Killing in the Name of God -Terror, Hate crime or Religious Intolerance?

This question comes into our minds every time heinous crimes are committed yet we are unable to provide a possible answer. Give it time and the matter is closed. And then we gear ourselves up for the same question again for the next act.

Recent shootings at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida is a vivid example of our incapacity to cope up with mass murders. The perpetrator has been allegedly claimed to be a jihadist.

While the case has been given to FBI, possible presidential candidates are using this to their advantage by unleashing a scathing attack on opponent’s policy towards such diabolical acts. This is not a first such attack in the USA nor will it be the last.

And here we are debating about the possible causes again.

There are basically three ways of describing this devious act but the possible one is the terror. While other two are relatively old, terror acts have been more prominent in recent times. With Islamic state and other terror outfits exuding violence in various parts of the world, we are forced yet again to look for the origins of these groups who claim that they are messengers of God. Which God are they talking about? In all my life I haven’t come across any story of any religion which grants you permission or motivates you to kill someone. Even though I haven’t read the holy books of all the religions, my conscience never allows me to believe that any such God exists and I am sure no learned ‘human’ has this God. Then who are these demons and who is their new God?

God has always been a mystery for humans. Few believe in his existence while others don’t. The exact number of believers and nonbelievers can’t be quantified. But looking at the number of places of worship that we have, it surely signifies to a number far more than we can imagine.

So if such is a scenario then whoever is visiting these places to genuflect in front of God should get his blessings and accordingly their mind and heart should be pure like God’s. This is hardly so. But why?

We need to go back to history millions of years ago and look at the person who first personified God and started the culture of religion and worshipping. Rather the better question is not who created it but why did he create him as we can’t go back in time and blame him for all the furor and pandemonium that the world has witnessed and still living through it. He must have seen God or heard about him from someone else. Or was he a very noble man who couldn’t see the wars that were waged against humanity even at that time and he was afraid that this might lead to a disastrous end. So to help people come out of their misery and spread a wave of tranquility he made up God in hope that people would confide in him and share their problems with him. This was an appreciable gesture but who knew that this gesture would itself create a havoc.

Humans today are committing crimes against themselves in the name of God. And few of these take place in the very place where they worship or the resting place of their God. Yes, it’s their God and not anyone else’s. This has just been made up by these modern demons to defend themselves and their acts. In rather a simple language, no God can tell u to harm someone. And instead of doing something against it, we sit back and let things take their natural course of action. Few of us have guts to actually try to change the situation but then we can’t as we are shunned down by our leaders.

Every religious outburst is turned into a political gain by our rulers. This has been happening since ages and will continue to happen because of our callous attitude. Umpteen number of cases can be cited when a situation has been converted into a war when it could have been peacefully solved.

And this is not restricted to one single religion but to all of them. And most striking part is that this is not even against other religions but even amongst people of one single religion. How can that be justified? Every movie showcasing this issue is either banned or censored as we all know. Every year minimum one pious day is converted into a pool of blood in the worshipping area itself. And then talking about it is considered forbidden as this might lead to reprisal.

This is a clichéd subject yet it is one of the most unresolved. An infinite number of movies, articles, plays, songs or any other medium is used every year to depict this menace but in vain. The recent killings have depicted our inability to provide any stern yet effective end to religious-based crimes. All the possible reasons are twisted into one another and it’s basically one single maze with intermingled ends. It’s up to us to decide when should we successfully solve it and provide a better place to live in with harmony and not just survive in a world filled with guns, grenades and drone attack lurking around the corner and you never know when it can fall on your loved ones. Nature wants its flowers to blossom again, its trees to be healthier again, its water to be blue again and its creatures to be smiling again. We can get whatever we wish for if we just fulfill these very simple demands. The question here is not can we provide because we can. But rather it is, do we want to? Think, think and think. Meanwhile, I’ll start the stopwatch.