Religious Extremism – and intolerance of other religions

Religion is a topic I try very hard to steer clear of, but as a result of a racist SMS I received yesterday, which I understand has been sent around to many people, origin unknown, caused me some anxiety. I wish to suppress any race or religion based divisive thinking in Sri Lanka. That only leads to violence, which then becomes uncontrolled, due to passions that are aroused, more than any other single topic. Often this violence is perpetrated by neither party to the cause, but by outsiders who wish to stoke racism and fear where none existed, merely to reverse a country’s success and development or for personal vicarious pleasure at other people’s suffering.

My previous blog entry is self explanatory of its implications, and the comment made by a person is also indicative of what I am trying to avoid spreading to an unmanageable degree, taking a life of its own, which will end in tragedy.

Whilst I am a penniless, free market capitalist with altruistic feelings to all my fellow human beings of whatever race, creed or gender, I believe the Communist ideology deals with this the best, as it treats all people equally and does not look at a person’s class, creed or race in making choices.

I am therefore firmly opposed to race or creed based political parties. I believe they breed racial intolerance and should be banned. Most people join these race based parties ostensibly to protect the interest of their race. However in a truly multicultural and multiracial country there should be NO NEED for such protection, as preserving one’s own culture and religion is a personal choice, as long it does not directly impact on another’s belief in an overt way, I use the more meaningful word in your face.

I implore all sane human beings to accept diversity as a matter of civilized behavior of good neighborliness and prevent every attempt at extremism or isolation on the grounds of exclusion. We are stronger and more tolerant the more we know about others their lives and their behavior. It is therefore best to educate people out of pre-conceived and factually incorrect prejudices that hinder their enjoyment of their stay on earth as well as affect the lives of others. We live in a global marketplace. With tolerance and understanding most of the prejudices will fade away and seem petty and childish. We must concentrate our energies in assisting our friends and making our lives more meaningful by our selfless actions not by selfish hate mongering motives.