://commons.wikimedia.org /w/index.php?curid=72894904 Prambanan, the Largest Hindu Temple Compound in Indonesia Gunawan Kartapranata, https://commons.wikimedia.org /w/index.php?curid=12089087 Borobudur Buddhist Temple, Central Java Gunawan Kartapranata, https://commons.wikimedia.org/ w/index.php?curid=4838861 A Colonial Poster from French-ruled Algeria Bouttia (2019). 9. SECULARISM The Happy Human Denis Barrington: https://commons.wikimedia.org/ w/index.php?curid=5807416 Albert Einstein and Rabindranath Tagore, 1930 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rabindranath_with_Einstein.jpg Bertrand Russell Wikipedia (2020 – Bertrand Russell) Eleanor Marx Wikipedia (2020 – Eleanor Marx) Eslanda Robeson AADR (1986) Nawal El Saadawi Wikipedia (2020 – Nawal El Saadawi) 10. NEOLIBERALISM Lakshmi Wikipedia (2022 – Lakshmi by Raja Ravi Rama) 11. RUMINATIONS Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng AFP (2021) Sister Felicite Niyitegeka Wikipedia (2022 - Felicite Niyitegeka) Christian Prayer Symbols http://clipart-library.com/clipart/christian-cliparts-prayer_17.htm www.freevectors.net/free-vectors/praying-hands Muslim and Hindu Prayer Symbols www.123rf.com/photo_103264590_prayer-hands-outline-icon-linear-style-sign-for-mobile-concept-and-web-design-praying-hand-simple-li.html www.nicepng.com/ourpic/u2w7t4e6r5q8a9r5_hindu-hand-symbol-prayer- hands-vector-png/ Buddhist Monks Praying https://themuslimtimes.info/2018/10/23/buddhism-my-prayer-experience/ Muslim Women Praying during Eid el Fitr https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/2014_Eid_ul-Fitr_Praying_-_Imam_Ali_Shrine_-_Najaf_4.jpg/800px-2014_Eid_ul-Fitr_Praying_-_Imam_Ali_Shrine_-_Najaf_4.jpg 12. FINALE Desmond M Tutu Wikipedia (2022 - Desmond Tutu) Janani J Luwum https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2316026 Malala Yousafzai https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81616823 James Baldwin Wikipedia (2022 - James Baldwin) Taher Ali Khan Al-Jazeera (2021) Quaker Star https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Quaker_star-T.svg Make Humanity Your Religion Source: Unknown REFERENCES ↔↔↔↔↔↔↔ That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence. Christopher Hitchens Note: Wikipedia sources are identified by year of visit and subject title. 1. INTRODUCTION AFP (2022) Mob stones mentally ill man to death for ‘desecrating Quran’, The Guardian (UK), 13 February 2022, www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/13/man-stoned-to-death-in-pakistan-after-desecrating-quran AP (2022) Man stoned to death in Pakistan after ‘desecrating Quran’, The Guardian (UK), 13 February 2022, www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/13/man-stoned-to-death-in-pakistan-after-desecrating-quran DK Publisher (2013) The Religions Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained, DK Press (Penguin Random House), New York. DW (2017) Religious conflicts on the rise in Africa, DW, 23 September 2019, www.dw.com/en/religious-conflicts-on-the-rise-in-africa/a-0645771 Hirji KF (editor) (2011) Cheche: Reminiscences of a Radical Magazine, Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, Dar es Salaam. Hirji KF (2014) Growing Up with Tanzania: Memories, Musings and Maths, Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, Dar es Salaam. Parrinder G (1969) Religion in Africa, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth. 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Oksman O (2016) How lobbyists made breakfast 'the most important meal of the day', The Guardian (UK), 28 November 2016, www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/28/ breakfast-health-america-kellog-food-lifestyle Paris PJ (1994) The Spirituality of African Peoples, Fortress Press, New York. Parrinder G (1969) Religion in Africa, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth. Petruzzello M (2019) Religion, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 August 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/religion Regus M (2017) Understanding Human Rights Culture in Indonesia: A Case Study of the Ahmadiyya Minority Group, PhD Thesis, University of Tilburg, https://research.tilburguniversity.edu/en/publications/understanding-human-rights-culture-in-indonesia-a-case-study-of-the-Ahmadiyya-Minority Group. 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Smithers R (2009) Battle of the breakfast table as cereal makers fight health warning TV ads, The Guardian (UK), 13 September 2009, www.theguardian.com/business/ 2009/sep/13/food-standards-cereals-salt-campaign Sweney (2016) Kellogg's Special K ads banned over 'full of goodness' and 'nutritious' claims, The Guardian (UK), 20 July 2016, www.theguardian.com/media/ 2016/jul/20/kelloggs-special-k-ads-banned-health-claims Thurmon J (2016) The wedding of business and religion, Adventist Review, 31 May 2016, www.adventistreview.org/1606-19. Usborne S (2016) Cereal offenders: the breakfast ads that turn out to be flakey, The Guardian (UK), 20 July 2016, www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2016 /jul/20/cereal-offenders-the-breakfast-ads-that-turn-out-to-be-flakey Wikipedia (2019 – Ahmadiyya, Ahmadiyya by Country, Anansi, Bantu Mythology, Bantu Peoples, Confucianism, Humanity First, List of Ahmadis, List of Ahmadiyya Buildings and Structures, Mirza Ghulam Ahmed, Religion, Religion in Africa, Seventh Day Adventist Church, Sikhism, Traditional African Religion). 4. ORIGINS Alan S (2015) Social relations in the Paleolithic period, Short History Website, 16 December 2015, www.shorthistory.org/prehistory/social-relations-in-the-paleolithic-period Alan S (2016) Art and religion of the Neolithic period, Short History Website, 10 January 2019, www.shorthistory.org/prehistory/art-and-religion-of-neolithic-period/ Ambrosino B (2019a) How and why did religion evolve? 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HINDUISM Adams J (2012) An odd kind of piety: The truth about Gandhi's sex life, The Independent, 2 January 2012, www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment /books/features/thrill-of-the-chaste-the-truth-about-gandhis-sex-life-1937411.html AFP (2019) World's 'largest animal sacrifice' starts in Nepal after ban ignored, The Guardian (UK), 3 December 2019, www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/02/worlds-largest-ritual-animal-slaughter-goes-ahead-despite-ban Agrawal P (2019) Being Hindu in a Hindu Rashtra, India Today, 8 November 2019, www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20191118-being-hindu-in-a-hindu-rashtra-1616599-2019-11-08 Ahmed T (2019) Mohandas Gandhi: Experiments in Civil Disobedience, Pluto Press, London. 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Henry David Thoreau Karim F Hirji is an award-winning retired Professor of Medical Statistics who has published many statistical and biomedical research papers together with articles on education, politics and other issues, six nonfiction books and one novel. Hirji KF (2005) Exact Analysis of Discrete Data, Chapman and Hall/CRC Press, Boca Raton and London. Hirji KF (editor) (2011) Cheche: Reminiscences of a Radical Magazine, Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, Dar es Salaam. Hirji KF (2012) Statistics in the Media: Learning from Practice, Media Council of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam. Hirji KF (2014) Growing Up with Tanzania: Memories, Musings and Maths, Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, Dar es Salaam. Hirji KF (2017) The Enduring Relevance of Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Daraja Press, Montreal, Canada. Hirji KF (2017) The Banana Girls, Zand Graphics, Nairobi. Hirji KF (2018) The Travails of a Tanzanian Teacher, Daraja Press, Montreal, Canada. Hirji KF (2019) Under-Education in Africa: From Colonialism to Neoliberalism, Daraja Press, Montreal, Canada. He may be contacted at kfhirji@aol.com.