Propitiating evil

Not so long ago I came across this blog by Jug Suraiya who happens to be a columnist of repute for the Times of India - he goes on to talk about the issue of Gods needing to be propitiated in every religion of the world. He wonders what kind of creator this God has to be if He must constantly be told of His virtues by his subjects in order for Him to feel good and favour those who propitiate him! He also goes on to say that if it is alright for mortals to 'bribe' God then it is perfectly ok for people to bribe people to get their work done faster or remove obstacles in their way!

Now, I could not agree with the blogger any more - this is something I have maintained as my thesis against the construct of God - any God who is bribe-able is an evil God and you don't go about propitiating evil! Now, it becomes clear why so many of these religious folks are capable of such evil.

Then there is the peculiar situation where only man is required to appease his God - all the other millions of life forms that 'He' is supposed to have created do not need to waste time with propitiating their God! They get by fine without the construct of God!! By that token humans too will get by just fine without the need for God and therefore religion. But then how will those thousands of people who do the work of priests and their assistants make a living? In the end its about God being 'of the priest, by the priest and for the priest'!

And then the priest goes out and makes that statement that 'my God is better than your God' and before you know it there are religious wars and communal flare ups! Can't we simply do without religion and live peacefully thereafter? Guess, I am not the first to think of it that way - Lennon with his 'Imagine' thought about it much before I did - I sure wish more people would 'Imagine' like Lennon did. Am taking the liberty of reproducing his lyrics just so the reader might ruminate on its beauty!

Imagine there's no Heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace You may say that I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will be as one Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world You may say that I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will live as one