Religion: The Great Divider!

Taking Convenience to a New High

By Murli

Which is the greatest divisive force on earth? Religion! More people have died in His name, and for His sake throughout history. Right from the days of Adam, wars have been fought on the battle front, and in the minds of Man, Woman and Child. Blood has been spilled, millions of lives lost, countless maimed, and brother divided from brother, for all times.

So what's new? Nothing, but have we ever given it a thought, even as we kneel down for our prayers, at the church, temple, or mosque. That Religion, is the greatest threat to world peace. Spiritual gurus and men of god may argue to the contrary, that Religion is the ultimate guarantor of world peace. But get away from the book shelf, look around, and you will find peace in pieces, and you'll also find that this is mainly because the Moslems are angry at Christians who are angry with Hindus who are angry with… and so on and so forth.

At the root of this conflict is a kind of spiritual one-upmanship. That my god is better than your god, or that my god is the only god. Semitic religions are by and large guilty of this perception. But unfortunately, the moment one passes a judgment on any one religion, the believers play victim and get offended.

One's religious beliefs are so intensely personal that bringing it into question, in whatsoever way or manner, is taken as a deep personal affront. So in our interactions with the public, we tend to be dishonest most of the time, in our eagerness not to hurt the sensibilities of the individual. We profess love and understanding for another's religion, when we do not. We shut our eyes and mind to the follies of our faith, persuading ourselves that it is a test of one's faith. The society too fosters and encourages this pretentious attitude in the public, grandstanding it in the name of secularism. In fact, this grandstanding is precisely the opposite of being secular. There is absolutely nothing secular whatsoever about a non-questioning, partisan, blind belief.

In this warped world, some things are never uttered in public. Like for instance, how many among the Muslims will openly dare to question their customs? Why should Christians convert people of other faiths? Why are the Hindus eternally divided? Does it have anything to do with their history?

Each and every one of us, irrespective of our faith and beliefs, has to introspect and ask: Why can't we believe in different gods and still, live in peace. To rephrase the question more precisely, HOW can we be Hindus, Muslims, Christians, etc and yet, live together in peace?

To begin with, we have to learn to respect our gods from the bottom of our heart. Hindus should be seen praying at mosques, Christians at temples, and Moslems at churches. To unite ourselves, we have to start with uniting our gods. We have to accept God as one, call him by any name you wish. If our sacred text, our religion, does not permit this perception of god, so be it. All gods, all religions, all sacred texts, are about belief, faith, and truth. When you bow before another's god, and pray to him like your own, you are only extending your truth, seeing it in another dimension, and not falsifying it.