"Religious Fanaticism is the Other Name of Terrorism" by Tapas Sarkar

Tapas Sarkar; Research Scholar;

The word Religion derives from both Old French and Anglo Norman language which means respecting righteousness, morality, and sanctity with the reverence to the gods. Unfortunately, religion is often associated with terror and decay; among the major catalysts in manipulating world peace, the atrocities of religious conflicts are prominent. The nature of the religious atrocity or crisis is diverse in different ages and crucial in several geographical continents. In present age, religious fundamentalism or fanaticism is the modern form of religious crisis (terror); it not only kills the innocent people for the sake of religion, it dominates over other’s culture, tradition, and identity, with political purposes. History has always been the documented witness of such savage crises. Therefore, Contemporary terrorisms of religious fundamentalists are the extreme threat to world peace. 

The oldest ancient civilizations, the Mesopotamian Civilization, the Indus Valley Civilization, the Egyptian Civilization, the Maya Civilization, the Chinese Civilization, the Ancient Greek, and the Roman Civilization, are not the less victims of religious atrocities. Sometimes there were conflict among gods, sometimes among people believing different sects, sometimes between believers and non-believers. The fanatic religious faith and humanitarian reason have been antagonism to each other; the root of religious faith has been complicate political, and the present age religious fundamentalists are the extreme progenies of that ubiquitous crux. As roman stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger critically opined, “Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false and by the rulers as useful.” From the western to the eastern world, from the ancient to the present time, the fundamental mind set of religion has been a great catalyst in the manipulation of world peace and human existence. 

Now, what is the definition of Religion? Why and how religion is associated with terror or crime in the world? In this essay, we will try to understand these issues with different references and criticisms. In general sense, religion is a set of belief system; rather a cultural system of commonly practiced beliefs which is consisted of certain principles, doctrines, philosophies, and moralities. In this set of belief system, communities worship their certain beliefs, the God, the Gods, and the Goddesses. According to Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, religion is “one of the systems of faith that are based on the belief in the existence of a particular god or gods.” So, belief is the root of any religion, the Centre of a circle. 

An individual intends what he believes, because it is culturally and socially inculcated in his mind. And the intentions transform his thoughts into deeds. The systematic belief system or the intention is integral and ecumenical across the religions of the world. In Hinduism, the God is believed to be everywhere, so whatever action an individual does he must be conscious of the sankalp, of the almighty; the intention behind the action is important. Other religions like Buddhism and Jainism consider right sankalp (intention) as their key tenet. The Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism also focus on pious intention. They even believe that the God will pardon them if their intentions are not bad. So, how bad sankalpa of fundamentalism can be called as religion? This question should be understood. Of course, believing on something (right or superstitious) is logically good if that is not harmful to others, if that is fruitful to self and the others fulfilling their desires without any harm in the universe. As Sigmund Freud describes religion as “a form of wish fulfilment”. The studies of modern psychology also claim that religion is important for an individual’s mind development, formulating behavior, and perceiving emotions. On the other hand, extreme religious mindset misleads the believers from logical thinking and indulges them to commit crime (religious terrorism). The extreme religious belief which is the cause of present age religious terrorism spread by religious fundamentalists who are completely separate and different from the main stream common people of religious community. 

Religious fundamentalism means blindly following a particular religion’s faith, philosophy, and the exact words of the scriptures of that religion. The blind following is such strong that the believers of that particular religion take militant stand. They are inculcated with the idea that their religion and god are the only truth. In certain circumstances of their community, they are taught that other religions should be banished. Only, their religion or god is the supreme. Therefore, they have the right to dominate the world. They get brainwashed with fundamental mindset; they get involved in crime such as murdering the innocent and thinking the action as their religious duty. For, the religious fundamentalists cannot think with the universal reason and the Anthropocene existence of the world. They get brainwashed to commit crime thinking their crime as their moral duty. In the name of religion they commit massive killing with bombard and shooting. These crimes are called religious fundamentalist terrorism. 

Generally, all major religions are victim of such religious fundamentalism. Whether it is Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism. But, of course, there are political propaganda in identifying the sources of fundamental terrorism. The Christian fundamentalists claim Jesus is the only God, others are devil angels. The Islam fundamentalists like ISIS and Taliban, strictly follow their Quran and Hadith as the only message of their God who is the only almighty; other non-believers are kafir, they should be perished, killed; Islam fundamentalists also want sharia law, which can be seen in present Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria. Jewish fundamentalists want to implement their own orthodox culture and law in the life of Israel. On the other hand, the Hindu fundamentalism is not like the Abrahamic fundamentalists, because there is no particular God or Goddess; they believe in polytheism, multiple scriptures, sects, and dogmas; there is no Centre to control the entire community; believers have the freedom to pursue their different beliefs; but, this statement does not mean that there is no mark of fundamentalism. In comparison, there is little sense of fundamentalism in Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Still, the fundamental Khalistan movement can be critically seen; we cannot neglect the incidents of the Rakhine state of Myanmar and some separate incidents in Sri Lanka and Japan which mark subtle sense of religious fundamentalism creating instability in world peace. 

Religion, which teaches moral values and certain ethical aspects of life; how can it become threat to the world peace? To answer this question, first of all, we will try to understand why certain religious community commit crime. In his book “When Religion Becomes Evil”, Charles Kimball points out five main reasons how and why religious fundamentalists become evil (terrorist); one, absolute truth claim; two, blind obedience; three, establishing the ideal time, the end of time; four, the end justified enemies; and five, declaring a holy war. Unfortunately, Kimball’s reasons are aptly applicable for the Abrahamic religions as his research work based on those religions; on the other hand, Kimball’s points are not completely critical for the religious practices of Hinduism, Sikhism, or Buddhism. Because, there is no absolute truth or Centre in Hinduism; of course, there is eternal truth which can be achieved by different paths. As Upanishad says, “एकं सद् विप्रा बहुधा वदन्ति" (Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti", the truth is one which includes all and that can be reached by different ways. Similarly, Bengali religious philosopher and guru Ramkrishna Param Hansha says, “যত মত তত পথ” (If there is more isms, there is more paths). In this context, other religions, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism are in same stand. Again, it cannot be said that there is no cases of religious fundamentalism in these religions; there are, also, several separate senses of fundamentalism, of course less in comparison which also need critical studies and understanding.

Anyway, Terrorism is caused by religious misbelief. We cannot deny this truth. The problem is who will take the responsibility for them who are involved with. Which community will identify them (the terrorist) as their own, even though there is clear sign or declaration of confession? On the other hand, we cannot generalize that religion is the cause of terrorism, but the fundamental mindsets is; it is clear. Though there are certain number of terrorism from certain religious community, blaming that community for the miscreant of mislead group of that community is somehow vague critical. Because, of course, the religious fundamentalists belong to a particular religion, but does that religion or the common people of that religion belong to that fundamentalist group? These questions need to be enquired. Therefore, before coming to understand the relation between religion and terrorism, we need to understand the cultural, social, economic, and political milieu of that particular religion.  

Indispensably, true religion does not spread terror or threat. The fundamental mindset of that religion does directly or indirectly. We cannot blame a religion or the common people who belong to it, in general, for any kind of terror attack. But, the fundamental faces of religion must be identified by the people of that particular religion itself, not by the people of other religion. As Dalai Lama says, “The purpose of religion is to control yourself, not to criticize others.” So, self-realization of an individual, for a community, for a nation, is important. That is the only way to separate the disease of fundamental mindset from the real meaning of religion, from common innocent people. Only then, there will be God in religion, as Swami Vivekananda exclaims, “You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.” In other meaning of Vivekananda, “Religion does not consist in erecting temples, or building church, or attending public worship. It is not to be found in books, or in words, or in lectures, or in organizations. Religion consists in realization.” 

However, as responsible citizen of the world, to promote humanism and world peace, we must take decisions critically from human centric logical perspectives. We must identify the crime as crime first, and then try to find out the possible and appropriate reason for those miscreants without imposing the burden of terror to particular community or people of a religion. We must remember that everything in religion is fine till that belief or intention in religion does not transgress one’s greed, lust, and blindness for a strong mislead political purpose. So, belief and power are the major themes of religious terrorism which diverts believers from righteous path to terrorism. In one side, we can claim religion as a separate humanitarian belief system, separate from fundamentalism. As Salman Rushdie exclaims, “Fundamentalism isn’t about religion, it’s about power.” On the other hand, we cannot neglect Taslima Nasrin’s statement when she says, “The fundamentalists are increasing. People, afraid to oppose those fundamentalists, shut their mouths. It is really very difficult to make people move against a sensitive issue like religion, which is the source of fundamentalism.”