Some time ago I read news of the most horrible consequences of stupid religious superstition: the death of five members of a family in India. They died in circumstances which would be ridiculous if their death was not so tragic. I can however say confidently that these people were killed by religion and another three members of the family brought into a life-threatening situation.
A religious man in Rajasthan, Mr Kanchan Singh Rajput, decided to go even further in his devotion to god. He wanted to see and experience god and believed that god would save him if he ate poison. He was so convinced that eating poison would make god come to him that he also convinced his mother, his brother and his wife of the idea. This is how the four of them and four children, his and his brother’s, were present in a ceremony at their home. After the ceremony they all ate their prasad, which is a piece of food that was offered to god and is considered blessed. The head of family had mixed the poison into this holy food.
As this man was a camera man by profession, he was recording the whole ceremony and celebration before eating the prasad and consequently also his own death and the death of his family members. They all fell unconscious and five of them died. The man’s niece woke up in the morning and managed to make an emergency call. She and two other family members were brought to the hospital and were in critical condition when the news came out. Unfortunately I could not find any update whether they survived or not.
When I posted these short news on facebook, my western friends were obviously bewildered: why would you eat poison, why do you think that will make you see god? In some kind of hallucination or what was the idea behind that? And why would you give that to your whole family on top of it?
The reason for this man’s action is simply his belief in religion and the superstition that religion brings along. In Hindu scriptures it is written that Shiva drank poison but didn’t die of it and there are so many stories in which faithful people nearly died but were then saved by one god or the other because they were so pure and completely devoted to god.
It is thus to me no big surprise to hear such news. Such things happen from time to time in India, where religious belief and superstition is still strong. They had a very strong belief in the scriptures and in God. They were convinced that Shiva will come and save them when they are in danger, just as he had done with so many other people in the scriptures.
They had an extraordinary trust in god and that is what religion teaches: if you have this crazy trust in god, he will save you. If you like, you can take this as a proof that god does not exist. Religious people may now argue and say they did not believe enough, otherwise Shiva would have come to save them. But how much more can you believe or trust if you are even ready to eat poison to meet god? Or maybe they should not have video-taped it because god doesn’t like to be on films?
I know just one fact: religion killed this family. It is tragic and for me another sign that people have to become less religious and less superstitious!
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