As the US bombed Islamist militants in Nigeria on Christmas Day, the actions of Bangladeshis against people of a religious minority led to a second death and incidents of intimidation of people celebrating Christmas in India took place in many states, it did lend credence to the view that religion tends to promote hate and violence
The spirit of Christmas may have been dampened for millions of people as violence in the name of religion seemed to overflow this festive season. People who do violence are, by definition, not religious as the world’s major religions profess love, joy, peace and togetherness in the greater cause of humanity. It is a commentary on the times we live that it has become seemingly impossible to separate the religious from other motives like political and economic for the violence that the world is suffering from.
As the US bombed Islamist militants in Nigeria on Christmas Day, the actions of Bangladeshis against people of a religious minority led to a second death and incidents of intimidation of people celebrating Christmas in India took place in many states, it did lend credence to the view that religion tends to promote hate and violence. It was sadder that these events were taking place around the day of celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ whose followers make the world’s majority religious group.
Whatever be the motivation, there can be no excuses for violence. And yet as we see more of it, we are being let down by the fact that governments also struggle to separate religion and the church or temple or mosque. Openly religious messages from government representatives favouring one religion over another or others further impels a rise in hate speech that according to one estimate has been nearly 75 per cent in the last 10 years in India.
The rise of the right in many parts of the world has not helped either. In fact, the emboldening of many people who are seeing this ideology take salience has triggered a massive upward swing in hate in the form of racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-migrant bias and such traits, so much so, a lot of is being reflected in the episodic violence that persons are unleashing on others. And this is not confined to any one major nation as the attack on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, showed.
Right-minded people have pointed out that Christmas this year has been marked by fear and anxiety among Christians in several parts of India. There have been events in Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Assam in which attacks have disrupted the joyful celebration of the festival with vigilantes vandalising the symbols of observance like lights and festoons and even manhandling people like carol singers in brazen shows of hateful intolerance.
Christian leaders are not wrong in wondering why the constitutional right to practice one's faith is being challenged so openly. It is the silence of many leaders of the country who have desisted from calling out the injustice of religious intolerance that hurts more than the misplaced youth who are going around vandalising places of celebration of important festivals of the minorities like Christians and Muslims who, in numbering above 200 million in a nation of 1.45 billion, are not an insignificant group.
No faith is excused of intolerance as the followers of all religions have a right to coexist in a country that has prided itself on unity in diversity. As the oldest religion, Hinduism teaches compassion, tolerance and goodwill towards all and the time has come to recognise that hate and intolerance will drag down India to the level of many other nations that have allowed religious faultlines to develop which are threatening the social fabric of peaceful co-existence.
