Oh My God!

There are instances when religion upsets me and my atheist side takes control. The most common is these public processions in the name of religion and the nuisance I causes. Traffic jams, noise pollution and unnecessary hysteria makes me mad. The more recent gross misuse of God and religion is using it for political purposes in name of preserving 'culture'.

Building more religious sites or paying visits to holy shrines or breaking a thousand coconuts is beyond my understanding. Why cant we just understand that our faith in the power does not need to be kept happy by rituals or a thousand pujas or sacrifices but by the way we go about our lives? Religion and godmen feed on the insecurity of human beings and tend to take control of one's lives after a point. I feel that God or the superpower or whatever you want to call it judges you on how you live your life honestly and keep your loved ones happy. When you pray what is that you ask for - happiness and well-being. Why cant we just close our eyes and ask the power for that? Simple. It is not like God is going to reward more happiness to the person praying ten times a day...

A recent incident has affected me personally and I have given below the details of yet again religion playing with the mind of my best friend and causing nothing but grief.

---

It was a very eventful weekend as we drove down to Chennai for the long Republic Day weekend. Spent lots of time 'feeling at home' at home which means eating the awesome food and sleeping without feeling guilty.

Met my school buddies for dinner one night and discussed the recent events with a close friend of mine. He converted into Islam in the US a few years back while he was going around with a girl of the same religion. He gave us and his parents very strange reasons for doing this and I am not sure i want to share those ridiculous reasons.

The next day we went to meet his parents who are in Chennai and are very close to us. What I experienced there was something I will never ever forget. To say that they are heartbroken and shattered by their son's decision is an understatement. My relationship with my parents is supremely special to me and I am extremely protective of them. To see my best friend's parents in tears as they express helplessness over their son's decision made me angry and sad. I cannot imagine how any son could cause so much hurt to his own parents who have given up all their lives for him. Which God says it is ok to cause so much pain to your parents? When my wife says that there are sons and mothers and fathers in the world who hate each other, I simply dont understand how this can happen.

In this particular case, I spoke to my friend after I got back to Bangalore and sought an explanation. After all, his parents had begged us to try and talk sense into their son and come back to their religion. Images of his parents in tears affected me all through my stay in Chennai and I felt morally obliged to try my part to bring some happiness back into their lives. The phone conversation did not result in anything but my friend telling me that he will try his best to speak to his parents and convince them that this is for the good.