la.khan wrote:sanjaykumar wrote:Sixty countries do not recognize Hinduism as a religion. Why does a personality cult get classified as a religion in India?
I know this nugget of info was recently shared by MEA/SJ no less but does anybody have a list of those 60 countries that do not recognize Sanaatana Dharma/Hinduism as a religion?
Well, for starters is it really a religion? This is so confusing. Influential and well meaning folks will argue that it should be treated as a religion but at the same time, claim that it is not one since it has no features of a typical religion...founder, credo, specific belief system etc.
This is what comes of accepting the phoren word, Hindu/Hinduism blindly as a colonial legacy. Unfortunately confused with Dharma, which it is not. No religion is.
Net result of this confusion is the duplicity of claiming Dharmic openness/inclusivity (and therefore not equal to religion) and at the same time, pushing for ghar waapsi.
Either push hard to create another sampradaya called Hinduism (like other religions like Islam and Christianity) with it's own set of beliefs etc. (If it is even possible) OR push for rights by calling it a minority ethnicity that needs proper protection from religious persecution in various countries.
I would vote for the latter with dharmics educating their children to embrace their identities as ethnic Hindus but religiously varied. This should allow a common platform for all dharmics (Jains, Sikh, buddhist etc etc.) to come together for common causes, which I'm sure they will find against common foes like islamists or Christian bigots.
It will also create a bridge for non dharmics in India to accept their Hindu roots, which is proving to be a real challenge. Make it a separate religion, and we will see schisms. As we already are...