‘commonsense, Compassion and Tolerance’: Three Magic Words for a Better World

It usually takes a disaster to bring people together at lightening speed. However unfortunate may these situations be, commonsense takes over and one gets to see the goodness in human beings, irrespective of who they are or where they come from – at least one hopes that commonsense prevail. This collective behaviour could be dictated by religion, politics, terrorism, nationality, culture or death of a famous person. Most people believe in God or a divine power and one should not forget the few who believe in nothing, or so they have us believe. It’s almost as if people are just waiting for something to happen so that they can gear into action.  Preventive measures are not given the importance that they deserve, which culminate in all kinds of disasters all over the world.

Having a leader, be it the head of a State, family, organization, university or a religious group, has its advantages and disadvantages. A leader who believes in honesty and integrity and who has the ability to implement these principles should have no difficulty in guiding his or her people in the right path, but the opposite will have devastating consequences. We have seen examples of these in politics, religion and families. The recent wars could have been avoided only if the leaders had taken the right steps and informed the people in their own countries. The dictatorial attitude and the self-righteous beliefs did not help the countries they were ‘supposedly’ trying to help. The war in Iraq is a great example of this and sadly the situation is far worse now. Innocent people are still dying even as the rest of the world is talking about the Iraqi invasion that started five years ago. When one learns to behave with restrain or use common sense, situations could be avoided or won

over without killing innocent people.

When political leaders project religion in the forefront and recognise fellow beings only as Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Christians or any other religion, it spells disaster. The common bo

nd is forgotten and fanaticism wins over commonsense and intelligence; people behave like robots controlled by a remote evil power, murdering each other because the other does not belong to the same religion or sector. All one needs is a little compassion and understanding to avoid situations that lead to mass murders and destruction of beautiful cities and ancient cultures.

If this is what religion does to human beings, why does one need religion and places of worship? One needs places of worship with the knowledge that each religion should respect each other and accept the principles and limitations of each. People should be allowed to follow the religion of their choice without being persecuted. Unless we overcome this fear of those whose faith is different from our own, we cannot build a free, just, and caring world – we need to do it individually and collectively without waiting for governments to take the lead. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am Dr Elizabeth Menon, working in the UK. I love writing and my articles have been published in the UK and abroad. My hobbies include reading, writing, gardening, cooking, watching films, listening to music, helping environmental causes, etc. Visitors to my homepage get the unique opportunity to read my monthly write up,’Corner’ and articles written by me on various topics in two languages, English and Malayalam (the language spoken in Kerala, otherwise known as ‘God’s own Country’!).

Please visit my homepage at: http://omana.net/

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Taken from solo-album “Save me from myself” Lyrics: I`m sick of all your rules They’re so man-made You treat them all like fools You put my name to shame I`m everything you`re not I give them love My ways you have forgot You put yourselves above I’ll testify! It`s time to see religion die! The truth can`t lie! It`s time to see religion die! Who cares? who’s right? It`s time to see religion die! I’ll crush the fight! It`s time to see religion die! My church is not inside your building walls On sundays you all hide, while the world just falls Now go into the world and destroy hell You have authority, use it for the kill I’ll testify! It`s time to see religion die! The truth can`t lie! It`s time to see religion die! Who cares? who’s right? Find more lyrics at www.kovideo.net It`s time to see religion die! I’ll crush the fight! It`s time to see religion die! Children come away with me I want you all to be mine I am taking back what`s mine And you`ve killed too much time With pointing all your fingers At your kids that`s why they`re lost Try to look deep in their eyes You will see suicide Blame it on yourself Cause no one else will pay your price, your price Die just, die religion die, just die Die just, die religion die, just die Die! die! die! die! die! die! die! Die! religion, die! die! die! die! Do not be afraid Religion is man-made Everything is ok The rules have just been changed.
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Related World Religion Articles

Boomers Building Tolerance- Understanding People of Different Religions

Terrorism in the name of religion, riots in god’s name, killing innocents for not worshipping a particular god, hatred or dislike for people of a particular religion, looking at worshippers of a certain god with suspicion….unfortunately such is the reality of today’s world.

Religion is a personal choice which is supposed to bring peace of mind and guide you to your life’s purpose. Loving god should encourage you to love everything he/she has created…yet why is there so much destruction and violence in the name of religion? Perhaps it’s because we focus on our differences more than our similarities. We look for ways to hate others because they are different from us. We use religion to create “Us” and “Them”. Religion is something that can actually unite all humanity; it’s only a matter of how we choose to view it.

Religions are like books with different covers, names and supposedly different philosophies, but if you read between the lines, you’ll observe that every religion promotes and encourages the same basic virtues. Let’s examine the similarities one by one:

*Reap as you sow- Every religion believes in this concept, though the names given to it may differ. While some call it sin, it’s known as Karma or the threefold principle in others. Whatever you call it, the basic principle remains the same; if you do or think of something that harms or hurts others, you will pay a price! Every religion in its own way encourages goodness. What constitutes goodness may be different, but again if you read between the lines and remove the layers of corrupt human interpretation you will realize that peace, kindness and love define goodness in its purest form.

* The Concept of soul- All religions believe that the soul is indestructible, though there may be different beliefs about what happens to the soul after death. Yet to all, the soul exists as a fundamental universal religious concept. If you believe in the soul you know it can’t be destroyed, then why attempt to destroy human lives, when you know you have no power over the soul? Why even try to destroy something that’s indestructible! Isn’t that acting against the will of any religion’s god?

* The purpose of life- Reaching god or becoming one with him is considered the purpose of life. Every religion may prescribe a different path to attain that goal, but the goal is essentially the same; reaching your creator, whether in heaven or by attaining salvation by becoming like him, free of the cycle of life and death.

Human interpretation has corrupted almost every religion; it has given us a reason to hate each other. We are told we are different because our religion insists that ours is the only god. Does that mean people who don’t follow our religion are not god’s children? How is that possible? We are all humans, we all have two eyes, two legs, two hands, and one nose…our skin colors may differ but our blood is all the same color! You wouldn’t hate your sibling if he called your father “papa” instead “dad”? Would you? Then why hate humans if they address their god by a different name? You wouldn’t hate your siblings if their philosophy of life was different from yours? Then why hate people who follow different religions?

There may be a lot of differences in the way we live and the philosophies we follow. We might also believe that we are headed towards different goals, after all Islam’s heaven is not the same as Christianity’s heaven which is different from a Hindu’s heaven, which is again unlike the Buddhist heaven, or Jewish heaven…yet if you ask yourself what heaven is, all religions believe it is a place of infinite bliss that only those of pure souls reach and hatred is the antithesis of purity.

There’s no denying that there are a lot of differences in the philosophies of religions, but if we learn to focus on our similarities instead of our differences, we’ll learn how to love and accept each other as fellow humans; children of god, even if they address him or her by different names!

Care to chime in and share your own religious thoughts and experiences? Come join others at Boomer Yearbook.

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