Oh Come, All Ye Faithful!

Over the weekend one of the  most mundane YouTube clip became viral, yes I am referring to that clip that featured outtakes of now defamed talk show host of religious program.The video showed him using a variety of cuss/swear words liberally.Although its wasn't that shocking to me but I am sure whole lot of people would have felt let down and sort of sad because of it.

At the height of his fame the talk show host in question was the pinnacle of piety and holiness,only the Almighty and the accountants know how much money he made from it.It started a trend of these so called religious themed talk shows bringing the religion to masses in a way which was both convenient and fuss free.But maybe somewhere along the way the audience mistook talk show host for some sort of messiah or role model I guess that’s where the problem started.They missed the point that its strictly business, it was  a TV show to start with.

Moreover with our history both religious and regional ,we shouldn’t be stranger to the fact that power mongers have used the garb of religion as a disguise for pushing their less pious ulterior motives,as it gives them a free pass and an unconquerable reason for their existence in the first place.These ‘faith flaunters’ are not only very effective individuals but some are quite successful political parties.Jamiat-e-Islami and other such parties are good case in point, not so long ago one of the leaders of such a party gave a TV interview that suggested that rape victims should die rather than complain about the atrocity committed.It definitely faced condemnations from the enlightened and liberal crowd later but what was really discomforting that he stood by his opinion and also professed the same to thousands of his rally attendees later on.Which I am sure would follow him like sheep.

Moreover these “forceful faithfuls“  have quite a habit of pushing their beliefs down others’ throats,almost all of us are familiar with student wings of these political parties tearing down posters,disrupting and even threatening other students for they claim that they are doing so forward the will of God and stop vulgarity etc.Another such fact that highlights our society’s infatuation with all things religion is evident when  almost any common  man from a mosque be it an Prayer Imam  or etc can deem another person a heretic and thus  ‘liable to be killed’.Former Governor of Punjab although not a very pious man himself, fell victim to such a paranoia when one of his guards got persuaded to kill him after hearing one of such fatwa(rulings) that deemed the Governor ‘a blasphemer’.So it is high time when you can’t even dare to ask any questions regarding religion or you might be the next one that is liable to be killed.

So much so that it appears to me that all of these angry religious fanatics have turned blood thirsty masochists that derive pleasure from inflicting pain.But I don’t see this tsunami of delusion and destruction subside any time soon .As the rift between secular  more prosperous upper class and the more fundamentalist less prosperous lower socio economic class grows wider,the less prosperous find refuge in the cradle of the religious parties and these religious parties would undoubtedly continue to manipulate and outright use this support to further their cause.And a small group of people like you and me would find solace in disowning and criticizing such movements in blogosphere which might have little or no footprint.