I came across an interview of Innaiah Narisetti, a humanist and writer, with views that were explosive, but very introspective. He has written a thesis that children’s rights should include complete freedom from religious beliefs or parental conditioning.
He has said: “There is a global unwillingness to acknowledge that all religions use their educational institutions and programmes, be they Sunday Christian schools, Madrassas, Jewish or Hindu temples to indoctrinate children. Sometimes, this is in the guise of conveying good moral values, but, while it may be much more rigid and overt in, say, a madrassa, it is no less influential on young minds in a Christian Sunday school.”
I found the ideas in Mr Narisetti’s paper bold, but also strange. He says since we deny children voting rights and stand up against child marriage, there is a need to debate the participation of children in religious institutions.
But it is a fact that religion accompanies us from birth to death. It begins with baptism and ends with funeral, and we confine all of these into the respective religious parameters. Is it then practical to separate religion from individuals? How can we use guidelines to stop parents from “influencing” their wards on religious beliefs.
When we are young, we would accompany our parents to temples/churches . Could we have avoided that? It is also part of a child’s psychology to imitate parents. Which means, praying at home or following a religion is subconsciously passed on to children. Or is the writer trying to say that parents should give up going to places of worship, or stop praying at home. Then, isn’t it denying parents (read individuals) their fundamental right to religion?
Of course, we can choose to be atheists or humanists as adults following indoctrination from ideological theories. But asking parents or families to stop what Narisetti calls “religious abuse” of children seems impractical.
We learn the first lessons of humanity from our parents. Compassion, sympathy, honesty are lessons imparted to us by our parents, who have probably been “brainwashed” by religious texts.
I agree that there is a serious distortion of texts and their interpretation by religious leaders that has corrupted our beliefs. Superstitions have creeped in and some gory practices have mutilated all the religions.
But what is of concern now is this dangerous game of religious one-upmanship being played. Taking India’s case, there is a threat from the young minds being programmed “to protect” religion, be it Hinduism or Islam. And, of course there is this blatant conversion drive by the church. And, all these are happening in the underprivileged India.
At the end, who is the prey? Is it the children? I feel it is the underprivileged children who are vulnerable to such indoctrination. A hungry stomach is always an easy target: whether it is protect “Islam”, or to raise the saffron flag to fortify the essence of Hindutva, or to initiate an entire generation into Christianity.
Then why blame the parents for making religion hereditary?
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Very well written indeed. But what happens in majority of Indian households is that religious beliefs are thrusted upon children. Children are never taught to question. Fear is a means of instilling religious beliefs. Take for example a kid not wanting to eat - the parent immediately invokes god and says - "god will blind you if you don't eat now". Right from the childhood, god(s) is referred to as someone who will cause you harm if you don't do something. It is subtle but it goes a long way in instilling fear among Indians. Most people pray out of fear - almost as a bargain so that nothing wrong happens to them. Of course, there are exceptions but I am talking about a vast majority. Relgion in India on many occasions is practiced masquerading as sprituality. How does one deal with that? Isn't that a form of indoctrination that is happening right from the childhood?
ReplyDeleteFaith in god(s) happens in such a conditioned manner that children aren't even aware of the possibility of there being no god(s). Lack of faith in god(s) is not an option to most Indian kids. Shouldn't children be exposed to an idea that god(s) is perhaps dead? But of course, nobody would do so out of fear.
I fully agree with what you refer to as "easy prey". More often its the hungry that falls prey to religious jingoism. The examples you cite are the very reasons I feel that religious fanaticism needs to be dealt as a severe crime. Be it the rape in Kandhamal or the arson in Godhra.
Once again - nice piece.
well written subs. I just want to add that religion is a convenience. You want vote follow the saffron brigade, you want admission convert to christianity, you want a visa to the gulf country and make more money then become muslim....... the list goes on. Its been a convenience even to our parents who are the ones who have imparted compassion and thruth etc etc to all of us. Sin was the much used word and we as children were sucker to this. The elders got us to do anything by using this word. Take any religious festival its a matter of convenience again. the prasad, the rituals and the pooja all a matter of convenience. There is no choise at all. Religion on its own is so great that it does not need mere mortals to protect it. Let the child get to choose. if a child can choose sunjects which is going to decide his carrier and future then he /she should have the right to choose religion ..... to follow any one or not to follow
ReplyDeleteKumar adds :-
ReplyDeleteIts a good write up, but i differ. No one targets the child. In India it is always the parent(s) who decide everything for a child. What the child should eat, what clothes to wear, which friends to play with, which school to go, what subjects to choose etc etc. No one ever asks the child's opinion. To such an extent that at a later stage even the life partner is "chosen" by the parents. Since relegion is the world's largest business, it targets the most important and vulnerable customer - the parents. No relegious sect wants you to have a choice. They only want to have a group of the devoted who will follow and then become customers to purchase relegious doodahs, get donations, purchase out "Sins" to reserve a confirmed berth in heaven.
It was convenient for the Hindutva brigade to use a Ram janmabhoomi to come to power. Now it is no longer a working formula, so they need a new action plan. It was not only the underprivileged who got carried away then, the contributions for the Mandir came from many educated & well to do people.