Mangalore: Religion Must Provide for Debates - Swami Agnivesh
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (MM/RD)
Mangalore, Oct 20: ‘Every second child in India is suffering from malnutrition. About 7,000 children die here everyday because of hunger. If religions had sense, all religious institutions would have become a shelter for these destitute children. But the children are neglected just because they belong to the Dalit and tribal community’, said Swami Agnivesh, Right Livelihood Award winner, and well-known social and religious activist, on Monday October 20.
Delivering the lecture on ‘Religions for a Just and Peaceful Society’, organized by the chair in Christianity and the political science department of Mangalore University he said that a person who becomes a doctor or engineer in India, wants to migrate to western nations to enjoy luxurious living. In the meantime Graham Staines, a doctor from Australia, came to a remote village in Orissa and opened a leprosy home to serve the poor. But he was charred to death, along with two of his teenaged children, in the name of conversion, lamented Swami Agnivesh.
When Gladys Staines, his wife, saw the bodies of her husband and children, she just said, ‘The murderers of my husband and children should be forgiven.’ Gladys Staines is an ordinary housewife and there was not an iota of anger though she lost three people close to her. This teaches a lesson to communal-oriented persons on how to control anger, he opined.
All religions do not encourage questioning. But there should be an opportunity to differentiate between faith and blind faith. Religion should give scope for clearing doubts, and for debates, he said. Swami Agnivesh said that he belongs to a Telugu Brahmin family and his grandfather had vast farm holdings.
The farmhands were treated as bonded labourers and they were never allowed to come inside the house. They had to stay in the courtyard, with a bare minimum of clothes on their body. The children were not allowed to mix with the labourers as they were considered untouchables. But it is high time we shunned all these discriminatory and exploitative practices, he said.
To enter into a contract or marry someone, a person should complete 18 years. But religion is taught at a very young age by the ‘merchants of religion’. Swami Agnivesh queried why we cannot wait till a person completes 18 years and give him the freedom of selecting his religion. He opined that one can be a good person without belonging to any religion.
Premkumar, registrar, Mangalore University, presided over the function. Fr John Fernandes, chairman, Chair in Christianity, Mangalore University, welcomed the gathering. Hundreds of intellectuals and varsity students attended the lecture.