You are so right Utpal!
>Religions are only great as long as practised within the
confies one own >spiritual domain and not used as a
nation building tool.
*** Actually it has never been used as a nation building
tool--but as a divisive force to UNDO nations. Like Hinduttwa is doing
in India and Islamic fundies are doing in B'desh or Pakistan.
Too bad the Hindu "intellectuals" ( are there any--how
come we never hear from them?) have not been able to show that they
are able to think better than those whom they despise, yet know no
better than to ape them.
Yes again, religion is poison indeed, when used as a political
tool, and when it becomes a mere ritual, devoid of spiritual or
intellectual moorings.
c-da
At 2:30 AM +0000 1/26/06, Malabika Brahma wrote:
>>But do religions evolve in the same manner? If so, where does fundamentalism >>come from? Why are certain religions ready to kill, before letting one change to >>another or attack reformers as heretics and converts as apostates?
Problem arises and fundamentalism comes in when people resist the changes. When they think the religious norms or beliefs are written in stone and are "eternal truths".
Though it is true for any man made norms (be it religion or language or nation), perhaps fundamentalism influenced by religion has caused more miseries than anything else. Some of the gravest genocides in the history of the world were created by people who believed in the "supremacy of their own religion" over others. World will be a better place without the present day religions.
Religions are only great as long as practised within the confies one own spiritual domain and not used as a nation building tool. Denying that will mean that we have learnt nothing from the Crusade, the holocaust in Europe, the Spanish Inquisition, the end less religious riots in Indian sub-contitent, the mass killing of the Incas and Azteks by the Spanish, the ongoing Islamic fundamentalism, the Arab/Israel deadlock and the list goes on.
Although not a Maoist, I would say Mao was not far from truth when he declared "Religion is poison".
Utpal
Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
At 2:17 PM -0600 1/25/06, Rajen Barua wrote:
Bravo!!!
Culture, Religion, Language all are like rivers.
They flow and take the paths of least resistence.
*** Cultures evolve. Languages do too, although far less easily, unless enforcedwith overwhelming political power and/or military might.But do religions evolve in the same manner? If so, where does fundamentalism come from? Why are certain religions ready to kill, before letting one change to another or attack reformers as heretics and converts as apostates? And why is it that all religious wisdoms were found millenia ago, with no farther developments in religion, no new wisdoms found? Or could it be that newly derived wisdoms in the field are not accepted as legiti! mate, asserting that religions are not meant to be changed - like certain governments?
RB
----- Original Message -----
From: Malabika Brahma
To: [email protected] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 12:28 PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Himendra's reply to Saurav
I would disgree with both Jugal da and Himenda.
Religion, Language, Culture, Nation all are constantly evolving over t! ime and will always undergo change. Any resistance is not only futile but also against the normal and natural course of history.
For example, most of the Assamese (Koches) speakers or for that matter the Bengali speakers in North Bengal were Bodo speakers at one point of time. Does it mean that the Koches should abandon their Assamese or Bengali speech and return to Bodo fold ?
Or for that matter, Mithraism was the dominating religion all over Middle East and Europe before Islam or Christianity. Should all of them (those Christians or Muslims) abandon their faith and return to their ancient religion ?
We should learn to realise that NONE is ever eternal - be in Religion, Language, Race or Nationality. The ONLY ETERNAL FACT is the Change itself.
Utpal
Rajib Das <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> people of Assam to remain Hindu, but become
> Hindi-speaking!! I am not sure what history has in
> store for Assam, but I would like the language
> preserved for eternity!!
Jugalda,
Conversely, would you be happier if the people of
Assam keep Assamese as a language but become all
Muslims? Let go of all the "secular" customs and
traditions that are associated with Assamese being
Hindus?
And in alternative situations, would you rather the
language be Hindi-ized (meaning significant Hindi
influence) or Arabicized (significant Muslim
influence) if these are the only two options
available? Bengali in Bangladesh is undergoing rapid
transformation as the country itself transforms into a
fundamentalist state.
Just interested in understanding your point of view?
Rajib
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