Modernity, democracy and christianity in India

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Gnana Patrick
University of Madras

Resumo

This article begins by observing that Indian modernity, in spite of contributing to emancipatory transformations, is facing today its dialectics. The most perceptible fi eld where the dialectics manifests is that of democratic politics, wherein anti-democratic elements like majoritarianism, religious communalism, hegemonic caste identities, and those of neo-liberal market have come to instrumentalize the democratic system for their own ends. This happens in an ambience of a global retreat of liberal democracy which had been centering round the rights of individuals. It is time for democracy, as a form of political behavior, to take note of the role of communities and traditions, and lent itself for participatory practices. Participation in democracy can well be nurtured by conversations in public spheres. In such a context, religious communities, in this context, Indian Christianity, which has hitherto been an active contributor to the emergence of public spheres, would do well to pursue public theology, in the three arenas of the Church, academia and the wider society for the wellbeing of democracy in India.

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