Praise comes for secularism in Bangladesh

February 21, 2012: ‘Europe can learn a lot from Bangladesh about ensuring freedom of all religions’ a British academic in Philosophy and Theology, Dr Nicholas Adams from Edinburgh University, said yesterday.
Dr Adams was responding to Dhaka University (DU) professor KAM Saaduddin’s observation that Bangladesh is a prime example of communal harmony and that secularism there means the inclusion of all religions in society.
They were speaking at a discussion in Dhaka, Bangladesh on “The New Secular,” jointly organized by the Department of World Religions and Culture of Dakha University and the British Council.
Dr Adams, however, suggested there is a new type of secularism where laws and customs promote similarities among different religious communities in the pursuit of the common good’ said in his keynote speech.
Professor KAM Saaduddin said religion-based nationalism in Bangladesh ended in 1952 through developing a common language.
Since then, it has been nationhood based on the Bangla language. However, at the same time people here are still religious, he added.
Chief guest DU Philosophy professor Dr Aminul Islam said having Islam as a state religion and maintaining secularism as a state policy in the constitution, however, is contradictory and not desirable.
Dr Kazi Nurul Islam of the Department of World Religions and Culture said secularism that allows freedom for all religions should be practiced everywhere in the world.