DIPLOMATIC LEADERS AND DIFFERING DOCTRINES

A WIDE CANVAS

 DIPLOMATIC LEADERS  AND  DIFFERING DOCTRINES

We normally expect people in authority to speak the truth, and stick to facts, especially in serious matters. Opinions do differ- educated people hardly agree on anything these days. But they are not expected to whitewash facts. Yet this is what Obama's White House has done, not for the first time.

On 14 February 2015, the Islamic State beheaded 21 Coptic Christians of Egypt in Libya. The White House issued an official statement on 15 February. While it condemned the unrestrained barbarity, it did not reveal  the reason  given by the killers. - that the victims were Christians!   But there is nothing to be surprised about here: America and the entire West are multicultural societies and the leaders have to be diplomatic, whatever people may think.Truth is often the casualty of diplomacy.

Most of us Indians have been led to believe that all religions are true, that all religions are equal, that we reach the same goal in the end. They take the name of Sri Ramakrishna, Mahatma Gandhi etc in support. What they don't realise is that Saints like Sri Ramakrishna lived at a different level of consciousness. He felt gold and a clod of earth were the same. He saw divinity even in a prostitute.Unless we reach that level, there is no sense in our repeating what he said in these matters. While the ultimate goal may be the same, it is a matter of personal experience, not its verbal expression.

 Our Veda says that 'Truth is one, but sages call it by various names.' But other religions of the world do not accept that.The Abrahamic religions ( Judaism, Christianity and Islam) believe that there is only one God, which is their God, and that there is only one way to reach him, which is their way. This surely is not the Hindu view or way.

If we study the major religions of the world, we notice major differences in their approach.

 Christianity believes that man is born in sin. Their solution is 'Salvation', which is possible only through Christ. There is no scope for any argument. And they quote Christ as saying that he is the truth and he is the way. So, the people of the world have to be converted to the way of Christ. Which is what they have been doing for the last 2000 years.

Islam believes that man's problem is pride and the solution is submission. The very word Islam means submission to the will of God. But the will of God is what the Prophet Mohammad had revealed. Those who do not believe in their God and their prophet are infidels-kaffirs- and they have to be converted. This is official Islamic doctrine. And they have been enforcing this on other people for the last 1400 years.

Buddism believes that the major problem of mankind is suffering- dukhkha- and the solution is Awakening through right knowledge and right conduct. The Buddha is there to help people on the path- he has refused Nirvana till the last sentient being in the world gets it!

The Buddha departing from the palace, renouncing the life of luxury!
Gandhara art, 1-2nd Century. Guimet Museum
"The Great Departure" Licenced under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Judaism believes that they were the chosen people of God but they have been exiled. So they have to return to God. They are still awaiting their prophet to achieve this. Since they are alone the chosen people, they do not believe in admitting others into their charmed circle- they do not believe in conversion.

Jews praying in Synagogue on Yom Kippur
Maurycy Gottlieb. Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons.


Confucianism believes that the world is in a state of chaos. The solution is to restore social order.

Seated Confucius, from Japan.
By John Hill (Own Work)
[CC BY-SA 3.0 http::// Creative Commons  Wikimedia.

As against all this, Hinduism believes that man suffers from Ignorance- forgetfulness of his own real,divine nature. Right knowledge alone can remove this ignorance, as light alone can remove darkness. So we speak of Enlightenment- Liberation from ignorance and all associated problems. We say Ego is the problem leading to ignorance and ego has to be worked out through  right works, right consciousness , right inquiry and knowledge , or devotion  or any combination of any or all of these. God may be worshipped in any form, any name; we may believe any philosophy, any theology. What matters is removal of Ignorance-Ajnana. The greatest and most universal, non-denominational prayer of the Hindus- the Gayatri- just prayers for Enlightenment! No claptrap, no doctrine, no theology!

We can thus easily see that all religions are not equal in what they perceive as the human problem or what they prescribe for the solution. Ramakrishna used to say that we can enter a house either through the main door or through the rear door. 

We Hindus have no problem with any one following any path. We never preach to others or seek to convert any one. We sincerely respect all religions,and venerate all saints and sages. But the religious problem in the world was  first created by the Christians  and then by the Muslims. Today, the whole world is engulfed by this Christian -Islamic conflagration.

Christians started as a splinter group of Jews. For three hundred years, they operated mainly as small, secret groups. They claimed they were persecuted by the Romans but this is not true or is highly exaggerated. The Roman empire gave the fullest freedom to all religious groups, so long as the official Roman religion was not denigrated or dishonoured . The problem with Christianity was that they could not tolerate others, and would not coexist peacefully with others. But in the 4th century, Christianity was accepted and then they started persecuting others. They eliminated all the old religions, calling them Pagan. Then it became the State religion, enjoying enormous wealth and power. It was challenged later by the rising, militant Islam and the two have been uneasy with each other. In course of time, they splintered into different groups and they quarrelled among themselves, sometimes violently. For instancce, the Catholics of France massacred Waldensians, another sect of Christians, in 1545 and 1655, by simply pushing them off rocks. Milton wrote about it in his sonnet On the Massacre at Piedmont:

Avenge,O Lord......
Forget not: in thy book record their groans
Who were thy sheep and in their ancient fold Slain by the bloody Piedmontese that rolled
Mother with Infant down the Rocks.

And we have an old painting depicting this very scene:

Massacre of Waldensians at Merindol, 1545.
19th Century painting by Gustave Dore
Public Domain. Wikimedia commons.

If philosophers like Marx reacted angrily against organised religion, calling it the opium of the people, it is understandable in the light of such incidents. We in India who have never known such persecutions  on religious grounds, before the Muslim invasions, can hardly realise the tragedy of such violence within the same religion.


Note: 
The following books may be seen in this connection:
1. Candida Moss: The Myth of Persecution: HarperOne 2014.
2.James McDonald: Beyond Belief. Ithaca Press,2009.

Following Renaissance and Enlightenment, Humanism has replaced religion as the guiding principle of societies, and the Church has been separated from the State. Most Western govts designate themselves as 'secular' in the sense that they do not follow any authorised religion. People are free to follow any religion or no religion at all, so long as the civil laws are kept.

During the Enlightenment period, Christian dogma became thoroughly discredited in the eyes of educated people as its beliefs were disproved and discredited by science. This position continues even today. More and more educated people leave organised Christianity. They may believe in God or Some Ultimate principle, but not in organised church and its dogma. They call themselves 'spiritual  but not religious'. The number of people not owing allegiance to any religion is the third largest group in the world today- about 1.1 billion= 110 crores!- 16% of the world population.

Islam has so far resisted all attempts at modernisation.They are faithful to their Book. Almost all Muslim states are theocratic. Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk tried to modernise (ie Westernise and secularise) itself and he abolished the Caliphate.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk- president of Turkey: 1923-1938

Turkey has been a strategic point between Asia and Europe., having been part of Alexander's, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires. It was the seizure of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 that led to the scramble among the European powers to find a sea route to India, eventually leading to the colonisation of America and India! 

A Greek painting showing the battle inside Constantinople.

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons.

Turkey also harboured more than 10 races and big ethnic groups and many smaller ones from ancient times. But over the years, diversity has been reduced due to the exchange of population between Greece and Turkey and emigration of other ethnic groups. Turkey is surrounded by 8 countries! Between 1914 and 1927, non-Muslims declined from 19% to 2.5% of population and today, 99.8% of the population are Muslim! There is therefore tremendous pressure against secular claims.. On the one hand, Turkey is trying to get integrated into the European Union; on the other, it has to cater to its Muslim majority! This shows how difficult it is for a Muslim country to be 'secular'. The ban on the 'hijab' was removed between 2009 and 2014!

Hagia Sophia:  Christian Cathedral built by Roman Emperor Justinian in 537, it was converted into a Mosque in 1453, and today it is a Museum.
By Dennis Jarvis from Halifax, Canada (Turkey 3019-Hagia Sophia uploaded by russavia CCBy-SA 2.0 Creative Commons.via Wikimedia Commons.

Islam enforces uniform Arabisation on all followers.. But the Middle East, like the Balkans, is home to numerous ethnic, religious and cultural groups all of which are not absorbed comfortably by the ethnic or religious majority. This is the reason behind the present violent conflicts in the Muslim countries and ethnic minorities are emigrating across borders. We thus see the wisdom in the observation of Toynbee that more than national boundaries, it is ethnic-cultural-religious factors which are potential forces in civilisations. Political borders may change, but the cultural compact does not disappear except under genocide. The European powers always sided with the majority and let the minorities suffer.

Female Hijab in Islam. We cannot deny that it adds a certain dignity to women. Whether modern women themselves view it like that is a different matter.

It is here that India stands out: it has never interfered with or curtailed or erased the identity of any group in any manner. As Vivekananda pointed out, we can see everything from the grossest fetishism to the loftiest Vedanta in this land, all existing side by side!.

Balkans - another area of ethnic-religious conflict

Even in Europe, where the Christian Church extinguished  all old religions, they are making a come back- even in the very name of Paganism which has many modern adherents!

A modern Pagan beating a drum during a ceremony in England.

From: www.bpnews. Thanks.

God has not abandoned any people anywhere on earth. The whole earth is a great garden with infinite array of flowers and plants. Why should any one seek to make it a farm of monoculture- or land of one religion?  Even Christ reportedly said that " In my Father's house are many mansions". (John 14.2) Non-Christians and some Christians take it to imply the presence of many religions, most Christians do not accept that interpretation!

NOTE:

It cannot be stressed too strongly or too often that Hindus have no problem with any religion. In their long history, they have welcomed and given shelter to people of all religions. Their scriptures do not ask them to hate or convert others. They have never fought to force their religion on others. The problem of  conversion is due to the Abrahamic. Those who claim a right to convert, cannot deny the right of resistance to the targeted group!