When Religious People Indulge In Immoral Acts
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
3 March
2023
The news
that Iranian schoolgirls are being forced to watch porn to dissuade them from
protests against hijab has shocked the world.
Isn't it a
blatantly immoral act, committed by the so-called religious people?
Schoolgirls across Iran joined the
protests triggered by Mahsa Amini’s death, with many videos on social media
showing them taking off headscarves and chanting anti-government slogans,
including on school premises. (Twitter)
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Now when Mr
Naseer says that there cannot be morality outside religion and belief in
Hereafter, I ask him with utmost respect and decency, how'll he evaluate these
'religious' people's immoral act of forcing young girls to watch explicit
flicks? Aren't these rascals scared of Islam and Roz-e-Qayamat?
And if you
say that these people are not Muslims, then a very big chunk of Muslims cannot
be called Muslims!
It's not
that such elements are found only in Islam. All religions have followers who
despite having faith in religion, god and agla janm, commit all sorts of
heinous acts.
I must cite
the example of the six perpetrators of Nirbhaya Episode that shook the country
in Dec. 2012. Out of six, Afroz ( the youngest one) succeeded in cheating the
gallows as he was underage. All others were Hindus who had faith in god and
were regular chanters of Hanuman Chalisa. Their Hanuman is an eternal celibate
but his devotees brutally raped a young woman and were hanged.
Did their
faith in god and fear of punishment in the next birth dissuade them from
committing such a ghastly crime?
The point
is, a morally upright person is moral, irrespective of any religion and
eschatological fear/belief.
Rene
Descartes, who gave the famous dictum Cogito Ergo Sum ( I think, therefore,
I'm) to the world coined a term Decontextualised Morality. He was a believer
but believed that morality must be decontextualised. To elaborate it, one's
moral behaviour is independent of religiosity or not in the context of
religion.
In one of
the novels of German Nobel laureate Gunter Grass, a character says, " If
you're good, you're good. Your conscience is your moral guide which needs no
religion and angels to be good."
In my whole
life, I've come across best of humans from religion and no-religion. The
teacher who exempted me from attending religious class in Iran was a devout
Muslim who loved me like his son despite my non-belief. He's still in touch
with me and never talks of religion with me. When fanatics assaulted me and
left me profusely bleeding, it was my dear Muslim friend Shoaib Huda who saved
my life. He's a believer. And a complete non-believer like my mentor Dr Zaifa
Ashraf gave away her whole body for medical research. I know the girl who sees
the world with my mentor's eyes. Dr Zaifa never hurt a single soul in her
entire life.
Here on
this site, my young but very mature friend and a totally irreligious person,
Prakhar Garg writes to Unknown and says, let's spread love and peace on this
forum. It's his sublime morality which's not regulated by religion.
I'm a
complete apatheist but I too have pangs of morality. I feel that at times, I
behaved too casually and flippantly by calling some readers imbecile, vulture,
fools, among others. I should have refrained from using such intemperate
terminology. That was my mistake. But my in-built morality has always cautioned
and warned me.
So, please
Mr Naseer, look at things from a fresh perspective as well. There's no harm in
admitting that you've erred as I've openly accepted that I've erred. Life's an
ongoing process of learning and accepting one's mistakes and erroneous views.
An individual's morality is his/her conscience or inner voice.
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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/religious-immoral-acts/d/129236
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