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.