Tolerance

Actually, there are two questions that need to be distinguished from each other. There is, firstly, the question about the nature of ‘Eastern’ Christianity. If it is muted in its proselytizing drive in all cultures the same way and if it is ’tolerant’ in exactly the same way in all cultures, it makes sense to ask the question whether (a) different factors in all these cultures have brought about …

Most of us would not know the difference between the Syrian Orthodox, the Greek Orthodox and the Russian Orthodox Churches; many will be hard put to differentiate between the Pope and the Patriarch. In these circumstances, it is foolish to write apologetica for ‘Eastern Christianity’ and criticise ‘Western Christianity’. Let those concerned with the nature of Christian theologies do that. But …

I would like to address a very basic issue that many of us have confronted. In its simplest form, the question is this: What should we, a small slice of the Indian intelligentsia, be doing? We can vent our anger and frustration at the way the Indian politicians are handling (or mishandling) the Kashmiri situation; we can express hurt and outrage that ‘Hindus’ are singled out for special treatment …

According to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, ‘Hinduism’ is devil’s worship. Instead of quoting from their scriptures, let me give the barest of the bare outlines of their fundamental story about ‘God’ and ‘religion’. Nobelieverfrom any of these religions (their religious authorities included) could ever disagree with this outline. There are two ‘Gods’: the true God and the false God (notice the …

There are two distinct problems: one involving religions (like Christianity, Judaism and Islam) and the other involving the believers. Regarding these three religions: (a) insofar as these religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) are concerned, Hinduism is demonic. It is that because, according to all the three religions, ‘Hindus’ worship the devil (‘shaitan’) and his minions. That is to say, …

Here goes: that ‘Hindu’ religion is devil’s worship is central, crucial and vital to the religions that Judaism, Christianity and Islam are. ‘Why is that?’, you may ask. It is impossible to cover this question in the space of a post, and with the details the question demands. So, here is what can be done: (a) I will provide a very crude outline with respect to Christianity; (b) reread what I wrote …

(a) It appears to me that in these discussions, a very vital issue (if we want to talk about Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and their ‘problems’ with ‘Hinduism’, etc) is not being recognized. and that is this: religious ‘beliefs’ are not accorded their place, and are talked about as though they are merely a subset of the class of ‘beliefs’. (b) ‘Being a believer’ (I will confine myself to …

Original I am from Bangalore, India, but work as a professor in Belgium, Europe. My name is not Batra but am known as ‘Balu’. I am not, nor have I ever been, a member of either the BJP (the nationalist party in India) or organizations collectively known as the ‘Sangh Parivar’. Even though I am born a ‘Hindu’, some of my ‘liberal’ associates are convinced that I am a ‘crypto-Christian’. So much …

Editor’s Note: This article appeared in the Journal of Political Philosophy. Authored by SN Balagangadhara and Jakob De Roover. For an alternative research programme (paradigm) for studying India, Indian culture and Indian culture, study Balagangadhara’s Reconceptualizing Indian Studies, published by OUP, India. There are few places in the contemporary world where the problems of cultural …

“What is the relationship between religious intolerance and the acts committed in Mumbai?” This is an empirical question at many levels. If some or another religion is used to defend the attacks in Mumbai, then it depends very much on the kinds of justifications used; the kind of theology in question; the relationship between the belief-states of the perpetrators and their motives; the …

One has faith in God and, therefore, trusts that His message is also The Truth. That is to say, one should not predicate the attitude of having ‘faith in’ to the EI account directly. There is a very important additional reason for being clear about our terminologies. Consider the distinction between having no idea that the Cosmos is an EI entity and having an account that makes the Cosmos into …

Social issues, inherently, are neither paradoxical any more than they are contradictory. It is the formulation of these issues that gives birth to paradoxes, contradictions and such like. (For the simple reason that ‘paradox’, ‘contradiction’, etc. are properties of statements, not of objects and events.) If there is a ‘paradox’ of freedom, then it lies not in the situation where one tradition (or …

Assuming that the distinction I proposed between civic tolerance and religious tolerance is acceptable, let us proceed further to analyze the notion of civic tolerance more closely. (I am simply assuming that it is desirable and that, from now on, we are talking about religious matters.) It is (logically) possible that there could be religious intolerance and yet the believers in such religions …

Words like “inclusivism”, “exclusivism” etc. are not a part of my terminology. They are not only imprecise but also misleading. They have been used mostly as meta-descriptions of the stance that Christian theologies took with respect to other religions. (To use these loaded notions, even when negatively qualified, to describe the Indian traditions is totally misleading and entirely wrong.) They …

Even if one insists (wrongly in my view) that I am suggesting that Alex Alexander is not a Christian, there are two ways of looking at the object of my assertion: (a) it is about the unique individual that Alex Alexander is; (b) it is about him in so far as he is an instance of the tolerant Christianity that some Indian Churches are supposed to be. I am not discussing (a): I do not know this …

Today, in countries like England, Belgium, Germany, Italy and the United States, many religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) and many brands of some of these religions (Catholicism, Protestantism of various shades, Orthodox Churches, etc) coexist. In Belgium or Italy, for instance, the Catholic Christians do not impose their faiths on those who are not Catholics, i.e., they do not go around …