Religious Tolerance ….. Burnt Alive !
By: Blesson (September 20th, 2008)
The pictures of half burnt bodies, torched houses, damaged churches in Orissa, is bound to send horrifying chills in anyone irrespective of what religion we follow. These acts makes one question, are we living in the most modern of centuries? Or are we in some savage land, where there are no morals, no humanity, no law and order. Eventually all our beliefs result in acts, we ultimately are transformed to the likeness of what we believe as truth, be it Jihad, Religious terrorism or any kind of evil. Clearly evident from the convictions and faith of the religious groups that participated in the recent riots, one can easily trace the roots of these actions/riots to the beliefs and faith of the people in the act – beliefs which state that there exists no absolutes, every one can be true in their own terms, ultimately there is nothing called reality and its all an illusion.
Religious tolerance is a word which we sometimes hear among the elites, but where might rules right I think no one understands clearly what it means. Although many accuse Christians as absolutist of intolerance, these accusers most likely have an unclear and distorted notion of what tolerance really is. They often are unaware that the concept of tolerance implies an imperative close relationship to truth.
Contrary to popular beliefs true tolerance means “putting up with error” and it never means as popularly concocted “being accepting of all views”.
We don’t tolerate what we enjoy or approve of – like Jalebi’s (an Indian sweet) and patriotic songs. By definition, what we tolerate is what we disapprove of or what we believe to be false and erroneous. Further more, tolerance presupposes an adequate grasp of what another person believes – as well as a clear knowledge about the strength and weaknesses of such belief.
Actually if disagreements didn’t exist, then tolerance would be unnecessary. It is because real differences exist between people that tolerance becomes necessary and is always virtuous. The contemporary definition of tolerance as acceptance is simply wrong headed.
Two people from different faiths can interact with respect, even when one of them still believes on rational grounds that the other person is mistaken on their worldview or beliefs. However, it does not call for stone pelting, or to burn people and tear lives apart. In fact, the belief that both views cannot be right is an impetus to engage in a meaningful dialogue. However what supporters of VHP/RSS/Bajrangdal have done is in no way, a dialogue in a sane, sensible and civilized culture, thru their acts they have ended up undermining their core belief and faith namely pluralism. This clearly shows that a stand taken by pluralism is simply rationally and logically impossible. While Hinduism believes that absolute truth doesn’t exist and that two opposing things can be true at the very same time, the self acclaimed saviors of Hinduism namely VHP/RSS/Bajrangdal have gone blind with their bruteness.
Only with the reality of God tolerance becomes intelligible, as GOD is the source of truth and because GOD has made human beings in his likeness. While making this statement, it suddenly dawned upon me, that the supporters of this prevalent mindset in India, do not treat the above statement as true – our society and religious philosophies have degraded human beings to compare them equal to animals (thanks to karmic laws & polytheistic beliefs) or protoplasmic guck. No matter how much loud we shout, we cannot deafen our actions, the grotesque display of the results of belief, be it casteism or untouchables or issues like moral decline, rape, murder, arson, child molestation, suicides, which are on the rising in our pluralistic secular society.
How can one have the spine to stand up when deep down you believe that everything is liquid (read pluralism/maya/illusion). It is logically impossible to live a sensible & rational life this way, where on one hand you believe pluralism (all faiths are equal and where no absolute truth exist) and on the other hand one takes up arms and burn others down, because they think they are RIGHT ( absolutist in this case) and others are wrong.
People forget that they are undermining a whole lot of ground under their own feet and dirtying their own hands. You cannot live a sane life with your whole belief system lying in contradiction and if continued this way, it will surely lead to madness, the symptoms of which are very evident.
In the absence of truth in a society it is normal that power is the only game in town and might becomes right. Why respect another person’s freedom if objective truth doesn’t exists? There is simply no way to define or constrain the proper use of power without truth. If no universally binding standards exist to which opposing parties can appeal, a struggle to the death is the end.
Tags: Bajrang dal, Burnt alive, Christians, Communal Riots, Conversion, culture, Hinduism, humanity, india, Martyrs, Maya, New Age, Orrisa, Popular beliefs, Religion, Religious riots, Religious Tolerance, Riots, RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad