Religion

Religion

“God unites, religion divides.”

1 Corinthians 1:10

Ever since I can remember, this has been my mantra with respect to God and religion.

As a believer, it reflects my conviction that the road to the infinite is through oneself and not through the teachings or diktats of others who consider themselves to be masters over the rest of us.

The whole concept that “my God is better than your God”, “my God wants me to convert everyone to my way of believing upon pain of death”, “God wants me to smite his enemies”, and other shibboleths that have guided people since the beginning of time would be childish if they weren’t so evil.

How many tens of millions have died over the centuries because of the chauvinism of religious bigotry, simple to give one group of people power over another.

According to the Pew Research Center, there are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide, though nearly all of them have regionally based, relatively small followings. Four religions—Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism—account for over 77% of the world's population, and 92% of the world either follows one of those four religions or identifies as nonreligious, meaning that the remaining 9,000+ faiths account for only 8% of the population combined.

The religiously unaffiliated demographic includes those who do not identify with any religion, atheists, and agnostics, although many in the demographic still have various religious beliefs.

Are any of the four major religions immune from fascistic leanings?

Unfortunately, no.

Even Buddhism, touted as the religion of peace, tolerance, and compassion has its followers practice fascistic tendencies in many countries.

To illustrate this point, according, GARNET (the Global Affairs and Religion Network), Buddhist nationalism in Mynamar (formerly known as Burma) is the transformation of religion into an ethnic, cultural identity. The philosophical teachings of the Buddha are fundamentally peripheral to the group. Moreover, GARNET states that Buddhist philosophy is disturbingly reinterpreted to follow a fascist ideology, and then relabeled as Buddhist nationalism. In this context, we must ask how this has happened.

In Myanmar, religion and ethnicity have combined to form a hostile environment for minority groups. The Muslim Rohingya and Kachin Christians in Myanmar face harsh discrimination by the dominant Buddhist Bamar ethnic group, a situation that has deteriorated in recent years. While hundreds of years ago these differences were generally accepted, the drawing of post-colonial borders created the Rohingya as a minority in Myanmar.

The Rohingya resided in Myanmar from as early as the 15^th century, with Muslims continuing to arrive in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Despite the long history of Muslims in Myanmar, the government of Burma/Myanmar historically denied their claims as an official ethnic group of Myanmar. The lack of legal designation led to the Rohingya being labeled illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Systemic oppression of the Rohingya led to an increase of tensions between the Rohingya and the Buddhist community in Rakhine State.  

Buddhism is an Asian phenomenon that transcends national borders and cultural divides.

According to The New Republic, in Thailand, the government has responded to a long-running Malay Muslim insurgency in its southern provinces by fostering a Buddhist militarism, encouraging monks in local temples to ally with the armed forces. And in Sri Lanka, the Buddhist-majority Sinhalese were engaged in a bitter civil war against the Hindu-minority Tamils for decades. More recently, Buddhist nationalists there have stoked anti-Muslim riots.

Buddhism is the religion that preaches love and respect for life above all other virtues, and whose adherents are proscribed from even stepping on an insect out of a respect for the sanctity of all life.

While this article focuses on Buddhism, it is but one example where religion divides people, sets up artificial barriers that lead to wanton violence, oppression, and countless deaths.

The next few articles will focus on Christofascism, Islamofascism, and Hindufacism to underscore how these movements pose a serious threat to global security and human survival.

The meaning of these articles is not to question anyone’s beliefs. Nor are they meant to belittle some of the good churches and synagogues have accomplished and continue to accomplish.

Indeed, the liberation priests who fought the military dictatorships in Latin America, and the Black Churches that united African Americans under such luminaries as Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy, and their colleagues in fighting for civil rights have made positive contributions to humanity. Many synagogues and Jewish organizations were very active in the civil rights struggle in the U.S. in the 1950’s and 60’s.

Doing good and loving one another is fundamental to life, and I salute any organization that follows these precepts.

But theology and its power over people is a dangerous thing.

And when religion melds with politics, it can become a toxic combination as we are now seeing globally.

I hope that it inspires believers to reconsider their adherence to religions or to religiously based political movements that preach intolerance and violence rather than concentrating on the unifying power of a universal God regardless of how it is celebrated.