Vineet Chaitanya vc@mail.iiit.net wrote:
On Sun, Sep 07, 2003 at 05:22:21AM +0530, Ramanraj K wrote:
The British used religion as a tool to divide and rule India.
Gandhi
attempted to use religion to unite us. The use of
religion for
uniting or dividing is dangerous as we now know.
I think the "uniting" which is dangerous is only a superficial uniting and inherently involves "dividing". On the other hand, the uniting which Mahatma Gandhi attempted was a genuine uniting. Sorry, for bringing in extraneous philosophical points in this
list,
but I do think that clarity of thinking is very much essential in any endevour. So I just wanted to clarify the statement of Shree Ramanraj.Vineet Chaitanya
It is futile to repent history, but to ignore history is folly.
Annie Besant left the Home Rule League in 1920 because it had become "intertwined with Religion". Even if using religion in public affairs was justified because it was "genuine uniting", it did not work well from the start, and ultimately ended in the partition of our country, and the problems continue, inspite of the best efforts of our leaders.
Postings in this list frequently relate to e-governance and education using free software. The past ought to be carefully considered while laying new paths into the future. Mahatma Gandhi himself clarified the position of religion in a state:
"The State would look after your secular welfare, health, communcations, foreign relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody's personal concern" - Harijan: Sept. 22, 1946
If a state ignores this, the state may be forced to spend huge sums on peace keeping, depriving utilisation of common funds to meet more pressing and urgent needs for its children and welfare.
I hope this clarity prevails in the minds of those who write free software aiming for good education and governance.