Why Blame Religion?

Today it has become a fashion to criticize religion and brand it as the root of all evil faced by humanity. It is more common in groups that we know as intellectuals and elite. Even among them the leading group is made up of those who take pride in calling themselves secularists. Most of these people have only superficial and not in-depth knowledge of the religion they deplore or for that matter any other religion. To them Dharma is the Hindi rendering of the term religion. In their hands the term secular has lost its true meaning and secularism has turned into a cult that can be called another dogmatic form of religion.

In their mission of mudslinging aimed at religion they avoid the use of simple logic and prudence. They forget that for the misdeeds they blame religion for are, in fact, committed by the religious leaders who use religion for their self-interest. These selfish, ambitious and power mongering leaders play at the hands of politicians and other power mongers to distort religious principles and codes at their convenience. The fault lies with these self-proclaimed representatives of the almighty of every hue; and it is they who should be blamed and punished, not any religion. Punishing or redeeming of these criminals in the garb of religious and other leaders is the responsibility of law and order machinery, state administration and society.

Blaming religion or hiding behind religion has become an easy escape route for perpetrators of all kinds of crimes. The unending inter-religious and inter-sectarian bickering has made it all the more convenient. The high point of this lopsided mindset is that the moment a thief or a criminal or a murderer is apprehended, instead of his crime and evidence, his religion is discussed. Masses are mobilized and polarized to blame religion and defend it. The root cause and crime are conveniently put on the back burner and ultimately forgotten. Mind you, those who thrive on deluding masses will never find solutions to this problem. It is only we, the suffering common people, who should sincerely search for solutions and free ourselves from the influence of these religio-political leaders.

Here are two honest questions we should ask — 1. The atom is a source of unlimited energy. This is a scientific theory established by Einstein and other scientists. Based on that Atomic bomb was made by Openheimer and other scientists. On the command of politicians it was used by US army and an inhuman destruction followed. Who is to be blamed — politicians and army or scientists and science? 2. A doctor prescribes a high potency analgesic for relieving pain to a patient. The patient starts using it as intoxicant for enjoyment; gets addicted and dies. Who is to be blamed — patient, doctor or medical science?

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Politics and Religion

Any of the projected fights between any two communities is never a fight between those communities; it is always a fight between the leaders who have forced themselves on simple innocent masses taking advantage of their simple daily needs and benign ambitions.

It is surprising that in all the debates going on for decades about secularism and communalism everyone decries the communalization of governance through communalization of politics. This, if not absent, is not certainly as widespread a phenomenon as the leaders and media claim it to be.  They conveniently ignore the real evil which does not require any special effort to be seen — the politicization of every facet, every walk, every level of Indian life.

Why the ground reality faced by common man is not appreciated? The politicians have a motive for that — their political power and ambitions. But why the class that proclaims to be intelligentsia also conveniently forgets the simple desires, needs, and ambitions of the man on the street. These are the people who pose to be the champions of the cause of the down trodden. They should ask themselves a very pertinent question -- why the common man has to become down trodden to get their attention?

No, to this humble citizen, it appears that most of the activities of a majority of these claimants of altruism are mere facades or intellectual games they play. In fact the intelligentsia is not at all bothered about the common man. It is interested only in the religious leaders who can hardly be called religious. They are just another hue of politicians. The poor common man is fodder to all shades of these politicians. He is least interested in big talks and debates about communalism or secularism. He becomes concerned about these issues only when he is drawn into the entailing turmoil. He is faced with the frustration that these champions of secularism and communalism keep on coming to him with their uncalled for advice through their accomplices in the media and drag him into the fray.

The true role of religious leaders is to discipline masses and politicians and impart moral and ethical values to them. Today we find the role reversed. It is the politicians who govern the religious leaders and inject selfish and partisan values into them.

Why, for getting rid of religious-fanaticism, we are told to discard religion not fanaticism? It sounds as if in trying to rid of toxicity of medicine we are told to discard medicine and not its toxic ingredient. 

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