Don?t mix religion, culture: Scholar

EMINENT SCHOLAR Prof Imtiaz Ahmad warned against mixing religion and culture, saying the two were separate things.

He was presiding over a symposium on ‘The media and culture’ at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University.

Prof Imtiaz said the religious identity of a person had dominated other aspects of his personality and this was the main problem before society.

He said, “We are not merely Hindus or Muslims, but human beings. We cannot survive by just being Hindus or Muslims in society.”

He called upon mediapersons to portray the real picture of society.

Jagran Institute of Mass-Communication director Ajay Upadhyaya said there was no need to be wary of information explosion.

He admitted marketing forces dominated the media. Upadhyaya said the Internet could be used for enhancing knowledge.

Noted thinker RK Mani Tripathi said the danger was not limited to information explosion. 

Prof Girish Rastogi stressed the need to uphold ethics. Prof Rastogi said capitalism had shaken “our faith in values”.