A Fine Line Called 'Tolerance'
“I have a dream….that all men are created equal”. Many a great people believed in this, the likes of Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi and many more, they lived and died for what they believed in, yet their obsession had not the slightest hint of revenge or violence. They were filled with passion for a religion that they believed in, the religion of harmony, serenity and peaceful cohabitation. Today's religious fanatics however subvert the notion of religion to suit their own narrow interpretations, call it tunnel vision, if you may, and through this try settle their own personal vendettas. This sow the seeds of intolerance, which are then lapped up by people, largely incapable of critical thinking.
A religion as per most dictionaries is a set of practices often centered upon specific supernatural and moral claims about reality, the cosmos, and human nature, and often codified as prayer, ritual, or religious law. All religions preach and practice peace and tolerance and the main aim of most is to discover yourself as a unique individual, created to fulfill a mission in this temporal existence.
On the other hand fanaticism is an emotion of being filled with excessive, critical zeal, particularly for an extreme religious cause. It means looking at religion through a coloured lens. Fanaticism appeals to those people who believe in making their religion the only true religion by using means that are not only socially unacceptable but also damaging to the structure of religion as a concept.
“Simon go back”, “Jai Hind” and “Vande Mataram” were all slogans Indians’ shouted, irrespective of their religious affiliations. Unity was one thing that was most noticeable among the Indian people, but with the advent of independence came the renaissance of religious differences and after becoming independent from colonialism, India became a hostage of the ugly face of communal tension and violence. India was once a beautiful amalgamation of cultures. Today, intolerance has made it a cesspool of disgrace. This intolerance is not bad as compared to some other countries of the world, but what makes it bad is that we're a reasonably advanced country and our constitution guarantees us the freedom of religion.
The great ‘Mutiny of 1857’ was built on trust, dependency and friendship not only within one particular religion but within communities of people belonging to different Gods and stratus of society. If at that time with that kind of a unity we could ruffle British colonial feather, now we would be able to eradicate social evils, poverty, corruption and who knows, probably we could even become a super power!
The South Goa riots, the Gujrat riots, the Graham Staines murder, the Sikh riots, the Partition riots etc are all living, breathing examples of religious intolerance.
The difference between religion and fanaticism is apparent but not crystal clear. It does however depend upon the individual or the community to draw the line between the two, because if you look at the broader picture, the difference between religion and fanaticism is a fine line called tolerance.
A religion as per most dictionaries is a set of practices often centered upon specific supernatural and moral claims about reality, the cosmos, and human nature, and often codified as prayer, ritual, or religious law. All religions preach and practice peace and tolerance and the main aim of most is to discover yourself as a unique individual, created to fulfill a mission in this temporal existence.
On the other hand fanaticism is an emotion of being filled with excessive, critical zeal, particularly for an extreme religious cause. It means looking at religion through a coloured lens. Fanaticism appeals to those people who believe in making their religion the only true religion by using means that are not only socially unacceptable but also damaging to the structure of religion as a concept.
“Simon go back”, “Jai Hind” and “Vande Mataram” were all slogans Indians’ shouted, irrespective of their religious affiliations. Unity was one thing that was most noticeable among the Indian people, but with the advent of independence came the renaissance of religious differences and after becoming independent from colonialism, India became a hostage of the ugly face of communal tension and violence. India was once a beautiful amalgamation of cultures. Today, intolerance has made it a cesspool of disgrace. This intolerance is not bad as compared to some other countries of the world, but what makes it bad is that we're a reasonably advanced country and our constitution guarantees us the freedom of religion.
The great ‘Mutiny of 1857’ was built on trust, dependency and friendship not only within one particular religion but within communities of people belonging to different Gods and stratus of society. If at that time with that kind of a unity we could ruffle British colonial feather, now we would be able to eradicate social evils, poverty, corruption and who knows, probably we could even become a super power!
The South Goa riots, the Gujrat riots, the Graham Staines murder, the Sikh riots, the Partition riots etc are all living, breathing examples of religious intolerance.
The difference between religion and fanaticism is apparent but not crystal clear. It does however depend upon the individual or the community to draw the line between the two, because if you look at the broader picture, the difference between religion and fanaticism is a fine line called tolerance.
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