In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of religion in the fashionable language of 'respect.' What is there to respect in any of this, or in any of the crimes now being committed almost daily around the world in religion's dreaded name?
Interpretation
The quote criticizes religion as a source of conflict and calls for an honest examination of its impact on society.
Salman Rushdie's quote reflects a strong condemnation of the role of religion in perpetuating violence and injustice in the world. He argues that while society often discusses religion with a veneer of 'respect,' this narrative fails to address the real harm and crimes committed in its name. Rather than allowing religion to be a protective cloak for wrongdoing, Rushdie urges a more candid conversation about its influence, suggesting that innocence cannot shield individuals from accountability in the face of religiously motivated acts of violence.
In practice
In a debate about the role of religion in global conflicts, one might use this quote to challenge the status quo.
I've been fascinated by Machiavelli since I was very young. I've always felt that he had a bad rap from history, and that he was actually a person quite unlike what we now think of as Machiavellian. He was a republican. He disliked totalitarian government.
Killing people because you don't like their ideas - it's a bad thing.
faith without doubt is addiction
I am clearly vulnerable to these more passionate and volatile unstable relationships. I am trying to not be so vulnerable.
Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems - but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.
Good advice is rarer than rubies.
I don’t believe in God as you imagine Him to be, but I believe in many things that you could never even dream of.
The ulterior motives with which you absorb and assimilate Evil are not your own but those of Evil. _x000D_ The animal wrests the whip from its master and whips itself in order to become master, not knowing that this is only a fantasy produced by a new knot in the master's whiplash.
We are a nation that has a government-not the other way around. And that makes us special among the nations of the earth.
The true philosopher and the true poet are one,_x000D_ and a beauty, which is truth,_x000D_ and a truth, which is beauty,_x000D_ is the aim of both.
The Soul is the voice of the body's interests.
I don't mourn the loss of my childhood; I mourn because everything, including (my) childhood, is lost.
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