Reuters photo
By
Siddhartha Rastogi
Al-Qaeda
Al-Umar-Mujahideen (AUM)
Babbar Khalsa International (BKI)
International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF)
Akhil Bharat Nepali Ekta Samaj (ABNES)
Communist Party of India (Maoist)
Communist Party of India (Marxist – Leninist) People’s War
These are some of the organizations that have been banned by the Government of India and by some other governments across the globe. Most of these institutions gain strength from their religious fanaticism.
Modus Operandi is fairly simple. Dissatisfied Youth and their families who have been victimized by the state, local government or by area henchmen are mobilized. These men and women are then brainwashed and radicalized to raise arms against the countries or against some section of the society which includes vulnerable women, children and senior citizens.
These bright, lost and confused youth are then used as weapons of mass destruction. They are given to believe they are serving a larger cause of their religious almighty, while being completely indifferent to the fact they are destroying humanity. Power Brokers, Orthodox Warlords derive immense strength from disoriented and strayed teens who are willing to lay their life on their one command in the name of deity and omnipotence. They are ready to kill and be killed at the same time.
Over thousands of years of human evolution, religion has become a great source of power and inspiration which brings cohesiveness to the society.
But the moot question remains:-
Why did religion come into existence?
Why did humans choose to embrace the concept of religion?
Existence of Alpha men and Alpha women – Since the Paleolithic period, humans were used to living in small groups. Humans were constantly under the danger of wild animals and other species which inhabited this planet. Each person who is part of the clan was responsible for certain duties and more importantly, to watch each other’s back during uncertainty and danger. When danger hit the tribe, these alpha men and women took the lead and fought with the danger, without thinking of themselves but the clan first. These men and women had the natural instincts of a leader and, supported by a strong will and determined action, they stood out. These could not be explained by others of the sect and by future offspring. As stories about them kept moving from generations after generation, and then started to be documented in the form of scriptures, their thoughts and ideas took shape of a religion.
In the hope of comprehending the uncomprehendable – For thousands of years, humans couldn’t understand the existence of the sun, moon, gravity, universe, solar system, rains, climatic change, earthquake, and these forces of nature became the guiding principle of religious thought and notions.
As the world population began to grow – People began to scatter to find their own path and interests, it becoming increasingly difficult to bind people and bring them to a common platform for a common cause and hence religion became that binding indivisible platform to align every human towards a single goal to fight the adversary.
Stories as the narrative – Most religious texts across the globe have been written in the form of stories of greatness or on the basis of hope for future. We as human beings only understand stories and our brain accepts that as reality. Thus narratives and scriptures have turned into the form of texts which have been used extensively to propagate and expand the religious beliefs of human beings.
One can see from the above that the main reason religion came into existence was to create peace and harmony amongst humans as their population grew and to make them more secure against anonymous unascertained threats, which in the current world are being used as a power tool to destroy the society and mankind as a whole.
