Yes you read it right a holy book that only talks about peace, well at least that is what people claim…. they say religions are never violent, no holy book dictates violence… it is just that people interpret it wrong….. right?…… No… Wrong…
The fact is every religion preaches violence in one way or other… some are mellowed down while some are more vehement…. But they all do preach violence…… As long as you believe that an imaginary god is the final authority to punish human beings and he dictates so through his cronies there is bound to be violence and human rights violation.
Even if we take the believer’s argument that only some people misinterpret religious writings the question that needs to be answered is how come it happens so much so often…. . Seems like so many people are misinterpreting things…. So there is something going wrong somewhere…..
Again if misinterpretation is the real problem then if we look at history human beings have been continuously misinterpreting religious books in all religions…. because death and atrocities from religion has been such a big part of our recorded history…. In the past interpretations of Bible had unleashed such a havoc in the world and now misinterpretation of Koran is doing more or less the same. Hindus are also not behind as they are doing their best to find reasons for violence that they can drive back to religious books and texts and be contented and guilt free…
Thanks to the weapons race, the human race has a huge arsenal at disposal and can make destruction at epic proportions….. Coming back to misinterpretations. What is really happening…? Is it because people are reading ‘peace’ but understanding ‘war’….? Or Are they reading ‘love’ and grasping it as ‘hate’….. ? How can that be….?
I think religious texts are the only texts that has been written in such a way that it becomes so easy to be misinterpreted….. And seems like every one reading religious texts can form their own frame of thought and reference and claim it to be the correct one…. So don’t you think something might be wrong in how we see things…… something wrong with the basic idea of how we deal with religious texts?
Again as humans we are a marvelous species in misinterpretations…. We have perfected the art of misinterpreting everything so that they fall in line with exactly what we want….. Religion is no different… every individual is grasping what he wants…. The way he wants…. If you don’t blame religion for what is happening bad why do you praise it for what is happening good….?
It is a basic human nature that makes some people do both good and terrible things….. The problem with religions is that they have this monstrous ability to make people do the terrible things more efficiently and guilt free…. Religions enable people to get out of their basic sense of humanness do the most horrific things and then not even blink once with guilt… above all feel proud, responsible, dutiful and righteous…..
As a human being my mind goes out to the family and four kids, two boys and two girls of both Shahzad Masih and his wife Shama who were beaten to death and burned. It seems Shama was pregnant when the mob did this… And the accusation was hearsay and many say they did not burn any holy book….. Look at how stupid and inhumane people can become with religious belief and fundamentalism…. they do not need any proof, they just know…. and they will do it……
The fact that Shahzad and Shama were not Muslims would have been easier for the mob to carry out their barbarity…. Because it is easy to blame a religious crime on someone from a different religion especially when the religious texts can be easily be (mis)interpreted to dictate that there should not be mercy towards non-believers.
Intolerance is a serious psychological disorder so may be it is important to lock up every religious fanatic in mental asylums…… If it was the olden times we could banish fanatics of all religions into some destitute island so they can kill each other and pray their hearts out….. I know it is not practical.. but as peace loving folks don’t at least some religious people feel the responsibility to fight the violence in their religion…..
When ever issues like this come I have seen that many of my close religious friends from various religious have condemned the violence in their religion… I have also seen many who just keep silent… not sure if it is because of support or because of the fear of being outcasted…… every voice not raised against violence is a voice supporting it…..
We all are responsible for religious violence….. each one of us….. some for supporting it and some for not fighting it and some for just being indifferent……. More important than any belief is the basic human right to practice any belief…. any country law or religion that takes away that freedom from its people is violating basic human rights…. ‘Blasphemy Law’ is a barbaric law that is not suited for the civilized world…… Blasphemy Laws promote Religious Violence……
Categories: Articles, Articles & Opinions, Opinions, Society
Love, Marriage, Religious Conversion and Underwears 
Comments to Mohammed Alyahya’s NY Times post “Don’t Blame ‘Wahhabism’ for Terrorism” 
The Second Presidential Debate – Some Thoughts 
Mr. Trump, It is not ‘Trump Estates of America’; It is the ‘United States of America’ 
Vinod Narayan 
Vinod, I sympathize with the couple but it is very easy to broadly state that all religion is evil and promotes violence, but these are things which are more grey than black or white. The intent of religion should be to make man think about what is right and what is wrong. I believe religion is a good idea which tries to make man think and reflect about how he/she should spiritually enrich themselves. It is a good idea, but like all good ideas, it needs to accommodate the right reform at the right times. It is when religion is constantly questioned and all viewpoints weighed, debated and incorporates changes that a truly vibrant society develops. That has been the argumentative culture of India. The Hindu way of life for instance has seen constant debate and argument and reform, right from Shankaracharya, Sree Narayana Guru, Dayananda Saraswathi, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda, Gautama Buddha and so on and it is because of this that today India is the truly pluralistic society that it is and is remaining still relevant. And today most religions do realize this. Today even the pope accommodates narratives of gay rights or science. An exception though is Islam, where any voice pushing for reform of religion is silenced with derision and death threats and remains truly medieval in many aspects. By not questioning it and being fearful of a backlash the global community of moderate muslims have done a great disservice to their own religion by all the while condemning the fringe atrocities but at the same time remaining distantly stubborn and paranoid about raising a voice calling for change.
Can every religion be misinterpreted ? Yes they can be. Does everyone misinterpret religion ? Mostly not.
Does every religion have good and bad .? Yes mostly they do. It is up to the faithful as to what path they choose to follow.
Can I read Bhagwad Gita and interpret that Krishna advises me to kill my brethren. Yes I could but then I am interpreting the scripture at a very superficial level am I not ?
The expectation is that I read it at a superficial level but then question my understanding, Develop a conscience in the long run and think about what is right and what is wrong.
In a way aren’t we being totally naive to think that a totally atheist global society would have been completely at peace today. Isn’t ultimately at least sub consciously even your impulse to write this post influenced by some religiously inculcated sense of right and wrong.
I believe in the idea of religion and question it so that the idea may be enriched.