Seminar celebrates secularism

S Vishnu Sharmaa, INN/Chennai, @Svs037 

Loyola College, Yuva Leadership Institute and Institute of Dialogue with Cultures and Religions (IDCR) joined hands to organise a national 1seminar on ‘celebrating secularism’ on September 3. 

Fr. Cedric Prakash, Human rights and peace activist said education has to make men and women work for welfare of others. ‘This country belongs to everybody whether you are rich or poor, this caste or that caste, this religion or that religion, this state or other. We are born and will die as Indians.’

Students should not be afraid. The country and its future belong to you and your children. Study, do an evaluation of what is happening in the society, find out a government program that is not reaching the poorest of the poor, take a stand against corruption and refuse to pay bribes, he said.

Rev. Dr. Michael Amaladoss SJ, founder and former director of IDCR, Loyola College said When we speak of India as a secular state, we do not mean it is atheist or non-religious, but it treats all religion as equal and is not identified with any one religion. 

Freedom of religion is one of the fundamental rights in Indian Constitution. Minority religions are protected under the constitution from any domination by the majority religion.

Pluralism is a fact of life in India. Secularism means a pluralism of religion in Society and such secularism need to be celebrated. Secularism really means not the absence but pluralism of religion, he said.

Aishwarya Kalpathi, Chief Executive Officer, Yuva Active Advocacy Forum said secularism cannot be effectively implemented if there is a lack of cohesive understanding of what secularism actually is.

We believe that providing young minds with a holistic picture of the evolution of secularism in India will enable them to make unbiased, clear and well thought out decisions. We hope that this conference, inspires students with new ideas and a drive to transform this inspiration into action, she said.