In Salman Rushdie’s novel, Shalimar the Clown, a
Muslim boy and a Hindu (Pandit) girl are in love. When the matter is brought to the attention
of their parents as well as the panchayat, nobody finds anything seriously
wrong. Abdullah, the boy’s father,
mentions Kashmiriyat, “the belief
that at the heart of Kashmiri culture there was a common bond that transcended
all other differences.” Pyarelal Kaul, the girl’s father added, “There is no
Hindu-Muslim issue. Two Kashmiri (…) youngsters
wish to marry, that’s all.”
This is the Kashmir of the early 1960s as presented by
Rushdie. Half a century later, we know
how far Kashmir is from such a broadminded understanding of religion and life.
It’s not a problem confined to Kashmir or a few
places. The more the world advances
towards the utopian global village, the more the people’s minds seem to shrink. A recent New
York Times report
lays bare the bigotry of a Lutheran pastor in America. The pastor had to apologise for participating
in an interfaith service. His
explanation highlights the bigotry that plagues the Lutheran church. He explained that he had spent hours with his
congregation educating them about the differences between Lutheran teaching
“and the teachings of false religions such as Islam or Baha’i,”
both of which had clergy members at the interfaith service. (emphasis added)
What can an interfaith service mean if the
participants come with such prejudices?
It will only be a mere sham meant to hoodwink people into accepting a
pseudo tolerance of other religions.
Such hypocrisy will not achieve any noble goal. It’s better to live in the small circle of
one’s own religion than pretend to make friends with believers from other
religions. Pretensions are more lethal
than open bigotry.
The bigots should not stretch out hands of pretended friendship. As one of Rushdie’s characters says in the
novel quoted above, “Why not stand still and draw a circle round your feet and
name that Selfistan?” Bigots should be
confined to their own Selfistans.
Well said!This reminds me of a famous quote:
ReplyDelete"“What a sad era when it is easier to smash an atom than a prejudice.”
― Albert Einstein
Indeed. And prejudices wreak more havoc too than atoms!
Deletewell said
ReplyDeleteSo, you see as well as or better than I do, religion is bigotry-distiller. Vive la religion!
ReplyDeleteRE
absolutely true
ReplyDelete
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Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI once heard a Priest , doing theology in Rome express humbly " All religions seem to the same".
And, perhaps, they do! How many religious people are genuinely willing to admit that their own religion is nothing better than any other?
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ReplyDelete