Vol. 5 No. 4 (2021)
Articles

Novel Trends in Indian Political Culture with Special Reference to Religious Fundamentalism

Published 2021-12-23

Abstract

Religious fundamentalism promotes going back to a religion's core beliefs as well as the original definitions and interpretations that were given to it at the time of its founding. It does not accept any interpretations; in fact, any attempt to do so is regarded as heresy. Thus, it claims that the separation of religion from state and politics or the concept of a secular state is unthinkable in religious fundamentalism and that people's lives as well as the polity, including rules of governance, should be governed in accordance with the mandates of such religious texts. It supports theocracy and the obliteration of all other faiths. Fundamentalists are therefore fervently religious; their entire worldview is based on religious beliefs, and their enemies are other non-believers. The politics of communalism, on the other hand, are based on religious identification and the manipulation of political power through religion. Communalists band together as a single religious group and display their intolerance towards members of other religious groups.