Religion and You

I believe in God, the almighty; but not in religion.

Needless issues, controversies rock the world all the time but nothing was this huge, widespread and violent. It is amazing how a cartoon, which is supposed to be funny, witty, creative and thoughtful, could brew up something which is uncontrollable now.

I am concerned for all the people who have lost their lives, of all their families who lost their loved ones. My anguish knows no bounds for all those who tried to escalate the situation for their personal triumphs. An Italian minister, just to prove his mettle wore a tee shirt with the cartoons on it. One of our own ministers from U.P. set a bounty of 50 million rupees for the man who gets the head of the cartoonist. Well done you all, I am proud of the leaders we have chosen to lead us into the future.

Every religion preaches tolerance, where did that go? May be it’s the first for Islam, but things like these happen all the time. A German company printed Lord Rama on tissue paper, Goddess Kali’s pictures with whisky bottles, in each of her eight hands are still being used by a popular liquor brand for advertising, ‘The Simsons’ makes fun of every religion and every walk of life, Madonna wears a Krishna clad tee shirt and sings obscenities, M.F. Hussain keeps painting all Hindu goddesses in the nude… the list continues.

We protested, we submitted a plea, we fought but as long as we show our dissent these things will keep coming into the lime light. And that is all these offenders want. It is enough publicity for the Danish newspaper and the cartoonist, who is now in hiding by the way. People are so evil that they try to use these delicate issues for their own good, for money, for power, for publicity. People like these must be flayed, I agree. But that does not mean you can riot, break public property, hurt others just to show how religious and pious you are.

You have so many responsibilities to fulfill, victories to achieve… miles to go before you sleep. Think about it, religion is secondary, humanity is primary. Be tolerant friends, it has a much better impact. Scores have lost their lives because of religion and millions will. It is the biggest mass murderer man has ever seen.

I blame not God for all this sorrow, but us all who have chosen to be stupid enough to kill one another for the sake of the almighty we pray to, and how we do that.

I can hear their desperate cries; let those be alarms, for all of us. Let’s wake up, from this deep slumber. Let’s understand how insignificant religion is before humanity and love. Let us all rise.