Resisting evil

Sir, - Is religion the root cause of ``holy wars'' that the Islamic fundamentalists are waging in many parts of the world? An eminent authority on world religions does not think so. He says when new religions emerged - Christianity out of Judaism, and Islam out of these two, there were religious wars because of the differences in theology. But today, despite what the media tells us, the wars are not religious.

How far is the U.S. justified in using force to destroy the schools and training camps in Afghanistan? Even those who abhor violence accept that some violence is unavoidable in dealing with the evil.

The pacifists, who say ``no'' to war under any conditions quote Gandhi, saying ``an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind''. But Gandhi also said, ``resist evil. That is the first imperative. Resist it with non-violence - that is the right way. But if you cannot resist evil with non-violence, then resist it with violence but without ill-will.''

P. Kumar Mehta,

Berkeley, U.S.

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