Time and again we have witnessed major riots and wars amongst different religious groups in the tussle of proving their religion’s superiority over the others. Even though India is a religiously pluralistic and multiethnic country with rights to support other religions and give them equal opportunities, it’s cold attitude and hostility towards other religions cannot be neglected. Hate politics is a common phenomena. Communal tension between various Indian faiths and castes have plagued the society for a very long time.
It’s not that India is the only country with such hatred towards other religions but however, this is a very phenomena throughout the world from a very long time. From Hitler’s reign to terrorism, sadly this a pretty common phenomena. Somehow, hatred and compassion go hand in hand amongst individual of separate religions. Genuine piety can be a catalyst for compassion. But the shared rituals that create a cohesive congregation "may also produce hatred of others"—especially among those who lack deeply felt spiritual beliefs.
Religion was built on the principles of universal love and brotherhood. Manu, Mohammad, Jesus, Buddha, Nanak, Krishna all spoke about compassion and acceptance. But their followers, who accepted their words as holy gospels and developed religious boundaries out of them, focused more on preserving the respective domains and their names of their prophets than their teachings. Taking pride in being a Hindu and maintaining Hindu traditions has become more important that ‘being’ a Hindu. The same is true for all the other religions. Alas in the real world it turns out that when you choose one religion you automatically denounce the rest of them. Religion gives you the right and surprising the power to hate others who differ.
Ultimately, to have a stable world we will have to learn to respect qualities and differences of every religion and to walk hand in hand with everyone irrespective of their caste, religion, nationality etc. Humanity should be our religion and love our most important asset. This does seem like a utopian concept right now but with proper implementation of knowledge and rationality, the word ‘hate’ in itself could be a thing of the past.
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