[Reader-list] Defending One's Faith

[Prem Chandavarkar]

This short essay was published today in The Hindu in the Open Page section:
http://www.hindu.com/op/2010/11/28/stories/2010112855731400.htm


DEFENDING ONE'S FAITH

Almost every day one encounters news of members of a particular religious
community resorting to strident action because they feel that their faith is
under threat and requires defence.  Some express their outrage over what
they perceive as blasphemous utterances or actions by others.  Some believe
that a place authentically belonging to their faith has been usurped by
another, and must be reclaimed.  Some say another faith’s practices are an
assault on the purity of their own beliefs and therefore must be
suppressed.  Some even label members of other religious communities as an
inferior category of “unbelievers”.  Often, this compulsion to defend one’s
faith breaks out of the bonds of compassion and social order, expressing
itself violently through riots or terrorism.



But what exactly are these people defending?  Do they seek to defend god?
Swami Vivekananda writes in his autobiography of travelling in Kashmir and
feeling intense anguish on seeing the desecration of innumerable temples by
invaders.  He fell at the feet of the Divine Mother in a Kali temple and
asked “How could you let this happen, Mother?  Why did you permit this
desecration?”  In response, the Divine Mother appeared in his heart and
admonished him “What is it to you, Vivekananda, if the invader breaks my
images?  Do you protect me, or do I protect you?”  This incident clearly
demonstrates that god exists at a level that is beyond the need for human
defence.  If a human does claim to defend god, then that speaks either of a
lack of belief in the omnipotence of god, or a misplaced sense of human ego
in relationship to the will of god.



It may be fellow humans who are being defended rather than god.   It is the
sentiments of ordinary people at stake: people who are hurt if their god is
blasphemed; people who wish to worship in those places they feel are most
holy and feel that they are not able to do so; people who feel disturbed in
their own worship by the contradictory practices of others.   But the
security of one’s faith should really be a direct function of the total
belief in the power of the god that one worships.  If I truly believe in god
and His omnipotence, then I should also recognise that whatever happens on
earth is as per His will.  If I fear that my faith is in danger, I am
expressing doubt in the god I worship; expecting that He is either willingly
allowing His community of believers to be placed in danger, or is incapable
of protecting them from harm.  Perhaps trying times occur as a test of the
solidity of my own faith in god.  And when I respond by immediately passing
normative judgment and blame to others, I am failing to acknowledge the
cracks in the faith within my own heart: an internal insecurity that has
nothing to do with the actions and practices of other religious faiths.



The era we currently live in has a fundamental difference from earlier times
in human history when politics operated on the principle of “might is
right”.  Empires were feudally governed, and waxed and waned on the basis of
their military campaigns and conquests.  Royalty often sought to legitimise
its power by claiming that it was divinely ordained to rule; which required
co-opting the support of religious authority.  Often, religious institutions
formed the foundation of geo-political stability.  Organised religion was
thoroughly intertwined with politics.  But we now live in times where our
political beliefs are founded on ethical precepts such as democracy, human
rights and the rule of law.  People no longer need to turn to organised
religion in order to organise or stabilise society.



In this age, religion has to stand on its own; which will happen only if the
faith in the hearts of its believers is true, solid and complete.  The
struggle is private and internal, and a need to publicly defend a faith is
implicitly admitting either a lack of belief in the power of god or
insecurity in the faith of His believers.  A strident call for public action
to defend a faith may over time serve to undermine the very cause that it
claims to plead.