The greatest irony is that out of fear of being excluded because of your religion, you exclude others because of theirs.
MIKHAIL RAJARAM
The widely accepted lyrical genius, Bob Dylan, once sang that The Times, They Are a-Changin’. In 1964 he wrote these immortal words and the song, if you listen to it now it rings true even today. If you ask the youth of today what they understand of religion, the first response is likely to be an unconscious wrinkling of the nose. A close friend of mine, when I asked him which religion he followed, once told me, ‘My parents follow Islam, I guess I’m supposed to follow it too, but I don’t.’ If you question the young and young adults in any Indian urban setting you are likely to receive a similar reply. Following a religion is now an old school, uncool and nine out of ten times turns you into a right wing fascist in the eyes of the enlightened left. By now you wonder if this is a rant against the woke, I assure you that it is not! I seek to examine my own worldview as critically as I can. Any shortcomings are apologised for in advance.
The India Inclusion Audit 2022 gave an overwhelming 30% response in saying that religion, often along with other factors is
the leading reason for feeling excluded. Examination of the data shows that a large percentage of the respondents, perhaps because it is an online survey, are young. My understanding of the question would lead me to believe that these respondents feel excluded because they practice a particular religion and assuredly this is one of the reasons, but, there is another perspective, there is a section of the respondents who feel excluded because they are those who do not follow any form of organised religion at all.
Let’s look at the interpretations one by
one, starting from the obvious: the people who follow a particular religion feeling excluded. This is an expected response simply because the current powers are becoming more and more focused on using the influence of religion to hold onto power rather than focus on governance. It is far easier to hold onto power by creating a perceived threat than by actually putting in the effort to run a country. I have seen the induced myopia with my own eyes (pun not intended). People whom I considered as enlightened and wise in the ways of the world now claim that we are under threat, that we are on the verge of being wiped out and I am a fool for thinking otherwise. The greatest irony is this, out of fear of being excluded for your religion, you exclude others for theirs. Why else would you support the beef ban? Why else would you disrupt a peaceful procession? Why else would you want halal certification revoked? It could be because you are an anarchist, but it’s more likely that an IT cell has influenced your way of thinking.
Point two: examining the data obtained in the India Inclusion Audit 2022, 60% of those who cite religion as cause for exclusion are women. And this begs the question, are they excluded because of their religion or excluded from their own religion. Almost all organised religions have one thing that we can agree on, and that is viewing women as second class citizens. My parents brought me up to be open minded and accepting of all things natural.
My own religion sees the feminine as sacred and yet will not allow a woman into a temple during her time of the month. The running joke for women in Hinduism is that they should not feel bad for being excluded. There is a temple where Durga herself is removed from the sanctum sanctorum once a month.
Religion and spirituality are separate. They have been made separate for reasons I have already mentioned. Among the youth of today there are two approaches, either there is a growth in agnosticism or there is a claim that they believe in god but not in religion. And this is perhaps the largest reason for exclusion.
Not from social settings but the youth of today feel excluded from religious practice. They do not identify with rituals, do not see meaning
in uttering words in languages they do not understand, be it Sanskrit, Latin or Arabic. They see God in their own way and this is a reason to be proud of. There are few things in life that are our own: among them comes our faith, or lack of it.
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