It’s a common opinion that religious meddling in political matters of nation-state is a dangerous trend, as the distinction between the spiritual aspect and the material aspect of human life should be well defined inorder to maintain a proper balance in the society; in other words, avoiding communalisation of politics and society. Indeed, this has become all the more relevant because religion itself has turned out to be a worst curse on the humanity – as more human life has been destroyed in religious conflicts than in all the political wars and natural calamities combined, that have taken place in the history of mankind on the planet Earth. Besides, certain inhuman incidents of killing innocent people, including children, due to differences over religious beliefs, which we have been witnessing in recent years, are a clear pointer to the curse of fear and uncertainty gripping the world today.
The blame for communalisation of politics and society is often leveled on the politicians and political parties, when in fact historically the real perpetrators of this sordid conspiracy against the state are the religious leaders, particularly church authorities, who, by imposing their hegemony over political governance through their distorted religious bigotry, have been extracting huge personal benefits and share of state funds in the garb of preaching the ‘word of God’, but never themselves practicing what they preach. The church leaders are also the pioneers of religious fanaticism, radicalisation of communities and religious terrorism – crusades, Christian missions for forced conversions, etc – not to mention about the consequent bloodshed of innocent life that has taken place all across the globe, which has brought disrepute to Our Lord Jesus Christ’s religion founded on universal love and fellowship. Interestingly, Jesus, horrified by the excesses committed by the Jewish Priests, has founded Christianity.
It may be noted that during the Middle Ages, the church in Europe was playing a big role in matters of the state and as a result of which there was a lot of resentment in the civil society. As traditionally the role of the church being mainly spiritual in nature, it was widely felt that it should not be allowed any role at the helm of affairs regarding matters of political governance, which should be exclusively managed by the civil society. It was argued that religious interference in the political affairs of the state had the potential of dividing political leaders as well as common citizens on communal lines. This struggle culminated in the victory of secularism, whereby the interference of the church in political process was completely abolished and its role in public domain was separated from political governance of the state. This is how secularism came to be originated.
Since the establishment of secularism, the scenario of church’s open domination over political governance has diminished drastically in the developed world, particularly in the West, where institutionalised and organised religions practically have 11% followers today, and as a result religious leaders there do not have much influence over the people who by and large are aware of their rights. But, even in such a situation, we still see that some unscrupulous religious leaders or the so-called godmen and godwomen are able to play a havoc with atleast some section of the people at one time or the other.
In India, however, the concept of secularism is being used in a different sense, i.e., meaning to give equal importance to all religions as against communalism. Even then, any religion interfering in matters of political governance is uncalled for, as the same is purely a matter to be handled by the civil society, for which necessary laws have been enacted and different institutions have been established such as the Election Commission of India, besides the supervisory powers of the Judiciary are always available to ensure that the democratic principles enshrined in the country’s Constitution are implemented, both in letter and spirit.
However, even in this scenario, we find that leaders of various religions have been constantly adopting ways and means and interfering in the governance, besides causing disruption in cordial atmosphere of democratic process of elections by deliberately polarising citizens on religious lines, inciting hatred amongst different communities and thereby destroying the secular fabric of the country, for their own personal benefits. This state of affairs in India is primarily due to the traditional blind belief of various communities in their respective religions, which is unscrupulously exploited for their personal advantage by religious leaders of practically all the organised religions, and through them by politicians and political parties.
Unfortunately, all the world’s religions have based themselves on belief system rather than enlarging their ability to experience life through morality of humanness and humanism. Professional priests of all religions have for many centuries exploited gullible devotees persuading them that numerous heavenly or otherworldly rewards would be available to them in exchange for donations, pilgrimages or for fighting against those who believe differently. The belief systems have led human beings to commit unspeakable atrocities, against each other.
Religion is supposedly a method to enlarge one’s experience of life beyond the limitations of the physical self, an opportunity and a possibility to experience the oneness of all creation. But for a long time, religions have largely functioned as a sacrilege against life rather than recognition of the sanctity of life. In fact, people’s belief in their gods, in their sense of right and wrong, and all their fanciful beliefs has bred violence and dreadful cruelty against each other.
Every religion emphasises oneness of all creation and sanctity of life. It is time we address the inner complexities of human life in a realistic manner. India as a multi-religious culture, has for ages explored this possibility with great depth and understanding. However, much distortion happens in transmitting the subjective dimensions due to unscrupulousness and greed for material gains on the part of our religious leaders.
(The writer is a freelance journalist)
