Religious education - A necessary part of our life

K Louis Khamasom *

"It is a fact that unless children are brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, they, and the society which they constitute or control, will go to destruction" – Charles Hodge

In our life we often face frustration, dismay, disappointment, mental tension and unrest. We do not understand anything in those moments. In such situation we turned to God and prayed for His help. This indicates the necessity of religion in our life. Every community, every individual follows their own religion. Religion is the only way to guide and lead a person to a life of morality.

Today due to the progress in science & technology, influence of materialism and corruption has increased and hence faith in God is disappearing. Human values are deteriorating day by day. Despite this, religion and faith in God alone can provide mental peace and mental comfort to man. It is being increasingly realized that even in countries that have attained heights of material progress, its citizens cannot find mental peace.

People are wandering from one place to another, from one country to another country in search of peace. As their wealth, their magnificent buildings, their high-end cars cannot give them mental peace or solve their problems. In vain, they took refuge in a devouring temporary peace by indulging in smoking and consuming drugs and into other immoral activities. They failed to realize that his Creator alone can grant that peace he sought. In this materialistic/wealth minded world, faith in God has faded away. Hence, religious education is absolutely necessary for a peaceful world and peaceful society.

Human life includes religion and education. These two are closely related and inevitable in our life. These two have been in existence and continuing since the primitive age. In olden days people have a high standard of morality. How does religion educate man? It induces man to lead a normal life. Influenced by religion, man tried to mould his/her character according to those ideals which religion established. Thus, religion educates man since olden days to live a life of morality.

All religion teaches love, peace, purity, humility. But all these virtues have lost due to economic selfishness which degenerate the moral character of people. Now problems and crimes like oppression, exploitation, hatred, killing, looting, rape, fights and dissension etc. are rampant. The present age is dominated by materialism and corruption.

People have forgotten about salvation under the influence of materialism. Even many educationists, religious leaders, public leaders are hankering over money and are thus intoxicated by it. They heed no counsel however wise they may be. It has blindfolded them and thus failed to give out justice to those who deserve it. Along with material progress we should make spiritual progress as well so as not to forget that we have certain obligations for social good. The aim of education and religion is development of human personality in the best possible way.

We can say both have the same aim because both are engaged in human welfare in their respective ways. But in their mutual relationship, one finds more differences rather than mutuality. The reason, probably, is that the relationship of both is not understood properly. Because of the differences some people do not favor to give a place to religion in education while some are enthusiastically in favor of including religion in education.

There are many movements like Sunday School Movement, Religious Education Movement and Bible training institutions such as theological college, seminary centre etc. Although, influenced of materialism is taking over the world yet there are many who have not forgotten spiritualism and support religious and moral education in schools and colleges.

In olden days, the nature of religion was beautiful, it was liberal and tolerant. People had a high standard of morality. But today religion has lost these qualities. These qualities are being replaced by narrow mindedness, selfishness, superstitions, ism, immorality etc. There is exploitation of people in the name of religion.

Many religious leaders meant to imbibe good morality to the people have gone astray to fill their material greed. Religious oppression prevailed which diminishes the faith in religion. So people tend to search solutions themselves to their personal, social, economic and political problems instead of finding God and reposing their faith in God. All religion lay stress on morality, love, tolerance, sympathy, peace, etc. But the conduct of the people is seen just the opposite.

The conduct of many of the people engaged in worship, namaz, prayers or religious activities is not according to the ideals of the religion he follows. Character is thus formed in a good environment and not just by religious sermon alone. Religious leaders and church elders are not strong enough to treat people of other religion equally. In the name of religion horrible atrocities have been committed on the followers of other religions. They have helped in breeding hatred and narrow mindedness in place of love and generosity.

Such kind of religious leaders lose their religious confidence and their behavior cannot impress people much. This kind of narrow mindedness obstructs moral development of the child and the youth. In such case, religious education will be impracticable. Biasness and distinction give rise to dispute and destroy the peaceful atmosphere of the society. This kind of attitude imparts wrong religious education. In such a situation religious education will prove to be harmful instead of being useful.

So a person should be free to follow his/her religious belief because religion is a personal choice/matter. Also we should not forget that religious education encompasses individual freedom. All round development of man is not possible without spiritual development. Therefore religious education is a necessary part of life. Absence of religious education is the root of all vices. Religious education should not be confined to any particular religion instead goodness of all religions should be included in it.

By doing so, feelings of brotherhood will be strengthened and communal bitterness will fade away. During the last hundred years materialism has made tremendous progress and science has given us enumerable physical comforts and at the same time there has been great wars in which countless people has been killed and humanity has faced untold sufferings, all in the name of religion or domination or power or to bring peace and stability.

Even then mankind could not get peace and happiness. So real peace is not possible without spiritualism. Every devotee has some obligations towards his family, society, nation and himself too. It has been observed that when the adherence of people to one religion is too much, they become indifferent towards their duties and towards other religions. This greatly harms the society.

This kind of people/leaders became irresponsible and reckless and there is possibility of exploiting others. The progress of our society depends on moral upliftment of the people which can be brought about by religious education. If religious education is systematically organized, the moral character of our children will improve and it will lead to the progress of our community and our country. Today, everyone talks of moral character but no one pays any attention to religious education.

Religious education can check the degeneration of national character and at the same time, it can help in our mental, physical and spiritual development. The religious leaders, public leaders and elders should possess liberal attitude and keep away from selfishness, injustice, religious biasness and exploitation.

Religious education has sufficient importance in the educational world and it can become a strong medium of human welfare if it is properly organized. Inculcating religious education will imbibe good virtues which in turn will produce more religious and better human beings which is an asset to build this already broken world into a better and safe place for everyone to live in.