World of Philosophy

Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan

Page 778

been a savage fighting between the Islamic countries and Israel. Even the Hindus have not been a peaceful, social and religious system. In short, the record of religions has been seriously unfortuntae. This is why Marx has dubbed religion as an 'opium of the people'. It is therefore that there has been religions reformers of humanists and cosmopolitan outlook almost in all religions. In modern times, Swami Vivekanand has advocated the cause of 'universal religion', Tagore has emphasised upon 'religion of man' and Gandhi has adhered to the doctrine of equal respect for all religions.
Many scholars like Dr. Bhagwan Das and other Theosophists have dwelt upon the idea of essential unity of all religions. In the western world, there has been no dearth of such persons spousing the cause of world religion along with the concept of world government. If we cannot mend the sectarian cult of religions in the religeous orders, there is no other way than to end it As we have learnt the doctrine of co-existence in world politics it is necessary to understand the velue of coexistence in all religions.If one thinks that his religion alone is the best or most superior, it naturally implies that religions of others than ours are inferior and downgraded. This is a very unhealthy frame of mind based on jealousy and ill-will.
There is another improtant cause of global violence based on the prevalent doctrine of narrow nationalism. No doubt, patriotism is a noble human sentiment and nationalism had come as a safety valve against sectarian feudalism during the 17th and 18th centuries. People were the feudal Lords where they fought like tribal chiefs waging most cruel warfare but today nationalism has assumed the same tribal outlook and they have made the entire human civilisation as unsafe and insecure.Not less than 7000 wars have been fought in the name of nationlism during human history. Even our modern 20th century has witnessded the horrors of two world wars and also dropping of deadly nuclear weapons upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even the 21th century has been face to face most dangerous and inhuman acts of terrorism and human bombs.Needless to say, that there is a dangerous stockpile of 30,000 dreadful nuclear bombs stored in the nuclear Arsenals and if by chance due to human follies, there is a nuclear war , the entire human civilisation will be wiped out. Hence, Martin Luther King was right when he said that “if we can not abolish war, war will certainly abolish us."when somebody had asked the inventor of Atom Bomb, the great scientist Einstein that which weapon we shall be fighting the 3rd World War,Einstein modestly but most poignantly replied, “I do not know about the weapon with which we shall be fighting during the 3rd World War,but I am certain that during the 4th World War, if all we have to fight, we shall be fighthing with our nails and teeths. Therefore, Gandhi has most vehemently and uncondition
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