In Reply to “The Arrogance of Secularists”

Dear batsman,

I‘m not a commentator on Malaysia-Today nor do I religiously (excuse the pun) follow it. But I stumbled upon your article and felt strongly the need to rebuke all your claims.

By Misunderstood Secularist

Firstly, you are a very ignorant man. You bash the secularists but you yourself gravely mistook secularism for atheism. I believe that you consider yourself a pious man but I do not wish to speculate which religion you practice. You believe that your religion equates secularism as atheism but I strongly advise you not to assume that other religions subscribe same.

I would follow the line you set in your article to not make this a discussion about religion, so I’ll elaborate in the non-religious context, which coincidentally is called the secular context.

Secularism in general is an exertion that government should be outside the confinement of religion. Secularism guarantees the freedom from government imposition of religion on people and is itself independent from religious imposition. That doesn’t mean that a government is prohibited from applying religious values like compassion or equality when making policies. But a government should not be complied to do so just because these are divine laws as stipulated in the Bible.

I think emotion played a part when you wrote your article. You are angered by people who are against this country being turned into a theocracy. As a believer, you believe that you are compelled by your religion to impose it on the government. You think only godless people people would reject a theocracy. That’s why you accuse secularists of being atheists.

In the actual sense, atheism is also a religion. An anti-religion, one might say. It’s the religion of stipulating the non-existence of God. Religion and atheism both institute supreme indisputable beliefs, albeit opposing ones. And both beliefs are unproven by science, which is why faith remains a very significant term. Secularism guarantees you the freedom to choose whichever you want or to not choose at all.

I do not know if this is certified by any religion but please bear in mind that, freedom and equality are something people have yearned for and will always do so. Some people might argue that a particular brand of theocracy would guarantee freedom but I seriously doubt anybody could overlook the contradictions when theocracy is associated with equality. A theocracy is basically pillored around the supremacy of a religion, unless it is THE religion, which is not the case in multicultural and multireligious Malaysia.

With many religions being practiced in Malaysia, it’s natural for people to see a common solution in secularism, in which all men are born equal and the right to believe whatever they wish to without imposing it on others, is guaranteed. That’s exactly what you should have argued about, how a theocracy could accomodate these fundamental human wants.

I should also point out how ridiculous it is of you arguing about how bad and misleading science is. And not to mention you are barking up the wrong tree. Exhange “secularists” with “communists” or “atheist” and you would make a bit more sense. Though I really doubt if anyone could take you seriously after having you playing scientist and denying global warming at the same time. 

I mean how would you feel about Planck preaching about heaven?