Religion, real evil?

Sir, - A wise man once said, ``show me people steeped in religion and I will show you evil beyond compare.'' Brought up as we are in India, this is difficult to fathom.

Yet, looking back through the long history of religion, with its accompanying mayhem and savagery, it does appear to be the largest evil that has bedevilled mankind.

The idea of religion being made for man has been transcended. Several religious leaders would have us believe that man is made for religion, and where they have succeeded, we have a sequence of historical facts that are chilling indeed.

Every square inch of holy land is more steeped in blood than all Hitler's concentration camps put together.

The Crusades, or holy wars, were more barbarous than our school education would have us believe. And even where people live under just one faith, they have separated and used sectarianism as an excuse to massacre one another.

With the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, and the loss of innocent lives in New York, it is time we re-examined this whole religious angle.

One would do well to bear in mind that where too much religion is `practised,' there is very little evidence of God.

M. E. Avari,

Kodaikanal, TN

Sir, - While the loss of life is irreparable, Americans and the U.S. will survive the tragic attack because they understand what freedom means.

While one can emphathise with the justified anger of the Americans, it is sad to note that their President wants to perpetrate the perverse feeling of revenge, which under the guise of religion or nationalism, caused havoc in the 20th Century.

The superior `I told-you-so' response of the Indian leaders is hypocritical. The demolition of the Babri Masjid, and the massacre of a minority community in Bombay, were perpetrated and justified by the same people in the spirit of revenge and in the garb of religion and nationalism.

If the current scenario is used to spread the myth that Islam or its adherents are more fundamentalist than others, the unholy nexus of the politician and the clergy will have scored a victory over humanity.

This nexus has always used the most retrogressive interpretations of texts considered religious to keep people ignorant and oppressed. No religion sanctifies revenge. Violence perpetrated in the name of `jehad' and `dharm- yuddhas' is anti-religious.

Religion, like democracy, is for the people. Any ideology that seeks to make individuals act like cogs in the wheel to further an agenda of hatred is anti-religion.

Ashok Lal,

New Delhi

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