When Religion Becomes a Weapon Instead of a Guide

 

When Religion Becomes a Weapon Instead of a Guide

Hindi Version: https://rakeshinsightfulgaze.blogspot.com/2025/11/blog-post_26.html

A question was thrown at me recently: Name a religion you consider a bad religion.
Most people expect an easy answer. But the moment that question hit me, something heavier rose inside. Because the problem is not one religion. The problem is what any religion becomes when it stops protecting people and starts protecting power.

Religion was never meant to be a cage. In its earliest form, it was a human attempt to define what is good for society. It was supposed to bring wisdom, compassion, and direction. But the moment a religion begins to shelter evil, excuse injustice, or demand blind obedience, it stops being a spiritual path. It becomes a weapon.

Look at the world today. Every major religion has, at some point, preached division, superiority, or hatred while claiming to stand for peace. Not a single one can honestly say its hands are clean. And the hypocrisy is suffocating. How can a religion call itself good while its followers justify cruelty in its name?

When I was a child, I learned a Doha that still cuts right through all the noise:

"बुरा जो देखने मैं चला, बुरा न मिला कोई;
जो दिल खोजा अपना, मुझसे बुरा न कोई।"

I went out looking for bad people and found none. When I looked within myself, I saw no one worse than me.

It taught me that self-reflection is the foundation of morality. But somewhere along the way, religion stopped encouraging people to look inward. Now it trains them to point outward, to judge, to accuse, to hate.

My own life is proof of this shift.

I was born into a family that worshipped idols. As a child, I believed with all my heart that these were real Gods, watching over us. But as I grew older and learned the full stories behind them, the truth hit me hard. These were characters from epics. They were storytellers’ creations, elevated to divinity by Sanatan tradition. That realization didn’t shatter my faith. What shattered it was seeing how those stories were used.

India spent a quarter of a billion dollars building the Ram temple in Ayodhya. A project wrapped in devotion and pride. On the surface, a “sacred victory.” But look beneath that surface.

In that same state, the loudest defenders of this religion are the very people who kill innocents, intimidate minorities, and protect predators. They assault young girls, silence victims, and commit crimes with impunity. And the most painful part is this: they do it while claiming to be the guardians of righteousness. They do it wrapped in saffron, shouting the name of a God who, in their own stories, stood for justice.

The corruption surrounding the construction of the temple itself was enough to make me sick. Watching money, lies, and political ambition blend into something called “devotion” made me ashamed to ever have been associated with it.

And yet millions proudly call themselves followers of this tradition. Many of them are decent, sincere people. I know that. But my distaste is directed not at them. It is directed at the system that has turned their faith into a shield for violence. My distaste is for the leaders who preach purity while living in rot. My distaste is for the blind loyalty that allows evil to hide behind the word “religion.”

People ask me why I reject this religion. Why do I speak so sharply? Why I refuse to stand with them.

The answer is simple: I reject hypocrisy. I reject hatred. I reject a structure that crushes truth to preserve power.

I do not hate the believers. If anything, I pity them for being fed lies that keep them from seeing what is right in front of them. I pity them for being taught to worship stories instead of questioning reality. I pity them for becoming tools in the hands of those who profit from their devotion.

Religion should lift humanity. It should inspire courage, curiosity, and compassion. But when it instead fuels fear, obedience, and violence, it ceases to be religion at all. It becomes a mask. And behind that mask, the worst of human nature hides comfortably.

The question was simple. My answer is not. A bad religion is any religion that stops defending humanity.

And too many of them already have.