Bonhoeffer in India

Indian politics rejects the separation of religion and state, while India’s Constitution enshrines the freedom of religion in the public space. Rajeev Bhargava at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies has explained that India’s secularism represents a “principled distance” of the state from religions. The state is supposed to be dharmnirpeksh or religion-neutral. Recognizing the place of religion in India’s public life, this essay uses resources from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology to devise an ethical form of dharm -state relations in India, applying the religious thought of Bonhoeffer to the challenge of secularism in contemporary India. Bonhoeffer’s writings ask religions and states to guarantee certain inalienable human rights that derive from God. This strategy seeks to ensure a mutually enriching relationship between religion and state in society. The essay shows how those who ground human relations in a rights-rich anthropology, as Bonhoeffer did, possess particular resources to affect the ethical coexistence of religion and society in contemporary India

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