This refers to the article, “Blame it on man, not religion (March 21).” An idle brain is the devil's workshop. If you want to keep yourself off this devil, give yourself to religious activity. Religion is essential to our day-to-day life. Religions and faith are the harbinger of love, morality and ethics. Only religion can put down the fire of discrimination and hate, and play a vital part in making character and personality. Religion is the only sword that can kill anarchism.
Priya Bhushan Rai,
New Delhi
The article by B.N. Kapali provides a correct perspective of religion. One cannot blame the system for the errors committed by its users. If every individual practises his or her religion according to the scriptures, there will be no room for conflicts and the fringe elements that exploit the masses will vanish. This, however, remains an elusive theme. We spend much of our time enhancing our knowledge to improve our monetary status, comfortably ignoring the spiritual side. When it comes to the spiritual quotient, most of us are poor and starving. If each individual spends half an hour a day to develop his or her spiritual knowledge, whatever be his religion, it would pave the way for a more harmonious society. One needs to understand that the human brain is hot wired for belief in God and that this is a scientifically established fact.
N.A. Mansoor Ali,
Chennai
Any divisive idea, be it caste, religion, race, political or social ideology or even nation, by its very nature, is destructive. God did not draw the boundaries on the earth; they are the creations of power-thirsty, self-serving rulers of the past. Nor did god create any religion; they emanated from man's thoughts and were nurtured by the inability of weak minds to live with the inescapable uncertainties of human existence and the consequent willingness to accept irrational nostrums offered to them. A very thin line divides religious sentiment from religious fanaticism.
If man is a rational animal, then his patriotism should be based on a rational consensus for an organised social life for the benefit of all and his only religion should be the scientific pursuit of the truth without surrendering his freedom of inquiry to any scripture, guru, leader, or tradition.
S.P. Asokan,
Chennai
A debate on the role of religion is going on since the publication of “Relegate religion” by Jemila Samerin (Open Page, March 7). Mr. Francis Gonsalves (March 21), while advocating the use of religion for community building, inter alia admits that “debates on beliefs and rituals are useless.” This attitude is common among most of the “believers.” This shows the basic nature of the defenders of religion, who know full well that the myths and miracles that prop up god and religion cannot withstand the test of reason. God and religion thrive on the insecurity and helplessness of human beings, and help a few intelligent persons to flourish at the expense of a vast majority. Another specious argument put forward by believers is that all religions preach the same principles of “love, peace, justice, service, sacrifice, compassion, etc.” If this is, so one religion should be as good as another and in that case, and if no religion preaches hatred as Mr. B.N. Kapil would persuade us to believe, why so much heat over conversions? Why do those belonging to the same religion get themselves divided into sects and cultivate mutual hatred?
It is true that there will be all kinds evil even in the absence of religion. But they will certainly be less in intensity as those committed in the name of religion will be absent.
G. Gopinathan Nair,
Thiruvananthapuram
Correction
A letter in the “Letters to the Editor” column (March 23, 2010), under the subheading “Blame it on man”, incorrectly mentioned the author name of the article “Blame it on man, not religion” (Open Page, March 21, 2010) to be Mr. B.N. Kapil. It should have been B.N. Kapali .
