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About Religion and Fanaticism

Owner
Gavin
The world recently witnessed a siege on Mumbai, wherein some 20 odd young men with AK 47 rifles went on a killing spree at a busy railway station, and five stars hotels killing hundreds. This incident brings back memories of 9/11 where a handful of misguided souls took controls of aircrafts and crashed into the World Trade Center, resulting in the death of thousands. These incidents make us realize how susceptible we are in the face of such terror activities. The very fact that the people who perpetrate these crimes are ready to die makes them more dangerous, as the ultimate fear of death is absent from their psyche. These people can go to any extent to inflict terror on people's minds.

Unfortunately, majority of such terrorist activities are perpetrated by religious fanatics of Islam. Such tendencies are not limited to Islam alone but it is seen mostly in the ahbramic religion ie Islam Christianity and Judaism. In its essence and origin, Islam is a religion of mercy and peace, of kindness and tolerance, and of knowledge and enlightenment; it is not a religion of violence and fanaticism.

What happens is that because of a small group of misled people the image of the religion and all its followers suffers. A senior journalist wrote “Every time innocents are targeted in the name of Islam around the world, one can't face one's non-Muslim friends and colleagues. However can you blame the world if it's turning against Muslims? What do you expect when not a single day passes without the name of our faith being dragged through the mud by fellow believers around the world...is this what Islam and the noble Prophet teach and stand for”

It's all very well for us to say Islam has nothing to do with extremism and terrorism, but we are only deluding ourselves. However, the world finds it hard to accept this line of argument because it sees the extremists increasingly assert themselves and take the centre-stage while the mainstream Islam remains silent.”

The question that now arises is whether religious belief is itself the cause of fanaticism? Or is religion simply one of many catalysts that can transform desperation into extremism? In my opinion, if the teachings of major religions had been followed, fanaticism would never have taken root within the religions they established. Fanaticism and hatred are clearly contrary to their explicit teachings. It uses religion as a tool to further aims that have nothing to do with true religion.

Why do the fanatics succeed? The terrorists are very small in number but they are very cohesive. Their negative attitude is cohesive as well. Therefore they can inflict so much pain. Peace loving people are much much larger in number but are not cohesive at all, and hence their positivity and goodness do not percolate down the society. Hundreds of Indians including Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

Each religion brings out its own doctrines and insists upon them as being the only true ones. Thus faith turns into fanaticism. The communal frenzy erupts and religious wars are fought with ensuing destruction and chaos. There is no doubt that more blood is shed on religious wars and persecution than on any other cause. But this is no fault of an individual. It is the evolutionary weakness. It is not a crafty design of one individual, or one particular religion.

The true saints and believers have true knowledge of saints and believers. None of the saints or their religion preaches hatred and killing. Every religion preach that humankind is a single family and the earth its common homeland. There is no place for fanaticism or the fanatics.

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