Q.Learning more about other religions is the first step towards learning to respect and accept other people and their beliefs. But that need not mean that we should not be able to stand up for what we feel are basic human values.

Secularism combines respectful understanding of other religions with a firm, principled refusal to accept practices that violate basic human values like equality and dignity.

The chapter's own discussion of mutual enlightenment supports the first half of this statement directly: education about other religions is presented as one real way of changing mindsets and reducing prejudice and suspicion between communities, which is exactly what 'the first step towards learning to respect and accept other people and their beliefs' describes.

The second half of the statement is just as important, and it fits precisely with what this chapter later establishes about principled distance: Indian secularism does not ask anyone to extend equal, unconditional respect to every aspect of every religion. It permits, and indeed requires, the state and citizens alike to withhold respect from religious practices that are dogmatic, violent, exclusivist, or that entrench inequality — for instance, caste hierarchies sanctioned by religion are not acceptable within Indian secularism, however widely they may be practised. So learning about other religions in order to understand and respect people is entirely compatible with still standing up firmly for basic human values such as equality and dignity when a particular religious practice conflicts with them. The two halves of the statement, in other words, describe exactly the balance secularism itself tries to strike.