• Religion has never advocated non-violence yet people have been taught otherwise
• Terrorism in the name of God starts by forcing "those who are wrong" into the "right" faith or killing them
• We will never lose our humanity if we listen to our conscience

Maria Wirth is a German saadhak who has adopted India as her abode. She often writes on issues related to society and religion. In her latest blog post, she analyzes how terror is being spread in the name of religion. Here is the summary of her thoughts:

Maria begins by stating that terrorism in the name of one's faith is not something new. From the ancient times, people have fought countless battles and waged wars killing millions in the process. Where torture, imprisonment, beheading and genocide seemed right, these people of God have wrecked havoc on these lands. From the invasion by Muhammad bin Qasim and his army which assaulted and enslaved Buddhists and Hindus, and destroyed temples and monasteries in the early 8^th century to the recent shooting in Orlando that left 49 killed, innocent people are victims of a war that has no meaning. The world has seen enough deaths in the name of God.

Religion has never advocated violence yet people have been taught otherwise. In spite of the many differences among Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus, they share a fundamental belief in God as compassionate and just. Then, has God asked them to terrorize and murder masses of innocent people? It is never Religion or the teachings of various faiths that have asked people to engage in such atrocities but the men who have taken certain writings literally to suit their own agenda, says Maria Wirth.

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In today's world, where science and technology are creating a "religion" of its own, one must look into this issue with a broad and unbiased mind, to see things for what they really are and realize what have become of us.

According to Maria, the root cause for all such fanaticism is that they are made to believe that everything taught to them is true. The founders and subsequent authorities of those belief systems claimed that God himself has revealed it to them. By doing so, they prevent any criticism of the whole system. Even those acts that go against common sense are now considered to be God's command.

Terrorism in the name of God starts by forcing "those who are wrong" into the "right" faith or killing them. The notion of superiority of one's religion and the forceful conversion of helpless victims has started a chain of mass murders.

Christianity claims that God himself has given the full truth only to the Church and everyone must believe it at the cost of their lives while Jihadists believe that they will have a better status in paradise than those who did not kill non-believers. Similarly, every religion claims to be the only path of in life, said Maria.

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A pious, young, hot-headed man can be easily misled or can come to the wrong conclusions on his own and engage in atrocities that he believes is right. But these young souls are not cowards. The attacks are shocking and repulsive, but they are not cowardly acts. They are just blinded by what they think is right. This is the pitiful state we find most of the followers in.

This is a big problem and needs some soul-searching to live in reality again. We need to ask probing questions. All religions worship the same one God. No religion can possibly condone killing others. Then how do we know when we have lost our way?

Maria says that we should never stop questioning and analyzing the facts. We will never lose our humanity if we listen to our conscience. Our inner conscience is the holy voice that comes from deep within. We are inherently good and just. By listening to our inner voice, we can only be doing what we are naturally meant to do, love. Anyone, who demands that we ignore our conscience and instead believe blindly what he tells us has a motive of his own and plans to use us for that purpose, she added further on in her blog.

We need to realize that human beings are one big family and we are all bound by that one life source, invisible yet eternal.

• The original blog post of Maria Wirth has been summarized by Ajay Krishna, an intern at NewsGram. Twitter: @ajkrish14

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