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)
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