GENDER PREJUDICE AND DENIGRATION OF WOMEN UNDER RELIGION !
HINDUISM:-
In Hinduism fate of women has been hanging in between Durga to Devdasi,closer to Devdasi than to Durga.For a long time,because of high valuation placed on the idea of sanyasa in Hinduism,women were despised as source of worldliness. They were regarded as the "torch lighting the way to hell."They were considered to be a bad influence on men,a positive hind
rance in the meaningful development of their personality. Kabir asked men to shun the company of women,saying-"Kabira tin ki kya ghat jo nit nari kay sang".She was looked down upon as a 'potential temptress'.Tulsidas,author of Ramcharitmanas,placed women at par with animal,by saying-"dhol,ganwar,sudr,pasu,
nari-sakal tadana kay adhikari."Yoghi Gorakh Nath has described women as "baghni" a she wolf who robbed men of their youthful vigor. Both Krishna and Shankracharya have described women as "paap yoniya"[product of sin and immorality] and "narak dwar"[door to hell] respectively.
Basically, out present attitude towards women streams from our religious scriptures which refer to women as contempt. Our oldest book are the 'Vedas' which contain highly objectionable and condemn-able passages concerning women. Taking cue from the 'Vedas' authors of subsequent religious scriptures referred to women in more contemptuous form. 'Sati pratha' (custom of burning the widow with the body of her husband), 'Dasi Pratha' (keeping the slave girls), 'Niyog Pratha' (ancient Aryan custom of childless widow or women having sexual intercourse with a man other than husband to beget child), were among cruel customs responsible for the plight of the women.

Naturally, seeking shelter under such religious sanctions, unscrupulous women disgraced women to the maximum possible extent and made them means of satisfying their lust. No one wanted a daughter. As a result; female infant came to be considered unwanted. No one wanted a daughter. Everyone was interested in having a son. The birth of the son was celebrated, but the birth of the daughter plunged family into gloom. This attitude still persists, even though certain other customs have undergone changes.
ISLAM :-
"It is not some sundry alim but Al-Ghazzali himself,who tells us that "merit has one thousand components,only one of which is attributable to women,while nine hundred and ninety nine are attributable to men."It is the view not of some sundry alim but of this ,the most influential of Islam's theologians and philosophers that for eve's disobedience and the moral depravity of women-kind Allah has punished women in 18 different ways,which include Menstruation,Pregnancy,The pain of childbirth,Separation from her parents and marriage to a stranger,the liability to be divorced and her inability to divorce,the fact that it is lawful for a men to marry four wives while she has to be content with one husband,that her testimony counts for just one half of the testimony of a man,that her share in property be half that of her brother and so on."
[Women in Islam,pp 4-5;as quoted in book,'The world of Fatwas,page 594].

ONLY SPECIAL LAWS CAN CAST A SPELL ON BLACK MAGIC AND OTHER OBSCURANTIST PRACTICES !
What is new Maharashtra law :-The draft Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Bill spearheaded by late Narendra Dabholkar aimed to ban performance of alleged magical acts in the name of supernatural powers such as offer ash, amulet and charms for the purpose of exorcism. It also aims to forbid claims of supernatural powers and/or advertise such a claim as well as alleged godmen making claims that they are incarnations of erstwhile saints/gods. The Bill has deterrent penalties and punishments and makes practices such as black magic cognizable and non-bailable offences. Vigilance officers are to be appointed under the provisions of the Bill who are to prevent and detect such offences and also aid the state in collecting evidence against the offenders. The draft Bill that did not see the light of the day for eight long years, kept pending in the Maharashtra Assembly because of opposition, mainly from right wing parties [BJP,Shivsena and other like minded groups and associations].Significant features of the bill are :-
*Those indulging in black magic or cashing in on superstitions be jailed for up to 7 years.
*Banned !Magic rites in the name of supernatural power,talismans and exorcism;claiming for advertising supernatural powers;CLAIMING TO BE A REINCARNATION OF GODS OR SAINTS;performing miracles;opposing scientific medical treatment.

PRACTICE AND PERCEPTION OF WITCHCRAFT;
ARE WE INHABITANTS OF STONE AGE OR 21ST CENTURY ?
Article 51A[H] of Indian constitution:-"it shall be duty of every citizen of India to develop scientific temper ,humanism and spirit of inquiry and reform."
According to the National Crime Record Bureau data, since 2008, 768 women have been murdered for practicing witchcraft. Their numbers are adding up each year. A Zee Research Group (ZRG) analysis shows that states like Karnataka and Chhattisgarh that reported zero and eight murders respectively in 2010 due to witchcraft has shown a disturbing increase in just one year. While Karnataka reported an increase of 77 cases in 2011, Chattisgarh increased from eight to 17 cases in 2011.

Superstition defines societal mindset against women in many forms, Ranjana Kumari, President of center for social research, Delhi says, “India has a patriarchal society and women here are tortured in the name of many myths and taboos. Crimes relating to witch-hunting are basically committed against the women by family members along with the village authorities and so, the State’s responsibility towards the victim is highly necessary but unfortunately the rising torture trend show that the government has actually failed to act against this heinous crime.”

Ignorance on mental disorders and other physical ailments further feeds into puritan mindset. “It is really very unfortunate that women who behave differently due to their mental health or hormonal changes are often taken as culprits of witchcraft's and thus, face tremendous tortures,” she adds

ZRG analysis shows Odisha, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, traditionally unsafe states for women, lead in crimes under the category of witchcraft.

Adding perspective on how a woman is always misunderstood and used for selfish ends, Professor Bula Bhadra, a sociologist from Kolkata says, “We see that women who stay, are widow or estranged are the favorite targets for the culprits who kill women in the allegedly for witch-hunting as society believes that women who are self-sustained have no right to live and so, all their property and belonging should be easily snatched from them by giving an excuse of witch-hunting.”[Media reports].

HORRID,BARBARIC AND REPUGNANT RITUALS PREVALENT EVEN TODAY !
* I was shocked to read about five members of a family, including three children, consuming poison so as to die and meet Lord Shiva in heaven. The incident happened on 25th March,2013, in Gangapur town in Rajasthan's Sawai Modhopur district. I am sure there are many similar incidents happening all the time. It is especially sad that innocent children are being subjected to such idiotic tortures. Of course, the main reason is lack of education. This creates fertile ground for pseudo godmen to exploit people's weaknesses by advising mumbo-jumbo techniques which do not fetch them any real solace but only further aggravates their misery.
*A 14 year old boy was allegedly killed after an astrologer told his uncle and three others,it would bring them luck and wealth,if they sacrificed him as he had six fingers [Hubli 2009].
*The body of a 17 year old youth was found with eyes and teeth removed,and tongue slashed.Turmeric,vermilion and other items were smeared on his body [Halageri Haveri,2011].
*Children under the age of three are dipped in boiling water or oil to cure them of diseases.A practice in north Karnatka during Ayappa Swami Mahapuja in December and January. Said to cure children with deformities.
*In a 100 year old ritual ,men in robes shake toddlers and toss them from a balcony 30ft above the ground and people catch them in a blanket.Done at a temple in Indi Taluk of Bijapur district. Meant to bring infants good luck,health and prosperity.
[Based on media reports]

FUTURE OF SECULARISM IN INDIA !
India has to begin the practice of Secularism, somewhere. To start with there should be clear understanding that Secularism means separation of State and religion in all matters. Religion is faith based and hence confine to individual belief related to god and supernatural spirituality. In the matters of state the law should be equal to all irrespective of religion. There should be no exemptions to the principle that all are equal before law. Some people including religious persons should not be kept above law under any circumstance.
In India some judges visit holy persons “publicly”. This creates problems. It would be difficult for victims of holy persons to fight against injustice when judges openly prostrate before the holy persons. Justice cannot be expected from such persons.
Similarly law officers, Police should not exhibit their personal faith openly. Holy persons who indulge criminal activity take shelter with the support of police devotees. These things are happening continuously in India. Religious crimes also are crimes. There should be no exemptions to spiritual and religious persons so far as crimes, mis appropriation of funds, sexual abuses are concerned.
Religious practices of untouchbility, castes, child marriages, burning of wife when husband dies, oppression of minorities, discrimination against women, child labor should not be tolerated and there should be no exemption to those who practice them.
In the field of education, scientific method should be inculcated from primary level. Religious instruction should not be included in texts, curriculum since that belongs to faith and belief.
Holy loafers should not get any exemption from law, answerability and accountability.
Rights of minorities so far as religion is concerned should be confined to personal level. This includes prayer, holidays, dress, food habits and civil law. They must not be brought to the streets.
In India Religion encroached into politics and public life. Thus religious belief system vitiated the moral life of the people.
Religious morality should not be confused with values and ethics. Religious values, morality are strictly confined to divine laws and supernatural realm. There is no verification, nor proof for religious belief systems and religious values including moral faith. They should not be confused with human rights, human values and human morals.
Secular values are moral, and human. Secular values are not in any way connected with supernatural and para normal systems.
Human rights and religions often don’t go together. When human rights and values emphasize that all are equal, men and women have the same rights, religions don’t accept. That is the crux of the point. In such cases religions wish to follow their holy texts like Gita, Koran, Bible which preach inequality between men and women. Secularism stands for sincere equality and genuine practice human rights and values.
India needs secular practices in all walks of life. That will put India in futuristic stance.
All state and Central governments can observe secular holidays leaving the religious holidays to those who observe them. That will make a good beginning for secular practice in India
The fighters for Dalits, depressed groups, scheduled castes think that temple entry on equal footing with Hindus will solve the problem. Some reformers mistakenly think that if Dalits can be taught to become temple priests and marriage performance priests, that will uplift them. They are mistaken. In fact they are leading blindly into the Hindu caste system, gradation method and accepting Karma theory! Exactly that is the reason why B R Ambedkar wanted the Dalits to leave Hinduism so that they can bid good-bye to untouchbility, caste degradation. Temples, priesthood and religion will not uplift the Dalits and suppressed classes. On the other hand those deceitful practices lure the weak minds to accept suppression.
Secular practices with human dignity, human values and human morality will alone bring them into great future.

(Kindle Magazine) Those who have observed Narendra Modi have some revealing – and chilling – things to say about him.

Social scientist Ashis Nandy had interviewed Narendra Modi in the early 1990s. He came out of the interview shaken. In his own words:
“More than a decade ago, when Narendra Modi was a nobody, a small-time RSS pracharak trying to make it as a small-time BJP functionary, I had the privilege of interviewing him. . . . Modi, it gives me no pleasure to tell the readers, met virtually all the criteria that psychiatrists, psycho-analysts and psychologists had set up after years of empirical work on the authoritarian personality.
He had the same mix of puritanical rigidity, narrowing of emotional life, massive use of the ego defence of projection, denial and fear of his own passions combined with fantasies of violence – all set within the matrix of clear paranoid and obsessive personality traits. I still remember the cool, measured tone in which he elaborated a theory of cosmic conspiracy against India that painted every Muslim as a suspected traitor and a potential terrorist. I came out of the interview shaken and told Yagnik that, for the first time, I had met a textbook case of a fascist and a prospective killer, perhaps even a future mass murderer.”
Another social scientist, Shiv Vishwanathan, recently called Narendra Modi an “uncivilized creature” on prime time TV. He said he was sure of this term because he has done “ten years of investigations” on Gujarat. JD(U) leader Shivanand Tewari had earlier said that Modi’s body language reeked of arrogance. He recently remarked (after Modi’s rather perverse and murderous ‘Kutte ka Bachcha’ comment during an interview with Reuters) that Modi should undergo “psycho analysis”.

However, we needn’t rely on these impressions – based, as they are, on body language and psychological profiling – to assess Modi’s character; we could simply look at the record of his conduct.

There are no less than 45 authenticated reports meticulously documenting the Gujarat carnage, which was state-sponsored and masterminded at the highest level. The mass-scale violence was facilitated and executed by the Gujarat police and bureaucracy, including the top brass, and implemented on the ground by blood-thirsty mobs and gang-rapists of the Sangh Parivar, Modi’s ministers and Hindutva leaders. The documentation includes the NHRC report and the bulky volumes of the People’s Tribunal, comprising eminent former judges as members. There are also scores of eye-witness accounts, including those of women – such as Bilquis Bano and Zakia Jafri – who were victims of the state-sponsored violence.

Zakia Jafri’s court petition and the arguments and evidence being presented with it point to a nexus between the Gujarat government and the so-called rioters and to the fact that the violent acts were planned with detailed precision. Several indicators point to Modi himself. The meeting of the top brass in the government one day before the state sponsored killings is a crucial indicator.

Other documents describe in detail the organized carnage and its aftermath in the tragic and inhuman mass refugee camps. People were hacked and burned alive. Swords ripped apart women’s stomachs. There were mass rapes and grotesque public spectacles of gang rapes. Kerosene-filled match boxes were put inside children’s mouths. Ravaged women and children were thrown alive into bonfires. All of this has been documented meticulously and extensively by journalists, activists, lawyers, witnesses, officials, filmmakers, and others.

One person to speak out was Harsh Mander, then an IAS officer, who wrote in Outlook (March 19, 2002) soon after the killings:
“ …I force myself to write a small fraction of all that I heard and saw, because it is important that we all know. Or maybe also because I need to share my own burdens.

What can you say about a woman eight months pregnant who begged to be spared? Her assailants instead slit open her stomach, pulled out her foetus and slaughtered it before her eyes. What can you say about a family of nineteen being killed by flooding their house with water and then electrocuting them with high-tension electricity?

What can you say? A small boy of six in Juhapara camp described how his mother and six brothers and sisters were battered to death before his eyes. He survived only because he fell unconscious, and was taken for dead.

A family escaping from Naroda Patiya, one of the worst-hit settlements in Ahmedabad, spoke of losing a young woman and her three month old son, because a police constable directed her to `safety’ and she found herself instead surrounded by a mob which doused her with kerosene and set her and her baby on fire.

I have never known a riot which has used the sexual subjugation of women so widely as an instrument of violence in the recent mass barbarity in Gujarat. There are reports everywhere of gang-rape, of young girls and women, often in the presence of members of their families, followed by their murder by burning alive, or by bludgeoning with a hammer and in one case with a screw driver.

Women in the Aman Chowk shelter told appalling stories about how armed men disrobed themselves in front of a group of terrified women to cower them down further. In Ahmedabad, most people I met— social workers, journalists, survivors— agree that what Gujarat witnessed was not a riot, but a terrorist attack followed by a systematic, planned massacre, a pogrom.

Everyone spoke of the pillage and plunder, being organised like a military operation against an external armed enemy…”
Given all of this monstrous history, how is it that Narendra Modi, the architect and chief executive of that history, is being hailed as a successful leader of a state and considered a legitimate potential leader of the nation? Do we Indians really have such short memories? Or is it that this entire ‘Modi Shining’ melodrama is a transparent political stunt, concocted by vested interests in the corporate-media nexus, that might just boomerang in the days to come?

The myth of the ‘Modi miracle’ in Gujarat is as obviously fake as the Rambo Act in the Himalayas whereby he allegedly saved 15,000 marooned Gujaratis (only Gujaratis!) in one day. No wonder he is being called all kinds of things now: Feku, Fakendra Modi, Nambo Pambo Rambo, etc. His babbling bubble bursts every time he is confronted by an unrehearsed situation, like when TV journalist Karan Thapar reminded him about the ghost of Godhra in one of those rare interviews that was neither “paid news” nor fixed with pre-arranged content. Thapar reminded Modi of the Supreme Court observation that he was a “Modern Day Nero” who played his tune while people were burnt alive. Suddenly, all the arrogant muscle-flexing and thumping of his expanded 55 inch chest seem to elude him. He fumbled and fudged in bad English, started sweating profusely, asked for a glass of water and abruptly ended the interview seeking “dostana sambandh” (friendly relations). (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHS_eSoOBzg).

Such incidents are rare inside Gujarat, where Modi has clamped down on dissent, ushered in a totally one-man authoritarian rule, destroyed even RSS andVHP (his natural ideological allies) and subsidized and pampered a bunch of shamelessly greedy corporates who have learnt no lessons from history. Sources now say that these very corporates are subsidizing sections of the media into broadcasting ‘live’ Modi shows as uninterrupted media spectacles, which are clearly both paid news and advertising posing as news. The Feku Rambo story in a leading English daily from Uttarkhand is a brazen example of this practice.

Even Amit Shah, Modi’s best chum, who was jailed for the Sohrabuddin fake encounter murder case and may still go back to jail, is now being shown ‘live’ on some channels. As if, both Shah and Modi were personalities of such great charisma, scholarship, saintliness and vision, that the entire nation can be seduced into a collective, cathartic orgasm watching them ‘live’.

Perhaps there is an undercurrent of excitement in the fickle, upwardly mobile classes in urban areas; but a nation-wide Modi wave is the figment of his own xenophobic imagination with some craftily manufactured consent of the media. The media and a few fat cat businessmen can’t win an election in a complex, fragmented, poverty-stricken and underdeveloped country like India. Remember India Shining in 2004?

As the saying goes: once a mass murderer, always a mass murderer. And the people are not likely to overlook that fact. Even those who demolished the Babri Masjid and then went on a communal rampage of bloodletting all over the country, know that the politics of bloodshed, hate and polarization is not the metaphysical stuff that will attract the soul of this country of deprivations and want. If that had been so, the BJP-RSS would have been ruling in UP and in India. If that had been so, the Ram mandir would have been built, at the very least.

Journalist Seema Mustafa recently posted a short comment, which ably sums up Modi’s media performance:
“Modi is digging his grave, slowly and systematically. He is like a robot, made over with Botox and silicone, rehearsed and limited. He is visibly uncomfortable outside Gujarat; good only when he has rehearsed a performance as in Delhi University; falling apart in interviews or un-rehearsed situations. He is bigoted and knows that even benign questions can bring out his divisiveness and hatred for those not like him. By the time elections come around, the BJP might just find him to be a bigger liability than an asset! At least India will.”
With his multi-crore PR machinery, Modi seem like The Invincible Iron Man, but it has only exposed the chinks in his armour. One international PR agency that managed his affairs at a huge cost (who pays these exorbitant sums running into millions?) to boost his ratings and that of the fraud that was ‘Vibrant Gujarat’, actually had an illustrious track record of showcasing the likes of George Bush and Dick Cheney, despite the war justified by WMDs that didn’t exist, despite the embedded journalists covering the “news” of that war, despite thousands of people massacred in ravaged Iraq, despite the propping up of notorious dictators and autocrats, and despite the shady agencies working for Mossad and Israel.
A recent report in a weekly publication revealed how some TV media slots are being arranged and rearranged –‘Modified’ if you will– and how some anchors and editors are seemingly quickly shifting their political positions, under the influence of various corporate offers on behalf of Modi. The cases of Madhu Kishwar and Pratap Bhanu Mehta have come out in the open, and there is probably more to the story. On the platform of this paid-off “news media” Modi bluffs and blusters and reels off fake statistics on his “live shows” while millions of fake “likes” are generated on Facebook to glorify him.

But ultimately, the best PR machinery can’t find Modi the salvation he wants. There are too many sinister threads in which he is tangled. The carnage in 2002 is a living narrative and a grotesque memory which runs like a car driving over the ‘kutte ka bachcha’ and leaves a bloody trail of stories that just can’t be eliminated. One is reminded of the last sequence in the film Maqbool, when the blood just keeps appearing on the walls and no desperate efforts at wiping it away can keep it from coming back.

In any other civilized society, Modi would already have been driven out. He would have been treated exactly like the butcher Slobodan Milosevic or the ‘blood diamond’ criminal Charles Taylor. In other circumstances, he and his gangsters who masterminded the massacre and the fake encounters, would have been chased and persecuted like the mass murderers of the Holocaust. (Remember, the RSS founding fathers glorified both Hitler and the Holocaust. Yet, ironically, the Mossad is backing Modi!).

Indeed, Modi has been blacklisted in many countries– including the US and certain European and Latin American countries –despite the fact that a cash-strapped UK’s Rightwing PM David Cameron and some of his unethical and equally cash-strapped EU buddies are trying to create a bridge over the bloody waters in Gujarat by creating a ‘safe investment entry’ for Modi. For all you know, Modi might meet the fate of Augusto Pinochet if he gets trapped in a foreign country which genuinely respects human rights and opposes fascism. Except for cruel, totalitarian states like China (which loves him) and sundry dictators and ethnic-cleansing fascists, his geography of relocation would surely be a thing of uncanny predictability if he were ever to need an escape from India. Even the prospect of landing in the International Court of Justice at the Hague might not seem too farfetched.

But will he ever need to contemplate running from India, where power rules justice by apparent subterfuge and the likes of Narendra Modi can be treated like respected public figures? Perhaps that day will come. After all, even a monster will eventually find his rat traps. Like Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler of the Congress, accused in the state-sponsored carnage of Sikhs in November 1984, Modi too will escape only to be trapped yet again.



Life is short. And not even Modi is immortal. Anything can happen.

For instance, the murder of Haren Pandya, top BJP leader, former minister of state for home in Gujarat and Modi’s powerful rival, is a mystery that can suddenly reopen, even inside the RSS and BJP. Whispers within the BJP in Delhi often speak the unspeakable. Pandya’s father had openly alleged that Modi was behind the murder. His wife too recently met the alleged ‘jailed murderer’ and clearly suggested that she believed he has been implicated wrongly. So who murdered Pandya?

Moreover, the Zakia Jafri petition may bring to light events from Modi’s past that would be very difficult to gloss over by flashy media blitzes.

The facts recited in the petition raises the questions like why did Modi send VHP rabble rouser Jaideep Patel to Godhra on the tragic day when people were burnt in S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express? I contend – as I have argued in more detail in my July column in Hardnews – that Patel was sent to stir up the violence.

When the public discussion of Modi begins to focus on these events, many more questions will begin to arise. How is it that Modi had no clue about the sinister doings of Jaideep Patel, or Bajrangi, or his favourite minister Mayaben Kodnani– and their involvement in the massacres? Why did he keep Kodnani in the cabinet for so long even after the carnage? Why was Patel strutting around Modi’s fake Sadbhavna Mission stage in Ahmedabad as a hero? How is it that Modi had no clue how Ishrat Jahan or Sadiq Jamal (who was proved innocent) were on a ‘Mission Assassination Modi’, and that they were bumped off by his favourite top cops after spells in custody in shady farmhouses etc? Good governance? Or plain murder?

If we take Modi’s assertions of innocence at face value, do we not necessarily have to also conclude that he is simply a clueless incompetent? Twenty-two encounters – many of them proved fake – have taken place during his regime, while he was holding the home ministry; his top cops were committing crimes (for which they have been subsequently convicted and jailed); there have been a procession of witnesses and ‘approvers’ testifying to the multiple, cold blooded murders that happened on his watch; and he knew nothing? That in itself is unforgivable.

Mukul Sinha, a lawyer, fighting the encounter cases in court, says these people were killed by the Gujarat police to profile Modi as a great Hindu leader.

And what about Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kausarbi, and Tulsiram Prajapati, and the entrenched extortion and smuggling racket in which a former BJP minister from Rajasthan and Amit Shah were apparently involved? Many of the same cops murdered them one by one, in which similar farm houses in the outskirts of Ahmedabad were the locations of custody and perhaps torture and rape. No remains of Kauserbi have been found, though there are pointers that she was killed and burnt and then the ashes destroyed in DG Vanjara’s village.

Perhaps the PM’s post is Modi’s the only way out of these traps. That may explain the desperation. And yet, Modi refuses to meet the press, address press conferences, or do Q and A sessions in public or private. Perhaps he will do it with only those whose favours he has already purchased. That is why his manufactured lectures with fake statistics are always one-dimensional and unilateral; there are no questions, debate, dissent or discussion, even in spaces where he is treated as a prophet, and the “discourse” is totally stage-managed.

Let Modi do a press conference in every state capital and give journalists the freedom to ask diverse questions. Let him come to an open debate – ‘live’, say – in JNU, or at the Press Club in Delhi, or in Calcutta’s Presidency University. Let him come in for a live interview with Karan Thapar once again.
The Reuters interview is a give-away. Every time a bigoted hate champion driven by an expensive PR machine speaks off-script to an intelligent query, he will showcase his authentic inner self, crude fantasies and fascist perversities. The kutte ka bachcha statement was no slip. It was a lucid revelation of the man’s pathological mind and soul, and the RSS’s civilizational politics of hate. It also tells a god-damned bloody story, like the blood sticking on the wall in Maqbool.

PRAYERS ARE FUTILE AND WORTHLESS !

Probably the most common purpose of prayer is to ask God to do things – fulfill requests, grant favors, and generally use his supernatural powers to act on behalf of the petitioner. Internet prayer request pages overflow with theists asking others to pray for them so that they may be healed of sickness and injuries, delivered from financial troubles, or so that they may find love. Christian visitors to my site often inform me that they will be praying that God reveals to me the truth of his existence.

However, as an application of simple logic shows, any prayer that asks God for anything is pointless. Is prayer going to bring to God’s attention a need of which he was not previously aware? Is it going to convince him to do something he was not already going to do? Both of these are impossible with an omniscient deity. On the contrary, if God is all-knowing, he already knows everyone’s desires without needing to be told. Likewise, long before any believer ever begins praying for him to take a certain action, his infinite mind will have tabulated every possible reason for or against taking that action, judged the consequences of doing it versus not doing it and run down all the innumerable ramifications of each decision, and finally settled on the verdict that he knows will best achieve his goals. Do theists, believing themselves to be unimaginably small and insignificant by comparison with the Almighty, hope to then change his mind? Do they hope to budge this divine calculus with a single whisper of supplication? A prayer for God to do something he was already going to do is unnecessary; a prayer for God to do something he was not already going to do is futile.

Superiority Complex of the Followers of Religions:-

Most of the followers of every religion have a superiority complex. This superiority complex is systematically developed in the minds of followers of every religion by the clergies, parents, co-followers, community leaders and religious leaders. If so many people tell you that you are born into the best religion in the world, you will automatically start to believe in the superiority of your religion.

Hatred against Followers of Other Religions:-

Many believers hate other religions and their followers. As the believers are taught that their religious path is the only truth, all other paths become wrong paths for them. Such believers hate all other paths and the people walking on them. This hatred is developed in extremism, and finally in terrorism.

Hatred is a crime against humanity. Mostly hatred is taught by clergies and community leaders.

Once Napoleon said, 'Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet'. But now one can say that Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people fight.

COMMUNAL CLASHES SINGE KISHTWAR ;
RELIGION AND ASSOCIATED RELIGIOSITY LEADS TO VIOLENT COMMUNAL CONFLICT !
There are some aspects of religion that make it susceptible to being a latent source of conflict. All religions have their accepted dogma, or articles of belief, that followers must accept without question. This can lead to inflexibility and intolerance in the face of other beliefs. After all, if it is the word of God, how can one compromise it? At the same time, scripture and dogma are often vague and open to interpretation. Therefore, conflict can arise over whose interpretation is the correct one, a conflict that ultimately cannot be solved because there is no arbiter. The winner generally is the interpretation that attracts the most followers. However, those followers must also be motivated to action. Although, almost invariably, the majority of any faith hold moderate views, they are often more complacent, whereas extremists are motivated to bring their interpretation of God's will to fruition.

Religious extremists can contribute to conflict escalation. They see radical measures as necessary to fulfilling God's wishes. Fundamentalists of any religion tend to take a Manichean view of the world. If the world is a struggle between good and evil, it is hard to justify compromising with the devil. Any sign of moderation can be decried as selling out, more importantly, of abandoning God's will.

MANU AND MANU SMIRITI; MOTIVATOR OF HATRED AND PREJUDICE IN HINDU SOCIETY !
Manu divides Hindus into four varnas i.e. casteism. He not only divide Hindus into four varnas, he also grades them. Besides prescribing rank and occupation Manu grants privilege to swarnas and imposes penalties on the shudras.The status of the Shudras in the Hindu society as prescribed by Manu the Law-giver and the Architect of Hindu society. There are so many Codes of the Manu Smriti against the Shudras and Women which are below:
1. For the welfare of humanity the supreme creator Brahma, gave birth to the Brahmins from his mouth, the Kshatriyas from his shoulders, the Vaishyas from his thighs and Shudras from his feet. (Manu's code I-31,)
2. God said the duty of a Shudra is to serve the upper varnas faithfully with devotion and without grumbling. (Manu 1-91) Manu is not satisfied with this. He wants this servile status of the Shudras to be expressed in the names and surnames of persons belonging to that community. Manu says:
 3. Let the first part of a Brahman’s name denote something auspicious, a Kshatriya’s be connected with power, and a Vaishyas with wealth but a Shudra’s express something contemptible. (Manu II. 31.)
 4. The second part of a Brahmin’s name shall be a word implying happiness, of a Kshatriya’s (a word) implying protection, of a Vaishya’s a term expressive of thriving and of a Shudra’s an expression denoting service. (Manu II. 32.)
 5. A hundred year old Kshatriya must treat a ten year old Brahmin boy as his father. (Manu 11-135)
 6. The Brahmin should never invite persons of other varnas for food. In case, the latter begs the Brahmin for food, the Brahmin may give them some left-over. Even these left-over must be served not by the Brahmin but by his servants outside the house. (Manu II2).
 7. He who instructs Shudra pupils and he whose teacher is a Shudra shall become disqualified for being invited to a shradha. (Manu III. 156.)
 8. A Shudra is unfit of receive education. The upper varnas should not impart education or give advice to a Shudra.It is not necessary that the Shudra should know the laws and codes and hence need not be taught. Violators will go to as amrita hell. (Manu IV-78 to 81)
 9. "Let him not dwell in a country where the rulers are Shudras." (Manu IV. 61)
 10. He must never read the Vedas in the presence of the Shudras. (Manu IV. 99.)
 11. Any country, where there are no Brahmins, of where they are not happy will get devastated and destroyed. (Manu VIII-20 to 22)
 12. A Brahmana who is only a Brahman by decent i.e., one who has neither studied nor performed any other act required by the Vedas may, at the king’s pleasure, interpret the law to him i.e., act as the judge, but never a Shudra (however learned he may be). (Manu VIII. 20.)
 13. The Kingdom of that monarch, who looks on while a Shudra settles the law, will sink low like a cow in the morass. (Manu VIII. 21.)
 14. Any Brahmin, who enslaves or tries to enslave a Brahmin, is liable for a penalty of no less than 600 PANAS. A Brahmin can order a Shudra to serve him without any remuneration because the Shudra is created by Brahma to serve the Brahmins. Even if a Brahmin frees a Shudra from slavery the Shudra continues to be a slave as he is created for slavery. Nobody has the right to free him. (Manu VIII-50,56 and 59)
15. A Shudra who insults a twice born man with gross invectives shall have his tongue cut out; for he is of low origin. (Manu VIII. 270.) 
16. If he mentions the names and castes of the (twice born) with contumely, an iron nail, ten fingers long, shall be thrust red hot into his mouth. (Manu VIII. 271.)
17. If a Shudra arrogantly presumes to preach religion to Brahmins, the king shall have poured burning oil in his mouth and ears. Manu VIII. 272.)
18. A Shudra who has an intercourse with a woman of the higher caste guarded or unguarded shall be punished n the following manner; if she was unguarded, he loses the offending part; if she was guarded then he should be put to death and his property confiscated." (Manu VIII. 374.)
19. A Brahman may compel a Shudra, whether bought or unbought, to do servile work for he is created by the creator to be the slave of a Brahmana. (Manu VIII. 413.)
20. No Shudra should have property of his own, He should have nothing of his own. The existence of a wealthy Shudra is bad for the Brahmins. A Brahman may take possession of the goods of a Shudra. (ManuVIII-417 & X129)
21. A Brahman may seize without hesitation, if he be in distress for his subsistence, the goods of his Shudra. The Shudra can have only one occupation. This is one of the inexorable laws of Manu. says Manu. (Manu VIII. 417)
22. A Shudra who wants to just fill his stomach may serve a Vaishya. If he wants a permanent means of living he can serve a Kshatriya. But if he wants to go to heaven or wants higher or superior birth in the next generation he must serve a Brahmin. (ManuIX334 & 335)
23. The most sacred duty of a Shudra is to serve the Brahmins, always, reciting the words "Brahman" with utmost devotion. Such a Shudra will get salvation. Otherwise he will die a worst death and will go to the worst hell. (Manu X-121)
 24. But let a (Shudra) serve Brahmans, either for the sake of heaven, or with a view to both (this life and the next) for he who is called the servant of a Brahman thereby gains all his ends. (Manu X. 122.)
25. The service of Brahmans alone is declared (to be) an excellent occupation for a Shudra for whatever else besides this he may perform will bear him no fruit. (Manu X. 123.)
26. They must allot to him out of their own family (property) a suitable maintenance, after considering his ability, his industry, and the number of those whom he is bound to support. (Manu X. 124.)
27. Brahmins to give Shudras food leftovers, old torn clothes, spoiled grain and old utensils (Manu X-125)
28. No superfluous collection of wealth must be made by a Shudra, even though he has power to make it, since a servile man, who has amassed riches, becomes proud, and, by his insolence or neglect, gives pain to Brahmins. (Manu X. 129.
29. A Brahmin shall never beg from a Shudra, property for (performing) a sacrifice i.e., for religious purposes. All marriages with the Shudra were prescribed. Marriage with a woman belonging to any of three other classes was forbidden.
A Shudra was not to have a connection with a woman of the higher classes and an act of adultery committed by a Shudra with her was considered by Manu to be an offence involving capital punishment. (Manu XI. 24.)1, 2 ,3, 4In the matter of acquiring learning and knowledge Manu’s successors went much beyond him in the cruelty of their punishment of the Shudra for studying the Veda. For instance, Katyayana lays down that if a Shudra over heard the Veda or ventured to utter a word of the Veda, the king shall cut his tongue in twain and pour hot molten lead in his ear. Manu’s law book and its strict compliance by the Brahmans, it may be summarized that men and women are not born equal. There is no room for individual merit and no consideration of individual justice. If the individual has the privilege, it is not because it is due to his/her personally. 

MONK AND THE CAT ;
"When the spiritual teacher and his disciples began their evening meditation, a cat who lived in the monastery made such noise that it distracted them. One day the teacher ordered that the cat be tied up during the evening practice. Years later, when the teacher died, the cat continued to be tied up during the meditation session. And when the cat eventually died, another cat was brought to the monastery and tied up. Centuries later, learned descendants of the spiritual teacher wrote scholarly treatises about the religious significance of tying up a cat for meditation practice."





This story is a brilliant illustration of how false and meaningless traditions persist and perpetuate across generations. All religions are chock-full of such traditions/rituals which have been passed down for so many centuries and have become so intertwined with the religion itself that it is difficult to get to the bottom of it or clearly demarcate between the two. This leaves many believers confused about the religion itself and makes each ritual open to all sorts of interpretations.