INVEST IN BOOKS NOT BULLETS
MALALA Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, celebrated her 18th birthday this year by opening a school for refugee girls in Lebanon.
Malala, a symbol for advocating the education of girls in the face of extremist Taliban attempts to control the role of women and girls by banning Pakistani girls from acquiring education, said, “Today on my first day as an adult, on behalf of the world’s children, I demand of leaders we must invest in books instead of bullets.”
The most cursory survey of contemporary news reveals that all hotspots of violence are dominated by religious conflict: Syria, Turkey, Tunisia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, Yemen. Sunni Muslims attacking Shiah and Sufi fellow Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere, extremist Buddhist monks in Burma persecuting Rohinya Muslims, Christians bombing churches of other Christians in the US, Hindus and Muslims disputing ownership of sacred sites in India, Hindu Nationalists claiming India belongs to them, just as Israeli Jewish nationalists subject Muslim Arabs to second-class status.
And hanging like a dark shadow over all this discord and antagonism is
Islamic State (IS) – almost certainly exaggerated in the West as the Great Satan threatening all civilisation. However, IS does epitomise the dangers of fundamentalist intolerance tipped over into ruthless extremism.
Branded as terrorists by many Western governments, it is then automatically assumed the only solution is to bomb IS out of existence. Perhaps in some instances, when human life and cities are directly threatened with extinction, as well as priceless heritage sites and artworks, military intervention is the only way of stopping irreparable destruction, such as at the Bardo Museum in Tunis, the Kabul Museum, and Palmyra, as well as to save priceless sacred places in Mosul, Timbuktu, Afghanistan.
It might be more immediately effective to meet an invading army with forceful opposition, but this only treats the symptoms, and not the roots of the problem. As Malala claims, this won’t result in a permanent solution to such problems; we won’t redeem the dehumanised with bombs and bullets.
But to propagate more peaceful ideas via education is a slow process, requiring dedicated, experienced teachers, with an extensive outreach – to schools, youth clubs, religious discussion groups for adults and children.
What is needed is to tackle the teaching of religion in schools in an open, pluralistic fashion, assisting pupils to come to an understanding of what religion is, without attempting to promote any one tradition over any other – teaching, not preaching.
Teachers must be mindful that with such a wealth of beliefs, truth cannot be confined to one religious tradition – each has something of value to offer.
Various topics can be treated in a thematic fashion, with illustrations, quotations, poetry, music to illustrate the richness and variety of humankind’s search for the meaning of existence on this mysterious planet.
For example, how various religions differ in their concepts of divinity: the three monotheistic traditions – Judaism, Christianity, Islam – with their belief in one, omnipotent Deity; Hinduism, with its complex amalgam of ancient concepts from animism to non-theistic monism; Buddhism, not greatly interested in divine beings, but emphasising the primacy of the Buddha’s teaching. Secular worldviews such as atheism, humanism and agnosticism could be included.
Other stimulating themes are founders of religions, their lives and major teachings – Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad, Swami Vivikananda.
A section on places of worship could explore ways of worship, and how this influences the design of sacred places and the beauty expressed in these buildings to inspire worshippers. Major festivals celebrated in various traditions, as well as places of pilgrimage, could further enhance pupils’ understanding of the religious search.
Such stimulating, open-minded exploration of the vast subject of religion can bring not only understanding of the religious quest, but appreciation of the fundamental, existential questions of existence: “Who am I?” and “What is the meaning of life?” This can contribute to pupils being excited by the vast human exploration for meaning, which, despite secular modern challenges, continues to play a crucial part in the human story, for good or ill, whether one believes or participates in a particular tradition or not.
A secular, democratic society must allow citizens to be critical of the beliefs and practices of others, and to question someone else’s beliefs must not lead to violence.
Teaching respect and tolerance for the fascinating array of beliefs worldwide is the only way, finally, to contribute to a more unprejudiced, magnanimous, peaceful world.
Diesel has a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Natal. She is the co-author of Hinduism in Natal: An Introduction and has written numerous articles on women and religion, especially Tamil religion and firewalking.