Saturday 12 December 2009

The Conflict is Between Religiosity & Spirituality - Not Secularism & Religiosity.

"If PAS wants to avoid falling into this trap it should have
very clear and very public objectives about how it wishes
to resolve this conflict between secularism and religiosity."

~Batsman, "So Where Do We Go From Here"
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The following is a comment I gave in reply to the above article (with minor editing):

Dear Batsman,
I must say that this is a nice piece - in fact, I myself had similar sentiments. However, I would like to suggest that you replace the word "religiosity" with "spirituality" and "conflict" with "balance", in the context of the following sentence above:-
"If PAS wants to avoid falling into this trap it should have very clear and very public objectives about how it wishes to resolve this conflict between secularism and religiosity."

Before I say any further, allow me to apologize, should any of the following be flawed from the perspective of Muslims - and I would welcome any criticism.
As I see it, Islam isn't about religiosity, which entails the observation of rituals - I believe that it is more of "good practices in the context of spirituality".

Having said that, spirituality requires enlightenment and reason, so as to bring about justice through good practices – and this precisely what the ideal of "secularism" is all about. Contrary to your opinion, it is my belief that "secularism" isn't necessarily in conflict with the tenets Islamic (or any other) spirituality, in the big picture – but it is definitely in conflict with religiosity, which PAS advocates in its politics, through the trappings of "cultural" practices and outdated opinions.

It is is also the opinion of quite a number of thinkers, that secularism does not necessarily mean "secularization of society" - wherein religious convictions are frowned upon. It only describes the polity which is required in achieving towards building a dynamic nation, which practices equality. It is a polity that requires reason as opposed to rules based on primordial Arab/Islamic/Roman/Christian societies which claimed to represent "Godly" motives.

Today, "secularism" has been demonized by the religious communities as being "evil", through ignorance and bigotry. They fail to understand that "secularism" not only protects the rights of individuals to freedom of religion, but also protects religion from the corruption of politics, and in fact even itself, by limiting the idiosyncrasies of power hungry "godmen".

Little do many a faithful see, that much of what has been touted as "god-ordained" in religious polity, is nothing but thinly veiled greed and envy. Having failed in its ability to reason, the advocates of this system (clamouring for issues and a new agenda to perpetuate their greed and envy) now choose to preach intolerance, “arabization”, and religiosity in the name of God, to further isolate, and “drug into a stupor” a beautiful people that was once open to change.

Even if we aren't too accurate in our assessment, much of what that has been passed off for Islamization by many of these "godmen", is nothing more than frothy God-talk - mindless, thoughtless, and in its exploitation of people, heartless.
(With some exceptions)The “one-upmanship” practiced by the various institutions that espouse religious chauvinism, is in fact a pathetic display of their failures and insecurities.