Religion And Reason Cannot Co-Exist
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
25 January
2023
The Overwhelming Tsunami Of Spiralling
Religiosity And Ascending Zealotry Has Swept Away Our Rationality And The
Fundamental Ethics Of Life
------
"Mere
Haathon Ke Tarashe Hue Patthar Ke Sanam/ Aaj Bhagwan Bane Baithe Hain Butkhanon
Mein "
(The idols
I sculpted with my own hands/Have been installed as gods in shrines)
In 2016,
Yuval Noah Harari visited Bombay to deliver a lecture. After the lecture, a
columnist friend of mine, who's now an ex-Muslim, asked Harari, " Can
religion and reason co-exist? " Harari, who's a sceptic, replied, "
Just the way an imaginary Semitic god cannot live with its own creation Satan,
religion and reason also can't live together." He further added that
increasing religiosity paves the way for erosion of rationality. It's what
we're seeing right now.
Religion
has hijacked reason. Muslims, whom I used to teach calligraphy, are no longer
interested to learn from a Kafir, a complete atheist at that, like me.
" Why should an Ilhadi (atheist) touch our Quran? "There's no
exaggeration in it.
My fanatic
Hindu friends have begun to provoke Muslims by saying, Jay Shankar, Jay Shri
Ram or Jay Shri Krishna. They insist that Muslims should also say Jay Shri
Ram/Jay Shri Krishna or else leave this country.
If any
reader has any doubt that I'm exaggerating, come to Poona or visit Maharashtra.
A couple of days ago, I was at Ahmednagar which's a small town near Poona and
pretty infamous for Hindu-Muslim skirmishes.
Most of the
Hindus in the town use religious benedictions while wishing you and Muslims
will not say Namaskar. They also don't say Khuda Hafiz (it's Allah
Hafiz) and I, therefore, avoid saying Khuda Hafiz to Sunnis.
I saw Muslim
youth in skull caps, ankle high trousers, sporting a beard sans moustaches (what
a disgusting sight!) and young Tilakdhari Hindus. I went there after 4
years and the palpable changes in people's religiosity surprised me.
I was
pained to see the blatant display of increasing religiosity and dwindling
rationality. Today is Ganesh Jayanti and everywhere in Poona, you can see the
Ganesh Pandals and blaring music. Until a couple of years ago, religiosity was
not so open and uncouth. Where's reason? It seems to me that moral and ethical
behaviour has gone to dogs and religion has taken over.
People of
all faiths are behaving in a collectively irrational manner. Deluded and
absolutely brainless believers believe that Adam, Eve, even that Serpent (it's
a phallic symbol, the prototype of Genesis and mark of the beginning of human
race; read Umberto Eco's Semiotics; the science of signs and symbols) were
dropped on earth by Allah just like a fighter plane drops bombs! Hindus believe
that Hanuman, demons, deities, Ravan, among others did exist.
The
overwhelming tsunami of spiralling religiosity and ascending zealotry has swept
away our rationality and the fundamental ethics of life. All these concocted
monotheistic and polytheistic gods have de-rationalized (Karl Jaspers' phrase)
humans. In my brief piece ' Live life ethically ' in today's Economic Times,
I've emphasised that it's not god or religion but your ethical and
conscientious behaviour that's of paramount importance. Leave god and religion
for Neanderthals. Remember, you're a human, endowed with prudence and Aql-e-Saleem
provided by nature.
Let me
translate Omar Khayyam's Persian quatrain for you, ' Fools believe fools/ Wise
admire wise/ Nature has certain rules/ That don't go otherwise. ' True. Fools
will continue to believe in absolutely foolish things and unfortunately,
they're in a majority.
----
A
regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative
religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the
world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/religion-reason-coexist/d/128962