Can religious reforms efface terrorism?

Like the dark spots on the moon, it leaves bloody spots on the earth. It has emerged as a never-dying phantom from a diehard phenomenon. Bengaluru’s Church Street bomb blast proves that terrorism is phénomène éternelle. It is deplorable that the evil act of violence ensues from religion, if rightly taken, it is instigated by religious hatred and emanates on roads.

If terrorism is appalling, religion is more appalling and the most appalling is the misinterpretation of the doctrines. The act of inhumanity is shooting up to an unimaginable scale be it beheading of American journalist or shooting in the heads of Pakistani children.

You call yourself a Muslim, you call your fight jihad, you call your way that of Allah. And yet you do what Allah forbids you to do: to perpetrate a war in His name where you kill children. You are the worst enemy of the world and humanity. People showed great concern about the Peshawar massacre. It is time we spared a thought to the myriad faces of terrorism and thrash out all acts of violence without geological discrimination. If we regret the deaths of innocent children of Peshawar Army School, let us also condemn Mumbai attacks. We don’t want to discuss the hearts that melt only at the deaths in Pakistan or Christians in Iraq when we want a permanent solution. If we condemn terrorism, let us be unbiased. Let us slam terror in all forms whether it is SIMI, ISIS, Laskhar -e -Taiba, Al-kheda, or America. Can you counter evil with evil? A prejudiced attack on terror is not fructuous. It cannot efface terrorism from the face of the earth, at least it cannot mitigate the fear of terrorism.

What is more disturbing than the terrorism is the unimaginable magnitude of inhumanity.

Atrocities such as beheading, killing children, shooting in the head and mass rapes.

A 43-year-in the Syriac Christian town of Bartella was suffering from heart disease and could not leave the town with his family. When he was searching for food he was arrested by ISIS. They forced him to convert to Islam. When the victim refused the militants beat him and tortured him until he died in their hands. Children were dragged out from under the chairs and the tables when they were hiding in fear. Children were shot in the face, shot in the head, shot at a point blank range.

Yet the most distressing is the unparalleled stupidity with which these acts have been supported.

Religious fanatics on the internet say that children who died in the hands of terrorists enter the paradise directly, they play in paradise, they pray for their parents’ forgiveness. Some people also congratulate these students and their parents, and ask them to thank Allah. If you want to annihilate the terrorism, you must strike at the root of the terrorism rather than cutting the stem.

If the religious doctrines cannot be changed, at least we can change the misinterpretations. “Muslims always wins either being alive or dead! Their dead bodies stay fresh after years. Those who die in jihad enter paradise directly.”

Can any true religion teach killings? In Geetha, Lord Krishna inspired Arjuna in the battle ground to fight not to get back but that cannot be misinterpreted to promote organised wars. Religion should promote peace and love but the tragic reality is whether it is a minor terror attack on women or massive attack on children it is always the religion that serves as the motivation for violence. The bottom line is that no religion has saved the hapless victims. As long as we never reform the religions, it is so long as the dreadful fate hangs over our heads.

By: Venkat Poolabala