Comments on Outlandish Musings: Does religion have a place in education?

In the Indian context religion is also a way of li...

2009-10-15T20:08:26.940+05:30

In the Indian context religion is also a way of life and a lot of things, from food to architecture revolve around it. So, when you start a healthy debate about religion in the form of, say, questioning particular tenets that is apt to be construed as criticism by scores of people. And of course, throw in politicians and you might soon have something like the Ram janmabhoomi issue on your hands

Maybe thats what we do as individuals. But as a co...

2009-10-13T14:52:43.670+05:30

Maybe thats what we do as individuals. But as a collective society we may have debates on academic levels, but the content is largely irreligious. Sometimes respecting somebody's sentiments feels like keep your mouth shut!

Rehab, Nice post, I'd say. I think religion i...

2009-10-13T01:30:17.063+05:30

Rehab,

Nice post, I'd say. I think religion is kept out of education because it is not simply religion v/s 'irrelegion', but is rather one religion v/s the other. Countries where one religion greatly dominates, or the most practiced religions share some similarities (Abrahamic religions, for instance), the debate turns into theist v/s atheist one. But in India atheists/skeptics are so few, and despite the fact that though the preamble of our Constitution declares India a 'secular' state, fact remains that even the most learned judges of judiciary take atheistic stands as insult to religions rather than merely rational enquiry into certain propositions. The attitude has become like "you respect my religion and I'll respect yours, and which we'll do by not questioning each other PUBLICLY".

Plus, people attach self-esteem to their religion, so to question the very bases of their beliefs is deemed offensive. Basically, debates, which require largely dispassionate approach if something is to be tangibly gained from them, are not possible when it comes to religion as all the parties involved are deeply impassioned.

One of the fellow bloggers has done a related post here, where I have also commented carrying these ideas forward:

http://myminddroppings.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/almost-nobody-truly-believes-in-god/

Incidentally, I've identified myself as atheist on my blog!

Also, my comment would've been much shorter had I restricted it to 'nice post'. ;)

TC.