Rising fundamentalism threatens culture of tolerance

Rising fundamentalism threatens culture of tolerance

In face of the global return of religion with political vengeance against the seculars and between religions, Peter Berger, the American sociologist of religion accepted the failure of his secularisation thesis. He recently remarked, "the assumption we live in a secularised world is false ... the world today is as furiously religious as it ever was".

The religion-state relationship in Southeast Asian modernity contrasts the Western model. Southeast Asian states are a varied mixture of democracy, semi-democracy, semi-secular, monarchy and military rule, none of which are supportive of a fully liberal state model.

In Southeast Asian modernity, economic evolution does not necessarily mean evolution to liberalism. Democracy, liberalism and secularism are not necessarily interrelated. All politics is local. In fact, the current rising popularity of religious fundamentalisms in Southeast Asia are imports primarily from the Middle East and South Asia which poses important implications for Islam and Buddhism in Southeast Asia.

Religious outlook in Southeast Asia has long been culturally syncretic. Religious fundamentalism has not been the hallmark of Southeast Asian religious thought. The hitherto syncretic Islam-Buddhism relations are being subjected to rising fundamentalist orientations.

Imtiyaz: Tolerance at risk in Southeast Asia. (Photo courtesy Mahidol University)

The employment of Buddhism to protect race in Myanmar, the exclusive claim by the Malays to the word "Allah" as the name of their God, the call by some Thai Buddhist monks to declare Buddhism as the official religion of Thailand and to attack mosques in retaliation for the killing of Buddhist monks in the deep South of the country -- these are modern faces of ethno-religious politics in the region. They contrast the core objective of religions as being responses to the human quest for meaning. The ethical missions of the founders have been turned upside down for securing group interests. 

Buddhist political philosophy and practice are exemplified in the Edicts of King Ashoka which lays great importance on the responsibility to protect and promote the welfare of the human and all sentient beings. He held that all human beings share a common spiritual essence which needs to be respected and understood. In his view, contact between religions is good and all should learn the good doctrines of other religions. The non-Buddhists were protected in Ashokan state.

As a semi-secular modern state, Thailand is already a pluralistic society where 90% of Buddhists already coexist with Muslims, Christians, Hindus and other religious groups. The modernisation of the Sangha by King Chulalongkorn in the early 20th century distributed the powers of the state, Sangha and society. His Majesty the King, inspired by the Buddhist philosophy of protecting all religions, has worked hard to build inter-religious understanding, peace, tolerance and development of Thailand.

Thailand cannot afford to jeopardise this religious achievement. Thai Buddhism, with a tradition of tolerance and acceptance, has never been fundamentalist in orientation. There is a need to check the spread of different types of religious fundamentalism into Thailand be they from the Buddhist or Muslim countries. Their religious conflicts are irrelevant to Thailand. Buddhism is a dominant religion in the country, but it should not become a licence to deny or violate the religious freedom of other citizens as witnessed in neighbouring countries.

Thai Muslims from the North to the South enjoy much religious freedom not available to the their own co-religionists in many Muslim majority countries. This should not be taken for granted but cherished responsibly. Islam in Thailand, being religiously monotheistic, has always been linguistically and culturally syncretic.

On the other hand, the highly ritualistic traditions of Thai Theravada Buddhism and Islam here offer fertile ground for producing religious fundamentalism and religious nationalism. Acquirement of knowledge is an antidote to the emergence of conflicts. On the Muslims' side, there is then a need to produce national-level Thai Muslim thinkers and researchers to explore Thai Islamic tradition and comparative religions across the country, not only about the conflict in the deep South which is not a religious problem.

There are two types of inter-religious ignorance. One is when the followers of one religion do not know the other religions. The other is when one do not want to learn the religion of others.

Amid inter-religious tensions, there is need for critical study of the interface between religions and society. The academia can fill in the gap. With Buddhist and Muslim experts working to foster a new kind of education for religious co-existence, we can hamper the risk of fundamentalism and ultra-nationalism in order to maintain the tradition of religious tolerance in this country.


Imtiyaz Yusuf, PhD, is assistant professor and director of the International Centre for Buddhist-Muslim Understanding, College of Religious Studies, Mahidol University.

Imtiyaz Yusuf

Mahidol University Assistant Professor

Imtiyaz Yusuf, PhD, is assistant professor and director of the International Centre for Buddhist-Muslim Understanding, College of Religious Studies, Mahidol University.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (4)