- Hindutva News Analysis -
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Melbourne,with inputs from correspondents at London, Sydney and Dili (E.Timor):
Involve American-Afghans in governing a post-Taliban Afghanistan
Viewing the footage on CNN yesterday of Afghan-Americans coming on screen and speaking in impeccable American accented flawless English, gave us a brainwave that the best way to ensure a sensible government that can ensure a lasting peace and material progress in Afghanistan is to have some of these minds to be the rulers of Afghanistan in place of Mullah Omar.
Extrapolate this idea to the Islamic world and then on to the entire globe
We should extrapolate this idea to the entire Islamic world and then on to the entire globe. We can have a sensible world order only when all Muslim nations are ruled by those who have been born as Muslims who are Civilized (Westernized, and more specifically Americanized) not just in mannerisms, but also in their outlook, and who have given up the Islamic Outlook. Only in these circumstances can we have a World Order that would ensure peace and progress; and not turn the human race towards its own destruction as it did on the 11th of September.
As a next step, this method can be extended to non-Muslim countries as well. Then we would have a world, where all nations are ruled by leaders having a similar outlook that is civilised (Westernised, more specifically Americanized). This can be followed by integrating all nations a loose federation of one World State.
Examples of Westernized Islamic countries
Not that this is an entirely novel idea. It has been implemented by persons who have been born as Muslims to achieve a Civilized Society. Turkey is shinning example. The Turkish visionary Mustapha Kemal Pasha (Ataturk), literally caught the Ottoman Turkish society with its beard and swept it onto the path of civilization. A person who walks in Istanbul or Ankara will wonder whether he/she is in Europe. What is unseen, is that the outlook of the citizens is also absolutely non-Islamic. Turkey is a role model for all Islamic nations to follow. Other ex-soviet Islamic nations like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgzstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan also to some extent resemble Turkey - but not fully so.
Taking cue from the appearance of suave, sophisticated Afghans on CNN we recommed that as a first step, the world community has to put these civilized gentlemen in place of the Paleolithic regime in Kabul. This should be followed by all other countries in the Islamic world and then by all other countries, so that all across the globe, we have a civilized human species living in nations loosely connected into a Global federation. What Ataturk did was in essence to remove the hindrances to freedom of thought and action. Ironically to this he had to become a hindrance to hindrances! We shall see what this loaded statement " become a hindrance to hindrances" means in the following paragraphs.
Individual freedom of thought is the heart and soul of human existence
To state this case in crude way: a dog has to bark and if he is prohibited from barking and someway the dog is made to follow this rule; then although he still remains a dog, he has lost the prime essence of being one. He may chew bones, still dig holes in ground to bury bones, relive himself on pillars and columns - but he will not be able to bark. He has lost the prime essence of being a dog!
Similarly if a man is asked not to think freely; he would still remain a man as he would use only tow limbs to walk and two others to eat, read, write etc. But he will not be allowed to think freely.
This what in fact happens when a person is religious. His faculty of though remains locked up and circumscribed by one or more than one religious text. The Bible, (New and Old Testament), the Quran-Sharif, the Vedas, etc have done just that. Ask a devout Hindu and he will say - "All knowledge that is necessary is given in the Vedas" A Muslim will say the same thing; only that he will replace the word "Veda" with the "Quran-Sharif", for a devout Christian the word would be the Holy Bible and so on.
Is the Quran, Bible, Veda, etc the word of god?
Some readers will ask here, that the Quran, Bible, Veda is the word of god. Here we need to state that for a thinking species of the human being, no statement can be beyond debate. So we can debate if there is any god, is there any word of god, is it sensible for humans to freeze their outlook to that given in any one or many texts, is it sensible for humans to kill others in the name of god, is it sensible for humans to blow themselves up while killing others in the name of god, is it sensible for humans to fly civilian aircrafts into office blocks to kill all the passengers and thousands of other innocent humans!
Some may find this seeming rhetoric to be like the ranting of preacher. Yes we want to preach to the human species that it is high time to redeem the individual freedom of thought that is the sum and substance of human existence and today is necessary for human survival.
The Reason for Civilizing the Uncivilized World
Many eyebrows are going to be raised when they read this. "What the heck, you mean by calling nations uncivilized!" They'll ask. Yes we repeat that any society that denies individual freedom of thought is uncivilized, be it Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Zoroastrian, Sikh, or any other. And it is high time to call the bluff of the religious outlook which in the garb of morality and ethics has kept human faculty of free though as its prisoner!
Ethics and morality are independent of religion
Many would defend religion to be the same as ethics and morality. Yes we understand that it is necessary to tell a child that "Do not steal, for god is watching you." Fine the child does not steal. But when a child grows, up into an adult; if the adult still has to be told not to steal for god is watching him, then the adult has remained a child and the psychology of religion has prevent the child from mentally growing up while physically it has grown into an adult. Here religion becomes a hindrance. Similarly, in the infancy of humankind we needed religion, or some other psychological factor to plant the fear for being good. This ensure the birth of civil society. But when in later times religion does the same function of being a psychological motivator for humans to kill others in the name of god, is it sensible for humans to blow themselves up while killing others in the name of god, is it sensible for humans to fly civilian aircrafts into office blocks to kill all the passengers and thousands of other innocent humans! Then religion becomes a problem. As it has in fact become today. The question is not of Islam alone. The question is of the religious outlook itself. Can its survival allow the human species to move ahead in its destiny to understand and conquer the unknown universe! Can Religion allow us to do this??
Not only religion cannot allow us to do this, but it will forever keep the human species trapped in killing each other. Christian against Muslims, Muslims against Jews, Hindu against Muslims, Christians against Hindus, Jews against Christians, and the show goes on kill or be killed. When is this be called to a halt. Time is now running short and in the coming war, it is not just Islam that will have to be removed from the scene, but the religious outlook itself. A conclusion not many will agree to.
Rationale for Civilizing the Uncivilized World
Here we come to the point that triggered off this line of thought after seeing the Westernized Afghans speaking on CNN. American society is based on individual freedom. We are extrapolating this individual freedom to all spheres - cultural, social, economic, political, religious and any other. All thought and action will have to be free, as long as it does not disturb social harmony. And this will have to be the scenario across the globe. What "Social harmony" is will be decided by society at large and the concept will change with times. What was acceptable in a hunters society, may not so in a pastoral society, what is OK for a pastoral society may not be so for an agricultural society, an industrial society, etc. So contemporary society will have to decide what is "Social harmony". This concept of what is "Social harmony" will change with times; what will not change is that within the limits of socially accepted definition of "Social harmony" , there will be individual freedom of thought and action.
The first hurdle to individual freedom of thought and action is organized religion
The first hurdle to individual freedom of thought and action is organized religion the most traumatic result was seen on the 11th of September. It is high time human society did something about it. This brings us to the logistics and challenges towards Civilizing the Uncivilized World.
Logistics and Challenges towards Civilizing the Uncivilized World
The methodology to do this to Civilize (Westernize, and more specifically Americanize) the globe, after de-islamizing it as a first step to de-religionizing it
A crazy statement it what many non-Americans would say, and some Americans may not say anything substantially different. But we think that the only way to ensure a global environment that is to Americanize the globe, after de-islamizing it as a first step to de-religionizing it. Here we need to call up our earlier statement that in our path toward a free society we need to "become a hindrance to hindrances" Here comes the ruthless, but unavoidable logistics. Without being verbose, we can state that religion runs deep, very deep into the human psyche, and will have to be uprooted ruthlessly. Militant religion will have to be defeated militarily in the physical battlefield before it is neutralized and overcome on the intellectual battlefield. Today we stand at the cliff-edge of the beginning of the military battle with the most acute form of violent religion - Islam.
And only after a decisive global military victory over Islam can we move on to neutralizing the other expressions of the religious outlook on an intellectual plane. Towards this objective let us revisit the concept of an ideal human society.
Concept of an ideal Human Society
We advocate a form of society where the belief or disbelief in religion is a private matter and religion has controlled public expression. Towards this end, we should militarily fight, checkmate and destroy all across the globe, religious fanaticism that advocates the expansion of any one particular form of religious belief at the point of the sword.
We should also intellectually fight and neutralize all across the globe, religious fanaticism which advocates belief in any one particular form of religious belief as the only true faith the others being paganism. And tries to win adherents with allurements of free education, medical care, orphanages, etc.
We should also expose and neutralize that form of religious fanaticism which is a reaction to the above two forms of religious fanaticism and which attacks missionaries and tries to counter peaceful but deceptive missionary activity with terror tactics apart from acting as a Culture Police to impose a ban on beauty pageants, celebration of birthdays, New (Julian/Gregorian) Year festivities, honeymoons, et al.
These folks claim, like us, that they also uphold our same outlook of Hindutva. But we assertively state here that these lumpen elements, do not represent Hindutva since their ideas go against human sanity and commonsense. These vagabonds do not fathom the depth of the Sanatana Parampara, which they allege to represent. We from the http://hindutva.com team, distance ourselves from such uncultured culture police. Unlike them, we are all for the modernization of human society; which in this context is interpreted by many as Westernization or as Americanization. We do not attach significance to the name(s) given to this process. What we fully endorse is, the observance of everything that makes life full of easygoing fun without causing social harm or social nuisance.
We advocate the principle of the universal brotherhood of man and the oneness of humankind and reject all kinds of discrimination between man and man. We advocate service to humankind without any ulterior motive of trying to convert people to any kind of mode of worship. We should ensure that there is freedom for people to worship the way they want to (without leading to social discord or holy wars); or not to worship at all. We have to thus work towards a scenario where there is no discrimination between man and man (discrimination as existed in the de-humanizing caste system and in all other forms of socio-economic division of society) and where there is complete freedom to choose one's method of prayer (without leading to social discord or holy wars); or to choose not to pray at all. A scenario where religion is allowed a controlled social existence and thus does not become a reason for social discord.
This scenario is quite similar to the ancient Hindu society, the only difference being that religion, understood as the public practice of worship is controlled, so that it does not become a reason for social discord or holy wars.. It is this scenario, in which the pre-history of humankind will end. With this will end religious sectarianism, and division of our globe by national borders - borders along which there has been violence, hatred and bloodshed. With this scenario will begin the history of the human species, where science and quest for knowledge will dominate the human outlook and where WE as one species will face SPACE - the final frontier for humankind.
For the Future, to ensure that the public practice of religion does not lead to social strife, we feel that the following points need to be implemented in human society the world over.
- Celebration of religious festivals or any other form of public expression of religion, should always be under the supervision and control of the civil (law and order) authority.
- All educational institutions should be run by professional educational bodies who should follow a common syllabus and curriculum. This syllabus and curriculum should educate every generation about the nature of religious outlook itself and the creative and destructive role it has played in past Human history. The syllabus and curriculum should not to require/ask of everyone to believe in god or to stop believing in god. Every child of schooling age would have to get educated through the medium of such schools.
- There should be a common Civil Code for the entire citizenry across the globe.
- There should be a general ban on evangelism and public debate between different modes of worship.
We are aware that these suggestions will be subjected to severe criticism by visitors from various (all) religious backgrounds. But we the webmasters of this Hindutva site believe that the future hope for the human species does not lie in religion, spiritualism, dogmatism, and the concurrent religious fanaticism and theology-inspired terrorism that all religions breed. The future Human Being should be more attuned to frequenting Science Labs and Astronomical Observatories; rather than going to Churches, Temples, Monasteries, Mosques, Fire-altars, Synagogues, etc.
Our future lies in the human qualities of reasoning, scientific research, increasing understanding of the physical universe beyond the globe and the solar system. The qualities for a future ideal Human Being would be those of being a saintly scientist who would function as a soldier whenever our human species and the civilized human way of living is threatened from forces within the human species (like those of theology-inspired terrorism) or from forces beyond our planet and solar system.
What should be the Policy of a Secular World State Towards Religious Belief
We shall now turn to the ace question of what should be the policy towards religious belief, of a Global State that is Secular according to the dictionary meaning of the term?
Religion will always be part of the Human Psyche
Assuming that the state which professes secularism to be its policy, also professes the concurrent policy of rationalism, the attitude of the state would have to be of looking at religion as a permanent phenomenon in the human psyche. The state should recognize that it is a basic human urge to fear the unknown. For example, almost all of us have the fear of the darkness. This fear has always existed in human minds (as in fact in animal minds too). This fear is based on our inability to use one of our important faculties - the faculty of sight, which becomes ineffectual in the dark. So the fear of darkness which represents the unknown, as we cannot see and hence do not know what exists in the darkness. Such is the natural human attitude toward anything that cannot be seen, or heard, or smelt, or touched - i.e. anything that is beyond our senses of perception. And there will always be, in the universe, innumerable such phenomenon that would always remain beyond our senses of perception.
Thus there would always remain the human urge to co-relate with the unknown as an extra-natural power which can be invoked in one's favour by praying before it. There would consequently be various methods of prayer. And there would also con-currently be the urge on part of humans to make other humans conform to their own unique way of prayer. And if such a mindset were allowed to propagate its method of prayer, there would be religious missionary activity. Till this point there would be no problem. But if these mindsets are allowed to propagate their method of prayer with the force of arms then you have the Jihad, Crusade, etc. This the rationalist state should never allow to happen.
What the state should ensure is an environment in which every citizen of this globe can choose his/her way of co-relating with the unknown - as the unknown universe, or as a deity. And if the choice is that of a deity then there should also be the complete individual freedom to choose how to propitiate this deity, as long as the method is not a social nuisance.
In this context the state policy should also be of being evenhanded as far as different religions go. The undercurrent of this policy should be to give equal treatment to all religions (as the Hindu state did in ancient times) and to regulate in an impartial manner the process of intellectual debate between rationalism and religious belief in its various forms.
It should be realized here that if the unknown is always going to remain as unknown, then the policy of a species that is capable of understanding this fact of existence should be to have an open attitude towards the unknown. And hence this attitude should translate into a policy of always allowing the freedom to citizens of this globe to co-relate with the unknown universe the way they want to without any hindrance whatsoever. Hence the rationalist state should not interfere in the attitude which the citizens of the globe take towards the eternal unknown.
The state should only ensure that no single person or persons are allowed to enforce their beliefs on any other person or persons. This would lead to a repetition of the self-destructive occurrence of "Holy Wars", Jihads, "Crusades", etc.
Whether a person decides to co-relate with the unknown universe as the unknown universe, or as a deity (whatever the name) should entirely be left to the individual. No other individual or group should be allowed to enforce its choice on any other person or group.
In fact if, in the real spirit, the right to co-relate with the unknown universe is left entirely to an individual, there need never be any religious groups at all, since every citizen of this globe could have his/her unique and individual way of co-relating with the unknown. This would reflect the ancient adage which means "The unknown universe does not change because of the different names by which you choose to describe it, but there should be freedom to describe it the way you want to." In the Sanskrit original the adage is "Ekam Sat, Viprah Bahuda Vadanti."
Read other pages bringing you an Analysis of Current News at hindutva.com
- Sudheer Birodkar
On behalf of the http://www.hindutva.com team
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(This Hindutva Site is managed by a Virtual Team of Webmasters across the globe. The articles included at this site do not necessarily represent the views of the Webmasters.)
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