Monday, August 28, 2017

Blind Faith

Last weekend, the establishment was attacked by rampaging supporters of a fraud-man convicted on cases of rape. The discussions centred on the same old stuff: the claim to be God, the legion of celebrity followers, political patronage, the fleet of cars, unimaginable wealth and, the sordid controversy about the guy’s brutal behaviour with his female devotees and a trail of murders.

The justification of the illogical indignation was described as a ‘matter of faith’. The blind faith was buttressed by arguments of the positive ‘social work’ by the fraud-man and his sect. The blind followers were using unrelated reasoning that no crime is possible by one whom they saw as having done a lot of good.

Obviously, some of the followers may be partners-in-crime but it is pertinent that the majority belongs to ones who have surrendered their ability to distinguish between right and wrong. They defend not only the indefensible; they are blinded by their misplaced faith in the fraud man.

The objection to any self-styled God-man’s ‘powers’ is fundamental. If they claim cosmic ability to change destiny and to heal the human body, then why don’t they just heal themselves, or change the script for suicidal farmers? The counter-argument he-does-so-much-charity does not condone the assumption of divinity. Surely, philanthropy is not novel.

There are committed citizens who are taking on challenges head-on, yet they don’t claim to be God. Blind faith is enchantingly deceptive as it makes us shift the onus of responsibility from ourselves to the mystic. But proactive action is the one that shall salvage our situation. Our country needs less of god-men who indulge in sham speech to offset their crimes and more of good men who initiate appropriate actions.

Don’t let blind faith choke ability to reason
open your mind to scrutinise every action!


~ Pravin Sabnis

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