From Faith to Ideology

The Mumbai terror attacks last month are ample ammunition for some to point to the destructive and divisive role of religion in the world today.

In some respects, I agree. The single biggest threat to peace between peoples of the world is the journey from faith to ideology. It is the distortion of religious thought and spiritual manipulation that cannot be underestimated in its explosive power to breed enmity.

That is what has been happening in the southern states of Pakistan where the major it the Mumbai killers have come from. It is not that the political situation in Kashmir or the crushing urban poverty has driven these men to calmly walk into cafes, hotels and community centres and wantonly kill. It is a brittle and narrow belief system that leads individuals to apocalyptic conclusions about the future and a delusional sense of the importance of their own contribution to the struggle.

This comes to the heart of the distinction between faith and ideology. Religious faith is an essentially humble commitment to a spiritual journey that brings opportunity to find reference points to understand God and give meaning to the complexity of our own existence. Ideology is a fixed world view – set of hard-wired beliefs that is less about spiritual growth than about controlling peoples behaviour and thinking from an individual to societal level.

When Muslim men in Pakistan and Bangladesh throw acid into the eyes of women as is increasingly common in agricultural heartlands such as the Punjab state; that is ideology at work. When Protestant gangs in Northern Ireland take a hammer to another (Catholic) man’s knee and render him unable to walk for a lifetime; that is ideology at work. When individuals fail to countenance any possibility that they could be wrong or could learn from those of different tradition; that is ideology at work.

But when men like Martin Luther King sustain their campaign for civil rights in America – knowing that it could end his own life prematurely; that is faith at work. When women like Aung San Suu Kyi refuse to take a loaded offer to leave Burma and visit her dying husband, Michael Aris, in the UK – because she knew the ruling junta wouldn’t let her return; that is faith in action. And when ordinary individuals choose to open their homes and hearts to others at Christmas; that is faith in action.

Although ideology often masquerades as faith, the two are quite different. It is my view that genuine religious faith has been the inspiration behind some of the greatest individuals who have ever lived. Genuine faith has the power to release individuals to be the best the best they can be. It stands to reason perhaps that ideology also has the power to deceive people into being the worst they can be too.

What we need to do examine ourselves – how far have we gone in turning our faith into an ideology?