Blog #9

How has the religious history of India influenced India’s tradition of non-violence?      Religion, for the most part, preaches tolerance and peace. While we have seen many political and militaristic leaders abuse religion for the justification of war, when truly followed, religion intends for peace. Religions such as Islam, which has been used recently by radical Jihad terrorists as justification for their acts of terror, do not endorse violence. Jihad, which is just a small subsection of a sect of Islam does not preach violence. Instead it talks of finding inner peace and balance and turning to the sword only in self, or direct religious, defense. It is not only Islam that has taken up religious wars, in fact nearly every religion is guilty of some religious crusade. Part of India's success in fully embracing Hinduism as a peaceful religion falls at the feet of Ghandi. While his teachings and actions were attached to Hinduism, they could just have easily as been not. Just as most religious violence is not actually religious at it's core. Ghandi cemented the relationship between peace and Hinduism. In doing so he turned India, a country with an overwhelming Hindu population into what could be considered a peaceful country. However, even in turning the religion into one of peace, the country still has a ways to go. India and Pakistan have been using military force to try and intimidate the other in the conflict over Kashmir a region that borders both India and Pakistan for a very long time. This pissing match goes against Ghandi's teachings of peaceful protest and objection and makes one wonder, whether, India is really that much more peaceful than anyone else.