VIOLENCE HAS MANY FACES

RELIGIONS, POLITICS AND SOCIETY
IN A HOSTILE CULTURE OF INTOLERANCE

DELHI, India (Times of India) - It is common for people to attribute hostility between faiths to mutual ignorance and lack of knowledge of each other's cultural and faith traditions. However, if people are not convinced about the intrinsic equality of all human beings, they are not likely to want to learn about their faiths with a spirit of respect. There are strong connections between authoritarian ways of thinking and tendencies to see god as an intolerant, jealous and tyrannical authority figure that punishes those who do not do his bidding. The continuing efforts to convert so-called heathens and believers in false gods are resulting in endless strife and conflicts. No religious establishment is capable of carrying out genocides and massacres on its own strength, but when the religious leaders become closely allied to the agendas of politicians, they are able to get state patronage in order to subjugate and conquer other religious communities. Since this has happened very frequently in history, many people have come to believe that the answer lies in 'secularism' which requires that religion and religious leaders are kept from meddling in politics or acquiring control over the instruments of state. By contrast, many of those who claimed to be "secular" and, therefore, treated matters of faith with disdain, caused massive genocides and huge human suffering.

History is witness to the fact that there is absolutely no guarantee that politicians and states claiming to be secular demonstrate greater respect for human rights. For example, Stalin did not use a religious justification while carrying out his genocide among the Soviet Union's peasantry. He did so in the garb of a "secular" cause, namely, "collectivisation" and the uprooting of those he called "kulaks". He claimed that he killed people in the name of building a "secular" and "socialist" republic. Yet, he caused far more death and destruction than many of those who make a cocktail of religion and politics. As we can see, to those who are targeted for violence, it matters little whether those who have come to murder them shout "Allah-O-Akbar" or "Long live communism", whether their war cry is "Pakistan zindabad," or "Bharat Mata ki Jai". Violence, whether justified in the name of communism, nationalism or democracy, or glorified in the name of class struggle or jihad, destroys not only human lives but even the very causes that are touted as justifications for their violence.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Being led by their worldly or secular intellect, men are often seen to be on the alert to define non-secular or transcendental intellect … when controlled by that alertness, their idiocy, in the form of their mundane simplicity, takes them towards the company of persons deceived like themselves. … Those who are anxious to be considered as civilized are of the opinion that, “If we can observe the civic rules, then there will be no mutual friction and we can live quite in comfort and happiness, even though godless.” The devotees of God express no such opinion. … When, for want of an exact knowledge about the truth, we rely on relative knowledge, our want is not removed therewith; all our acts evaporate like camphor.

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thākura Prabhupāda :
“The Pathway to Highest Blessedness”
Published in The Harmonist (Sree Sajjanatoshani)