prakash.persad@yahoo.com

Of spiritual apartheid

The desecration of the murtis in Cunupia is the second such incident in the past year or so. It points to a malignant, intolerant, formative social cancer that must be excised from the body national.

Trinidadians are known for having a bark that is far worse than their bite. The ranting and raving over the radio stations against Hindus and murtis remained just that—hot air. It would seem that we have now crossed a new threshold—the morphing of hot air into acts of desecration. This situation demands additional measures.

Freedom of worship is enshrined in the Constitution. It must now be properly defined, enacted and policed. Just as freedom of speech does not allow seditious words, so too freedom of worship does not endow anyone with the power to denigrate or desecrate other religions or their places of worship.

Sooner or later and sooner rather than later, secular democracies would have to examine the role of religion in the context of nation building and social harmony.

Governments have been loath to act and continue to be so, with regard to critically examining the tenets, beliefs and practices of religions. Failure to so do poses a severe peril to the civilised world. The hard questions must be asked, debated and resolved.

The belief by the monotheistic religions that only their adherents go to Heaven can be acceptable only if it is divorced from the subsequent corollary that the adherents of the others go to hell for they are lesser beings—pagans or infidels.

This sort of belief, as recorded in the history of the world, has resulted in the mass slaughter of countless human lives. It led to the rationalisation of the slave trade and the dehumanising of hundreds of millions, for pagans and infidels are not quite humans and thus could be ill-treated and decimated. Apartheid in the earthly sphere emanated from apartheid in the spiritual belief domain.

T&T is not quite the place it was. Fundamentalism and fanatic attitudes are slowly but surely invading our rainbow nation. The democratic traditions are being abused by those of distinctly undemocratic aspirations and beliefs.

The culture of plural societies is premised on the principle of harmony in diversity. Thus when foreign missionaries come to our shores it is absolutely essential that their preaching does not inflame or incite locals to engage in activities that perturb and disrupt inter-group harmony.

Individuals and groups who invite and sponsor such people, together with the invitees, should be required to give an undertaking that they would not disturb the social equilibrium. Any breach of this undertaking should result in severe penalties to both the invitee and his/her sponsor.

The use of the adherence to one particular set of religious tenets to categorise people into believers and non-believers, the former good and qualified to enter Heaven and the latter infidels/pagans deserving of the worst hell and fate irrespective of their good actions, needs to be discouraged and discontinued. Surely there cannot only be one right way.

Why is God a spiritual dictator? Can a loving and forgiving God practise nepotism? He would only like one set of people and to hell, literally, with the rest? Why should God be gender biased? Why can’t “He” be a female or otherwise? Come now, let us not create God in our image and handicap him with our own biases and prejudices.

Too many use religion to set up a system of spiritual apartheid. So divide society with the attendant ills. Religion must be viewed as a means for personal development to become more caring and helpful to our fellowmen. It must make us more humble, not more egoistic by deluding ourselves into thinking that we are, solely by our belonging to a group of people who accept a particular set of beliefs and practices, superior to and better than those who do not. Surely God is not a Nazi.

In a world and country that is becoming increasingly polarised and divided, the role of religion must be re-examined. Religious beliefs cannot and must be used to foster, condone or encourage disparaging attitudes to other beings. Rather, they should encourage harmony and respect for all of God’s creation.

T&T is comprised of two islands of a relatively small geographic area. People-wise we occupy a huge religious and cultural space due to our very diverse nature. Our history has left us with huge ethnic-derived socio-political challenges. Superimposing the cultural and religious diversity on that situation makes this an extremely complex society.

Despite our differences, our inherent mutual and reflexive nature to be peaceful, accommodating and respecful is the glue that holds the rainbow together. We have to be vigilant and proactive in ensuring that this social glue is not erased by influences that are foreign to and incompatible with our national character. For this very reason the perpetrators of that heinous crime of desecration need to be apprehended and made to feel the full brunt of the law.

*Prof Prakash Persad is the director of Swaha Inc