A friend used to tell me of his uncle's prescription for ridding India of all the evils plaguing it. It was to ask all people above 8 years of age to stand along the shoreline of India and then push them far out into the ocean! He firmly believed that once you have crossed that age threshold, you would never be able to unlearn or rid yourself of the belief and value system that the society has drilled into you. Religions understand this and want initiation to start with birth itself. ISIS, doing unthinkable crimes in the name of a religion, also understands the principles well. And this is why they are training children as young as 3 years into beheading dolls, handling firearms and killing people. These hapless children will grow up into criminals beyond reform.
Thus it is of paramount importance in secular societies that reason and secular values be instilled into children at an early age, alongside any religious training imparted by their communities if not before it. Imparting these skills and values later on in life does not help. The values and beliefs imbibed earlier in childhood prevail and hold fast. This is borne out by well educated software engineers and doctors turning into terrorists.
States are not doing enough to instill secular values from early childhood. But there are, and I would like to believe that all along there have been, parents who pass on overt or covert messages to let their children know that it is okay to question whatever is being taught in the name of religion. Some communities have even stopped or allowed to wither away formal religious instructions. Priests in such communities often openly rue about this loss.
Today Muslims are seen as one community that persists in indoctrinating their young children hard with their network of Madarsas. It is unfortunate that these Madarsas are patronized by governments too. And this may explain prevalence of terrorism among even well literate Muslim youth. I say this at the risk of being accused of religious profiling. And yet I say this because this is what Muslim community needs to do to get rid of this branding and this evil plaguing their community - go easy on religious instructions and make your children understand that their religion is just one of many that exist on this earth.
When you have not been indoctrinated hard in your childhood, you are more likely to grow into a person who appreciates his religion as merely a legacy, both good and bad, from his forbears, and yet realizes that it is not worth killing or getting killed for and that it may have weaknesses in the current age and context. It is like a happy child who grows up to realize that his father isn't really a superman but only a man and an average one at that, and yet loves him for all the care and love he bestowed on him. Such a person will not kill or maim another person who refuses to acknowledge his daddy as the best! Only such persons can truly appreciate the beautiful in a religion and reject the ugly in it.
Also any hope for reform of errant fanatics from a religion can come only from saner members of the same community. They alone have a chance of being heard. They wittingly or unwittingly contribute to the common resources of the community that are then usurped by the fanatics. Chetan Bhagat recently argued in an article in Times of India that peaceful moderate members must not be forced to oppose the fanatics from their faith. I do not agree with his argument and the community must assume responsibility for its errant members rather than relying on others to reform or eliminate them. They must raise their voice loud enough to startle the fanatics and reassure potential victims. And then mankind as a whole must vow to eliminate this clan of demons who are killing and demonizing children and abusing womenfolk. Will the mankind unite to do so? Well, we have not done so for eliminating global poverty or deforestation. Let us hope we do better on this front.
Thus it is of paramount importance in secular societies that reason and secular values be instilled into children at an early age, alongside any religious training imparted by their communities if not before it. Imparting these skills and values later on in life does not help. The values and beliefs imbibed earlier in childhood prevail and hold fast. This is borne out by well educated software engineers and doctors turning into terrorists.
States are not doing enough to instill secular values from early childhood. But there are, and I would like to believe that all along there have been, parents who pass on overt or covert messages to let their children know that it is okay to question whatever is being taught in the name of religion. Some communities have even stopped or allowed to wither away formal religious instructions. Priests in such communities often openly rue about this loss.
Today Muslims are seen as one community that persists in indoctrinating their young children hard with their network of Madarsas. It is unfortunate that these Madarsas are patronized by governments too. And this may explain prevalence of terrorism among even well literate Muslim youth. I say this at the risk of being accused of religious profiling. And yet I say this because this is what Muslim community needs to do to get rid of this branding and this evil plaguing their community - go easy on religious instructions and make your children understand that their religion is just one of many that exist on this earth.
When you have not been indoctrinated hard in your childhood, you are more likely to grow into a person who appreciates his religion as merely a legacy, both good and bad, from his forbears, and yet realizes that it is not worth killing or getting killed for and that it may have weaknesses in the current age and context. It is like a happy child who grows up to realize that his father isn't really a superman but only a man and an average one at that, and yet loves him for all the care and love he bestowed on him. Such a person will not kill or maim another person who refuses to acknowledge his daddy as the best! Only such persons can truly appreciate the beautiful in a religion and reject the ugly in it.
Also any hope for reform of errant fanatics from a religion can come only from saner members of the same community. They alone have a chance of being heard. They wittingly or unwittingly contribute to the common resources of the community that are then usurped by the fanatics. Chetan Bhagat recently argued in an article in Times of India that peaceful moderate members must not be forced to oppose the fanatics from their faith. I do not agree with his argument and the community must assume responsibility for its errant members rather than relying on others to reform or eliminate them. They must raise their voice loud enough to startle the fanatics and reassure potential victims. And then mankind as a whole must vow to eliminate this clan of demons who are killing and demonizing children and abusing womenfolk. Will the mankind unite to do so? Well, we have not done so for eliminating global poverty or deforestation. Let us hope we do better on this front.
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