Religion - Holy or Evil?

Everytime we read the news of a terror attack in the middle east or an ISIS or Al Qaida engineered massacre etc., one question that comes up is whether any religion is responsible for this. People are quick to blame the religion and find fault with it for encouraging the violence. Some say that as the moderates are either not protesting against it or are not actively taking steps to curb it, they are also involved.

This seems to be a general trend. We are quick to generalise and tend to put labels to things. Perhaps, it makes us comfortable to look at everything in black and white and not have any shades of grey. The fact, of course, is that generalisation is factually incorrect and misleading.

The question that we should ask whenever we come across any act is whether that act is good or bad, holy or evil, right or wrong. Instead of focusing on the act or the event, we move away from the subject and attempt to find answers by branding the people of that region or religion to be all of one kind. Such a tendency results in defensive reaction from the people concerned and they too end up defending themselves, and sometimes even the perpetrators, rather than condemning the act.

In today's world, we find that good and evil co-exists in every society, region and religion. In fact, every individual has an element of good and bad in them. Should we not therefore, at every occasion, seek to identify only what is right and what is wrong? Should we not stop generalising? Should we not encourage good and discourage bad by using a carrot & stick approach?

Let us remember that the 'holier than thou' approach is counter-productive. Let us focus on our quest to improve ourselves and rid ourselves of any traces of evil that exists in us. Let us create more trust, faith & love in our world and make it a wonderful place to live.