We seem to be passing through a phase in which people worldwide are displaying low level of toleration towards other religions or points of view. The growing suspicion is leading to bullying and hostility. This is posing a serious threat to world peace.
An interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor throws light on the subject. Writes Walter Rodgers: “Today political and religious leaders tend to snooze their way through the various manifestations of religious coercion and intimidation reminiscent of a darker medieval world.
“Religion should have a humanizing effect on its adherents. Civilizing barbarians was an original aim of Islam. Christianity is supposed to cultivate charity for all mankind. The original idea of loving thy neighbor as thyself was first articulated in Jewish Scripture.
“Yet when religion loses sight of its potential civilizing leaven, it risks merely becoming tyranny in subtler guise…Intimidation is intimidation, whether it’s found in Pakistan, Jerusalem, Florida, or northern Virginia.” More here…
Interestingly, there may come a time when the bullies, who are in minority but manage to hold the society to ransom, are sidelined by the majority.
Our colleague Holly has drawn my attention to an article in The Washington Post. “The threat of ‘Talibanization’ is being denounced in (Pakistan) Parliament and on opinion pages, and the original defenders of an agreement that authorized sharia in Swat are in sheepish retreat.” More here…
And here is The Economist‘s take on Pakistani Taliban…
There is another must-read article:Pakistan is Already an Islamic State. It has been written by Ali Eteraz, an Outstanding Scholar at the U.S. Department of Justice who later worked in corporate litigation in Manhattan. He is a contributor to Pakistan’s Daily Times and Dawn newspapers and the author of the forthcoming prose work, Children of Dust (HarperOne). His website is: www.alieteraz.com.
Eteraz writes: “Most people in the world, including some Pakistanis, live under the illusion that the country is secular and just happens to have been overrun by extremists. This is false.
“Pakistan became an Islamic state in 1973 when the new constitution made Islam the state religion. Under the earlier 1956 constitution Islam had been merely the ‘official’ religion. Nineteen-seventy-three, in other words, represents Pakistan’s ‘Iran moment’ — when the government made itself beholden to religious law.”
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.