Religion

Religion has been and is the curse of humanity. If one cares to browse the course of history it would be self evident that most of the horrors, massacres, pogroms, injustice and destruction have been perpetrated in the name of religion. Whether religion advocates or sanctions such gruesome acts or not, they are invariably committed under the banner of religion. Without a shadow of doubt, religion has been the root cause of untold misery and pain, both voluntary and forced, whether it’s the Spanish inquisition or burning of witches or the incarceration of people for innocuous reasons (Galileo), or the rigorous punishment meted out to innocent people or people inflicting pain on themselves in all manners.

It endlessly talks about renunciation, self-abnegation, abhorring all good things in life in exchange for some intangible things that you are supposed to gain after your death. All religions preach simple things like love, affection, kindness, mercy, compassion, charity, altruism, forgiveness, simple living, truth, honesty, veracity, justice and righteousness. Look around and you can see that these tenets are not followed and the champions of religion embrace all negatives of religion, twisting and interpreting the incomprehensible teachings in their own mendacious and flagitious ways. That is why we witness an orgy of violence, death and destruction from these angels of peace and love. They spew venom, spread hatred, incite violence and instigate divisiveness day after day.

The other unsavory side about religion (the soft underbelly) is that, it has been usurped and hijacked by the mandarins of ritualism who believe in endlessly muttering meaningless mumbo jumbo, which nobody understands or cares. This has really reduced religion to a farce, which is supposed to be a guiding light for leading a peaceful life. Rituals have become a sort of identity for people to cobble themselves into communities, clans, cabals, castes, sub castes, sects, factions and what not. These factions clutch and cling to rituals as if it’s their exclusive private property. What a funny thing, instead of people giving meaning to such rituals, they think that these rituals give them a meaning! God can be forgotten, love and kindness can be thrown to the air, mercy and compassion can be disregarded, truth and honesty can be buried, forgiveness and altruism can be blanked out, justice and right can be mangled but rituals alone should be held steadfast and continued like zombies. God save the people!