Religious fanaticism

We, the people of India, talk about the ill effects of terrorism. We as individual musts think of means to find a solution for this long lasting problem. We have a moral responsibility to eradicate terrorism. What can we do?

It is a known fact that terrorism is mostly religion backed. I do not say religion is bad. I only say that if religion is something that cause hatred in people's minds, if religion is something that will divide people instead of uniting them, if religion does not grow tolerance in people's minds, it is just not worth its place.

So is becoming atheists the way to remove terrorism? No. Most definitely not. As Mahatma Gandhiji said, all religious views including the atheistic view have their own goods as well as bad. The maturity of a human being lies in selecting the good from each view and ignore the rest. Gandhiji also said, "All that is Indian need not be good. All that is old need not be gold either. Evils like sati, untouchability are both old and Indian, but are they good? So any rule or principle, that does not hold with the morality of the present day, must find its position in a waste basket only".

So when, we get the awareness that our religious books are not the complete things and there are things in that which need to be censored, we will change. At this time, I would like to point the 26/11 attacks on the Taj hotel, Mumbai. The assault was done by youngsters not more than 25 yrs old. Not only in India, but anywhere round the globe, it is a shame to know that there are also people like this. But think, are these terrorists born? Terrorists grow because, they were made to grow so. When they were young, and when their minds were mouldable, hatred was instilled into their mind and they were brainwashed.

Much worse some become terrorists just for the money their family is promised. The only surviving terrorist of the 26/11 attacks, Kasab has said that if the government would give him food and money, he will do the same thing against the terrorists what he has done now against the people.(Source: Wikipedia). Think of the level of morality the mankind has. I use this platform to say, that I won't be surprised if more Kasabs are born if we do not act.

But what can we do. We may not have enough strength to change the existing terrorists. However, atleast we must be alert that no new Kasab is created. To do that let us follow the same way that they follow. Their targets are young minds. We also can, should target young minds. Let us instil moral values in young minds. Where do we go for these young minds? Let us talk to our young friends, our young relatives and teach them morals. More important, let us be clear in our mind that we should not be dominated by immoral feelings.

And what should be our attitude towards the religious fanatics? How should we treat the people making hate speeches? Give them long speeches or advice saying that their ideology is wrong? No that will not work. It is because, their mind will not be receptible for our words. So what should we do? JUST AVOID THEM. Yes, we shall avoid them for few days. If we avoid them singly, it might not affect them. But avoid them as a group, they cannot bear that for long. A human mind cannot live in isolation. They will contact you soon. If not, let us contact them. At that time, they will be ready to listen to us. Then, say the harms that religion has caused. If you need to get points, it is not difficult, if you search the web.

And, dear friends, please don't think that it is not necessary to give such advices to your friends or relatives. Do not think that there is no possibility for them to become a terrorist so the advice is not necessary. It is just necessary. Though it may not affect them directly, they may say that to someone else and it may be useful.

Here I also mention how some politicians create religious fanatics. For example, I would like to take points from the editorial of "The Hindu" dated 15th April 2009, with the title 'Poisoning the minds of children'.

"Wherever they went, they had a sword in their hand. Their army went like a storm in all the four directions. Any country that came their way was destroyed. Houses of prayers and Universities were destroyed. Mothers and sisters were humiliated. Mercy and justice were unknown to them." This is what lakhs of children going to RSS-run schools will learn about Islam at the tender age of nine. The same book also teaches, "Delhi's Qutub Minar is even today famous in his(Qutubuddin Aibak's) name. This had not been built by him. He could not have been able to build it. It was actually built by the emperor Samudragupta. Its real name was Vishnu Sthamba.... This Sultan actually got some parts of it demolished and its name was changed".

These are the words of 'Gaurav Gatha' text book for class four by Shishu Mandir Prakashan, an RSS run publishing house. Now think of the message passed on to the children. Muslims are portrayed as non-human beings and the killer of Hindus. Will a feeling of common brotherhood ever grow in the young minds then? This is less. Read the next paragraph on the internal achievements of Nazism.

"Hitler lent dignity and prestige to the German government within a short time by establishing a strong administrative setup. He created a vast state of Greater Germany. He adopted the policy of opposition towards the Jewish people and advocated the supremacy of Germany... He instilled a spirit of adventure in the common people...".

This is Hitler according to the Gujarat tenth standard social studies textbook. These books show contents like these only because of the intervention of the politicians. All that they need is a religious vote bank and they ensure it by creating religious fanaticisms in young spirits. This is also terrorism. Let us avoid such textbook publishers. This time not over a period of time but forever. Let us raise voice against injustice.

I would like to quote a story of Shiv Khera here. A person said, when injustice was done against the people language 'A', I did not oppose as I did not speak that language. The people of that language perished. When crime was done against religion 'B', I did not act as I did not belong to that religion. Finally injustice happened against my own race. I cried for help. No one was there to listen. They have already perished.

If we do not raise voice against crime, it means we are supporting it. So let us not support terrorism and religious fanaticism. Let us raise voice against them.

IMPROVE INDIA, IMPROVE WORLD