God & Religion.

I’ve always deeply believed in god and to a little extent in religion too, purely because of my upbringing and the kind of environment I was raised into. With regards to this aspect I’ve questions like why does god allow bad/evil things like rapes, murders, terror attacks, accidents etc to happen. Why do so many people have to suffer due to these things as well as due to poverty, sickness or unemployment? Another question which I have is that why do people spend so much of money on religious rituals or donations in the temple and why not put the same money in a good cause to help the deprived people and how can this shift be brought. Practically how can we make lakhs and perhaps crores of people to change the way they look at god and religious practices??

Karma is something which I kind of believe that a person’s deeds may decide what happens with him in this life or may be in the next. But I still really don’t understand and agree why there has to be a need of so many miseries in the world. Also something, that I can resonate with is, what Vardan Sir mentions in his article – The Intellectual’s folly. May be I too am not able to communicate or express what exactly are my beliefs about God. So now I’m going to think more about this and be more clear when communicating to others.

These 2 sessions helped me to introspect and question my beliefs further, but somehow I will still stick to my beliefs- (1) that yes there’s god but  (2) the whole idea of religion and practices built around the same are purely brought in or created by men. The kind of questions that were there in the form that we filled has surely helped me to think a little deeper.

Regarding the religious beliefs, I think many people are not clear with what religion means and how to practice the same. Many of the practices are being carried on since generations and many of the people don’t really question or try to see the harsh part of these practices. Many of us might not be able to talk about the same openly or even not aware of what the different religious beliefs are. And people like us who want to bring a change and a shift in the way society or even individuals look at religion, struggle to do so for a number of reasons. I think this topic should be a part of curriculum wherein students learn to look at their as well as others religious beliefs/practices, and even be allowed to question and seek answers. I personally, believe each one is free to take this decision of believing in god or not or following a particular religion, but the decision should be an informed choice.