Open Forum
New
Delhi, 26 October 2016
Religious
Trends
NO LONGER
UNIFYING FORCE
By Oishee
Mukherjee
Marx had stated long back that
religion is the opium of the masses. At that time, the observation was disputed
by conservatives who found disrespect of the communist philosopher towards
religion. According to them, religion was a belief that could guide them to a
communitarian approach to living and establishment of a peaceful society.
Recent trends, however, in many
parts of the world show that religion instead of ensuring bondage and societal
peace has become the cause of hatred and jealousy. The inter-religious
animosity and disrespect for each other’s beliefs and values have resulted in
violence and riots in different parts of the world. Very little spiritualism
and respect for the supreme – which all religions aim at – is manifest
nowadays.
On the other hand, fundamentalist
religious leaders propagate ideas that are not in consonance to peaceful
coexistence and instigate their supporters to ensure that the beliefs of other
religions are not allowed to be followed. Narrow ideas of a selfish nature are
manifest in the activities of these leaders, who cannot be considered to be
preaching true religion and spiritualist attitude to life and society.
There is also a tendency of
political leaders having vested interests in promoting religious heads so that
the votes of the community are ensured in elections. This happens specially
with the minority religious communities or backward castes who are enticed
through their religious leaders to vote for a particular political party for reported
gains to that particular religion. This type of dangerous trend has been
manifest during the last two decades, specially in the Third
World countries.
Religion that is traditionally based
on spiritualism and intrinsic moral and ethical values of life and living has
shaped its complexion in the modern world. The leaders of some religious sects
and/or organizations exert tremendous power and have close connections with
political leaders to achieve narrow selfish ambitions. However, this is not to
undermine all religious sects and organizations most of whom have been in the
forefront of imparting values and working for the poor and the impoverished.
This group does not have power and do nor exert much influence in society.
In the case of South Asia and
particularly India,
though the government calls it secular, it has a pro-Hindu bias. In Pakistan, the
government is nakedly pro-Muslim with the avowed objective of promoting
religion not only in the country but also in the surrounding nations, if
necessary, through force. Their religion calls for forceful conversion in other
countries and religious terrorists are quite active in India. Apart
from Pakistan, even in Bangladesh
religion has taken a nasty trend with its leader’s hand-in-glove with some of
their political counterparts.
A section of philosophers and
thinkers are of the opinion that all persons born in India may be called ‘Hindus’ by
birth though they may have other religious beliefs. In the Persian language,
people who were living near the bank of Indus
were ‘Sindhu’ or later ‘Hindus’. Hinduism has been said to be a way of life and
not a dogmatic religious belief. As in Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, there is
no particular religious leader in Hinduism. The latter is an open book and
anybody and everybody can become its adherent.
It is indeed tragic that Hinduism,
which has taught the world universal tolerance, equality had and acceptance has
not been able to adhere to keep these principles aloft. Vivekananda accepted
all religions which he found to be true and geared to the welfare of the human
race. As he stated: “I do not believe in a god or religion which cannot wipe
the widow’s tears or bring a piece of bread to the orphan’s mouth”.
Social scientists including the
renowned scholar, Prof. Samuel P. Huntington, had long observed that the
ultimate war in the world would be fought between Christians and Muslims. The
prophecy has become quite relevant today as the western powers led by the US are up in arms against the Islamic countries
in the Middle East and Pakistan
is under fire for abetting terrorism. One needs to wonder whether Islam or the
way Islam is propagated is not conducive to a healthy and peaceful
society.
Religion doesn’t give the dignity to
women that they deserve, and their status and position is always below of the
men. Moreover, most of religious directives are very rigid. There is
significant difference between Hinduism and Islam, one being quite open and the
latter extremely strict to its followers.
The present trends the world over
clearly manifest that religion has not become a unifying force. Most of the
young generation in India
and other neighbouring countries have not felt the impact of spiritual values
on their life, mainly due to the negative role of religious teachers. The irony
is that some have become religious fanatics. It is difficult to perceive where
the present form of religion will take us in the coming years.
The need of the human race to ensure
peace and harmony in society through bondage and a communitarian approach to
life and living is missing in today’s world. Religion has not been able to play
its due role though materialistic tendencies and the lust for power and money
are equally to blame for such a critical situation. The word ‘society’ which
was synonymous with a cooperative approach and the bondage of love and fellow
feeling is no longer manifest today.
Mahatma Gandhi was one of the few
political leaders who invoked religion in politics to make the latter
transparent, clean and wedded to the truth. He like Vivekananda accepted all
religions and tried to unify the masses based on spiritual principles. As he
Gandhi himself stated: “My religion is for God; therefore it is for humanity”.
And, “anything done in his name, any work dedicated to him is sacred if done
with the spirit of welfare of mankind, the uplift of the creature as a whole”.
At such a juncture of human history,
it is imperative to uphold the spiritual values and ethics in various religions
and thereby attempt to unify the human race. For this, a transformation in our
social behaviour is necessary, that is, change from materialistic attitude to
life and living and love and fellow feeling for the community. A humane
approach to life is the need of the day. Only then can the religious values
impact our lives and bring harmony and peace in society. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
|