Who can say you’re wrong (or right)?

Oftentimes I think about who has the right to determine what or who is wrong or right. My thoughts on this transcend the typical boundaries of topics such as Law, Math or Science. In those areas, people can easily qualify their observations and argue their positions with empirical data which does not leave much for debate.

What I’m more interested in is how a majority can easily dictate what is right and wrong in other circumstances such as a particular branch of a religion or even the existence of a deity.

For example, various terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and ISIS are known to practice their own version or interpretation of the Islam religion. While I’m neither Muslim nor educated in this area, it is not difficult to see that a large majority of the world condemns their actions (e.g. forcing children to become child soldiers, beheading etc.). Even a large majority of Muslims have openly condemned and expressed their disapproval over the actions of these believers and their supposedly incorrect beliefs.

What I want to focus on is their beliefs.

As far as I’m concerned, in this century or the last, there has been no documentation of a deity that came to Mother Earth and started explaining their religious texts to their followers. In that regard, wouldn’t the teachings of any religion then be open to any interpretation?

Who is right to say that you’re wrong?

There are divisions even within major religions such as the various branches of Christianity (e.g. Methodist, Catholic, Anglican etc.), Islam, and Hinduism. These branches of their religions all interpret the same ‘holy book’ differently. Yet on matters involving such an open-ended topic, there are boundaries on what is acceptable and what is not.

This begs the question “who says so?”. I’m not asking in the capacity of a rebellious teenager filled with angst and hatred for the world but rather, a person who is genuinely curious and intrigued.

It appears that which interpretation is right and which is wrong depends mainly, if not only on whether interpretation A has more subscribers than interpretation B.

Imagine if the majority of Muslims subscribed to the same interpretation as those in ISIS or Boko Haram. Would they then be the morally righteous ones while those that oppose their views are condemned and spat upon?

I’m not condoning the actions or beliefs of terrorist groups in any manner whatsoever. I’m merely questioning the validity of the judgements made towards these actions and beliefs.

For a long time, Man has possessed the herd mentality, believing that they had strength in numbers. However, if there was a world where the majority did not decide on issues such as the example aforementioned, won’t the beliefs of these extremists still be equally acceptable as those of the majority of followers who appear to have the ‘correct beliefs’?

No word in the Bible was penned down by Jesus himself, there words and analogies we see used in the Bible are merely interpretations. However, we have people debating over which interpretation of some analogy mentioned is the correct one when in fact we should treat them all equally no matter how hypocritical they might be. (To be addressed in a future post)

The point I’m trying to bring across is that no matter what your beliefs are, whether you are part of the majority that validates your ideas or not, you should maintain an open mind and allow everyone to entitled to their beliefs. Additionally, one should also not hastily express their disapproval of an individual’s actions just because one disapproves of said person’s beliefs.

Whether a person’s actions are right or wrong can be determined by legal systems cemented by social and moral norms, but whether a person’s beliefs are right or wrong, that is not for you or anyone else other than the believer to decide.

C. Sinclaire

Disclaimer: This is a medium for me to express and ‘pen’ down some of my thoughts and musings. My posts should be taken with a pinch of salt. Read it and decide for yourself, form your own opinions, and make your own judgements.