Sikhism emerged in 1469 AD. After that no religion could prevail. Why? The answer is that human race has generally become more conscious and has started questioning the relevance of divinity
It is estimated that some 50,000 years ago humans developed the psychobiological capacity and hence the realization that they were a different being apart from other animals and species, clever enough to kill them and eat them. At that point in time, humans were able to actively create their surroundings to survive on this planet. Yet man was not conscious enough to realize that power of nature like heat of sun, water, fire and wind could be harnessed to his benefit. He was rather most of the time scared of natural calamities like floods, wind cyclones and solar heat. In agricultural age, in ancient Egypt for example; the physical survival merely depended on crop. The floods, winds and scorching heat of the sun destroyed the crop. The concept of God emerged out of fear of dying due to hunger as in their belief, some natural powers would destroy their crop through either flood or wind or drought. The concept of single God was for the first time introduced by Prophet Abraham in Iraq. The first human civilization, “Sumerians” developed in Iraq around 3500 BCE. The first set of religious injunctions was written by Marduk a Sumerian Priest, followed by a series of religions that were founded in Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Indian and Persian civilizations.
In recent times, out of 6 billion world population, Christianity and Islam have 2 Billion and 1 Billion followers respectively. 1.3 billion Population of China, almost 20% of world population, follows no semantic religion, though; they have socially adopted few teachings of Confucius. More than 2 Billion remaining population of the world follows other religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism in Asia and animist beliefs in African continent. Regardless of name and origin of any religion, certain common beliefs are found in almost all religions. One, belief in the existence of a Supernatural Divine Power or God (less Buddhism). Two, belief in a Prophet or Messenger of God. Three, belief in a set of injunctions or a scripture narrated by the messenger of God. Four, existence of another life after death or re-incarnation. Five, belief in the concept of Heaven and Hell i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and bad to hell after death. Six, the concept of Sin, Virtue and eternal peace. Seven, almost all religions claim that their message was the best and last set of rules to live a pious life here and get a prosperous life after death, provided followers perform certain rituals and live their life in accordance with religious injunctions.
In short, when one believes in a religion, one stops thinking, stops questioning and inquiring which is an essential attribute towards intellectualism and human progress. Fixed rules and beliefs cannot move with dynamic human wisdom and reason. Today is an age of knowledge, wisdom and consciousness. Therefore, the religions have lost their significance as they enjoyed in the past. In the past the king used to be the priest as well. In times of Pharaohs the kings occupied the place of God and were worshipped as well. Later King and Priest watched each other’s interests and religion was therefore used as a great instrument of power.
Today is the age of science and technology which has shaped our world, human life and thinking. Human beings, over thousands of years, have progressed by learning from their experience. Man has progressed due to his continuous endeavor with nature to survive. The mysterious “will” to survive in living organisms including man is the reason for the collective wisdom that man has acquired today. Religion is not and has never been the source of human progress. Modern age started with European Renaissance, the essence of which was separation of religion from state affairs. European philosophers and social scientists thought that religion has no solution to problems of contemporary human society and in running the affairs of the state. Last of the great religions, Sikhism emerged in 1469 AD in India. After that no religion could prevail or sustain itself like past semantic religions. Why? The answer is that human race has generally become more conscious and reasonable and has started questioning the relevance of divinity with contemporary issues faced by humanity. In this modern era, the problems of economics and social development have taken a different shape which needs scientific solutions. The solution does not lie in old and fixed myths. Today, achievement of sustained and equitable development remains the greatest challenge facing the human race. Despite good progress over the past generation, more than 1 billion people still live in acute poverty and suffer grossly due to inadequate access to resources like education, health services, infrastructure , land and credit-required to give them a chance of a better life. The essential task of governments today is to provide opportunities so that these people and hundreds of millions can exploit their potential. What remedy religion offers to address these issues?
Without any divine guidance, using collective wisdom, acquired through experience, the world has progressed in many unique ways and directions in the last three decades. It has developed technologically, economically and industrially. It is also richer in terms of human capabilities, facilities and quality of life. Improvements in education, communication, technology and markets have made the world a global village. People live longer today, are better informed, can communicate with one another across the world and therefore carry on economic, professional, educational, social and other activities with ease. These decades of development indicate the vast potential for creating a world of order, security and well-being. The developments of the last three decades also indicate that while remarkable progress has been made in a number of directions, the fruits of development have not benefited the world’s growing number of poor people. And where some benefits have reached the poor, new problems are appearing in the form of deteriorating social fabric and environmental degradation. Can any divine instruction present the solution? Religion in the modern era is rather a stumbling block in the way of human development, prosperity and bright future. Religion today is equally irrelevant to other spheres as well. Therefore, most developed nations of the world have not based their political, economic and national defense infrastructure on religious lines.
Any nation trying to base its constitution and rules of governance on religious injunctions will never be able to keep pace with developing world. If we look at Pakistan today we feel that holistically the ‘vice’ of religiosity has done a great loss to this nation. It prohibits openness to experience, new ideas and fresh air as religion is against inquiry. Creativity is being snubbed for last so may decades. Philosophers, historians, poets, artists, filmmakers, architects, writers, novelists and musicians, whose talent depends upon creativity, are fading away since last three to four decades. Our country has gone barren with reference to intellectual and cultural growth. Recent decade has witnessed Pakistan in the worst ever grip of fanaticism and all time high religious extremism and intolerance. The answer lies in taking measures by the government and parliament to gradually reduce religiosity, improve upon human resource development index by providing masses education, health, food and energy security and promoting tolerance among masses.
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Naeem Ashraf is a social and environmental analyst. |
