It is most definitely not.
It was not God, who created religion. Nor did anyone tell us that janitors ought to have low status and engineers a high value. It was us, humans, who created these invisible walls between peaceful spaces. There are infinite number of tiny sections that we have divided ourselves into - countries, religions, castes, political parties, gender inequalities etc.
Who exactly, gave us the right to believe that there are multiple divine powers, or Gods, and why did we start thinking that if there are many Gods, they'd like us to fight among ourselves? We give God an extremely high status; but we forget that if He is so divine and powerful, He would probably prefer peace within his world, not fighting about something regarding Him.
We call all Muslims bad, we pity Jews, Sikhs are stupid, Africans are poor, and the Americans are wealthy. Almost every parent teaches his child religion before anything else. Why? So that he can grow up and start communal riots?
No. Religion implies that we believe in God, and that is a good thing. But it does not imply that the other religion is bad, or it forces the people of that particular religion to do bad things.
Think about it. We label all Muslims as terrorists because a few terrorist groups originate from the Islamic countries. Then why don't we call all Germans bad for the sins of Hitler? What about the British, or the all the Europeans, who conquered other countries? And the Americans who invaded the land of the Red Indians, and who enslaved Africans?
I think we all get it. It is pointless taking an entire population of innocent people and blaming it for something only a few are doing. But we still continue doing it, don't we?
We humans, we love to fight and gossip. Unfortunately, most people don't get the point that we shouldn't just aimlessly fight or discriminate. How many of us actually know anything about why terrorism started? How terrorists are created? What causes them to be bad? If you can answer all these questions, please feel free to share your views. It would be amazing to know that someone actually realizes this fact. But the sad point is, most of us don't. I am not saying that I know a lot about all this. And that is exactly why I don't want to stereotype a particular type of people into something they are probably not. I am not a Muslim, but I don't like it when someone says that Islam is bad. I am not a Sikh, but sometimes the Sardar jokes many of us might have read sound stupid and terrible. I don't even know if religion has any base. I believe in God, not religion. If insulting another religion is called religion, then I'd rather be an atheist.
But what I do know, is that I am a human. That we are all humans. And that it is wrong to not treat someone as inhuman just because of a stupid stereotype. The second a child is born, he/she is labeled.
"And another Muslim is born."
"Oh my god, he is a Sikh born at 12 in the night! So ironical!"
"Oh no, it's a girl... Now we have no one to carry the family name forward."
"Look, he's the son of that criminal. I'm sure he'll follow in his dad's footsteps."
Really? What does the innocent little child know about religion, genders, good, or bad? We are all born innocent and pure. It is life which brings out the best in us, or the worst in us.
The bad people become bad because they don't find another option. Bad is generated from any kind of ill feeling that someone induces in us - revenge, stereotypes, manipulation, or even jealousy. And that, does not come like a price tag attached to a group of people; it comes from the course of life, which is sometimes completely out of our hands.
So let's stop stereotyping people. Let's find out the truth before starting a riot. Let's learn to respect others. Let's learn to be human.
