We need to talk — about changing Religious Demography

EAC-PM's Religious Demography Paper Should Not Be Buried In The Name Of Faux Secularism

Dear Readers,

"Clickbait paper", "Old data, New Spin", and "secular lobby's" apologia — Jaggi calls out faux secularism asking for frank conversation on the issue of religious demography.

Shamika Ravi (member of PM-EAC), Abraham Jose, and Apurv Kumar Mishra authored a working paper titled Share of Religious Minorities: A Cross-Country Analysis (1950-2015).

Since the report points to increasing Muslim and Christian shares, the "secular lobby is apoplectic", says Jaggi in this piece.

• The report’s primary conclusion is that most countries are becoming more heterogeneous with strong declines in majority population from 1950 to 2015.

• The 'secular' criticism reveals a reluctance to discuss even what is common knowledge, effectively preventing a conversation based on facts and free of political correctness.

Paper's primary hypothesis: change in the proportion of the minority population is a good indicator of the status of minorities in a country.

It contends that when a society provides congenial environment for the minorities to flourish, it is more likely to witness an increase in their numbers.

Jaggi's disagreements — he calls them "quibbles" — include the argument of a 'congenial environment' and the 'underestimation of actual rise in the minority population in India' due to aggressive proselytisation.

This conversion data is not captured in Census data. Surendranath N in Swarajya demonstrated this in the case of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, where church is indirectly or directly supported by the state.

Jaggi then goes on to make sense of several important and interesting findings of the paper. It's a must-read for anyone interested in India's destiny!

Until tomorrow,

Anmol N Jain