A religious state cannot exist with tolerance as a value.
SIALKOT: Secularism only guarantees equality of religion and ensures that no religion is of more value than another. Tolerance is a pragmatic value that can only exist when the government is secular. A religious government can never be tolerant, because a religious government needs to make a legal statement about the state religion being the ‘correct’ religion, which automatically means that all other religions are false. Consequently, it must ensure that the state religion is not undermined under any circumstances because that is the basis of all legal structure. This, in turn, means that the state religion cannot be criticised as being false in any way. There is nothing else a religious state can do other than persecute those who are critical of the state religion, and this goes against the basic human right to follow one’s belief.
Ultimately, the state religion has to be intolerant of all ‘forms’ of religious thought that challenge its authority. This can mean going against other sects of the same religion as well.
From there on, its a slippery slope. Pakistan is a live example. A religious state cannot exist with tolerance as a value. It cannot tolerate undermining of the state religion.
Salman Arshad
Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th, 2011.
