In the name of God

Oasis

“I am a provisional deist… someone who is willing to accept the possibility of some kind of intelligent force beyond our current understanding,” EO Wilson, the American entomologist, known as the modern-day Darwin, said once. A “force” we have to reckon with, not fight it but work around it —some might call it God, others might label it as destiny. For others, it might all boil down to karma.

I discern it as certain factors, situations that are beyond our grasp and comprehension. We are left to deal with them by trial, armed with the toolkit of our faculties and lessons learnt from previous experiences.

Life is full of uncertainties. It’s a sum of serendipitous moments. Accidental “discoveries” we make along the way and well-thought-out “inventions” help us course through. Certain things do happen unprecedently. We rush to assign it a name, to have an assurance of certainty. It is, perhaps, reassuring to know there’s someone up there managing the affairs. Thus, we “discover” God.

A mysterious, formless Almighty pulling the strings, making us puppets down here dance to his tunes. But we didn’t rest at that. Being social beings, we tend to disseminate what we have “discovered”. Soon we
“invented” religion. And God no longer remained personal but became a social entity. And he acquired form.

Religion brackets God into identities, symbols and codes, making it easy for us to relate to. We lap up the typecasts based either on the faith we are born into or later get fascinated with. And we group with those who adhere to our beliefs, further rigidifying the stereotyping. And in doing so, we get suspicious of “others” who invoke God with a different set of codes. This creates schisms, tends to bring in binaries, such as our God versus their God.

Religion, at times, seems to bring out the worst in us. It plays upon our fears and draws us into a huddle, wary of the “other.” In fact, it feeds on fear. We pray more out of fear than faith. The fear of the unknown, the uncertainties. And religion stays put firmly in place.