This is one thing that I have found to be the one of the deepest thoughts about society. It was August 2007. JNU. Methodology of social sciences was the class and Professor Amit Kumar Sharma said this cool thing. He said that India is not a religious society, but a cultural one. I was put into thought…what I believed for years that India is soooooo religious was just put to the background…what??..what??..what did he mean…its been more than three years and I so love his thought…he comes up with the deepest sociological facts about he Indian society, that most people cannot comprehend. Today I support his argument and I try to explore it further…I cannot explore it to the best, but will give it a try.
I have felt more religion in America than in India (thanks to the comparative method Radcliffe- Brown and Durkheim taught us!). Some reasons to support this. Sunday church is like mandatory. Hollywood has glorified those films which rest on Biblical themes. You gotta say ‘Amen’ before lunch. Well, ‘in God, they trust’.
In India, culture comes before religion. Religion just happens to be infused in culture. But like Amit Kumar Sharma said, India is a land where people like to sing, dance, eat... celebrate. Then India is truly a land of culture first.
Now I wonder why.
India is multi-religious, so to put religion in the forefront in society, you need to specify which religion, which you can’t. Nor, are we are monolithic like America which has allowed one religion to dominate.
Within religions, we have millions of differences!
But this is what the ‘aam’ sociologist says.
Think deeper. Here are my reasons why.
We have infused culture with religion. Only half of our material culture corresponds to religion (and the other half really has no literally/direct religious affiliation like ‘papri’chaat’). Our non-material culture is quite religious though. (still need to think this over)
In America, their non-material culture is very religious also. But their material culture is more capitalist than religious.
Our culture (the other half) and way of life is very much associated with livelihood issues and existence. (like harvest, rites in initiation). America has more or less tackled the issue of livelihood, so they have time (and fear- of God) for religion. I do believe that when man is materially prosperous, he turns to God. So thus, in America, ‘in God, we trust’…bhai, it is God who only made capitalism no?? (sorry for the supporter’s of Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism)
In India, God is not so much associated with our material wealth…he really gives no shit about our poverty! Actually, we have never put God along with our livelihood issues. Rather, we have put culture.
Actually the fact that religion is believed to be contained in books/texts makes it elitist. Dammit have you seen the literacy rate of our country??? So thus, we are not religious!! hahahah. (This is a sarcastic argument, not a sociological one!)
I have felt more religion in America than in India (thanks to the comparative method Radcliffe- Brown and Durkheim taught us!). Some reasons to support this. Sunday church is like mandatory. Hollywood has glorified those films which rest on Biblical themes. You gotta say ‘Amen’ before lunch. Well, ‘in God, they trust’.
In India, culture comes before religion. Religion just happens to be infused in culture. But like Amit Kumar Sharma said, India is a land where people like to sing, dance, eat... celebrate. Then India is truly a land of culture first.
Now I wonder why.
India is multi-religious, so to put religion in the forefront in society, you need to specify which religion, which you can’t. Nor, are we are monolithic like America which has allowed one religion to dominate.
Within religions, we have millions of differences!
But this is what the ‘aam’ sociologist says.
Think deeper. Here are my reasons why.
We have infused culture with religion. Only half of our material culture corresponds to religion (and the other half really has no literally/direct religious affiliation like ‘papri’chaat’). Our non-material culture is quite religious though. (still need to think this over)
In America, their non-material culture is very religious also. But their material culture is more capitalist than religious.
Our culture (the other half) and way of life is very much associated with livelihood issues and existence. (like harvest, rites in initiation). America has more or less tackled the issue of livelihood, so they have time (and fear- of God) for religion. I do believe that when man is materially prosperous, he turns to God. So thus, in America, ‘in God, we trust’…bhai, it is God who only made capitalism no?? (sorry for the supporter’s of Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism)
In India, God is not so much associated with our material wealth…he really gives no shit about our poverty! Actually, we have never put God along with our livelihood issues. Rather, we have put culture.
Actually the fact that religion is believed to be contained in books/texts makes it elitist. Dammit have you seen the literacy rate of our country??? So thus, we are not religious!! hahahah. (This is a sarcastic argument, not a sociological one!)
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