--- On Mon, 9/22/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The study of history shows that so far as this > sub-continent is concerned, persons who have made religion > their lifestyle have caused the greatest havoc to mankind. > Two of these proponents- MA Jinnah and LK Advani. Jinnah was > far from religious. He ate pork, smoked a pipe and enjoyed > his peg of scotch whiskey. >
This and the rest of the material in the above post make up a contrived argument based on cherry-picked self-serving anecdotes and selective reasoning. Selective reasoning like selective propaganda can be never lead to a harmonious discourse on communal issues. They can only provoke, incite and aggravate disagreements. Notice that Marshall has left out the following important caveat from my last post. "Of course, as long as they do not possess a criminal mentality, and in the latter case, as long as they are not hypocrites." The entire post of his is full of absurdities. Here are some of them. 1. Advani who has used religion and religious differences for devious political and destructive ends is practicing Hinduism as a lifestyle. 2. Jinnah who ate pork and drank alcohol was practicing Islam as a lifestyle. 3. There is a semantic difference between a lifestyle and a way of life. By implication, a way of life is good, and lifestyle is bad. 4. Those who truly follow the tenets of their religion are not practicing religion as a lifestyle, and therefore they are immune from committing a crime. 5. Those who follow religion as a lifestyle, but not as a way of life, are the greatest threat to mankind. They were responsible for the demolition of Babri Masjid, the genocide of Muslims in Gujarat, the pogrom against Christians in Orissa, and for BJP shelving the temple issue solely for the sake of pursuing power. 6. People who have lifestyles, but not ways of life, do not have qualms of conscience. 7. People who try to be objective and impartial are fence sitters. They are another great danger to society. They could also be responsible for such things as Babri Masjid demolition and the Orissa carnage, just like Narsimha Rao and Naveen Patnaik. 8. When one speaks out against injustice one has to refrain from debating issues dispassionately. Cheers, Santosh [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Yet he mobilised people in the > name of religion. He was the cause of partition and the > resulting upheaval of people, of homes, deaths and religious > strife. >
