Religion is good but the religious or followers often are not. Our
half-understandings and passion without vision lead to the blind leading the
blind. God does not need certificates of approval. The human craving for
approval extends itself to the need for approval of one’s faith by many. If you
believe in something other than what I believe in, or worse, if you are against
my belief, you can see my knife at your throat! Such catholicity would soon
lead to a situation where there would not be many people left to understand!
So, religion is not to blame, our convoluted and dogmatic understanding of it
is to be blamed.
The way out: Believe and let believe. Have a religion of
your own if you will but let others have theirs too. Don’t get carried away by
your innate desire to be accepted. Rather, feed to others desire for
acceptance. Faith in the infinite would enable you to do wonders with the
finite. Acknowledging others expanse of mind, you can get your views
acknowledged. The drive for religious belief should not be for acceptance or propagation
but for peace and fulfilment. That would be logical, humane, and would help us outgrow
our human boundaries and blur the difference between humanity and divinity,
between the apparent and the real.
Source – Prabuddha Bharata magazine editorial January 2015