Morals, Religions, Women and Non-Humans

 The following piece is written according to my understanding of issues and my lived experiences that have shaped my opinion about them. My multiple identities influence the way I see the world and my response to what I face. You are free to disagree with me entirely or maybe you'll agree with some points and disagree with some points. That's completely fine and if you want we can have a discussion spanning over days(I'm not much of an immediate responder these days for multiple reasons). So having said that, I'll begin with my definition for morality, the reason or the rational(values, principles) for distinguishing right from wrong and religion here means including the entire scriptures, mythology, philosophy, rituals and the practices being followed in its name.

There is this debate in philosophy which talks about religion and morality. Some say morals are derived from religion, some say that religion and morals are separate and some say that both are interdependent i.e, both take inputs from each other.

I'm of the opinion of that morality is separate from religion. If you notice, few basic morals like honesty, being kind, helpful etc are all more or less similar across all famous religions. I think that it is because these are morals which any lay(would common/normal be an apt word? but how do you define what is common and normal? Is it the majority? then what about the minority?) person would want to follow. Life experiences show that kindness brings happiness and therefore one would want to receive kindness. So when people say that don't be violent because 'God' says so, or our 'God' asks us to respect women more than men, or all are equal cause it is written in our 'Book', my mind straight away goes to the problematic aspects of those religions.  Because their 'God' says many other things too. 

There is more to it, some religions have this score system which tells about which activity will give us a ticket to hell and which tier treatment we'll get there. 'God fearing' people will say do not kill animals or you'll go to hell or if you don't follow all the rules than you'll go to hell.  I've seen people take stand for gender rights, animal rights(veganism to be more precise), race equality by citing their religion. Religions have been around for so long cause they fulfil the needs of people and there is no denying that. But taking them as a source for morals can be wrong or counter-intuitive sometimes.

My mother's says that there is good in every being and we must learn from the good and leave the rest. (Nobody's perfect) But problem arises when there is not much being done to reform the problematic part. For example, almost all famous religions that I know of, are patriarchal and also in some way establish a system of hierarchy. The books may not explicitly speak of such hierarchy in all religions but the lived experience of those following the religion may prove otherwise. Some may push this as a cultural issue.

I'll give examples of two religions which I have encountered the most on my life. So Hinduism as religion is celebrated by its followers as a trailblazer of non-violence, Vasudeva Kutumbakam etc. But I don't see the same people talk(let alone speak against) about the caste system, the gender skewed rituals etc. On the other hand I have read a lot about the status of LGBTQ+ Muslims in Islam. The stark differences in the rules for women and men also is noticeable in Islam

Now, one segment usually comes to defence and tries to prove how their religion is the epitome of morality but the lived experience may be entirely different. Verses of books are put forth to prove their points while sexism, racism, casteism etc is played out in real life.

On the flip side there are elements in the opposite camp who try to push down their morality onto everybody without factoring the environmental factors. 

For example, few people expect women to react strongly when they are being assaulted. I've heard people, mostly women, who say their version of how the victim should have acted to save herself. The ideal fo strong women worn as a veil. Then there are westernised vegans(you'll find a few on internet) who shame people for their eating habits(I'll not the use choice here cause not all have the previlege to choose the food that their body supports) irrespective of their class-caste status, health status etc. In the name of upholding animal rights they are ready to put helpless people on the pyre. They give examples of either strong women in mythology in the former and of the 'fear of punishment' in afterlife for the later. Now, all of this is from my personal experience.

With technology becoming pervasive the violence against women is being recorded and shared for all the wrong reasons. While this might serve as an evidence in a court of law, I am apalled by seeing people share the videos in the garb of showing sympathy to the victim. If the videos are shared to bring justice to the victim then the course of action is to submit the video to the law enforcement. Many of these videos end up on porn websites and it is next to impossible to remove content from the internet. Violence can be triggering for many, even the words can bring back suppressed memories. These words are often associated with animal abuse too which I find to be disturbing.  There is a parallel with people who share videos of animal cruelty. There are other ways to make people aware of the plight of the animals without resorting to trauma porn. And these videos vilify the workers(privacy rights going out the window) who work in slaughter houses just because they work there. Do you really know the reason for them taking up that job? It is often the poor and in India, the people from lower caste who take odd jobs in order to survive. Ironically, I haven't come across videos of people eating meat and shaming them. Are these people really helping?

There is a growing trend of seeking immediate justice in the social media world. People are quick to take sides on matters which are delicate. From the SSR debacle which made a woman being sacrificed for the TRPs(the public being complicit in this) and to the other extreme of taking accusation as conviction. A parallel can be found in people who attack others on 'food', reading about the mob lynching of a teenager for suspected 'beef' and the events after that was more than a reality check to me. I have seen people wish death upon someone by seeing videoclips without having any context to it. This extremism is alarming. It is important to call out these people and I am educating myself to be able to do this. 

I've had the chance of knowing people who talk about both the good and the bad of the religion. No hiding behind the 'lost in translation' or 'interpretation' is different. I've also come across environmentalist and vegans who acknowledge that it is not possible for everyone to follow the ideals of theories of environment protection and  animal liberation completely for reasons not in our control. There is an aspect of privilege hidden in it, privilege of food resources, nutrition requirements, not having health ailments to name a few.

Coming back to religion, my view on it is based on my life experiences and I know that it might change as I grow up. My relationship was different with religion a decade ago and it might be different a decade from now.  For me morality is above religion. No religion that I saw closely made me feel good and protected about all of my identities. And so I'm starting to think that I don't need a religion for it. I hope my morals help me in upholding and respecting my identities and also those of others. 

Religions have been around for so long cause they fulfil the needs of people and there is no denying that. I'll not make the mistake to nullify them entirely. And I'm certainly trying to make a balancing position. All I want is to be able to talk about and maybe even get rid of the morally problematic aspects of religions.

I have been lucky. I'm not much of a foodie and it was easy for me to give up some animal food products for my selfish reasons of gut issues and hormones. Also, I have been busy most time of the year to be involved in the drama that ensues on television after any kind of violence is reported. But I hesitate to call out people as I don't feel internet is a safe place for voicing out opinion moreso with having a public account.

I have my own biases that I need to work on. I am working on the type of language that I use. It is were the change begins I think. I find myself using ableist(when I myself am totally dependent on my glasses to do even a simple chore) language and animals as an example of certain undesired behaviours. And it's a conscious process, a lot of unlearning, learning and unlearning to do. I also need to continue to remind myself that different things work for different people. More of observation and less of judgment. Intersectionality in its truest sense.

Thank you for reading.