Why non-discrimination demands secularism

This opinion article by economist Dr. S R Osmani, published in The Daily Star on August 5, 2026, argues against the Bangladesh Constitution Reform Commission's proposal to remove "secularism" as a fundamental constitutional principle. Osmani defines secularism at the societal level as a governance principle of state neutrality toward all religious views, distinguishing it from personal irreligiosity, and frames it as an "overlapping consensus" among citizens with differing beliefs. The article systematically counters three arguments for discarding secularism — that it lacks value (the theocratic position), that it is irrelevant to modern Bangladesh, and that proposed new principles like "pluralism" make it redundant — concluding that none of these arguments hold up. Osmani specifically argues that pluralism alone cannot resolve conflicts between incompatible value systems like theocracy and liberal democracy, and that only secularism can operationalize non-discrimination in a religiously diverse society. His central conclusion is that secularism must be retained in the constitution as the foundation of an overlapping liberal democratic consensus, while still allowing legal democratic space for competing ideologies — calling the Commission's proposal to remove it "a grave mistake."

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The Daily Star

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The Daily Star

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