Lead article published in oHeraldo on January 27, 2025
The New Year 2025 was ushered in with a controversy around religious authorities not speaking truth to political powers and breaking bread with controversial political figures. An article by a pastor Jarrod Mckenna titled, “Religion and politics is like ice cream and manure: they don’t mix”, published in the Sydney Morning Herald, reminds us of how faith leaders and politicians worked well together to organise the killing of Jesus. The silence of those religious authorities who mattered when it came to demanding justice from the government for Fr. Stan Swamy is a scar on India’s Church in this twenty-first century. We see the same repeated again in the case of the Manipur issue.
As citizens, these days, we are increasingly being subjected to a vulgar display of religion all around. Religion, like politics, is reduced to nothing more than sensational and stirring ‘pravachans’ (preachings) to be circulated on social media, not to be applied or practiced by these leaders acting like corporate CEOs. Religious devotions and related events are about quantity, not quality. What counts now is the input in terms of market share which is determined by measuring footfalls for events and counting pieces of silver in the coffers. The output in terms of spiritual impact on the day to day life of the devotees or followers hardly matters.
Religious events are now curated and choreographed for that ‘vow factor’ or showcasing someone’s ‘first time ever’ creative genius, more of social media sensationalism which has begun to resemble a tourism festival. The only play is with terminology of ‘pilgrims’ and ‘tourists’.
All the political and religious ‘hungama’ (uproar) with the power centres resorting to blame games and scapegoating is only to entertain the crowds. If colonisation by foreign powers for exploiting the spices and mineral resources got rationalised and justified under the banner of propagating religion, the tool of nationalism employed by crony capitalists to control political power and commerce is now sanctified as religious and cultural revivalism of Bharat. This is why places of worship are now being turned into ‘spiritual tourism’ centres, probably a spiritual ice cream on Goa’s economic manure of booze, drugs, sex and casino culture.
The lack of a rational response from citizens to all the political abuse is not solely related to consumerism or individualism. The silence and falling in line of citizens with oppressive political powers is the fall-out of blind obedience and unquestioned collaboration imparted by the systems within religious institutions. While the abuse in religion remains veiled due to the instilled fear of divine retribution and guilt, the abuse in politics is more likely to get highlighted. It’s not just politics which is the last resort of scoundrels; authorities within religions could be no better.
The lack of a rational response or meek surrender by the public to abuses in politics and religion is nothing but a behavioural pattern which emerges in dysfunctional institutions. The victims develop such irrational behaviour as a coping mechanism after being subjected to the manipulative tactics of F.O.G –Fear, Obligation and Guilt- over a period of time. Abusive behaviour all around begins to look normal after some time. It’s the ‘each one for himself and God for all’ attitude and behaviour which becomes the norm. This is how sound pollution and other nuisance in the name of religion get condoned by the public.
The ‘dharm khatre mein hai’ and ‘desh khatre mein hai’ are two sides of the same coin - manipulation by institutional powers. When the bitter truth stings, the ‘hurt to religious sentiments’ weapon gets deployed to threaten and distract. It’s the model of thinking with emotions instead of reason cultivated by religious leaders to control the followers which sees its successful replication in politics. The bi-product is emotional reasoning in citizens which fuels the abusive systems. The subjugation of followers into a state of docility and servility by the powers in religion perhaps led Karl Marx to label ‘religion as the opium of the people’.
There are lessons to be learnt from the various hostile incidents highlighted by a Filmmaker Nathan Apffel in his attempt to unearth the ‘Church business’ in some of the prominent Churches in the U.S. It is the extent of transparency and accountability in systems within the institution which determines genuine religious leaders from the frauds. This will apply to political leaders too. Any adverse reaction and resistance from those in authority to a reasonable request for accountability and transparency about money and assets accumulated through people’s contribution is a sign that all is not well. Religion is a democracy as long as people worship and fund religious institutions without questioning. No sooner it comes to accountability and transparency there may be a caveat with something like ‘Church is not a democracy’.
It is not our intention to deny the importance of religion. The goal of religion is about guiding human kind to the realisation of the path to the Higher Power or Supreme Being; “to realise the essential oneness” says Mahatma Gandhi. What leads to the contamination of this noble mission of religion are those individuals who hijack these institutions of power for money and selfish ambitions. These authorities manipulate everyone to remain at the centre of control. Since religion has a huge influence over citizens in this country, for clean politics to emerge the cleansing has to first start in religious institutions. Systems that encourage critical thinking and behaviour of speaking of truth to power and the practice of accountability and transparency need to be put in place within religious institutions.
This opinion is a tribute to those religious leaders in Goa who through their life example, despite the backlash from those in authority, dare to show us how to differentiate a Living Faith from a Fossilized Faith, a Progressive Faith from a Regressive Faith.
(The author has worked with community initiatives related to Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention, HIV/AIDS Prevention, Panchayati Raj, Anti-Corruption, Environment Protection and Social Justice.)
https://www.heraldgoa.in/edit/religions-and-politics-any-different-in-manipulative-abuse/418605
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