Religion has
always been a tool for
oppressing sections of people so that the oppressors can uphold their own
interests easily. In our own country,
some clever men (men, and not women)
invented a supernatural creature in order to establish the caste system which was
highly oppressive for the vast majority of people. A small minority became the most powerful
people who controlled gods, the scriptures (rubrics and canons as well as
truths), politics by subordinating the kings and their warriors, and everybody
else.
From the time
Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire, it ceased to be a
religion of love and compassion.
Thousands of people were eliminated labelled as heretics, witches,
pagans, and so on.
Islam has its
own jihads of all sorts which oppress and even eliminate whole sections of
people.
Connected with
the oppressor role of religion are the material benefits it brings. The priestly classes always enjoyed infinite
benefits. The Brahmins in India and the
first estate in France are just two examples.
Today, people attach themselves to those in high positions in religions
and derive many material benefits. For
example, I know businessmen who have established strong relationships with
godmen and other religious leaders at whose residences take place meetings
between the religious leaders, political leaders and the traders. Under the guise of religion, a lot of
malpractices get ritualised or sanctified.
You can encroach on forest lands, break any rule with impunity or do
just anything (which ordinary mortals will never dare do) provided there is a
religious leader to support you.
In India
today, nationalism
has become a dominant discourse and it is inextricably intertwined with
religion. Violence and even terrorism become holy because of
the religious associations.
Like the
clichéd coin with two sides, religion has certain good aspects too.
There are plenty of religious people who carry out remarkable service for fellow human
beings. There is a lot of charity work
being done. There are excellent schools
and hospitals run by religious people (though most of them are becoming commercial
ventures today). There are genuinely
saintly people.
Most human
beings have an urge to
transcend themselves. Religion
provides avenues to reach the divine, what is beyond the self. Personally, my firm conviction is that
divinity should first of all be discovered within one’s self. One who cannot do that will seldom discover
divinity anywhere else. And one who does
that will be compassionate to fellow human beings because he/she will realise
the divinity that underlies all reality.
There are
thousands of people who lead eminently good lives with the help of
religion. But the limelight seldom falls
on such people. The limelight invariably
falls on those who misuse religion because it is in love with power and power
structures. Two of the prominent
political leaders today who steal most of the media attention are persons who
have misused religion in order to kick up nationalist sentiments in their
people.
If such misuse
of religion could be prevented, it could possibly be a good transforming agent –
transforming the world into a paradise.
But experience shows that it is mere wishful thinking.
You've traced the extra mural aspects with quite some precision. Good read.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Mostly from personal experiences so far.
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