Are you a religious bigot? Take this test

ARE YOU TRULY SECULAR? OR JUST ANOTHER RELIGIOUS BIGOT?

TAKE THIS TEST……………………………………

Terrorism is a reality the world faces and mostly, in the name of religion. Yet, we in India dare not name the religion which spawns this mindset and flaunts this philosophy openly, directly, unabashedly and shamelessly because our maxim is “terrorism has no religion”. This is a politically correct and magnanimous phrase and in essence, clearly non-discriminatory.

Somewhere in the name of political correctness and social niceties, we choose to overlook the obvious because we do not want to ‘hurt’ a section of citizens. Thereby we somewhere condone or deliberately stop short of pointing out those guilty of heinous crimes, deaths, beheadings, trampling of religious sentiments of others across decades, across geographical boundaries and across generations.

So I decided to devise a test that will apply equally to all citizens of all religions, ethnicities, nationalities, gender or sex.

I name one individual, YOU, as the hero of my story. You are a tourist who is visiting one part of the world- you choose the country or town or village.  

You are in a huge crowded market place crisscrossing lanes and by lanes, trying to do some shopping for your family. You see crowds gathering at shops around you and different people in colored clothes men, women, children busy in their own activities.

You turn into one by lane which is not so very crowded and suddenly a tall stranger approaches you and grabs your hand. “Look”, he says, “You don’t know me but I am an intelligence counter terrorism officer and you seem to be a decent guy and I need your help in a very difficult situation here”. (He shows his identification)

“But Sir, I am a tourist”, you say, “I am a stranger here and how can I help?”

“All the better, no one knows you here”, he says and hands you a small pistol. You are shocked and then he explains. “You see this is a busy market, extremely crowded”, he says, “My department has 100% solid intelligence information that a man in full religious dress has come here to suicide bomb this market shouting out his religious slogan to send a clear message. He has the bomb in a red attaché case and the trigger button is in his hand. Any moment now, he will burst this bomb and the entire market will be a sea of dead bodies. I am alone zig sagging these lanes but have not spotted him yet. I am giving you this pistol with only one bullet. You are a civilian, I cannot risk putting more bullets in the gun because if you panic you may take many lives and I cannot allow that.”

“So what do I do?” you ask.

“If you spot this man before I do, do not hesitate a second. Before he realizes that you may be a threat to him you need to shoot him in the head. That way you will save all the innocents here.” He says.

“But sir, which religion this man belongs to?” You ask.

“Alas,” he says, “Our intelligence has not been able to determine that, otherwise I would have told you”, he says and disappears into the crowd in search of the villain.

You proceed ahead carrying the pistol and thinking about the task at hand. Suddenly you see three people coming straight at you from the other side. One in Buddhist attire –saffron robes, bald wearing a traditional mala, a Christian priest in spotless white with a holy cross dangling on his neck and a Muslim with skull cap and beard and pathani dress. You see in horror that all three are carrying identical red attaché cases in one hand. As the three proceed towards you they are within just a couple of yards. Your split second  decision can save everyone or the market becomes your graveyard and everyone else’s.

Who will you shoot? And why?

 

 

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