Secularism Vs Religionism

"If horses had Gods, they would look like horses!" ~ Xenophanes, an ancient Greek philosopher. 

Recently France had banned the burqa in public places [and I have no idea whether it is for the freedom of women or for secularism], but if it is for secularism, it would be stupid, because secularism doesn’t mean ‘not supporting any religion’. It means ‘supporting all religions equally’. Now the former is down-right indifference to all religions, whereas the latter is more progressive for equality among the people of all religions. It's important to know the difference, because religions are not really nonsensical and useless, like most of today's educated, sophisticated people have come to believe.

Every single religion came into existence at an hour that begged for reform and peace. And every single religion has produced a lot of good in the world, by making its followers believe in something higher than themselves. Whether fictitious or not, God has definitely helped a lot of people look forward with hope, for a better future. He has helped many wrong-doers change their lives for a higher cause, just by their belief that he exists and he has prevented many evil minds from doing stuff which might incur 'his wrath'. But the problem is, no one who can be called as an 'intellectual' really believes in a all-powerful being standing somewhere between the clouds, granting wishes and punishing the bad ones. Well, that's because no one's really understood their religion that well. These are the concepts of God in various religions [Wikipedia]:

Within Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity states that God is a single being that exists, simultaneously and eternally, as a perichoresis of three persons: Father (the Source, the Eternal Majesty); the Son (the eternal Logos, human as Jesus); and the Holy Spirit (the advocate). Some people have illustrated this concept by saying that the Father, Son and Spirit are one yet distinct, in the same way that ice, steam and water are one, yet distinctly different from each other. They share a single divine essence, being, or nature.

In Islamic theology God (Arabic Allāh) is an all-powerful and all-knowing creator, sustainer, ordainer, and judge of the universe. God is unique (wahid) and inherently one (ahad), all-merciful and omnipotent. Creation and ordering of the universe is seen as an act of prime mercy for which all creatures sing God's glories and bear witness to God's unity and lordship. According to the Islamic teachings, God exists without a place. "No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision. God is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all things".

In Hinduism: Brahman is the eternal, unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being and everything beyond in this Universe. Ishvara is a transcendent and immanent entity best described in the Ishavasya Upanishad. It states that whatever there is in this world is covered and filled with Ishvara. Ishvara not only creates the world, but then also enters into everything there is. Mahadeva literally means highest of all gods.

In Hinduism, there are many Gods, of course. But the thing is, all the Gods of Hinduism and all the Gods of the other religions and beliefs, don't really differ that much. Every religion states that God is great, all-powerful and very much different from man. Every religion speaks about goodness, righteousness, peace, kindness, and everything else that man needs to have in his heart for complete experience of life. Every religion talks of a higher meaning or purpose of life. When you really think about it, religious wars are as stupid as the fights we had when we were little as to whose toy was better.

From a detailed study of all religions, any sensible person will understand that all the over-zealous and over-sensitive religious maniacs are like silly travelers looking at the same country and fighting about whether it's India or Bharat or Hindustan [By the way, do you know that Tenjiku, Jambudvipa and Hidush also refer to India?]

But then, I don't believe that the religious maniacs are fighting for their God's supremacy or even for their religions. I think they are simply wishing to make their community widespread, so that by some incredible way, they'll feel more secure. They are like stupid and lazy students in a school. These students find it safer when everyone is like them, and so they look down on anyone who isn't. Insecurity is the origin of religious terrorism and not religious zeal. No religious person will ever show signs of intolerance, because peace, cordiality and righteousness is what every religion is about.

Definitely, secularism isn't very different from religionism and anyone trying to prevent someone's expression of religious zeal will be doing a grave blunder, because there arises inequality, obstruction of freedom and disrespect for another's belief. And believe me, these three aren't going to help the world achieve peace. The same way, not believing in God or religion is not really cool either.

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