[Editor: the author is the daughter of the well-known Egyptian feminist and secularist Dr. Nawal Al-Sa’adawi]
Humans inherit religions exactly as they inherit the color of their eyes and their height. A human has no choice to be Muslim, Christian or belong to any other religion.
Proper logic says that it is foolish for people to fight each other because some of them have black eyes and are short while the others are not. The same logic judges that it is also foolish for people to fight each other for nothing except that some of them inherited Islam and others Christianity, or any other religion for that matter.
If reviewing history, one cannot help but feel sad. How many wars, killing and destruction were based on religions and sects. Believers of each religion claim that they are the only official spokespersons for God, and that they are the totally right from a religious point of view and everyone else is totally wrong.
What makes discrimination upon religion a time bomb? Are there any psychological needs satisfied by the people practicing religious fanaticism, whether it is just a pattern of thinking or if it extends to violence and terrorism?
Religion has its sensitivities because it is the basis of a person’s faith and belief in God, thus the base on which the person’s relation with oneself and life is based.
Here comes the contradiction that cannot be ignored: How could the matter that establishes the basis of faith and of the relation with oneself and with life be inherited? Religions are supposed to be important because they are the ultimate representation of a human’s freedom of choice and faith. The more the absence of free personal choice, the more a person behaves illogically.
It is observed in history that religious sensitivities are higher during economical and political crises. During crises, religion is a defense mechanism, a shield for protection, and an assurance on identity.
At these times, fundamentalism is more alive, which allows the groups that use religion as a facade for power to come out of their shells. The result is ever-increasing blazing religious fanaticism.
Societies with the most immunity against religious fanaticism are the societies based on the separation of religion from the state, and on keeping religion a personal matter between oneself and his God.
Societies that are most prone to religious fanaticism are those depending on religious addresses in communicating with its members and group. Religious fanaticism plays on the most sensitive emotions to hide its religious and political contradictions with a religious facade].
Is it not time to put an end to this fanaticism and discrimination based on an inheritance in which we had no freedom or choice? Or is the road still long and thorny for us, starting with deleting removing the "Religion" field from our identity cards, and ending with consolation for the dead?!
