Role of Secularism in Modern States: Cultural Anthropology

This essay delves into the complex interplay of secularism, nationalism, and religious conflicts within modern states, drawing examples from the USA, India, and the United Kingdom. The author explores how religious sentiments and political actions can disrupt pluralism, leading to conflicts. The essay examines the necessity of strict secularity, considering the diversity of religions globally and the impact of globalization on workplaces and societies. It argues that secularism is crucial for cultural awareness, safety, and democratic governance, highlighting the dangers of religious dominance and the importance of respecting diverse beliefs. The paper references the rise of Christian and Hindu nationalism, and emphasizes the need for religious uniformity to maintain peace and avoid catastrophic consequences. It concludes that respecting religious beliefs is vital for preventing conflicts and ensuring national unity. The essay cites multiple sources to support its arguments, including academic articles and news reports.

Cultural Anthropology
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Role of Secularism in Modern States:
In the modern states such as the USA, India, United Kingdom and many other western as
well the Middle Eastern countries are subjected to religious conflicts. The pace at which the
political people are misusing the power to disrupt the pluralism in the countries are giving rise to
daily conflicts in the nations. The Secularism on the other hand is the way by which the conflicts
due to the religion can be prevented in the countries. A religion is not just a belief of an
individual, it also a sentiment. Not a single individual can tolerate any negative judgement
against their religion. However, the recent events such as Donald Trump being voted as the
President or Narendra Modi voted as the Prime Minister of India is raising questions, are people
not accepting the secularity in the states? According to the surveys it has being seen that soon
after the US Elections, strong Christian ideologies started showing up in the country. Similarly
for India, after the Prime Minister was elected for the country, India has started to follow the
footprints of Trump as well, in raising up the nation as one of the Hindu nation. In fact it is often
seen that the people of America are infuriated when questioned about ‘nationalism’. This is
because, since a long time American Nationalism has been considered as a “Christian” virtue,
and there are numerous supported of that fact well. Secularity helps in the process of resolving
these issues in the modern states (Whitehead, Perry & Baker, 2018).
Is strict Secularity necessary? (185)
There are in total 4200 religions in the world. The globalization of the business and the
technological advancement has brought the people working together. Geographical boundaries
are no longer considered to be challenging. The workplaces are filled up with people from
different cultures and that is one of the best way to gather ideas for the business development and

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there by resulting in hike in the revenue of the company. In this scenario, when Pluralism or the
secularism is absent from the country, the people are highly insecure about the safety and
solidarity. Secularism is the only way to bring them together by raising cultural awareness
amongst the people. The majority of the votes were provided to the current President of the
United States as he favoured the anti-black, Christian, islamophobic mentality. People
worldwide, who are under a continuous threat of being harmed by one country is in a dilemma
that being inclined to the Christianity is helping in resolving the issues, knowing or unknowingly
hurting the sentiments of the people or residents of the country having other religion (Corey,
2020). However, secularity helps in separation of the religion form the states. This is very
important as it keeps people together. This again helps in operating a country democratically.
Domination based on the any particular religion is violation of the rights as per democracy of the
country is considered.
Should the accommodation of, or openness to, multiple religions in the state be allowed
only under a dominant religion?
No this is absolutely wrong. Majority of the countries around the world practise
democracy. Democratic government is the government of the people, for the people and is for
the people. As there are numerous cultures that are present in a country, only one single religion
or culture cannot be dominant (Nafi, 2020). Only letting one religion to dominate is against the
rights of the democracy. The right to equality is very important for maintaining a calm and
controlled environment in a country. Christianity holds the largest population in the religious
sector, Islam being the first runner up. Thus the conflict among them can lead to major political

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and social issues in the country. Thus right to religion, faith, believe, and culture should be a
mandatory practise for all the countries.
Uniformity in religious practise is necessary requirement for national unity:
Agitated by few people or politically inclined people, we have developed hatred towards
certain religions. Election results of certain countries or certain countries allegiance with the
other is the perfect proof of this fact. This does not remove the rising issue of the religious crisis
that is occurring in different countries. Not accepting the religious beliefs of the less-dominant
religion or even demolishing them from the modern states leads to further conflicts which may
lead to major other issues like the riots and war. History has innumerable examples of such
consequences (Newsweek, 2020). Thus the religious uniformity is very important for marinating
peace in the nation. Respecting the beliefs of an individual helps in reducing the catastrophic
consequences from the religious inequality in the nation.

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References:
Make America Christian Again: Christian Nationalism and Voting for Donald Trump in the 2016
Presidential Election
https://academic.oup.com/socrel/advance-article/doi/10.1093/socrel/srx070/4825283
Whitehead, A. L., Perry, S. L., & Baker, J. O. (2018). Make America Christian again: Christian
nationalism and voting for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Sociology of
Religion, 79(2), 147-171.
Why American Christians Get So Angry When You Question Nationalism
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/why-american-christians-get-so-angry-when-you-
question-nationalism/
Corey, T. (2020). Why American Christians Get So Angry When You Question Nationalism.
[online] The Official Blog of Benjamin L. Corey. Available at:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/why-american-christians-get-so-angry-
when-you-question-nationalism/ [Accessed 6 Mar. 2020].
Nationalism vs Islam: Islamists and nationalists have had a tense relationship since the 1920s.
https://www.aljazeera.com/focus/arabunity/2008/02/200852519420197834.html
Nafi, B. (2020). Nationalism vs Islam. [online] Aljazeera.com. Available at:
https://www.aljazeera.com/focus/arabunity/2008/02/20085251942019783
4.html [Accessed 6 Mar. 2020].
Modi’s India: caste, inequality and the rise of Hindu nationalism

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http://www.newsweek.com/modis-india-caste-inequality-and-rise-hindu-nationalism-356734
Newsweek. (2020). Modi's India: Caste, Inequality and the Rise of Hindu Nationalism. [online]
Available at: http://www.newsweek.com/modis-india-caste-inequality-and-rise-hindu-
nationalism-356734 [Accessed 6 Mar. 2020].