Effect of Religious Propaganda on Commercial Interaction between Believers and Non-believers of a Particular Religious Ideology

Vijay Rajmohan; K. Kalyanasundaram; P. Balasubramanian

Vijay Rajmohan Director, Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India & Research Scholar, Amrita School of Business, Amrita University, Coimbatore, INDIA
K. Kalyanasundaram Research Scholar, Amrita School of Business, Amrita University, Coimbatore, INDIA
P. Balasubramanian Associate Professor, Amrita School of Business, Amrita University, Coimbatore, INDIA

Keywords: Religious Propaganda, Commercial Interaction, Religious Ideology

Abstract

The paper is an attempt to understand the impact of religious propaganda on believers and evaluating their attitudinal changes, both personal and trade-related towards nonbelievers. To analyse the impact of propaganda, a controlled experiment was undertaken with 86 post graduate students and 3 faculty members from a College in Tamilnadu and subjecting them to narratives based on three different forms of propaganda - fundamentalist, moderate and secular. After each propaganda, the responses were taken through a questionnaire to measure the impact of propaganda on personal relations and commercial relations: 1) with believers or people following the same set of beliefs, 2) with non-believers or people projected as enemies of the community, and 3) with intermediaries
or people who are deemed as tolerable. The results were statistically analysed and interpreted. The results provide insights into the value of different types of propaganda on commercial and personal interactions between those subjected to the propaganda and the community targeted through such propaganda (believers and non-believers). The results show that moderate propaganda is not a full-fledged antidote to fundamentalist propaganda; it only improves the commercial relationships. Only secular propaganda can withstand the onslaught of fundamentalist propaganda in both personal and commercial
interactions. The results also reveal that creating a set of intermediaries would be helpful in increasing the commercial interaction among believers and non-believers.