Environment
Is Religion the Biggest Enemy of Environment?
There has been a global concern over the deteriorating environment but we have not been able to muster enough courage to stop several religious rituals where the environment suffers a lot and we keep our eyes and mouth shut. We even don’t utter a word of criticism fearing that might bring us the suffering and could put us under attack from some fundamentalist groups which proclaim to be the champions of religion and for whom religion is nothing but the last word from the God himself and in that no change would ever be tolerated.
So, we after all our education, do close our minds and put brakes on all odd thoughts coming into our minds that something going wrong here in the name of religion.
So Is religion the biggest enemy of Environment?
When it comes to religion we all become quite sentimental and emotional as this is something which is really close to our hearts and minds. Perhaps this is the reason when it comes to follow religious traditions we overlook the consequences and behave in a manner contrast to our personality.
No one has ever dared to speak a word against any such ritual till date which not only surprised me but baffles many abroad who keep asking me questions on the continuation of such rituals despite education making inroads in our social fabric changing lifestyle and mindset of millions in recent times.
To begin with the rituals among Hindus, we still lit pyre for the dead which requires wood. We have electric crematorium now but still a majority goes for the traditional pyre and amidst chanting of mantras, we burn bodies thinking the soul will go to heaven. A few poor, who cannot afford the cost of wood, depose the body in rivers thus polluting our natural resources of water.
Similarly it is during the festival of colours Holi when thousands of green trees are chopped off to burn Holika on the crossroads. On one hand we lose trees on the other we pollute environment as the smoke which emits out from all Holikas release carbon-di-oxide in the air. Same is with Diwali and other festivals where crackers pollute environment and we all sit silently and watch proceedings helplessly.
It is really sad to see that education has failed to make any impact on the minds of people even in this 21st century. Similarly, the use of loudspeakers from religious places in the morning time, give out noise pollution but neither the government has been able to enforce any law on it nor we have been able to do anything concrete which can protect our environment. Time has come when religious heads must sit together and see that certain amendments are made to safeguard the environment at global level. We cannot ignore the issue of environment any longer in the name of religious works as that would only harm us in the longer run.
22-Mar-2011
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Ratan Sharga
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