Onslaughts in the name of religion
By S. Kumar
I refer to Nita Chicoree-Mercier’s article in your issue of last week, ‘Since the earth…and endless blasphemies’. She is absolutely spot on in her analysis of the apologists who, in the name of secularism, are denigrating their own mainstream culture and identity by allowing themselves to be subjected to reverse discrimination on the part of some vociferous and violent extremist minority groups in their midst.
The brutal onslaught of this kind of minorityism, which claims more rights than it assumes the corresponding duties and responsibilities in society, is destabilizing traditional societies to the detriment of the law-abiding citizens of several of the countries cited, an ominous sign for the future of the world.
By the same token, she makes an equally insightful analysis of how religion has underpinned the American administration’s forays into the world: the crusades are still on, courtesy the Global Cop and the hydra-headed monsters it first allies itself with and who later turn against it. First it was, as the author details, the God-fearing Americans versus the Godless communists, with the help of mujahideens – feted in Washington at one time – who have morphed into the present Taliban on the lookout for Americans to kill. Then it was my God versus your God: American God pitched against the God of Iraqis, Pakistanis, Afghans – and within the latter, among their distinct sub-sects and ethnic groups trying to impose on each other.
If one were to make a tally at global level from known historical times, it would no doubt reveal that religion and religious rhetoric have killed more people by violence than they have relieved the suffering of mankind. The “crusades” never ended.
S Kumar
Vacoas
* Published in print edition on 5 October 2012
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