I know people would say that our constitution gives us the option of choosing our religion but common sit back and wonder how many people actually do use it, mostly the pressure from the society and parents is too much for a person to even think of taking that less trodden road and also those of us who even use this right, use it for either selfish reasons or are influenced by extremist from any religion.If u see there are umpteenth examples of people who have converted to Islam just so as to allow themselves to marry again,history books have been filled with atrocities by some Christians sect in foreign lands against other religions such as the jews.The crimes against Christians in India in Recent years especially in Orissa due to Graham Stains allegedly converting Hindus to Christians.A rationale offered for violence against Christians in India is that the community is growing at an alarming rate through forced conversions.examples such as the above are uncountable.
When a baby is born,he is born as an atheist, It is the parents who teach them the values of their own religion. India,the biggest democracy in the world proudly preaches the term "Unity in diversity" but yet it is a undeniable fact that it too suffers from communal hatred in some parts of its lands ,this country of ours which is known to be a epicentre of various cultures,why isn't it's policymakers/religious leaders liberal enough to think that why a child born in a Hindu family is automatically considered Hindu for his life,why is a child born in Sikh family is considered as a Sikh forever etc.
When every religion in the world allows and welcomes converts with their open arms,then why shouldn't people be aware of the religion that they are choosing before the actually adopt it.why leave it to luck to decide in which religion you are born into ?
Now what i demand is that why do we people not create a system where students are not tagged in a particular religion based on where they are born and from the start are taught extensively about every religion of the world till the time he becomes intelligent enough to understand the pros and cons of every religion and to choose his/her religion.
why doesn't India set an example for the world to take a cue from ?
The benefits of such a system are :-
- Every human being will be taught about every other religion and that will create awareness amongst the new generation and will help them to better understand the teachings of other religions and will together create a new generation of individuals that will not fight over petty misunderstandings between religious sects over various myths that have long contaminated the thinking's of present and past societies of the world. With better knowledge comes better understanding and this will hopefully drive our culture where there would be less hatred,less misconceptions amongst religious sects and hopefully riots over one's religion will be a thing of past or a far fetched rarest of rare possibility.
- This will help in eradicating the division of people in sub religions created by Various Dhongi baba's and will prevent innocent people to be duped by these self proclaimed messenger's of god as most of the people would be aware of the teaching of every religion and thereby will not feel inclined towards the false claims of these Baba's.
- This will make people less extremist as the feeling of "my religion" and "i was born into this religion and i will die in it" will be eradicated,as people will be more open minded and more exposed to this policy of change,the Power of choice.
I hope this article of mine is able to somewhat kickstart a small process in your head and influences you to think and imagine such a world,A world of Choice.I will Sign of with a line which i hope will remain in your minds and something that u remember after u Leave,So do not forget "The Choice is Yours"
Written By :-
PRABHJIT SINGH WALIA (only)
