Terror implications and religion

Terror has always fed on the aspect of religion. When a terror attack takes place, the names are found out and then indirectly or directly, society attaches that person as the face of that particular religion. Whenever terrorist attacks have taken place the world over post 9/11, we witness the factor of Islamic terrorism and muslim terrorists highlighted many times over.

The bigotry of the middle ages continues in a new style in modern times. Islam is in the forefront this time. Many call these times as a battle between the west and Islam, as portrayed by Samuel Hunttington's 'Clash of Civilizations' theory. However, the problem goes deeper than that. The problem of terror in todays dynamics is rooted deeply in religion and the key factor of interpretation.

Religion has always made people wanting to go back to the fundamentals. In the due process, many people interpret the laws written in several books in their strictest form, thus resulting in a conservative and orthodox mindset in society. This phenomenon is present in all religions, but unfortunately, the religion most under scrutiny is Islam. The dynamics of religious interpretations results in some irrational thoughts of heaven and hell. If a bit of rationality can be applied, which now depends upon how people interpret rationality, the sense of heaven and hell is in our own minds.

The essence of going back to the fundamentals may be the application of mind over the matter. If a person interprets the laws of religion with the surrounding times, then fanaticism can be avoided. Swami Vivekanand, in one of his speeches in Chicago, had mentioned that Fanaticism was the major factor which can pollute religions and divide people. It must be noted that this is my interpretation of his speech.

Fanaticism comes about due to desperation. When economic and social factors always go against individuals, then they fall back to their religion and begin to interpret the path of God in the strictest form. The brainwashing apparently comes up in this possible process, but it could be even more. The unfairness prevailing in the socio-economic scenario can be interpreted as being solely attached to one community, thus resulting in terror activities as legitimate to make known the demands.

Many media outlets have spoken about the alienation of the muslim community in view of the terror attacks that have hit India for the past month or so. The brainwashing apparently becomes the perverted nature of the inequalities in the socio-economic system of the state.

Terror has always fed on religion. The solution to curb terror could be Egalitarianism, but it is a long and lengthy process. The lines of tolerance are growing thinner, while the walls of prejudice are becoming stronger. The world will go through another phase of bloodshed. It is indeed symbolic that the irrationality called Bloodshed is linked to the ultimate irrationality called Religion. The implications are indeed grave, because there is a solution, but it is curtailed by the lengthiness of time.