A moment of triumph for India’s women’s cricket team
turned unexpectedly into a controversy about religious faith and expression,
thanks to some right-wing footsloggers. After her stellar performance in the
semi-final of the Wormen’s World Cup (2025), Jemimah Rodrigues thanked Jesus
for her achievement. “Jesus fought for me,” she
said quoting the Bible: “Stand still and God will fight for you” [1 Samuel
12:16]. Some BJP leaders and their mindless followers took strong exception to
that and roiled the religious fervour of the bourgeoning right wing with acerbic
remarks.
If Ms Rodrigues were a Hindu, she
would have thanked her deity: Ram or Hanuman or whoever. Since she is a
Christian, she thanked Jesus. What’s wrong in that? If she was a nonbeliever
like me, God wouldn’t have topped the list of her benefactors.
Religion is a talisman for a lot of people. There’s nothing wrong in imagining that some god sitting in some heaven is taking care of you. In fact, it gives a lot of psychological push. I’m reminded of an allegory I heard long ago in a motivational class. A little girl was carried by her father on a bicycle gliding over a steel rope that spanned a deep ravine. She was asked later whether she was frightened. “No,” she said promptly. “Why?” “Because I was sitting in the lap of my father.” God is like that father for a lot of believers, I understand. Just because I’m unable to achieve that kind of faith, I won’t ever question other people’s faith.
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| By Gemini AI |
The question now is not faith, but
faith in which god. Should Jemimah Rodrigues believe in Rama just
because Rama happens to be the favourite god of India now? Can’t she pray to
Jesus and still be an Indian cricketer?
“I thank Jesus, my parents and my
coach” she said after her stunning performance. “Jesus helped me chase down a
massive 339 runs.”
The right-wing footsloggers went berserk
on social media.
A J Philip, senior journalist, wrote
in Indian Currents: “In an age where faith is sometimes reduced to
hashtags and temple selfies, here was purity — conviction without theatrics,
humility without apology. She thanked her team, praised her captain Harmanpreet
Kaur, and showed what leadership looks like — shared glory, not solitary
boasting.” [Thanks to my friend Jose Maliekal for sending me that article.]
India should have appreciated those
qualities: humility, gratefulness, sports spirit… Instead India chose to slam
the cricketer for her religious faith. Amitava Kumar wrote
in The Indian Express that “Giving a political colour to Jemimah
Rodrigues’ post-match comments robs the country of savouring a famous victory
to the fullest.” Yes, the right-wing response to Rodrigues’ expression of her
religious faith puts India in a primitive age of savage clannishness.
Can’t we focus on what unites us (achievement,
human effort, dedication) rather than what divides us (religion)? Why can’t
India, which taught the world the noblest of all spiritualities – Tatvam
Asi – respect individual freedom in matters of religious faith
especially when such faith has nothing to do with public affairs?
Who decides which God you will pray to?
PS. This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon 2025
I find religion a fogged vision. As civilisations change, gods and their names and appearances change. We don't know which god lived 10,000 years ago and we don't know which god will live 10,000 years from now! Faith is a personal choice, and should remain that.
ReplyDeleteIndeed faith is a personal choice determined mostly by one's family's religion. That religion and its god(s) get rooted in one's psyche and it's almost impossible to remove that. If people actually give up that god(s) as in religious conversions, it must be a painful process for them. And it they accept that pain, then the religion from which people convert has a lot to answer.
DeleteBeing Hindu too is a tough life today unless you are a believer of the Hindutva regime. It's so sad that religion overshadows everything in the country today. The PM has not yet congratulated the team!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, Hinduism has nothing to do with Hindutva. If only today's right-wing people actually learnt the advaita philosophy of the Upanishads!
DeleteHari Om
DeleteSeconded! YAM xx
🙏
DeleteI am glad you wrote about this. Religion should always be a personal matter. Jemmy's decision to name the God she believed in was personal, and should have remained so. Unfortunately, the fools have mixed up being Indian with being a Hindu, not realising that they are tarnishing their own God!
ReplyDeleteTarnishing a whole civilisation, I'd say. India has reached the nadir of civilisation. Let's hope the cyclical ascent will begin soon.
DeleteWe boast about our civilisation but how many are civilised; and She thanked Jesus not Christians and Jesus didn’t create the Christians rather He showed the way to humanity. Why these fools should insist what a winner should speak? Should there be any censorship to speak in public, where there’s a mix of 1000 plus religion 😝
ReplyDeleteShe didn't even speak; it was only a kind of prayer or expression of prayerful gratitude. The reaction it evoked speaks voluminously about the damage done to the social fabric of the country.
DeleteThanks for this post. Pandit Nehru wwhethervas secular and so for him, big dams and factories were the new temples of New India. But he would not forcefeed either Gandhi Or Patel, his secularism. Religion is both an opium and chilly. It could douse thin critiWeber spirit. Also it could give rise to rational and prophetic civizational breakthroughs, whether in Egypt's slave-fields or cricket pitch of Navi Mumbai. Both Marx and Weber are correct in their perspectives on re ligion. What is wrong if Jemima found enthused by her god. I am earnestly praying to my God, for the conversion of rabid bigots, more than the conversion of sinners. Let there be a thousand gods, who ergize us, but not divide us. Whether it is the Trinity or the Trimurrhy, the Divine is at the root, Plural, radical plurality in the tension ofUnity.. A Celebration ofDiffetences.
ReplyDeleteEvery time our Man tries to belittle Nehru, he becomes puny. The littleness of his heart and brain has inflicted so much harm on the nation.
DeleteWhat's funny is if that were reversed here, if a sports star thanked Rama instead of Jesus, our entire right wing crazy train would have lost their minds, and we wouldn't hear the end of it. Religious liberty for me, not for you. That seems to be how it goes nowadays.
ReplyDeleteThis sort of madness has spread all over the world!
DeleteEven though religion is a personal choice, there's no reason its public expression should draw this kind of adverse reaction, unless the act causes civil life disruption. Which however happens during so many of our festivals and nobody has anything to say about it then. This is a very sad episode and should make the regime's head hang in shame.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, religion shouldn't cause this sort of sound and fury. It happens because people are taught wrong things about religion.
DeleteThe moment she said Jesus, I knew it's going ruffle some feathers. I kept off all those radical comments. You are right. It's her faith. She did nothing wrong by thanking Jesus. We all know that God is known by different names.
ReplyDeletePradeep, I just concluded this series (Half Marathon posts) today with an appeal for renewed liberalism in our country. Do read if you have the time. https://matheikal.blogspot.com/2025/11/why-india-needs-to-reclaim-it-liberal.html
DeleteI decide on the God I pray to. Religion is an immensely private matter, and we call ourselves secular. To each his own...
ReplyDeleteThat should be the ideal. Instead we keep poking our nose...
DeleteI also applaud the line....If I can't achieve that kind of faith..
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteI stopped by your site after a long time, and it seems there’s quite a lively discussion going on about a topic I don’t usually engage in. Stepping away for now, but I’ll be back for another visit soon.
ReplyDeleteSilence on the face of injustice is collusion with injustice. And speech demands courage on such occasions.
DeleteIt is sad that we are no loner a secular country. I wish we could remind the country how India was birn and what it stands for. Please watch Leila, a series on Netflix. Its a showcase of what India is going to be like in the future,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the recommendation. I'd like to watch that, let me see.
Delete