When religion makes a monster of some

In more innocent times, we thought humans are far superior to those in the animal world. But this week, yet again, that belief has been shaken. 

Animals don’t kill each other for self-gratification. They don’t carry guns and plot to murder and mutilate. They get no pleasure in terrorising the vulnerable. So, are we really more intelligent than the less-evolved species? What kind of evolutionary process allows us the liberty to maim and kill, and feel we are justified in doing so? Or do we consider violence to be the new ‘normal’? Can our brains become amoral and immune to it? Do we only pay lip service when tragedies take place, and do we genuinely care even if we are unaffected?

Why do we allow religion to be misused to the point that people are massacred for it? We talk of the cruelty of the Nazis, who conducted organised pogroms. Are these terrorists and suicide bombers any different? After this massacre of schoolchildren in Peshawar, the world must think of dealing with these poisonous entities very differently. Banning them is not enough: if possible, they and their supporters must be named and shamed in front of the whole world. And yes, if only we could exile them to remote regions of the universe. The whole idea that this is a ‘heroic’ thing to do must be systematically destroyed. Haven’t we realised that it doesn’t take much for humans to become monsters? In the recent killings, it was clear that the laboratory of the Taliban has succeeded in creating monsters. Not only are they willing to blow themselves up, they have a bizarre definition of the ‘enemy’. 

Shockingly, these terrorists shouted ‘Allah-o Akbar’ before they pumped thousands of bullets into schoolchildren. How could they call upon a benevolent, merciful God while they annihilated the unarmed and vulnerable, including a little girl who was attending her first day of school?

If these stooges are misguided, misled and brainwashed, what about the puppeteers who hide in shadowy darkness? 

In the midst of all this, we must remember that these terrorists have sympathisers in India as well. The young man whose Twitter account has just been exposed as supporting the Islamic State might not have realised the grave danger into which he was putting millions of lives. That is probably how it all begins, when young men and women join a ‘cause’ unthinkingly. But in the light of what has happened in Peshawar, it will be difficult for us to think of his mistake as ‘innocent’. 

How can we protect our young men and women from falling prey to the vile persuasions of so-called religious leaders, who are willing to use violence and deceit to capture power? Not only will we have to find a way to block access, we will also have to make the consequences frightening for individuals and families to sincerely fear the outcome. We are battling monsters, after all, and this fight will be long and hard, before we can exterminate them. 

Somehow we need to communicate, ever more fiercely, that there is nothing religious or spiritual about these warped and ambitious political leaders, garbed in the cloak of religion. But young men and women who join their legions, continue to be trapped in this dystopic narrative.  Like addicts they are drugged by sickening falsehoods, succumbing to a very persuasive and complex set of factors.

However, more and more, these acts of extreme violence and brutality are dressed up as heroic efforts, where, regardless of the pain they inflict on others, their own martyrdom becomes an exalted destination. How meaningless are the lives of these depraved, deranged individuals if they are willing to sacrifice themselves for an even more meaningless and tragic death. They have no goals, no destination, no dreams for themselves. For them, there is no option except to kill and be killed. 

Apart from the actual drugs and other mind-bending techniques, which were probably used upon those renegades who attacked the school, it is suspected that they receive monetary and sexual allurements. Some of them, like Kasab, who converted Mumbai into a killing field, might even have been well-trained, hired guns. 

Once upon a time even I, like others, felt that these young men can be brought back into the fold of normalcy by winning their hearts and minds. But after Peshawar, I fear not. Now, I believe that even if terrorists want to reform and swear they will integrate, they should not be forgiven. The punishment meted out to them must be swift and governments that harbour them must be ostracised. These men and women are toxic, as are their leaders: monsters who spread poison with every breath.