Has the lunatic fringe taken over???

Images of a burning Taj and Oberoi hotels..on our TV screens...
So many killed in Mumbai...
And we still know not exactly why???....

Clearly, the lunatic fringe has taken charge again..and is in control...
It seems to be gaining ground...the world over..
Gathering more converts...
Even among the educated...and those who should be more enlightened...

A chance conversation with a co-worker...
Brought this home to me...

I was recounting the travails of a Muslim neighbour...
A devout one...as she looked for a suitable school for her 3 year old twins...
There are good schools in our neighbourhood....
But all of them are rigourously wedded to spreading the message of their religion.....

"My little boys now fold their hands and sing...
Raghupathy Raghava Raja Ram"...she said...laughing...
I could see how difficult this must be for her...

When I recounted this..
My co-worker said:
"Why not?? Let them say!!!
After all when you went to a Christian school, they made you say their prayers..."

Yea, but it was not such a polarised world back then...
And reciting that prayer was akin to reciting a p0em...
For most of us..

We recited it and went in to class...
We recited it and came home...
Some...more spiritually inclined...went beyond the words..
We listened to stories from their Holy Book...and enjoyed it..

I do not remember them running down other religions...
Or mentioning the dreaded C word...
C for conversion, that is!!!!...
And distrust was not part of the deal...
Tolerance and understanding were...

They merely showed us their way...
And we learnt..
Our way..at home..
Not so now..

Back then....
Tolerance was a sign of the educated...the enlightened...the liberal minded...
Who respected other ways...
Were sensitive to cultural and religious differences...
And leapt over these boundries to bond with others...
Recognising that all religions are merely roads to the same end...
Or to no end..
As the case may be...

The killing..
The rioting...
The burning down of people and property....
The us vs theirs kind of religion...happened even then, but these were quite clearly the purview of the lunatic fringe...
And which Faith does not have them???

What still shocks me ...
Is when I see educated people..
Educated at premier institutions...
MAs, MScs and Phds...
Proud of their learning...
Mouth the same slogans...
Voice the same prejudices...
Express the same insecurities....
The same hatred....
Speak and behave like the looney fringe...

For shame!!!!....
Learning is not only about formulae and equations...marks and jobs..
Surely..it is also about expanding the mind...and making it inclusive...or should be..

How did this happen???
This emphasis on defining an individual...
By his or her Religion...
Caste...
Class.....
Even language...
Or region...
Even in this day and age...
After exposure to so much education...post globalisation??
How much more narrow can we become???

After all...
The truely spiritual do not need the boundries of religion...
Or need to remain within its folds...
They transcend its narrow confines...

It is said that when Sri Ramakrishna...
Thought of God as Durga and worshipped and beckoned Her...She appeared to him in that form.....
As Krishna...and He appeared as such...
As Jesus...and He appeared in that form...or so the story goes...

Religion was never meant to deteriorate into gang warfare..or terrorism...
It is so much at the opposite end of the spectrum...
In the realm of the Spirit..in the Inner Life..
Unfortunately...raw passions are now in charge...
It is the dynamics of the GANG at work....the world over...

One upmanship...
Mine is better than yours...
Or rather..
Mine is the one true way....

And..in many countries...
It all begins in school..
Where they now catch 'em young...
And convert them into fundamentalists for life...

The only way out is to ban religion and religious teaching from our schools...and educational institutions...
They should teach religious tolerance instead...
It is not their job to teach or propogate a single religion...
Or drum up religious hatred...
Or expose their students to teaching that divides...rather than unites...

Take religious teaching away from institutions...
From the swamijis, gurujis, mullahs, maulvis, nuns and priests...
Out of the purview of the gurukuls, gurudwaras, madrassas and convents...
Leave it to the parents and family...it is their responsibility...
They should deal with it....if they must...

Let schools deal with inculcating moral values...
Good behaviour...good manners...
Teach their students...
To appreciate and respect differences...
Be these social, cultural or religious...
To be sensitive to others...
To become better human beings...
That is the only way to move forward...