Either in ancient times or modern age like today, the presence of religion has always played a pivotal role in people’s lives. Aside than its purpose to provide personal security by superstitious salvation against incertitude of life and death, and to give temporary negligent answers upon sophisticated life questions, religion constitutes societal order by regulating social norms and ethics; it is a role of which positions religion not only as a private instrument for individuals’ divine journey, but also communal instrument that promises communal safety in both life and afterlife.
As a consequence of the religion’s face as a communal instrument, religion becomes no longer a mere way of life but also an institution. The followers must obey the rule within the religious community once they sign up to be one of them. The sense of right and wrong is not determined by one’s conscience but decision of the religious authority. Only the religious elites have right to interpret the religious teachings written in the holly books and then indoctrinate their interpretation to other followers. To the worse extent, the religious followers may be blind about the sermons they receive, and then they swallow and absorb them without digestive process of filtering which is nutritious for their growth and which is not, either worldly or spiritually.
In every kind of organized society, problem surfaces when the authority has personal interests injected to the social rule. When this case is presented within religious body, it will be difficult to distinguish the personal issues from the teaching, especially when the followers do not really have proper knowledge of their very own belief regarding to the literature and historical examples. Oft times, what people seek for in religion are merely the promise of daily prosperity and easy way for salvation in afterlife. Driven by fear and insecurity about sin or bad karma, people blindly obey the speech of religious figures without verifying the truth and righteousness. Imagine when this happens communally and for so many years, a grand distortion of the teaching will be resulted. If the personal sentiment subtly inserted to the preachment endorses hatred, more harm than good is by becoming religious.
Historically speaking, knowing how Prophet Muhammad once compassionately took care of an old blind Jewish lady, spoon-feeding her everyday as listening to her badmouth about himself (that she didn’t know Prophet Muhammad was the one who spoon-fed her), it is hard to understand how come there is a Friday Sermon spreads a propaganda of labeling the non-Muslims as enemies. Knowing that Jesus spoke of infinite love towards all, friends and foes, as depicted in Bible, it is confusing how come some Priests in Christian Churches preach by demonizing other beliefs (and even sometimes fellow Christianities but different churches).
Similarly, Buddhism is not an exception. The case of Rohingyans that are oppressed by Buddhist society in Myanmar is a proof how even though when Buddha once taught about self-sacrifice by giving away one’s life as food to famished animals, the religious followers do not always reflect the true teachings and examples given by the religion’s messenger. Moreover, it is truly unbelievable to see a Monk himself — one who has vowed to live by performing moral principles in accordance with the Vinaya (Buddhist Monastic rule) — is the one who provokes the Buddhist society in Myanmar to offend against Muslims, specifically the Rohingyans. If a Buddhist is even taught not to kill a mosquito sipping his/her blood, but instead to let go of not more than three drops of his/her blood to feed the mosquito, how is it justifiable for a Buddhist to violently treat fellow humans regardless of their different faith? Mosquito is not a Buddhist either, but Buddha said “love all beings”.
According to Sutta Pitaka, neither once did Buddha ask nor command anyone to become His disciples. It was always within one’s freedom of choice and consideration to eventually follow the prescription of Dharma to attain peace and enlightenment, thereby ascertaining people’s religious identity to be “Buddhist” never was Buddha’s purpose. In fact, Buddha Himself already prophesied that someday His teachings inevitably would be entirely gone forever from world. However, (His Highness) Ashin Wirathu is not Buddha; by sermonizing that Muslims’ existence in Myanmar is a threat to Buddhist society, his misappropriation of the influence he possesses has brought calamity upon humanity and balance of interfaith congruity, not only in Myanmar but also other countries populated by Muslims and Buddhists.
It is a pity to know that religion, an instrument that is supposed to bring serenity in life, has become a tool misused that gives birth to conflicts. The religious buildings where we are supposed to search for stillness and tranquility are filled with hostility. This is aggravated by having individuals as the religious authority to be the ones responsible steering the followers.
Meanwhile, if a group of people declare to be religiously obedient but they act in contrastive manner, how can they have good discretion upon the words spoken by religious authority? It is very common to find Buddhist followers who do not understand that exercising moral principles is much more important than reciting Mantra (Buddhist prayers). It is not rare to find Buddhists who claim to regularly meditate, but their behaviour is a portrayal of blatant chauvinism. In the end, we must understand the disparity between religious values and the followers’ misconduct.
Conclusively, when religiosity is performed through communality and ignorance in the same time, it is the real threat for the religion coming from the religion itself, causing chaos in society instead of peacefulness or salvation it may offer.
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