Insanity of Religion

 

Catholics protesting Muslim protest (New Indian Express)

A century and a quarter ago, Swami Vivekananda described Kerala as a madhouse. The inhuman horrors perpetrated in the name of religious castes prompted the sage to use that analogy. The people of Kerala were openminded enough to listen to the verdict passed by a voice of sanity. Swami Vivekananda led Kerala to introspection and subsequent reformation. The brutalities of religion gave way to the humaneness of a new civilisation in Kerala.

It is this same Kerala that stands on the brink of a communal clash now because of a thoughtless statement made by a bishop. The Muslims took out a protest march to the Bishop’s House a day after the puerile statement was made by the bishop. The Muslim ire was understandable. No one will like to hear his entire community being labelled as terrorists and criminals because of a minority of such people in the community.

A day after the Muslim rally, the Catholics in the area took out a procession against the Muslims. There was even an order issued to the Catholics of Kottayam district to shun Muslim establishments like shops. How low has Kerala fallen!

Didn’t the bishop know that his statement would eventually lead to a conflagration in the state? He should have known. Otherwise he doesn’t deserve to be in that position. He knew. He is a scholarly person who knows this and a lot, lot more. Then why did he make such an utterance? Whose agenda is he promoting?

The only party that stands to gain by making the Christians and Muslims in Kerala fight each other is the BJP. Is the Catholic Church in Kerala playing into the hands of the BJP? If yes, for what?

There are many answers coming up from various sections of Kerala’s people. Kerala’s church is an abominably corrupt institution and it now faces the threat of being exposed by the dreamers of a Hindu Rashtra and hence it is of existential importance to keep the BJP in good humour. Then there are supplementary reasons galore. The Catholics in Kerala, like many Christians elsewhere, are jittery about the attacks on churches in some parts of the Muslim world by extremists. There is also a strong feeling in Kerala, not without reason, that a lot of the state’s beneficiary schemes favour the Muslims because of certain skewed policies which were made earlier by vote bank politics.

There are errors that need to be rectified, no doubt. But lighting a match near an ammunition heap is not a solution. And the bishop did just that. Maybe he stands to gain something from the BJP as knowledgeable people say. But he should have thought of the thousands of Keralites working in Muslim countries and sustaining the state’s economy. He should definitely have thought of the communal poison that his statement would sow in the soil of Kerala which for a long time now has been reputed for its communal harmony.

Let me conclude this with 15^th-century poet Kabir’s lines:

What good is it if the scholar pores over words and point of this and that but his chest is not soaked dark with love?

What good is it if the ascetic clothes himself in saffron robes but is colourless within?

What good is it if you scrub your ethical behaviour till it shines, but there is no music inside?

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