Religion, Resposible Journalism, and Responsible Governance Religion invokes extreme passion in most human beings. It is primal because religion is indeed primal. Journalists often say that they have the right to freedom of expression in depicting religion and symbols of religion in whatever way they wish. Of course, governments, unable even to comprehend what responsible governance means declare wars on religious terror. It is madness. I have called some Hindu monks awful names when they raped women in Hindu monasteries. Did I in anyway insult or abuse Hinduism? Not at all. I am a practicing Hindu. I took painstaking effort to demonstrate that these rapist monks do not represent Hinduism at all. They are what they are: criminal men with no religion. When the problem is identified thus as nothing to do with religion, then the solution lies not in denigrating symbols of Hinduism, but in prosecuring these criminals as per law. If we do not have proper laws, then enact them. Law is always work in progress. It never reaches an end. Then the other part of the solution is to rebuild the lives of the victims. If we dont have proper laws for it, then we must enact them. I have seen Lord Ganesha (a religious symbol in Hinduism) printed on toilet paper. Similarly I also saw other symbols of Hinduism on sandals to wear. It is claimed that it constitutes freedom of speech. May be. But it is certainly irresponsible. It does not in any way solve the problems and crimes committed by criminal men claiming that they represent Hiduism and God to us. If journalists claim freedom of speech rights to denigrate Hinduism as a religion and symbols of Hinduism, I only think that they are irresponsible journalists exhibiting their bigotry and intolerence. It is not exercising their right to free speech. Do we have a right to criticize the Pope? Yes we do. Pope is a man in flesh and blood. He is a public figure. We certainly can exercise our freedom of speech rights to call him any names as we please. But we dont do that to the symbols of Christianity- cross or Jesus or Mary. Denigration of religious symbols is irresponsible. If cartoonists draw pictures of Mohammad, denigrating the Prophet of Islam, they are irresponsible. It is irrelevant to their right of free speech. On the other hand, a mullah preaching hatred from a mosque is a man in flesh and blood. Be critical of him and do something to stop him from preaching that hatred by enacting proper laws for that. I respect Islam as a religous path to self-realization and Prophet Mohammad as a representative of God. I call the mullahs of Iran as madmen. If I am a journalist, in my opinion, that combination of respect for faith and its symbols and exercising my freedom of speech to be critical of people who use religion as a cover to commit crimes and expose them for what they are, is what I may call responsible journalism. As a responsible citizen, I will then suggest possible solutions to address such problems as crimes committed in the name of religion without in any way denigrating any religion or symbols of religion. Fighting wars by governments against religious terror makes no sense whatsoever. It means that we have leaders of countries who do not have a clue as to what constitutes responsible governance; instead they practice and preach the same sort of hatred which they are trying to eradicate. It is more dangerous because they are practicing it on a massive scale using the might of powerful states. It is destroying innocent citizenry in many countries including their very own and driving many more people to become terrorists. All of this has absolutely nothing to do with religion and God; or religious symbols. My advice to fellow journalists: be responsible towards all religious faiths and their symbols; do not spare those scoundrels who claim to represent religion and God to us in flesh and blood. You find such scoundrels among temples, churches, mosques and in GOVERNMENTS.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 20:09:36 +0000
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