Transcending Boundaries: Fundamentalism, Secularism and Social Capital in Multi-faith Societies

In this chapter, we show that in contexts of cultural and religious difference a social and political commitment to secularism can lead to enhanced religious tolerance, increased social capital and political change. Interview data from the Indian context with Muslim and Hindu young men shows that a non-western interpretation of secularism, drawn from Gandhi and also Habermas, has important social, political and psychological consequences. Here, state politics is not separated from religion per se, but rather that state politics is separated from affiliation with one religion. Hence, religious politics in a secular context helps to overcome inter-ethnic and religious divides and thereby discourage religious fundamentalism. Evaluation of out-groups is largely based on bipolar concepts: inter-group, Orient-Occident or religious-secular and contemporary western discourse, which sustains an oppositional construction of the categories of religion and the secular are both challenged. Instead, the present research calls for a re-conceptualization of the relationship between religion and secularism that is not simply bipolar, insular and isolated. It emphasizes that, religion and secularism should be perceived as dialectically connected on a continuum. Further, emphasis is on moral maturation and augmenting of social capital. Finally, it establishes that in India the central belief is that a heterogeneous and multi-faith society must be based on trust and reciprocity. An opening of communicative spaces can contribute to inter-group harmony. Reciprocity based on trust increases social capital, which facilitates civic integration. This should be leveraged. There should be little space for corrupt politicians but pivotal space for the hegemony of social capital and moral maturation, which can help in the promotion of social solidarity and mature democracy.