Sana Syed
Religion is a touchy issue, and in most liberal societies it is considered a topic off limit during formal discourse. But the question is why? If it is so detested, why do most of us have a religious identity, though some also choose to present themselves as atheists, in a struggle to find harmony? It is perhaps because history is evident that most of the atrocities and human sufferings have been inflicted on people under the garb of religious bigotry.
When Adolf Hitler caused the greatest inflictions on Germans, he chose to justify it by openly giving it an Anti-Semitic hue. Few realized then that he undermined every institution of fair governance. Similarly, when the Chinese government is leashing utmost inhuman tortures on Ughyrs as part of its‘re-education’ program, there is apparently a religious face to it. Surprisingly, Bashar Al Asad of Syria also finds a reason to justify the crackdown on its civilian population by highlighting the difference between the Alawi sect, which he represents, and the dominantly Sunni population. And if the growing crisis in India can be seemingly summed up, it is brewing because of the Hindutva agenda of the present regime pitted against the Muslim minority.
There is one common streak of opportunism inherent in the political heads of all these nations. They presumably stand for religious bigotry. That makes them stand out as crusaders in the eyes of the majority, who feel a sense of oneness and pride because of the common shared religious belief. Here it is, that religion becomes detestable and a symbol of hatred and division.
History has a different lesson to reveal, but sadly few care. Before passing a blanket judgement on religion as a dividing factor, if we try to learn about the life of each of the great souls who brought religion to people be it Mohammad PUBH, Jesus Christ, Lord Ram, Guru Nanak ji, Lord Budhha, Prophet Moses, and the prophets and avatars of other religions, there will be the basic quality of respect for human life and dignity common to all. Also, they all shared the attribute of selflessness and immense compassion for every living creature.
Whether born in royalty or in common household, they denounced worldly pleasures to serve and uplift the poor, the destitute, and the needy. With time how the God of the poor and the rich alike became selective and repressive is a question that needs to be asked. But, Wikipedia and google search might not be the best resources to develop an understanding of the sublime nature of religion. And neither would that search be productive, if you happen to identify a political leader or the head of a state as an avatar or the messenger of God.
The answer may lie in understanding the political establishment of many countries of today where religious identities are important. There the politics of religion unfolds like the colonialism of yesteryears. The rules of the game have remained the same, just the facade has changed. Often underlying the waves of state sponsored nationalism and religious fanaticism is a deeper economic factor, which remains hidden from the public in the best interest of the high and mighty ruling regime.
When the economic woes become too hard to handle due to corrupt governance, and there is fear of mass dissent, then political masters have an easy tool of religious extremism to unleash. A closer study of all the nations that undergo chaos and religious repression have a common pattern, which links them to either economic distress or greater capitalistic ambition.
Wide scale corruption in governance is also a common occurrence. It is no-brainer then to find India and China both on the 80th position on corruption perception index 2019 and Syria on 178th spot in a total of 180 countries evaluated by Transparency International, the global civil society organization to fight against corruption.
For a nation like China that is known for devaluing human liberty to push itself further up on the list of accomplished economies, the subjugation of Uyghurs can also be understood as a ploy to harness forced and unpaid labor. The Uyghurs are made to work in many Chinese factories that manufacture for major international business giants like Apple, Nike etc. Isn’t it surprising to find China that is persecuting Muslim minorities in its own country, to have strong bilateral ties with other major Muslim nations, if it has a problem with Islam as a religion?
Demonizing people, races, and religious identities have always worked in favor of the power seekers. So, it was no exception to hear the US President Donald Trump mention Islamic terrorism on his recent visit to India, when the country’s capital was witnessing a communal flare up orchestrated to inflict pain and suffering primarily on Muslim minorities. After all, how else would have Prime Minister Mr. Modi justified $3 billion defense deal with the United States, while the country could not successfully execute a trade deal, which is likely to impact India’s export sector, and is definitely an economic setback.
Religion is a handy tool to exploit the naïve and gullible masses, to realize capitalist ambitions. It has happened in the past and it would continue to happen as long as the masses choose to perceive what their political masters want to project.
In the world of fast paced dissemination of information, Facebook, WhatsApp, and government loyal media houses serve us with ready source of sensational pieces propagated by our political masters with due aim. These juicy and bizarre public discourses are spread to feed our mind with fake national, communal, and racial pride engulfing us with hatred and intolerance for anything sensible. There is no place for true religious belief to exist in this vitriolic atmosphere, and sadly it leaves us much before we realize.
Recently, there was an interesting post on LinkedIn by a gentleman that summarized people as double faced who vent religious hatred on Facebook and Twitter but consciously choose to keep a liberal and progressive image on LinkedIn. It made me think of what we really are?
We are majorly the product of distorted believes, half known truths, and willful ignorance inadvertently enslaved by our political masters. In the Indian context apparent religious bigotry is unfolding very rapidly and as long as the nationalist masses identify themselves with the slogan ek roti khayenge, Modi ko layenge (I will sustain with a slice a bread, but I will choose Modi), to bring back some vague, archaic pride of Hindutva, the Indian Prime Minister can afford to splurge on his classy fashion choices and proceed with the facade of the nationalist agenda to make us think, it is about religion.