Editorial - The vicious attacks on religions

8 July 2013 06:30 pm

Obviously the culprit behind the attack on Bodh Gaya is either politics or religious fanaticism. There cannot be any personal reason behind it. Had any group perpetrated this treacherous act with political motivation it is conceivable as politics has become the manifestation of all evils in the world today.

 There are groups to suspect such as the Tamil Nadu politicians and other pro-Eelam groups from the Tamil diaspora, as these groups know an attack on a Buddhist religious site like Bodh Gaya, irrespective of it being situated in India would definitely hurt the sentiments of the majority of Sinhalese and the State in Sri Lanka. However, the people they claim to support would not gain anything with such a heinous act, except for the satisfaction of the sadistic minds of some of them.



On the other hand, had the culprits done it in the name of a religion they have done a great disservice to the core essence of the very religion they had stood for, since no religion promotes or at least approves violence except in the case of self-defence.  Those who planned the attack on Bodh Gaya must have filled their minds with hatred or ill-will first. Had they intended loss of life they must have filled their minds with cruelty. They must have had to lie and deceive people in the execution of the crime, meaning they have had their minds littered with dishonesty.

Also, had they intended to gain something for the religion they represent, it has been counter-productive as what they have promoted through this crime has been hatred, ill-will, cruelty and dishonesty, properties that have been denounced by all major religions of the world as the degeneration of a self.

Had this attack been carried out in the name of a religion it is another case in point to the spiritual crisis faced by the followers of many religions today. At the very first moment that one thinks ill of another person, race, country or religion, he begins to depart from the core fundamentals of his own religion, since advancement of a religion is not in the head-count of its so-called followers, but in the purity of the spirit of its followers.  

Religion has been one of the most misunderstood phenomenons in the present day, interestingly and pathetically by its own followers.   Many things they do in the name of their religion, especially in respect to the relationship with other religions, run counter to the very teachings of their own. They make hate speeches which fill the minds of the followers of both religions with hatred. They incite violence or indulge in violence such as the ones that took place in Bamiyan, Bodh Gaya, Jerusalem and many places in the world. They justify hatred and violence, which fills the minds with dishonesty.  They glorify violence and hate with sheer falsehoods on others’ cruelty, which again fills minds with dishonesty.  All these properties in mind, would do a disservice to any religion.

One can find this situation in every country including the so-called developed countries.  The interest of perpetrators of the Bodh Gaya attack may be politics or religion or both. An attack on a place venerated by hundreds of thousands of fellow-people points to their degenerated mindset.