Politics, Religion
Extremism in Religion: How does it rise?
An analysis of the reasons behind the rise of Islamic and Hindu Terrorism, Part-1
Once upon a time… this iconic fairy-tale starting phrase is common among all regions and languages. Mostly fairy-tales have morale in it and the story is used to propagate that morale. All global religions have a fairy-tale beginning,
Once upon a time, there was God who created… everything
In religion, the continuation of this ‘story’ proceeds in a direction drawn by the respective religious leaders, not the religion because the status quo is determined by the leaders, not by God, let it be Brahmins who claim to be the higher caste among other human beings in Hinduism or ascetics called as ‘Thangals’ or ‘Chishti’, who claim to be Descendents of the Prophet Muhammed which gives them the ‘special status’ among the mere mortals. All of them claim to be closer to God and thereby make them higher among human beings. From this arise the connotations of Hindutva ideology in the Hindu society and the Islamist ideology in the Muslim society.
Croc’s Dilemma and Religion
A crocodile is a reptile that has very small limbs for its body size. This results in its clumsy movement on land but in water, they are at ease moving 15 Kilometers an hour. Both land and water are critical for a crocodile’s survival. A crocodile usually hunts in water and she is an ambush predator who usually preys on big mammals when they come to water bodies to hydrate themselves. This fiery predator is gifted with the most deadly bite force in the animal kingdom. This bite force is sheer power which is equivalent to the falling force of a mini lorry from the sky to the ground. Her jaws have only up and down motion hence however strong the bite force is she cannot gulp down the large prey until and unless she has the flexible jaws of a snake but the gift of bite force comes with strong joints which hinder the flexibility of her jaws.
Humans are the most vulnerable of all the animals and susceptible to mass extinction. But they are gifted with an excellent brain that exceeds all other organisms on Earth. Developmental and behavioral zoologists often attribute societal living to organisms that have a developed brain compared to other organisms. Owing to having the most developed brain in nature, humans have the most complicated emotional and societal structure. As societies become large, differences in identities become an apparent conflict zone when fuelled with emotional caricatures called ego. Hence, similar to the crocodile humans are also gifted but now face a dilemma. The crocodile has to find a way to cut away the part of the flesh that she can gulp and humans have to find a way to avoid conflicts arising out of ego.
Crocodiles, after they have killed their prey is known to rotate on a horizontal axis to tear away the large chunks of flesh from the prey’s dead body. Herpetologists call this ‘the death roll’. This tears away the flesh enough for the croc to gulp down. The croc used it’s firm grip and body shape to overcome its disadvantage.
As identities became an important differentiation between humans it became their purpose to stay together. As societies became large and complex, these criteria became the basis of characterization among human societies more efficiently. The farmers who cultivated and reaped from their farms, traders, and merchants who collected the goods from farmers and sold them in the markets to people who needed them. Clothes, footwear, and shelter, all of these needs paved way for a variety of professions. Complexity in their society was used to their advantage by humans.
A crocodile lays eggs in a pit made by her. As her offsprings emerge, she has the sole responsibility to take care of her young ones. She has to protect her babies from other male crocodiles (one of them would be the father of her babies) and other wide arrays of predators as hatchlings are often vulnerable. For a creature that has such small limbs, how can she carry her babies from one place to another?
Religion among the many identities formed was meant to be a virtuous path based on truth for a just society. It was meant to create universal amity among fellow beings of nature, liberty of character from the darkness of ignorance, equality for a just society, and fraternity to promote humanity’s core.
What the croc does is, she uses her weapon that is, her mouth which has a larger surface area for carrying her babies. As she carries her babies inside her mouth, she has to be extra careful as her mouth with its strong and sharp teeth especially famous for its raw power does not tear into her babies at the same time be sure that her naughty babies don’t come out of her mouth. This is the croc’s dilemma. Either an individual can choose to believe in any religion or they can choose not to believe in any religion. The concept of theism and atheism begets another article.
Religion is a weapon for an individual that believes in it just like the croc and her jaws. The belief in an entity that is far beyond the realms of human understanding can bring emotional security and mental strength. The concept of divine creation has also been used by some scientists who are theists to explain the unanswered questions of science like the existence of multiple dimensions of space and time as a result of the wave and particle nature of light. John Haught has immaculately laid down why instead of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, considered as the catharsis of theism by major religions like Islam and Christianity, actually makes the case of a Divine being all the more strong. Einstein an atheist in his initial days is known to have remarked in his later days that can seem contrary to the concept to atheism,
‘That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God’
But it is quite evident that Einstein doesn’t bow down to any religion’s concept of God. He is famously known to have remarked in another occasion,
‘I cannot imagine a God that rewards and punishes the objects of his creation whose purposes are modeled after our own — a God’
Similarly, the belief in God and religion being the virtuous path whose foundation is truth and justice can flock together humans on the idea of truth, justice, and virtue just as the mother croc uses her jaws to carry her babies to their destination. But, that same jaws, if the mother croc is not careful can crush her offsprings to death, thereby killing not only her children but destroys the very reason behind her existence. Religion and croc’s jaws have a single line of demarcation between two extremes of life and death. If the jaws come a little closer together her offsprings will be lost forever. Man’s relationship with his religion has to be cordial, the moment it becomes an obsession, the relationship which is meant to be constructive becomes destructive and extremism takes root. It won’t be long before Extremism leads to terrorism.
Religions should be inclusive and harmonious through acceptance and in cases where acceptance is not possible at least tolerance should take credence. As truth is vital for virtue to have a quintessential form, finding truth calls for knowledge, and knowledge in its essence makes the seeker wise. This is why the proverb,
‘An empty vessel makes a lot of noise’
Therefore if a religion makes a lot of noise in forms of extremism induced bigotry, intimidation and violence it ceases to be a religion, rather it becomes a grouping of ignorant people who revels in the false notion that the little knowledge that they have amounted to the conquering of the seven seas of knowledge and wisdom. This false sense of glory is reminiscent of the Chinese Philosopher Zhuangzi’s reflection that,
‘A frog in the well knows nothing of the great ocean’
When such a group of people claims to be the representatives of religion just like a well’s frog claims to be of the ocean, it is a call for chaos. What they quintessentially represent is religious extremism which is the very antithesis of religion just like Hindutva ideologues claim of Hinduism and Islamist ideologues claim of Islam.
