Talking Shop: In the name of the Lord

“Religion is the worst

enemy of mankind. No

single war in the history

of humanity has killed as

many people as religion has.”

—Bill Murray

I will not name any one religion, because that would be grossly unfair, irresponsible and needlessly provocative, but the truth of the matter is that every single religion, faith or cult has done it for centuries—and they continue to do so, exploiting, rioting and killing in the name of their ‘one God’. Paradoxically, the common thread running through this diabolical practice for nearly 2,000 years is exploitation in the name of the Lord, or propounding any one religion at the cost of others. This has almost always been a hidden agenda; a lust for power and more land to create tyrannical empires, even if this has been done by bulldozing and annihilating those who saw things in a different colour and wore a different fabric. Of course, some did it just for fun and the laughs.

I could take the liberty and have the temerity of writing a bit on the ancient Roman Empire, a place filled with bloodshed and violence. Much of the most well-known Roman history is that of war. And while ancient Romans embraced a culture that led to many conflicts and much bloodshed, they also had many religious festivals. One of these was the festival of the Lemuria. On one such religious celebration of the Lemuria, Romulus (the legendary founder of Rome) and his brother Remus argued over the location of their new empire. To cut the story short, Remus was soon dead. To soothe the spirits, Romulus began the tradition of killing of infants to appease the Gods. Such are cults created.

Who can forget the ‘superiority’ of the Aryan race that led to the massacre of Jews before and during World War II? Adolf Hitler went on a rampage that saw most of the rest of the world uniting to stop him before Germany killed much of the world.

A bloodthirsty species

Let’s look at some pointers I found in an analytical report, of wars being fought for land and the spread of religion. World War II was the deadliest and bloodiest armed conflict in human history—fought from 1939 to 1945, the Second World War saw over 7 crore fatalities, and cities and people being devastated across all of Europe, and parts of Russia and Japan. Ironically, Hitler’s holocaust and military ‘excursion’ saw Europe and the United States emerge much stronger economically.

Rewind some 700 years and we get to the Mongol wars, which saw around 6 crore people lose their lives to spears, swords and guillotines. In the process, the Mongols captured nearly 25 per cent of the total land mass on Earth. So bloodthirsty was this war (not in pursuit of Shamanism, as the Mongols were tolerant in terms of religion) that over 100,000 Chinese soldiers are said to have committed mass-suicide just to avoid being killed or maimed by the Mongols.

I could talk of World War I, Napoleon and his exploits or the Manchu Conquest of China by the Qing dynasty over the Ming dynasty, but that would still be just scratching the surface. I could make a mention of the Greek War of Independence, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the Nigerian conflict, the Buddhist uprising, the Lebanese Civil War or the Iran-Iraq War. If I go back over a 1,000 years, I could speak of the Reconquista in the 8th century, the First Crusade for Christendom in the 11th century, the French Wars of Religion that raged across France in the 16th century, the Thirty Years’ War in the 17th century, the Circassian War that began in the 18th century and lasted for nearly a decade, and so many others. Or I could talk of India and the Mughals, an invasion that we feel the repercussions of even today.

But enough, for the point is this; that as a species, we have always been bloodthirsty, almost always at the altar of religion—mankind has always had a primal penchant for the bloodcurdling and macabre.

No more history lessons

Don’t worry, no more history lessons, for the moral of this story has perhaps been made clear. Leaders of yesteryear and today have all had this ignoble and cacophonic arpeggio running through their veins; wherein while they promise melody and mellifluousness, they resort to the most inharmonious actions and rhetorical vomit if things do not go their way. We see it all around the world and it is as staggering as it is disappointing, especially because the world as a whole is falling apart around us on so many fronts.

Today’s global leaders and powers would be in much better stead if they focussed instead on battling the economic stagnation that threatens to uproot billions of lives over just the next year or two; tackle what’s left of this scourge called the novel Coronavirus and bring a simple trait called fearlessness back into the daily lives of their people; take sensible steps to push back Climate Change, which is threatening the very air we breathe and the water we drink; and bring education and healthcare facilities to the have-nots, so that the world can be a better place. After all, that is what they were elected or appointed to do, right?

Yes, they were, but when narrow thinking, vested self-interest and hidden agendas rear their ugly heads, all intentions of doing something for the greater good are thrown asunder. And that is what is happening in the world; with skittish wars still raging, border skirmishes still being reported every other day and knives being sharpened for the arrival of the reviled ‘other side’.

The common people

The common people have all but given up, be it in superpowers United States and Russia, the once-affluent Europe, war-torn Ukraine and Israel, blundering Afghanistan and Iran, and in many other geographies. All around, the so-called common people are seeing intolerance, violence, financial downsides, healthcare problems and military conflicts. Life has been torn apart for billions, especially over the last few years, as the authorities have seemingly moved on to greater objectives with their profound vision and divine, blessed thinking.

The gory underlying truth about religion and mankind has been summed up quite aptly by William J Brenner. Jr., who said: “Religious conflict can be the bloodiest and cruellest conflicts that turn people into fanatics.” We are all getting a glimpse of that in our daily lives today. So what are we going to do about it, since ultimately it will be the people who will have to bring about sense and change? We have to think, and think fast.

The writer is a veteran journalist and communications specialist. He can be reached on narayanrajeev2006@gmail.com. Views expressed are personal