Across the globe we live, today, in frighteningly blinkered worlds. For a time- tested project; secularism, which enabled people speaking different languages and professing different religious beliefs to live together in a degree of civility, has broken down. 

European philosophers have announced the onset of a post-secular age marked by the presence of religion. This has been paralleled by fear at the changing geographies and histories of Europe caused by immigration. 

The discomfort with the pervasiveness of religion catapults one question onto our conceptual horizon. Does secularism need to be written off because the precondition of secularism, i.e., secularisation has gone missing? 

The Indian experience, however, tells us that the two concepts are semi-autonomous of each other. It is time we recognise that political secularism along with its companion concepts, equality and toleration, is more not less important for religiously plural societies.

This article is a part of 'Big Questions of Our Time - The World Speaks'. To download the full publication, click here