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Combatting Skepticism Against Religious Nationalism (With a Special Focus on Pakistan) University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Joseph Wharton Scholars Wharton Undergraduate Research 2021 Combatting Skepticism Against Religious Nationalism (With A Special Focus On Pakistan) Sardar Asfandyar Cheema University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/joseph_wharton_scholars Part of the Political Science Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Cheema, S. (2021). "Combatting Skepticism Against Religious Nationalism (With A Special Focus On Pakistan)," Joseph Wharton Scholars. Available at https://repository.upenn.edu/ joseph_wharton_scholars/112 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/joseph_wharton_scholars/112 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Combatting Skepticism Against Religious Nationalism (With A Special Focus On Pakistan) Abstract The purpose of this thesis was to take an in-depth look at the arguments made by scholars against religious nationalism. These scholars believe that the added influence of eligionr in nationalism makes it take a turn for the worse. To determine whether this is truly the case, a set of the main arguments put forth by these scholars was discussed and critiqued. The goal was to understand whether the negative consequences of religious nationalism existing in the public sphere are a product of religion or if they can be traced back to nationalism itself. The thesis discovers that the main arguments being looked at bring up issues one can link to nationalism regardless of the form it takes (religious, secular, ethnic etc.). To support the analysis, case studies from different parts of the world were used as empirical evidence. These case studies range from the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide to the assassinations of prominent Egyptian and Indian politicians at the hands of nationalist groups. The general analysis is followed by a deeper look into the evolution of nationalism within Pakistan to understand how nationalism within the same region and society can have both positive and negative effects. The analysis indicates that those who find religious nationalism to be less ideal than secular nationalism fail to see that the vices within religious nationalism are a direct result of nationalism itself, not religion. Keywords nationalism, religious nationalism, religion, state, nation, secular, ethnic, religion Disciplines Political Science | Religion This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/joseph_wharton_scholars/ 112 COMBATTING SKEPTICISM AGAINST RELIGIOUS NATIONALISM (WITH A SPECIAL FOCUS ON PAKISTAN) By Sardar Asfandyar Cheema An Undergraduate Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the JOSEPH WHARTON SCHOLARS Faculty Advisor: Amy J. Sepinwall Associate Professor, Department of Legal Studies and Business Ethics THE WHARTON SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA MAY 2021 Acknowledgments: The author would like to thank Dr. Amy J. Sepinwall for her extensive guidance and encouragement on conducting this research. Without her dedication and keen interest, this research would not have come to fruition. The author also expresses his sincere gratitude to family and friends, especially Saima Zia and Zahra Elhanbaly, for their support in the completion of this thesis. Abstract The purpose of this thesis was to take an in-depth look at the arguments made by scholars against religious nationalism. These scholars believe that the added influence of religion in nationalism makes it take a turn for the worse. To determine whether this is truly the case, a set of the main arguments put forth by these scholars was discussed and critiqued. The goal was to understand whether the negative consequences of religious nationalism existing in the public sphere are a product of religion or if they can be traced back to nationalism itself. The thesis discovers that the main arguments being looked at bring up issues one can link to nationalism regardless of the form it takes (religious, secular, ethnic etc.). To support the analysis, case studies from different parts of the world were used as empirical evidence. These case studies range from the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide to the assassinations of prominent Egyptian and Indian politicians at the hands of nationalist groups. The general analysis is followed by a deeper look into the evolution of nationalism within Pakistan to understand how nationalism within the same region and society can have both positive and negative effects. The analysis indicates that those who find religious nationalism to be less ideal than secular nationalism fail to see that the vices within religious nationalism are a direct result of nationalism itself, not religion. Keywords: nationalism, religious nationalism, religion, state, nation, secular, ethnic, religion Disciplines: Political Science, Legal Studies 1 Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 3 II. DEFINING KEY TERMS ....................................................................................................................... 6 A. Nation and State ............................................................................................................................................. 7 B. Nationalism ................................................................................................................................................... 10 C. Religious Nationalism................................................................................................................................ 12 III. CRITIQUING ARGUMENTS AGAINST RELIGIOUS NATIONALISM........................................ 18 A. Argument 1.................................................................................................................................................... 20 Critique on Argument 1 ...................................................................................................................................................................... 23 B. Argument 2.................................................................................................................................................... 29 Critique on argument 2 ....................................................................................................................................................................... 31 C. Argument 3 .................................................................................................................................................... 35 Critique on Argument 3 ...................................................................................................................................................................... 36 D. Argument 4 ................................................................................................................................................... 38 Critique on Argument 4 ...................................................................................................................................................................... 41 E. Summary ........................................................................................................................................................ 45 IX. CASE STUDY: BRITISH INDIA AND PAKISTAN ......................................................................... 47 A. British India until 1947 ............................................................................................................................ 48 B. Pakistan post-1947 .................................................................................................................................... 52 C. Lessons to learn from the Pakistani case ........................................................................................... 57 References ............................................................................................................................................... 60 2 I. INTRODUCTION Religious nationalism, especially in today’s day and age, is generally considered detrimental for society. It has been deemed a perverted form of secular nationalism in most mainstream literary works by scholars who study political science and theory with the general belief being that the added influence of religion in nationalism makes it take a turn for the worse. In this thesis, I will look at the role played by religious nationalism in different societies, the main arguments and critiques against religious nationalism and a specific case study, pre-1947 British India and post- 1947 Pakistan, to take a deeper look at how religious nationalism can have positive and negative effects in the same region and society. Religious nationalism is on the rise around the globe. In some cases, its rise is very explicit—for example, in India’s case with the Hindutva movement (Malji 2020). In other cases, the involvement of religious nationalist elements may not be as explicit. A prominent example of this is the involvement of Christian nationalism in the recent anti-immigration wave in the United States (Al-Kire et al. 2021). While the ways that religious nationalism influences a country or society may differ, there have been quite a few prominent cases where religious nationalism has given rise to (or led to an increase in) communal violence. A recent example of this is
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