Friday, March 09, 2007

To Die For - III

Recently, a gentleman mailed me about campaigning to redeem Hinduism from the clutches of rising Islamic clout - the protection it gets from apologists, the secularists, & the government in the name of welfare. As always, when somebody asks me to actually do something, I begin to shift my weight uncomfortably knowing that this'll require me to make up my mind about the issues, & the mind is the last thing I like made up.

I pointed out that I'm an atheist & feel uncomfortable campaigning for purely religious issues; however, I understood that his position was really against political manifestations of religious protectionisms prevalent in our country primarily as a means of electoral strategy. And some forms of these protections & allowances are outrageous & I'm against these just as I'm against reservations in jobs & graduate schools while maintaining that the scope of education should be improved so that it enables people enough so that reservations are not needed.

At the same time, the increasing clout of political Islam is certainly obvious & dangerous to the extent it stems from Wahabism, is reactionary, is exclusive & is intolerant, & this will continue to be the case as long as there is Saudi money flowing into Mecca & being dissipated to the rest of the Muslim world preaching Wahabism.

So that is my limited knowledge on the subject. I know next to nothing about Hinduism. I do not know even how to define a Hindu. I know that people have killed in the name of religion for centuries & we're the only species capable of killing or giving up our own lives for an idea.

I think that reform, neither propaganda nor protective laws, is the answer. And it has to come from within. It is at these times we can look back & appreciate why the Renaissance was an event of such colossal importance.

It is time for heroes.