Making Sense of Religion and State Encounters: Locating Religions in Secular States

Sinha, Vineeta

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-0887-7_1

Vineeta Sinha²

Part of the book series: ARI - Springer Asia Series ((ARI,volume 1))

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Abstract

Students of religion have displayed heightened interest in ‘uncovering connections between religion and politics’,¹ particularly within the framework of secular states. The research in this field has generated a compendium of analytical tools and a conceptual language for engaging this multi-dimensional domain. For instance, scholars have found it useful to invoke the concept of ‘secularism’, the related ideas of ‘separation of church and state’ and ‘state non-interference in religion’, to make sense of encounters between these realms. Other efforts have seen the generation of measures such as ‘government involvement in religion’ (GIR)² and ‘separation of religion and state’ (SRAS), to gauge the relationship between state and religion.

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Notes

1.
Asad (1999, 178).
2.
Jonathan Fox’s A World Survey of Religion and the State (2008) uses the GIR and SRAS to assess government input in regulating the religious domain between 1990 and 2002.
3.
Fox (2008, 350).
4.
In particular, analyses of American politics have been dominated by the invocation of the wall of separation between church and state and the need to preserve this. See for example, Davis (1991), Jelen (2000), Kramnick (1986) and Lambert (2003).
5.
Scholars operating out of an Asian context have found it valuable to turn to ‘secularism’ as a political doctrine, even as they have criticized it. Heng and Ten’s (2010) recently edited volume carries essays on the relationship between states and versions of secularism in Asia. Indian social scientists have debated vigorously about the applicability of secularism to the subcontinent, notably including such scholars as Irfan Engineer (1995), T. N. Madan (1987), Nandy (1990) and Tejani (2008). Edited volumes by Srinivas (2007), Needham and Sunder Rajan (2007) and Bhargava (1998) have all highlighted problems with the notion of secularism.
6.
N. J. Demerath III (2003, 24).
7.
See, for example, Warner et al.’s Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age (2010).
8.
Taylor (2007, 1).
9.
These are as follows: one, ‘the emptying of religion from public spaces’, two, the decline of belief and practice and, three, new conditions of belief or lack thereof (ibid. 2). He finds the third interpretation to be the most meaningful and worth pursuing.
10.
Cited in Warner et al. (2010, 4, footnote).
11.
Asad (2003, 25).
12.
Ibid. 200.
13.
Asad (2003, 1).
14.
Proposed by scholars like T. N. Madan, Andre Beteille, Dipankar Gupta and Ashis Nandy, as well as Mani Shankar Aiyar, who are theorizing the Indian context.
15.
See, for example, Michael Warner et al.’s Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age (2010).
16.
Some examples include the following: Sweden was formally a religious state under the Lutheran Church of Sweden but is also one of the world’s most secularized societies; India is an officially secular nation with a religiously diverse population and where some parties hold the view that the state is not secular enough in being rigorously neutral amongst contesting religious groups; France, where the laicite model of a secularist state protects religious institutions from some types of state interference, but also places some limitations on public expressions of religiosity; Italy, where Roman Catholicism is espoused by a majority of the populace but which severed political connections with the Vatican in 1986; Vietnam and China, where there is evidence of religious repression by the state but which are by no means secular societies.
17.
Chua Beng Huat, in Hong and Huang (2008, Foreword, viii).
18.
Peter Worsley notes that ‘the rise of the nation-state is a modern phenomenon. Its origins, in Europe, date back only two centuries’ (1998, 1040).
19.
Chua (1995), Hill and Lian (1995) and Puru Shotam (1998).
20.
According to Singapore Census of Population, 2000, the percentage of Singaporeans who claim to have a religious identity stands at 86.2%, while those that declare themselves ‘non-believers’ (including atheists, agnostics and free thinkers) are reported to be 14.8%.
21.
Edge (2006, 12).
22.
Kevin Tan (2004, 98).
23.
Ibid.
24.
Ibid.
25.
Ibid.
26.
Kevin Tan also notes that the Singapore Constitution has been amended several times since independence to address the question of protection of racial and religious minority rights and multi-racial representation in politics (Kevin Tan 2004).
27.
Article 15(1): Every person has the right to profess and practice his religion and to propagate it.
Article 15(2): Every religious group in Singapore has the right to perform the following three functions: (1) to manage its own religious affairs; (2) to establish and maintain institutions for religious or charitable purposes; and (3) to acquire and own property and hold and administer it in accordance with the law.
Article 16(2): Every religious group in Singapore also ‘has the right to establish and maintain institutions for the education of children and therein provide instruction in its own religion, and there shall be no discrimination on the ground only of religion in any law relating to such institutions or in the administration of any such law. (Constitution of the Republic of Singapore)
28.
Article 15(4) of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore.
29.
Habermas (1987, 308).
30.
The historical contract, made with the formerly British rulers of Singapore, obliged the formulators of the Singapore Constitution to include the clause that the Government must undertake to safeguard the interests of its ‘racial and religious minorities’, in particular, members of the Malay community. This is carried in Article 152 of the Constitution of Singapore and ‘guarantees protection to minorities in general and which obliges the Government to safeguard and promote the interests of the Malays in Singapore’ (Kevin Tan 2004, 99). Kevin Tan also notes that ‘Article 152 has never been invoked, challenged or questioned in court of law. As such, its impact, if any, has been psychological rather than legal’ (ibid. 104). Further, Article 153 requires the legislature to ‘make provision for regulating Muslim religious affairs and for constituting a council to advise the President in matters relating to the Muslim religion’.
31.
Keddie (2003, 242).
32.
Clark and Dear (1983, 128).
33.
Of course, laws can serve other functions as well. In examining Muslim women and law in India, Vrinda Narain (2008) demonstrates the complex and contradictory nature of state legislation in being complicit with patriarchal structures of authority. But she also suggests that the law could be a tool for engendering social change, revealing her faith in the emancipatory potential of the law, while being aware that it can also be ‘an emissary of the state’.
34.
Historically, Malaysian Federal Law is the origin of the Sedition Act and the Internal Security Act, which continue to be applicable in Singapore. See Shiau (2004) for a fuller discussion.
35.
Legally, the functions of the SHEB are confined to managing the religious endowments vested in four Hindu temples, but in practical terms, its current portfolio is far more expansive.
36.
E. Tan (2002, 85).
37.
Tan and Thio (1997, 905).
38.
E. Tan (2008, 73).
39.
If registered as a charity, religious organizations are obliged to make available their annual reports and audited financial statements to the Commissioner of Charities.
40.
The Singapore Buddhist Federation Foundation was founded in the late 1990s and registered under the Societies Act and is also a registered charity. It was renamed the Singapore Buddhist Community Foundation in 2005. See http://www.buddhist.org.sg/sbf/about (accessed on 8 June 2010).
41.
http://www.nccs.org.sg/NCCS/Home.html
42.
http://www.sikhadvisoryboard.org
43.
See Sinha (1987).
44.
For the local Sikh and Hindu communities, there is a vacuum in terms of traditional religious leadership that can offer spiritual guidance and counsel. While other religious groups are represented by an abbot, a pastor, a monk, a mufti or an archbishop, the Sikh and Hindu representatives on these committees are drawn from secular, administrative bodies like the Sikh Advisory Board and the Hindu Endowments Board/Hindu Advisory Board, respectively.
45.
Kenneth Tan (2010, 342).
46.
In previous incarnations this used to be known as the Ministry of Social Affairs and then the Ministry of Culture.
47.
MCYS Media Release No. 36/2006, ‘Government Appoints National Steering Committee on Racial and Religious Harmony’ (7 October 2006).
48.
Ibid.
49.
Additionally, he encouraged schools, workplaces and other social organizations to establish what he called Harmony Circles (HCs), ‘to help spread the movement of inter-racial confidence building more extensively at the ground level’ (Opening Remarks by the Then-PM Goh at the Dialogue with Young Malay/Muslim Professionals, 2 February 2002). Upon his suggestion, a Code on Religious Harmony was also drafted. This is essentially a pledge, not a law, and is meant to reflect moral values and norms that should guide the practice of religions locally, bearing in mind Singapore’s multi-religious and secular context.
50.
MCYS Media Release No. 36/2006.
51.
Just to mention two select examples, I have encountered Hare Krishna devotees and Jehovah’s Witnesses in the course of my fieldwork in Singapore.
52.
I pick up strands of this discussion in the concluding chapter.
53.
Kenneth Tan (2010, 339).
54.
Thio (2008, 80).
55.
Sinha (2005).
56.
See Chua (1985).
57.
Sinha (1997), (1999), (2003a).
58.
Sinha (2005).
59.
Interestingly, Malaysian Hinduism has fared much better in this regard with many more important social scientific and historical accounts of Hinduism and the Indian community in these societies (see Collins 1997; Lee 1982, 1989; Mearns 1987, 1995; Wilford 1996, 2007; Yeoh 2001). For Hinduism in Indonesia, see Howe (2001), Ramstedt (2004) and Reuter (2008).
60.
Arumugam (2002) and Tong (2007).
61.
See Arasratnam (1966, 1970) and Babb (1974a, 1974b, 1976, 1978).
62.
See Ampalavanar (1972, 1969), Lee and Rajoo (1987), Nair (1972), Puru Shotam (1998) and Yeo (1984).
63.
See Ampalavanar (1969), Arasaratnam (1966, 1970) and Palanivel (1971).
64.
It is important to highlight that following the Indian example, the MHEB was founded to administer endowments vested in religious institutions of Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and Parsees. A comprehensive account of the work performed by the MHEB requires attention to the management of endowments across these religious communities, and the internal comparisons would be insightful. Yet, bearing in mind the enormous scale of such a project and the value of a focused and meaningful discussion, I concentrate here on the administration of Hindu religious endowments.
65.
The persistence of the Penang HEB (PHEB) and the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HRCE) in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu offer a valuable comparative perspective.
66.
Carr (1961) and Collingwood (1993).
67.
In this I follow Cohn’s injunction to ‘treat the materials of history the way an anthropologist treats his fieldnotes’ (1987, 2).
68.
Appadurai (1981), Asad (2002), Axel (2002), Cohn (1987, 1996), Comaroff and Comaroff (1992), Dirks (1987) and Mathur (2000).
69.
Des Chene (1997).
70.
Axel (2002, 30).
71.
Axel (2002, 17).
72.
Krech III (1991, 347).
73.
Ibid. 347.
74.
Axtell (1979).
75.
Brown (1991, 1).
76.
Krech III (1991, 348).
77.
The long list of scholars working on ‘native’ communities in North America, Africa, Oceania and Asia furnishes excellent examples. Within the South Asian context, the writings of Appadurai (1981) and Dirks (1987) are illustrative of this method.
78.
Brown (1991, 116).
79.
Farriss (1983, 1).
80.
Gille and O’Riain (2002, 288).
81.
Raybeck (1992).
82.
There are many variants of this word in Anglicized renditions: ‘Thaipusam’, ‘Tai Pucam’ and ‘Taipusam’ (in academic and popular literature) as well as ‘Tai Pūcam’, the transliterated Tamil description, which I have opted for in this book.

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Sinha, V. (2011). Making Sense of Religion and State Encounters: Locating Religions in Secular States. In: Religion-State Encounters in Hindu Domains. ARI - Springer Asia Series, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0887-7_1

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