The day Donald
Trump strutted proudly to the White House, The
Guardian concluded an article
about Trumpism with the following paragraph:
The religious right is in retreat, and the political
appeal of free-market fundamentalism is fading. Republican strategists will now
turn to Trumpism to replenish the well, enlisting its many supporters and
sympathizers as foot soldiers for a new era of rightwing ascendancy. Now that
Trump has reached the White House, the era of Trumpism has just begun.
Source: Trump As Lord Vishnu? How Hindus In America Are Campaigning For Donald Trump |
Some sort of
right wing balderdash always holds sway over collective imagination whether in America
or India. Religion may be losing its
traditional sheen. But it keeps
reincarnating in the form of gau mata or Trumpism or something of the sort.
But is
religion really “in retreat”? This is
one question that refused to leave me after reading the Guardian article yesterday. So I researched using Google (what else?)
The first result
I stumbled on is:
*For the first time in Norwegian history, there are more atheists and agnostics
than believers in God.
* For the first time in British history, there are now more atheists and agnostics than believers in God.
And church attendance rates in the UK are at an all-time
low, with less than 2% of British men and women attending church on any given
Sunday.
* A recent survey found that 0% of Icelanders believe that God created the Earth.
That's correct: 0%. And whereas 20 years ago, 90% of Icelanders claimed to be
religious, today less than 50% claim to be.
I carried on
and arrived at an article in Psychology
Today titled The
Real Reason Religion is Declining in America which was based on some
serious research (unlike mine) whose conclusion may be summarised as: When individualism rises, religion declines.
The writer argues that there are more
positive self-views in the individualistic culture in America. The culture is also marked by more tolerance
and equality with respect to race, gender and sexual orientation, less adherence
to social rules (on, for example, premarital sex), less social support and less
interest in large groups. Some things
have improved and some became worse. “But,”
concludes the study, “American society is more focused on individual freedom, and
less focused on social rules, than it used to be.”
America
exported that individualistic culture to the world in the garb of globalisation
and free trade. But with the triumph of
Trumpism, America seems to be backtracking from globalisation and free trade. After all, individualism does not really
match with globalisation and free trade which demand opening up borders and
boundaries while individualism demands closing many doors and windows.
Source: BBC |
Trumpism is
actually about closing many doors and windows.
Trumpism and individualism will match well. And individualism does not go well with
religion if Psychology Today is to be
believed.
So America may
become more secular in Trump’s reign.
Will the right wing in India learn something from that? After all, the worshippers of gau mata had
also placed
an image of Donald Trump along with those of Hindu deities and prayed for his
victory.
Now that Mr
Modi has burned all black money in the country, can we hope for the ‘whiteening’
of Indian hearts? A little less of
religious bigotry, at least?
Wonderful...enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteThe world is becoming a huge joke :)
DeleteLoved reading the honest opinion.. :)
ReplyDelete:
DeleteGlad.
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