Religion: The devil who brought God to Earth?

 Inter: Hello,this is Inter Kumar. Welcome all to this short interview with Mr. Greathias who is here to give us his views on religion. Mr. Grethias do you think religion is an essentiality? 

Great: Not for me. But it seems that without the very thought of God being there to protect, some people find it difficult to exist in this world

Inter: Why is it so? I mean even after science & technology has advanced so far & many of these developments disproved many of the religious theories. Yet people trust their religion. 

Great: Fear, unpredictability of future, helplessness all these things contribute to people's trust in God. Had one been able to foresee his / her future or predict it with certainty, there would not have been a need to believe in a bigger force. 

Inter: There are people out there who have been through a lot of suffering. But even after going through all these miseries there trust in God hasn't budged. What can be the reason? 

Great: Because that gives hope. Hope is what keeps you alive. Without hope you are either dead or go completely mad. 

Inter: So you're saying the belief in God is playing a great role in keeping the people sane & alive

Great: Yes that's what I believe

Inter: There are a lot of bad things that are happening around the world due to the existence of different religions. And also within religions there are fundamental problems that have given rise to many different sects within a religion. Don't you think that religions are damaging the world more than healing it? 

Great: As I mentioned earlier, the healing - the mental or emotional support that is derived from your beliefs, I believe no psychiatrist or motivational speaker can do that. Because according to believers the forces that they believe in are far more powerful and invincible. There's no comparison there. Coming to the bad side of religions, the major problems are the differences between & within religions. And there are these superstitions & theories or texts that are fundamental to religions that need a review and necessary amendments need to be incorporated into them to suit the present time. 

Inter: What do you propose to resolve the conflicts between and within religions? 

Great: People have different tastes. I cannot dictate what you must or mustn't eat or drink or wear. I believe religion must not dictate its followers to do things that violate their right to choose what they like. 

A Religion must serve its followers not the other way around. It must provide its followers with love and hope. 

Inter: Let me interrupt you there. So you are saying that the dictations Or the rules encrypted in the texts of religions to be diluted or effaced. In that case the fear of punishment from God for violating those rules cannot be invoked and people may go ahead and commit sins. 

Great: There have always been killings in the name of religions. Taking someone's life is a major sin in all religions. Those who commit these atrocities must be thinking that they are serving their religion. That mindset of servitude must be discouraged. When people come to think of religion as a way of life, there are a lot of options to choose from. And to deter people from committing crimes we have law and order in place. 

Inter: There are two things I need you to clarify. One is, when religions are considered a way of life and people get to choose whichever way they find suitable. Won't there develop a fear among people that the number of followers of their particular religion might decrease and their faith will go extinct? My second question is a follow up to what you have said about the law and order that's in place. What about nations where law and order is based on religious laws? 

Great: Fear of losing numbers arises when people believe that they will face persecution at the hands of the majority. In my point of view it would be like those who like to watch football being persecuted by those who like to watch cricket. It's just my point of view. But that's not the case with most people. Because in the scale of possessiveness of religion I remain at the bottom. There are people out there who are at the top of the scale. And again if one is ever to make a bar graph of your possessiveness of different things (be it games, foods, movie genres etc), the bar that represents ‘Religion’ will be so high that I believe even the bar that represents ‘Nation’ will fail to surpass it. 

I don't have any conclusive evidence to prove what I have just said. But you can see it yourself in any country that's experiencing hyper nationalism. It's their religion or race that they care about more than the integrity and development of their nation. People often sympathize with those from their religion facing persecution and hardships in another nation. Maybe the number of people who really care about and fight for people who face persecution regardless of their race or religion are less. That I think shows the degree of possessiveness. As to your second question, law and order must not be based on religious laws unless such religious laws are progressive and humane. But at the present I cannot think of any such religious laws that are progressive. 

Inter: Is it possible for human kind to break the shackles of possessiveness and servitude towards their faith? 

Great: It's not impossible. But the constant injection of religion into politics and branding religion as something we have to be proud of is undermining any efforts to emancipate people from servitude of religion. 

Inter: What is your view on propagating one's religion? 

Great: I'm not against it. But one must understand that religions, their theories and laws are not flawless. Such flaws need to be attended to before spreading it. 

Inter: What about the divisions and persecutions and marginalization within a religion? How can we tackle it? 

Great: These divisions or particularly the marginalization is one of the major flaws. I call it a major flaw because it's not superficial. It is rooted deeply in the foundation of these religions. For example the caste system in India. Influence of the Caste system is there in every religion that's being practiced in the subcontinent. It is evident from the writings of greats like Dr. Ambedkar. Erasing it from the texts that are fundamental to that religion would not be sufficient as practice of such hierarchies has been prevailing for a very very long time and indelibly marked in the minds of people. To tackle it you need people not to take pride in one's religion. Even if a religion was flawless one must not take pride in it. If it's flawless you propagate, tell other people this is the way I'm following.

Inter: So one must not be proud of his religion, one must not be in servitude to religion, one must not be possessive of religion. It's easier said than done, right? 

Great: Yes. I have freed myself from the shackles of servitude to it. I have learnt not to take pride in it. But a modicum of possessiveness is still there. 

Inter: Let's hope that you can get rid of that too. Best luck with that. Thank you for sharing your thoughts

Great : Thank you