Religious
fundamentalists are on the rise and that is bad for our societies. Most people
will agree on this. Yet few examine who religious fundamentalists are.
Obviously, such persons would want to stick to the fundamentals of their
religion. They want to live a life that is advocated in their holy books and
would please their God. Now, since religious fundamentalists pose a problem,
does it mean that the fundamentals of religions are bad for our societies?
Let’s look at the three biggest religions:
Concerning
Christianity, fundamentalists believe that God has revealed himself in the
Bible and sent his only begotten son to earth to save all mankind. They believe
in the first commandment: ‘You shall have no other gods before me’. Therefore,
all humanity has to believe in the God of the Bible and his only son, Jesus
Christ. Those who do not do so, will end up in hell. “Go out into the world”, is a central tenet of the Christian faith and fundamentalists consider it as
their duty to convert as many ‘heathens’ as possible to Christianity by
whatever means.
Concerning Islam, fundamentalists
believe that Islam is the only true religion and Allah the only true God who
wants the whole world to submit to Him. Those who do not become Muslims will go
to hell. It is a central tenet and keeps recurring in the Quran.
Fundamentalists see it as their duty to make all of humanity accept Islam and
often take literally commandments in the Quran like “Strike terror in the
hearts of unbelievers.”
Concerning Hinduism,
fundamentalists believe that Brahman (other names are allowed and in use) is the
one true ‘God’. However, Brahman is not a personal God who saves those who
believe in Him and damns all others. Rather, Brahman is the most subtle
conscious essence that permeates everything and everyone, never mind, which
religion he follows or whether he is an atheist. “Atman is Brahman” or “one’s
own Self is the Divine”, the Vedas proclaim.
Now, all religions
claim that there is only one Highest, one ‘true God’ in English or one ‘Allah’
in Arabic or one ‘Brahman’ in Sanskrit. And of course there is only one
Divinity – the almighty, all knowing Presence that is responsible for the
existence of the universe. How can it be otherwise? Hindus, however, often
don’t understand that Christians as well as Muslims are really convinced that
their one true God, respectively Allah, saves only the brothers and sisters of
their own faith and sends all others as heathen or infidels into hell. This
conviction is indeed difficult to understand for humans with a normal reasoning
capacity. Yet if one grows up hearing repeatedly that only one’s own faith is
true and other people are bad because they don’t accept this, it may actually
make sense. It happened to me as a child – it made sense that only we
Christians go to heaven, because we have been chosen by God…
So we have a situation
in the world where Christianity and Islam, each one over a billion strong,
rival with each other: “Our God alone is true! If you don’t believe it, you go
to hell.” And the other group counters, “No. Our God alone is true! And if you
don’t believe it you go to hell.”
One could laugh it
off if it were not so serious. Fundamentalists stick to this belief – and
unfortunately, the official clergy of both religions uphold it, as well. It is
naturally a cause for great friction in the world.
Hinduism (or Sanatana
Dharma, as it used to be called) does not take part in this one-upmanship. It
is ancient. It was there long before Christianity or Islam appeared on the
scene. In Hinduism, Brahman is not a male entity who watches over us from
somewhere. It is inside everyone, conscious, living and loving. It will always
give another chance until everyone realises his true being and merges in
Brahman, which may take many lives. The Hindu scriptures proclaim, “Humanity is
one family”. “Brahman permeates the smallest as well as the biggest.” “Thou art
That.” “Brahman is not what your mind thinks but That by which the mind is
capable to think.” “See God in everyone.” “Respect nature.”
And they lead us in
prayer: “May we be protected together, may we be nourished together, may we
work together with great vigour, may our study be enlightening, may no obstacle
arise between us.” “Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides.” “May
everyone be happy”, and so on.
Many Hindus, too,
don’t know these fundamentals of their religion and believe it is all about
rituals, worshipping their favourite aspect of God to get their wishes
fulfilled and celebrating festivals. They don’t realise that Hinduism is the
only religion that is all inclusive. It does not set one group of people against
all the others. It is also not opposed to science and does not only allow using
one’s intelligence but encourages to do so.
Maybe that is the
reason why in the west, Hinduism is sometimes even missing when the world
religions are listed, as for westerners, a religion is apparently not a
religion if it is not based on unverifiable dogmas, especially the one that
sets it apart from other religions and which is so harmful for a harmonious
living together of all humanity. Is it not about time for us in the 21st
century to scrap such unverifiable, harmful fundamentals that set up one group
of people against another group?
The best option is to
follow the Hindu fundamentals. So let’s be Hindu fundamentalists who see
Divinity in everyone, also in animals and in nature. Our world would benefit.
Maria
Wirth
June 6, 2013
https://mariawirthblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/lets-all-be-hindu-fundamentalists/
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