There are two meanings of Secularism really, regardless of how the dictionary and the encyclopedias like to define it. The most prevalent form of secularism is the notion of complete indifference to religion as applied in any non-religious context like politics, public life, education etc. Eg – USA (arguably) strives towards this. This is the explanation as seen in the entry in Wikipedia.

 

The other form of secularism is treating all religions equally, and keeping religion out of public sphere somewhat selectively. This is observed in pseudo (?) secular societies like India. Great effort is put into ensuring (arguably, again) that people from all religious backgrounds feel ‘equal’ and ‘included’ and ‘not discriminated against’.

 

So yeah, in most parts of the world, if an organization conducts religions activities (even if they are giving a chance to many or all religions), that org is unlikely to be perceived of as secular except in countries like India where the common meaning of ‘secular’ is somewhat different and non-standard.

 

Someone said that since most people in the world believe in God in one form or another, removing religion completely in the name of 'freedom of religion' doesn't seem right.

 

‘Most people in the world believe in God’ is not a fair argument, because the statement implies that the situation is simplistic and obvious when it is not. ‘Most people’ is a debatable phrase, because some countries, notably China, are officially atheist. Not to mention that many religions have a concept of ‘sacred’ but don’t quite involve ‘God’. Also, the degree of belief in God varies widely from one extreme to another, and any measure of central tendency does not indicate an overall ‘strong belief’ across the globe. This is also why both ‘free of religion’ and ‘freedom from religion’ have become important in many societies (while keeping intact the personal freedom to practice or not).

 

Err... It shoudl be a Mobius Strip, othewise we'd all fall off the edge :D 

 

Thomas Friedman - 3 time winner of the Pulitzer was in the Microsoft campus a couple of days ago (this past Tuesday, to be precise). His Op-Ed column in the NYT is legendary, so are his recent commentaries on the situation in the middle east. Though I'd never read any of his books, I've been an avid follower of his articles and was really excited to go to this talk.

 

Larger than life figures are only larger than life as long as you only see them in the TV and read them in the newspapers. The moment you lay eye on them, they become approachable, their larger-than-lifeness somehow seems to diminish and you are suddenly dealing with just another regular, and in this case affable, guy. Tom is a very articulate speaker, not to mention extremly entertaining. As far as the talks I've attended this year go, his was undeniably the best so far.

 

His recent book, The World is Flat, tries to articulate the reasons why this almost-sudden global convergence is happening. While chatting with many other attendees, I realized that several of them are actually unaware that the world is getting flatter! I've been aware of this phenomenun for quite some time now, and for me the interesting pieces of his talk (and the book, which I''m yet to finish) are his reasons for the way the story is unraveling.

 

I met at least one co-worker who was anxious for her children and the world they have to grow up and compete in as Americans. Is her worry really valid? Are her children growing up in an era where Americans with average skills will have a difficult time getting jobs because they have all been outsourced? I don't think so. What I mean is that she doesn't have to worry, but yeah, any job that can be broken down into outsourcable components will be outsourced, and that is the reality. But people invariably adapt to changes. When I was a kid, computing and communication like we see and use today was just not there. I grew up into a world which was undergoing fundamental changes in the way people were interacting, doing business, having fun and thinking about lives. I learned and I found my niche nevertheless. Change is constant, but we all learn to grow up and do just fine into a new world.

 

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