Secularism: Freedom of Religion or Freedom from Religion?

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Faculty of Law, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia

2 Al-Mustaqbal University College, Iraq.

Abstract

Secularism is a political ideology that disintegrates religion from state governance. While secularism may work for countries where the majority professed religion that has no specific legal system viz. Christianity, it begins to exhibit its ineptness in countries that either have a multicultural identity or adopt a systematic religion like Islam as its official religion. To unravel this, secularism acquiesced to embody two divisions of secularism entailing freedom of religion and freedom from religion. The objective of the writing is to resolve the conflicts of the secularism ideology in multicultural state.  The methodology adopted in the research is doctrinal legal research which employed qualitative research. For multicultural counterparts, the absolute disintegration of religion raises difficulties, hence, they opt for the secular concept of freedom of religion. However, from the Islamic perspective, secularism contrasts with Islamic teachings as it is conclusive in every aspect of human life. It has its own foundations and laws that shall be followed at all times. Additionally, the impacts of secularism on the social, educational, and moral aspects have made its germaneness be put in question. Thus, there must be a law to regulate the abovementioned matter in order to ensure the community live with peace and harmony

Keywords

Main Subjects

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Geopolitics Quarterly
Volume 19, Special Issue
July 2023
Pages 145-166

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History

  • Receive Date: 20 April 2023
  • Revise Date: 31 May 2023
  • Accept Date: 17 June 2023

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