KARACHI:
Religion and politics are two important but separate domains. Religion can be not only be used as a guiding tool in multiple aspects of life, but it could also become a tool of manipulation. Historically, religion has caused a vast number of conflicts around the world. But, religion itself is not to be blamed as people who use religion for political gains are the real problem.
Take, for example, the case of European history. Although most Europeans were Christians, their sub-religious schools of thoughts, primarily the reformist and anti-reformist, became the cause behind many conflicts. Moreover, there have also been numerous fights among Protestants and Catholics as well. The “War of Cologne”, the “Thirty Years War” and many others occurred because of religious differences. All these conflicts led to the death of millions of men, women and children. And as a result, huge economic and military losses were incurred.
But if one is to analyse closely, one can make the argument that religion was only used as a reason to involve people in these conflicts. The actual purpose was to gain political supremacy. The very same has happened in our contemporary history. Religion has long been used as the dividing line between the masses. The people have been controlled and manipulated by religious sentiments. When religious sentiments were amalgamated with politics, history became a witness to the inevitable catastrophic consequence of India’s partition — the biggest migration even in history.
Using religion as a tool to win people over has been a very effective technique for the political elite. As a result, religious intolerance is on the rise. This is a matter of grave concern and it has been paid lesser heed than it deserves. It is about time that we fix these fault lines because the consequences could prove really disastrous for the world, let alone Pakistan.
Faseeh Ahmed
Attock
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2021.
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