Abhijit Naskar's Blog - Posts Tagged "religious-acceptance"
It's about religious acceptance, it's no longer about religious tolerance
There is a question in today's society that has got quite a grip over people's psyche - rational and not so rational alike - whether religion is basically good or basically evil. Here my question to you is, how do you define a religion as either good or bad? How do you define good religion and bad religion? Do you define based on the books, like scriptures, or do you define based on humans? What's more important - humans or scriptures? And if you still define religion based on the elements that come from some ancient books, then what's the difference between you and the fundamentalists who actually cause all the violence in the name of religion? If you still think that religion is violent because its scripture has some violent instructions then what's the difference between you and others - others being the fundamentalists? There is no difference.
You are a rational being. You have your own mind. You have your cognitive capacities to think for yourself - to give humans more attention than books, than doctrines, than dogmas. Then how do you define a whole religion - an entire population of people - your own kind as terrorists! Are they! Are you! Say your culture has a scripture that says, "if somebody does not obey every word in this scripture, then that person must be demolished from earth by the chosen few to whom this scripture has been given by the Lord Almighty himself". Whether you follow it or not, doesn't matter. Whether you accept it literally or not, doesn't matter. Just because it is a part of your culture, does that make you a terrorist - a religious terrorist, since it is the book of your people. Being a part of your culture, that book instructs you to kill people for holding different belief system. And without even knowing whether you follow it directly, indirectly, consciously, subconsciously, if somebody simply assumes that because it is a highly venerated book in your culture, you must be absolutely obedient to it and would be willing to kill the infidels, is that person making a rational assumption, or simply a lousy mistake!
Being religious does not make a person terrorist, even if his or her scripture has fundamental elements of terrorism. Religious people are just as peace loving as anybody else. Not all the people who call themselves religious, actually follow every single word of the scripture. They don't feel the urge for it, without even being aware of it in most cases, they just don't. When a brain is healthy, it has the capacity to filter information and distinguish between good and evil. In most cases, this process of filtering happens quite subconsciously, and in some other cases not so much. That's what you know as the human sense of morality which is a magnificent construction of the brain circuits, especially the frontal lobes. In case of one's religiousness this morality comes into action as well.
A good human being will never accept things like beating a wife for not having sex with the husband or killing people for holding different belief system, even if his or her scripture says thus. So it doesn't matter what the scripture says - a healthy human brain has the capacity to filter those instructions. An atheist brain does this quite consciously, whereas the peace-loving religious population does it in most cases quite subconsciously. Their brain does that for them, because they are conscientious civilized beings. And unless you are a mental retard - unless you are suffering from delusional disorder, like the fundamentalists, you still can judge for yourself, so do the religious people. That's why all religious people are not terrorists.
Those who are terrorists, they only hold on to the few instructions of certain scriptures, that fuel their predominant rage against some parts of the world, some people, and that rage becomes the driving force behind those acts of terrorism. Those instructions in those books fuel that rage. So they feel like they are doing it for a greater purpose, because their brain lacks healthy and civilized functioning of the frontal lobes, but this is not true for religious people. Religious people are just as peace-loving as anybody else. And not all religious people say - their religion is the best and everybody else's is false - their god is the only god and everybody else who follows different gods are all doomed to burn in hell for eternity.
They are simply happy with their religion, and what's wrong with that! Of course it would be wrong if they say - you hold a different belief system so you are a lesser human, you are doomed, you are possessed by Satan. But they are not saying that. They are happy, they are talking to people from different religious backgrounds, because that's what makes us humans. That's what makes us civilized humans. We accept each other, we love each other, we embrace each other. It's about religious acceptance, it's no longer about religious tolerance. Toleration may make you decent, but it's acceptance that makes you civilized. Toleration was a matter of the previous centuries - through this idea of toleration, thinking humans took the early steps towards a society free from religious sectarianism. The parliament of religions was and still remains a glorious emblem of this endeavor of religious toleration. However, time has changed and so has its needs. The need of this century is acceptance. Every generation must think several steps ahead of their previous generations. That's the way to progress and that's the way to become more and more civilized human beings.
We are the most civilized species on earth, because we grow every single day - we grow - and we will keep on growing with each other. We will keep on growing with our brothers, sisters and friends, whether they are from different religions, different race, different languages, colors, sexual orientation, gender - it doesn't matter. We are all humans and we have to grow together. It's not enough to be diverse. For a species to evolve, for a species to survive, you need to accept that diversity. Because if you don't, then that diversity has no value. Accept the diversity and the growth of us humans - the progress of us humans, will be much faster and smoother.
Further Reading
In Search of Divinity: Journey to the Kingdom of Conscience
Illusion of Religion: A Treatise on Religious Fundamentalism
You are a rational being. You have your own mind. You have your cognitive capacities to think for yourself - to give humans more attention than books, than doctrines, than dogmas. Then how do you define a whole religion - an entire population of people - your own kind as terrorists! Are they! Are you! Say your culture has a scripture that says, "if somebody does not obey every word in this scripture, then that person must be demolished from earth by the chosen few to whom this scripture has been given by the Lord Almighty himself". Whether you follow it or not, doesn't matter. Whether you accept it literally or not, doesn't matter. Just because it is a part of your culture, does that make you a terrorist - a religious terrorist, since it is the book of your people. Being a part of your culture, that book instructs you to kill people for holding different belief system. And without even knowing whether you follow it directly, indirectly, consciously, subconsciously, if somebody simply assumes that because it is a highly venerated book in your culture, you must be absolutely obedient to it and would be willing to kill the infidels, is that person making a rational assumption, or simply a lousy mistake!
Being religious does not make a person terrorist, even if his or her scripture has fundamental elements of terrorism. Religious people are just as peace loving as anybody else. Not all the people who call themselves religious, actually follow every single word of the scripture. They don't feel the urge for it, without even being aware of it in most cases, they just don't. When a brain is healthy, it has the capacity to filter information and distinguish between good and evil. In most cases, this process of filtering happens quite subconsciously, and in some other cases not so much. That's what you know as the human sense of morality which is a magnificent construction of the brain circuits, especially the frontal lobes. In case of one's religiousness this morality comes into action as well.
A good human being will never accept things like beating a wife for not having sex with the husband or killing people for holding different belief system, even if his or her scripture says thus. So it doesn't matter what the scripture says - a healthy human brain has the capacity to filter those instructions. An atheist brain does this quite consciously, whereas the peace-loving religious population does it in most cases quite subconsciously. Their brain does that for them, because they are conscientious civilized beings. And unless you are a mental retard - unless you are suffering from delusional disorder, like the fundamentalists, you still can judge for yourself, so do the religious people. That's why all religious people are not terrorists.
Those who are terrorists, they only hold on to the few instructions of certain scriptures, that fuel their predominant rage against some parts of the world, some people, and that rage becomes the driving force behind those acts of terrorism. Those instructions in those books fuel that rage. So they feel like they are doing it for a greater purpose, because their brain lacks healthy and civilized functioning of the frontal lobes, but this is not true for religious people. Religious people are just as peace-loving as anybody else. And not all religious people say - their religion is the best and everybody else's is false - their god is the only god and everybody else who follows different gods are all doomed to burn in hell for eternity.
They are simply happy with their religion, and what's wrong with that! Of course it would be wrong if they say - you hold a different belief system so you are a lesser human, you are doomed, you are possessed by Satan. But they are not saying that. They are happy, they are talking to people from different religious backgrounds, because that's what makes us humans. That's what makes us civilized humans. We accept each other, we love each other, we embrace each other. It's about religious acceptance, it's no longer about religious tolerance. Toleration may make you decent, but it's acceptance that makes you civilized. Toleration was a matter of the previous centuries - through this idea of toleration, thinking humans took the early steps towards a society free from religious sectarianism. The parliament of religions was and still remains a glorious emblem of this endeavor of religious toleration. However, time has changed and so has its needs. The need of this century is acceptance. Every generation must think several steps ahead of their previous generations. That's the way to progress and that's the way to become more and more civilized human beings.
We are the most civilized species on earth, because we grow every single day - we grow - and we will keep on growing with each other. We will keep on growing with our brothers, sisters and friends, whether they are from different religions, different race, different languages, colors, sexual orientation, gender - it doesn't matter. We are all humans and we have to grow together. It's not enough to be diverse. For a species to evolve, for a species to survive, you need to accept that diversity. Because if you don't, then that diversity has no value. Accept the diversity and the growth of us humans - the progress of us humans, will be much faster and smoother.
Further Reading
In Search of Divinity: Journey to the Kingdom of Conscience
Illusion of Religion: A Treatise on Religious Fundamentalism
