[Reader-list] When was the first time you were told there is God?

[Murali V]

What you propose is already available in a faith called "Way of Living". One
has to attempt this philosophy and things would be for the good.
Murali V

On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 2:35 AM, Pheeta Ram <pheeta.ram at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear All,
> I know this won't go down well with most of you but here it is:
> Religions are the basic source of strife and as long as there will be
> religions
> (belief in this God and that) there will be such hostilities. By professing
> one religion
> i simultaneously create an other being who, by inference, is either
> follower
> of some religion
> or a pagan. The basic contradiction in all religions is that despite their
> moral-ethical discourse
> regarding oneness of all humanity they are the principal segregators. All
> the saints who have
> walked the earth deluded themselves with such fancies.
>
> Religion is not just a system of belief but also an economy. We depend a
> lot
> upon our religious capital
> for our subsistance. A person who professes to be a member of certain
> community (primarily religious)
> also depends upon it as a kind of umbilical cord and draws sucour.
>
> By now earth has soaked so much blood because of religious strifes that
> sometimes i wonder isn't it time
> to abandon all religious badges and create a ethical moral code drawn from
> all the religions and start believing
> in one community: that is Human.
>
> I think we need to believe in our brother next door and one walking on the
> street or the worker on a Metro site.
> We need to believe that for the survival of humanity we need to believe in
> each other and not on some transcendental
> agency. I wonder why we haven't learnt from our history. The primary reason
> why we have failed terribly in creating a
> community of all human beings that walk the earth is because we are afraid.
> Afraid to believe in somebody who is in
> front of us in flesh and blood. I remember a man sitting in Blue Line who
> was highly uncomfortable when a profusely sweating migrant labourer got in
> and found a seat, to his great relief, by his side. It is certain that he
> didn't know of the
> religion of that worker but the stench of his sweat and his dirty clothes
> were enough for him to get up and keep standing
> for the rest of his journey. I wonder when we have such intolerence for a
> 'fellow' human beings' honest sweat how would we
> ever begin even thinking about such a Human community. The perils that face
> the earth now are reasons enough that we
> start believing in each other and work for the future of humanity by
> shunning all our sectarian tags. But strangely we are busy
> inventing/refurbishing new messiah who would deliver us from the mess that
> we have ourselves created on this earth.
>
> I wonder what stops us from creating a new religion of Humanity.
>
> The advice that comes from scholarly circles regarding all this religious
> intolerance is : Tolerance!
> That we need to tolerate each other. Tolerance is another form of fascism
> or
> nazism, what ever. I won't agree with substituting
> the word toleracne with "respect" or "compassion". Why tolerate the very
> root of strife in the first place.
>
> And yet, sadly, things are not as simple as that. But  a time comes when we
> have to call a spade a spade.
> We have to shun God to love human beings. There is no other way. Just
> visualize the situation: Two guys are standing in a big stadium in front of
> each other, just a metre apart but with their faces 'heaven'wards. Why are
> they afraid to see each other directly.
> Why does the need arise to travel so many light years and then come to ones
> brother standing just a meter away.
>
> I know it is plain foolishness to ask somebody whose bread and butter
> depends upon religion to shun it and enter the fold of Humanity where
> people
> believe in people and work with mutual responsibility. But we
> need neo-believers who are foolish enough to
> believe in such a possibility and are ready to work for it. It's a
> long revolution but a possible one.
>
> But, the roadblocks are mighty hard to surpass. Take for instance my case:
> I have a primary school in my neighbourhood, a government one. And
> every morning even before i have got up their assembly begins and the
> chants
> of sacred Hindu mantras begin. All this atma and parmatma stuff. Though i
> don't dispute the sense inherent in the prayer yet aren't we or rather the
> supposedly and proffessedly secular government entering into the business
> of 'mass conversion'. When i have all these religious prayers embedded into
> my consciousness right from my childhood can you imagine how much i would
> have to suffer to convert back to the religion of humanity if i convert at
> all and not turn into some religious fanatic. Less said of the schools run
> by one religion or the other the better.
>
> Though the proposal seems indecent yet i think there are madmen enough to
> believe in this long long revolution.
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
> subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>