北大讲师Dr. Kamarul Zaman Yusoff 最近指控雪州州议会议长，杨巧双 Hannah Yeoh，在其自传中企图宣扬基督教，并声称自己的伊斯兰信仰也会被动摇。作为一位政治科学系讲师，他的立场却如此狭窄，实在叫人咋舌。伍锦荣博士写了一篇长文，辩护Hannah 的信仰表达，其实对整个世俗民主的论述而言有着积极的贡献。
Kamarul’s action is puzzling since as an academician he must understand that commitment to secular democracy does not necessitate erecting an impenetrable wall dividing religious faith from political commitment; nor is it possible to dichotomize these inseparable aspects of human thought and action. Rather, what is envisaged in secular democracy is that the state limits its jurisdiction to human affairs in the saeculum or temporal real. As such,
(1) “The state is independent of institutional religion or ecclesiastical control and, in turn, institutional religion is independent of state or political control. It is a state that is without jurisdiction over religious affairs, not because religious affairs are beneath the concerns of the state, but rather because religious concerns are viewed as being too high and too holy to be subject to the prevailing fallible will of civil authorities or to popular sovereignty.” [James E. Wood, “Apologia for Religious Human Rights” in Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective, vol. 1 ed. John Witte and Joan D van der Vyver (Martinus Nijhoff, 1996), 470.]
(2) The state in a secular democracy adopts religious neutrality that respects the integrity and equality of diverse religions of the nation, and where civil servants remain impartial as they implement public for the welfare of all citizens regardless of their religious identity.
Notice that neutrality for a state in secular democracy is a far cry from hostility towards religion. Indeed, a secular state should maintain benevolent neutrality towards all religions.（全文阅读这里）
