For the Sake of Faith?

The stopping of the play Behzti (Dishonour) by a Sikh mob in Birmingham was a deplorable act. I haven’t read the play so I cannot comment on it, but I think no expression should be curtailed even if it shakes the roots of our faith and religion. According to what I’ve read till now, the play talks about the sleaze that goes on in the Sikh religious places. It’s not only Sikhs, every religion in the world hides things that can be termed as sleazy. So much sex goes on in the Hindu maths (monasteries) and Christian churches. So much rape and plunder happens in Islam in the name of religion. Before Operation Bluestar the Sikh extremists used to rape women well within the sanctum sanctorum of the Golden Temple. Wasn’t the faith being dishonoured then? Where were all these mobs, the defenders of the religion?

Religion doesn’t teach us intolerance and I don’t know why people are so insecure about their respective religions anyway. Why religion needs to be protected all the time? What makes my god bigger than yours?

Do all these people, whether they are Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims or Christians really respect their faiths? I doubt that. They have nothing to do with faith. In fact they don’t even know the true meaning of faith. Being a Sikh, I personally know many individuals who visit the Gurudwara in the morning and then in the evening get drunk or visit prostitutes. They misbehave with their kids, they lie as a habit, they cheat other people, they beat up their wives but they call themselves true Sikhs. I’m filled with disgust when they talk of religion or recite the Gurubani.

It’s heartening that other theaters are offering to stage the play but I think the play should be staged at the same place so as the fundamentalists don’t think that their writ runs large if they can gather in big numbers.