In the Name of ‘God’.
9/11, 7/7, and now 7/11. To most of the world, which was connected with some form of communication, watching the twin towers collapse on 9/11 came as a shock. It was because it was an unprecedented, barbaric attack on the world’s most powerful nation – The United States of America. And what happened in London on the 7th of July and what happened in Kashmir and Mumbai on the 11th of July is, but an inexcusable and unjustifiable repetition of such inhuman, barbaric, faceless, acts of terror.
Unfortunately, such acts of terror seem to have become a common ritual in the media, the world over. Day in and night out – on TV, in the newspaper, on the mobile phone – everywhere, not a day goes by without a story on terror in some part of the world. Peace comes only as a surprise or as a lip service. Watching,listening, reading about it, we seem to be accepting terror, as a common ‘global phenomenon’. We seem to be accepting that resilience is the only option left to us, quietly learning to acquaint ourselves to living in, what Ulrich Beck calls, a ‘world risk society’.
As pedagogic pundits pontificate and predict, slowly and steadily, we seem to be getting used to expecting the unexpected, and preparing ourselves for the worst. Some look at it as a ‘Clash of civilizations’ and some call it a consequence of ‘enforced cosmopolitanism’ in a globalized, ‘post-modern’ world. Some blame the tenets of ‘organized religion’ while others blame the ‘interpreters of organized religion – the Imams, Rabbis, priests and pundits’, who, it is said, invoke the almighty, distort the organizing principles of organized religion, provoke people to destroy the ‘otherness of the other’, all in the name of ideology and religion. The power exercised by religious preachers is perceptible. ‘Organized religion’ seems like the root cause of all evil.
It is beyond doubt that “human history bears testimony to the fact that the name of ‘god’ has been invoked to destroy that which should be most holy – life itself”. There are examples from the world over. Mention can be made of the pundits during the Vedic period, the priests in ancient Egypt, the excesses of the Catholic church and so on and so forth. Today, history is repeating itself. There are many examples,specifically from the Indian Sub-continent – the ruthless massacre of the Kashmiri Pundits, the ruthless murder of the christian missionary Graham steines, the murder of countless numbers of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and so on and so forth in religious riots. Is this what religion was meant for? Was this what “God” intended? Would “Allah” agree of the murder of innocent civilians? Would Rama have approved of the murder of Graham Steines and his children? Would Jesus approve of such acts of violence?
Morality’, as Gandhi said, ‘is the basis of religion’. Servitude to the almighty is the antidote of egotism - in principle. But it seems otherwise in practice. I find it hard to fathom why some find it so difficult to celebrate the diversity and ‘otherness of the other’? Why is it so difficult to celebrate and acknowledge the differences of the others and the mystery of the unknown?
Think !
Shrenik.
9/11, 7/7, and now 7/11. To most of the world, which was connected with some form of communication, watching the twin towers collapse on 9/11 came as a shock. It was because it was an unprecedented, barbaric attack on the world’s most powerful nation – The United States of America. And what happened in London on the 7th of July and what happened in Kashmir and Mumbai on the 11th of July is, but an inexcusable and unjustifiable repetition of such inhuman, barbaric, faceless, acts of terror.
Unfortunately, such acts of terror seem to have become a common ritual in the media, the world over. Day in and night out – on TV, in the newspaper, on the mobile phone – everywhere, not a day goes by without a story on terror in some part of the world. Peace comes only as a surprise or as a lip service. Watching,listening, reading about it, we seem to be accepting terror, as a common ‘global phenomenon’. We seem to be accepting that resilience is the only option left to us, quietly learning to acquaint ourselves to living in, what Ulrich Beck calls, a ‘world risk society’.
As pedagogic pundits pontificate and predict, slowly and steadily, we seem to be getting used to expecting the unexpected, and preparing ourselves for the worst. Some look at it as a ‘Clash of civilizations’ and some call it a consequence of ‘enforced cosmopolitanism’ in a globalized, ‘post-modern’ world. Some blame the tenets of ‘organized religion’ while others blame the ‘interpreters of organized religion – the Imams, Rabbis, priests and pundits’, who, it is said, invoke the almighty, distort the organizing principles of organized religion, provoke people to destroy the ‘otherness of the other’, all in the name of ideology and religion. The power exercised by religious preachers is perceptible. ‘Organized religion’ seems like the root cause of all evil.
It is beyond doubt that “human history bears testimony to the fact that the name of ‘god’ has been invoked to destroy that which should be most holy – life itself”. There are examples from the world over. Mention can be made of the pundits during the Vedic period, the priests in ancient Egypt, the excesses of the Catholic church and so on and so forth. Today, history is repeating itself. There are many examples,specifically from the Indian Sub-continent – the ruthless massacre of the Kashmiri Pundits, the ruthless murder of the christian missionary Graham steines, the murder of countless numbers of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and so on and so forth in religious riots. Is this what religion was meant for? Was this what “God” intended? Would “Allah” agree of the murder of innocent civilians? Would Rama have approved of the murder of Graham Steines and his children? Would Jesus approve of such acts of violence?
Morality’, as Gandhi said, ‘is the basis of religion’. Servitude to the almighty is the antidote of egotism - in principle. But it seems otherwise in practice. I find it hard to fathom why some find it so difficult to celebrate the diversity and ‘otherness of the other’? Why is it so difficult to celebrate and acknowledge the differences of the others and the mystery of the unknown?
Think !
Shrenik.
posted by Shrenik Rao at 1:13 PM
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