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Beginning with the image of faith as a seed planted in childhood, the article examines how families, culture and history shape what a person believes. Imagining early humans’ fear of fire and natural forces, it draws how rituals and idea of heaven and hell formed the first religion, reflecting on Sanatan Philosophy and the concept of the unseen Almighty. It contrasts religion’s inclusive ideas with proselytisation, orthodoxy, terrorism and discrimination, urging a separation of religion and state and a return to compassion, reason and shared human values.

Faith is like a seed.

Faith planted in childhood is like a seed. Its quietly growing roots shape the woodland of thoughts long before the tree grows and becomes shady. Since birth, a child belongs to a religion. It is the family which decides a child’s religion, values, culture and, up to a great extent, disposition. The future demeanour of a child (girl or boy) is shaped during childhood days and surroundings.

With time, religious beliefs become deeply rooted. In another possibility, the faith wilts and the sapling dies in the acid rain of hatred or sometimes logic. To continue further, let us try to understand what a religion is. For this, we need to travel back in time and imagine the situations when it started sprouting in the human brain.

Unseen power

The journey of a human being is a saga of struggle, improvement, and evolution. The highly developed brain and the development of thought processes helped a lot in shaping social life and the fear of unseen but omnipotent natural power. Our antediluvian ancestors were cave dwellers. Their life was simple and probably unburdened by the thoughts of religion and God. An unseen power, nevertheless, can’t be denied. It is this power that binds together to give life its shape and existence. It took a long time for life forms to evolve into definite shapes and sizes. As a result, forests developed and animal life flourished. Humans came very late in the geological period.

The thick primordial forests formed a dense canopy and lush green understories. It was the fit environment for different animal forms to develop, from carnivores to detritivores and many more, like sanguivores, saprophytes, et cetera.

The Fire

The boughs of dense trees must have rubbed against each other, causing friction that resulted in forest fires in the form of an inferno. It must have lasted long, causing the combustion of dead and dry stuff and also roasting many plant products and animals. The “cooked” products were easy to digest and delectable. The ancient humans must have been amazed by the tremendous power of fire, which terrified them. It must be the reason why humans inculcated a sense of fear towards natural forces.

Faith and Worshipping Nature’s power

Nature is benevolent and compassionate, but often, it is red in tooth and claw. In the fierce form, nature annihilates. It is the way of Nature to teach a lesson. The tremendous power of fire, air, water, earth and ether must have caused terror and resultant respect in the human heart. It might be the reason our why early primogenitor begun bowing before the natural forces and worshipping them. Nonetheless, it was not religion but a worship that arose out of terror and the advantages that resulted from it. It is a common observation that people attach importance to those who can help. The reverence for natural forces precedes religious faith, which began with rituals of worship.

Religion born

With progressively growing and getting powerful brain, institutionalisation of rituals began. With the evolution of thought processes, philosophies came up trying to explain the mysteries of Nature. Gradually, it became more structured and logical. The code of conduct drawn up, and the concepts of heaven and hell evolved to execute the code of conduct effectively. It was the first religion which evolved to control and regulate people. The concept of heaven and hell was the linchpin of religion, where good deeds rewarded while bad deeds punished, sometimes severely according to the degree of sin.

It was this primordial religion which people now term the “Sanatan” (eternal) faith. Many thinkers and philosophers enriched it with their sagacious thought processes. It also included various celestial objects and their movement, energy flow, the proper way of life and how to conduct it. Nature was the hub of ancient philosophy and thought processes.

Thoughts solidified into philosophy.

As time passed, people tried to adopt a faith that they perceived as truth. The time was when philosophical thoughts were at incipient stage in Western and New World. Later, when they started cogitating, it was more inclined to the material and superficial things that relied upon perception. Yet, before reaching a conclusion and establishing it as a fact, testing it on the black stone of logicis necessary . The moon, for example, is a large celestial body, but viewed from the Earth, it appears small. Here, perception proves wrong. Indian thinkers logically analysed and put things to reason. Shankar’s Advaita Vedanta is one such philosophy which blends scientific facts with metaphysical things and tries to give a logical explanation of natural happenings and God.

The Almighty

No one has seen God, but the meticulous way things function, and the world is running, buttress the fact that there is an unseen power. Thinkers have tried to define the unseen power as omnipotent power: the Almighty. Later, it might have been termed God. Thus, it is argued that He is humans’ creation. His existence is dependent on human existence. Its form can change, but the basic idea of every religion is the same.

The universal acceptance of an omnipotent unseen being gave rise to worship. The cause was common, but the way differed depending on how people lived their lives. They believed in one entity but with different traditions. It later became religion. They all preach peaceful coexistence, fraternity and solidarity. Religion does not feed, but it provides a means to feed the hungry and offer water to the thirsty. God does not differentiate human beings. For Him, every living being is His son or daughter. It’s like a pond with four different platforms approaching the same water. Thus, religion is a means to connect with the Supreme Power, which is described differently in different faiths. The universal acceptance of that Almighty power converges on the point that there is God, but the difference is whether He is One.

Faith: Diversification

Different thinkers propounded their philosophies. There was a common goal but different paths. Some followed a particular path while some went another way. The diversification was because of several reasons; the important ones were the place where a faith started and the living style of people. The different sects followed the path their ancestors showed. It later became watertight compartments; with insidious creeping bigotry, they progressively became petrified. Despite this, the undercurrent remained the same: that of human welfare and values. It made them inclusive and taught mutual cooperation and upholding human values.

Religions are Inclusive

The basic fact is that religion tries to embrace humanity as a whole. There is no scope for bigotry or radicalisation. If a handful of fanatics ruthlessly kill innocent people, asking for their identities and ascertaining their religious faith, they are not serving religion. Their cowardly act is a heinous crime. If someone thinks that killing innocent unarmed people is an act of service to his god, he is a fool and criminal. The cold-blooded murder to show the hegemony of one over the other is absolutely against ideology and faith.

Bigotry and Intolerance

With time, religions started becoming orthodox. This led to the emergence of a handful of people who treated it as a puppet and tried to make it dance to their tunes. Those who dared to speak the truth that hurt their parochial motives were tortured and sacrificed their lives. The flame of truth remains alive, and with time it became a big flame. (Psychology Today)

Personal choice

Religion is a personal choice. To follow it according to its essence is key. Religion, like everything else, updates itself as per the needs of society. It is gradual and settles with time. This is because religion is a code made by humans and later made rigid by a select few. Religious practices and methods of worship have changed considerably with time and needs. It is difficult not to attach oneself to a religion.

Cascading belief

Religious beliefs cascade down to the younger generation. The child is greatly influenced by the surroundings. In later stages of life, with an impressionable mind, a youth can also change their views in favour of bigotry or rationalism. A radicalised person poses a threat to society. They are used by selfish elements to create terror and spread hatred against the preachings of a religion. Pass on n is inherited through traditions.

Changing faith

Barring a few beliefs, proselytisation is common across the globe. Considered as a holy verse of God, religious faiths are frequently used in conversions by force or by luring people, especially the deprived ones. A person in the later stages of life changes their original religion and adopts a different one, moving from one compartment to another. However, childhood beliefs are often difficult to remove easily. The shifting of belief depends upon several physical and psychological conditions.

Personal identity and religion

Religion gives a person an identity. It strengthens confidence by assuring that someone is with them in distress. In difficult situations, God comes to our rescue, not physically but by instilling confidence and hope in a person.

Indiscrimination is harmful

Many thinkers believed that religion is nothing but an intoxicating pill. Karl Marx compared it with an opium pill. The heavy overdose leads to religious orthodoxy, which doesn’t permit an open-minded inspection and change, if need be. Faith is a pious feeling which should be respected on equal footing. Imposition of extra tax “Jizya” by Mughals in India created discrimination and unrest. Anything discriminatory is avoidable and hence unacceptable. Similarly, mindless elimination of millions of people in the concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau during the notorious Nazi regime was an unparalleled crime against humanity. The holocaust is a black chapter in human history. Along the same lines, the artificial division of India on religious lines was a shameless act by imperialist forces to maintain their hegemony.

Action and reaction

Religion is a great binding force. It helps bind humanity closely. Despite this, universal unrest, cries, and clamour are rampant across the globe. There are about 50 to 57 Islamic countries in the world, and a majority of the countries follow other non-Islamic faiths, Abrahamic religions; the world is facing serious war crises, terrorism and bigotry. Countries are vivisected along religious lines. It is a serious cause of concern. It is like a chain of action and reaction where the marginalised groups face serious security threats, and polarisation is the natural outcome. Panglossian attitude is pushing things further into a corner.

Religion should not be mingled with state policy. In the modern era, the theocratic state is an outdated concept. An indifferent system is the requirement of the time, but it must not be lopsided. It needs to be balanced without an iota of appeasement. Humanity needs love and fraternity, growth, development and progress, not the opium of religious fundamentalism.  Religion gives mental peace and, as has been said above, confidence. It is a guiding and binding force when applied with prudence.

Further reads:

• Exploring Divine Presence in Nature
• Exploring the Essence of Cultural Heritage
• Culture and Religion: Tradition to follow
• Confronting Terrorism: India’s Response
• Wisdom of an Anchorite: Conversations in Nature

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