‘Secularism essential to spurring analytical thinking’

Karachi
Secularism is something that all along in our set-up has been wrongly equated with atheism and Godlessness. What it actually implies is that religion and state have their own very important respective positions but must not interfere with each other’s working. Religion and politics just don’t mix.
These views were expressed by noted historian and academic Dr Mubarak Ali while delivering a lecture, titled, ‘Religion and politics’, at the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) on Thursday afternoon.
Being a historian, in support of his contention, he quoted the examples of ancient Greece where, he said, rulers included people of all schools of thought in governance and decision-making regardless of their propensity to religion or otherwise. All they had to be was intellectuals. That, he said, was the secret of their strength whereby they avoided any controversies or bitter arguments.
He also quoted the example of Allauddin Khilji in the subcontinent who, he said, assumed a totally secular line in matters of governance and recounted the progressive steps that had been taken in his regime.
“In Europe, beginning the renaissance period, it was felt that the state was using the church for its ulterior motives and gradually the secularist movement began. It does not need to be stated how it benefited Europe and played a part in the force that Europe is in world history,” Dr Mubarak said.
The French Revolution followed in the same path which welded France into a real force because there was no dissension among sects or religions. Religion was kept the full domain of the individual with no interference from the state. “In short, we have to value knowledge and intellect to get our priorities right,” Dr Mubarak said.
“For this, it is imperative that we reform our education and dispense with class-based education. If we want secularism to flourish, meaningful, neutral education is a must.”
Unfortunately, Dr Mubarak said, today the concept of education in our society had come to be misinterpreted and it was just supposed to imply something exclusively for an employment, for a massive salary.
“As such, our seats of learning have stopped producing people with an analytical outlook and depth of vision.
“Our textbooks should promote ideas, not personalities,” Dr Mubarak said.
Dr Haroon, chair of the Society for Secular Pakistan, thanked the guest speaker for the enlightening talk and echoed his assertion that “we have to rethink our education system”. The lecture was followed by an enlivening question-answer session.