Question: (Tomy Jose)

Recently there was a debate on the civil authorities’ uprooting of a cross in the public property. There is widespread misappropriation of public space by religious symbols like the cross, saffron flag or trisul, masjid or gurdudwara etc. Do you see this tendency  as a symptom of degeneration of religions succumbing to some sort of crusade or use of religious symbols for conquering as done by Constantine after his vision of the Cross with the writing, “In hoc signo vinces” (You shall conquer in this symbol)?

Answer: Jacob Parappally MSFS

The sense of the sacred ingrained in the nature of every human being finds expression in creed, code, cult and community. The community creates symbols that can powerfully express the faith-experience of the community as well as evoke it. Therefore, the symbols have a certain relationship with the God-experience of a community, its cult and theological articulations of such religious experiences. They make sense for those who share the same religious tradition and others who are open to accept and respect such religious symbols. For those who do not belong to the community of the believers and those who have no regard for religions or are opposed to them, they are mere objects like any other.

As one’s faith is to be lived and shared, it is articulated in scriptures, dogmas, doctrines, rituals and symbols. All these can be considered as symbols. When symbols are rightly understood and their significance is lived, they can be means to transform humans by deepening the relationship with the reality that the symbol signifies. However, symbols, especially religious symbols can be manipulated, perverted for purposes which are ungodly and even criminal and inhuman. The proliferation of religious symbols for exhibiting the collective pride of the adherents of any religion or for securing social, economic and political power to dominate and control others is a desecration of religious symbols and the sanctity of authentic religious traditions.

Collective Ego and Triumphalism of Religions
The proliferation of religious places of worship like churches, temples, mosques and gurudwaras as well as way-side shrines of all religions in the recent past is not probably a sign of deep religiosity but an expression of the false collective ego of the members of these religions, vulgar competition and triumphalism. It also shows how all religions have imbibed the values of globalization and market-economy, namely, craving for visibility and publicity through captivating advertisements, superficial and pragmatic relationships, economic profit and socio-political power. All religions in India have encroached public property in some areas of the state to erect their shrines or religious symbols. The civil authorities have a right to remove them as they are illegal constructions. However, they are to be removed with due respect and not by desecrating them as they symbolize the religious faith of a number of people though, probably, not of those who erected them. Constructing way-side shrines and sacred symbols illegally is a crime which cannot be tolerated or condoned by any religious authorities who are committed to the core religious values of their religions. In most cases, what lies behind the construction of shrines and sacred symbols illegally is a public announcement of the political and economic power of those who constructed them or the power of the majority who live in the close vicinity of such shrines. It can be also a means to secure land and other facilities free of cost.

Witnessing to one’s religious faith is legitimate, inspiring and challenging to others. But employing unfair, illegal and even criminal means to do so is a perversion and degradation of religions themselves and a scandal to those who are genuinely committed to the practice of their religions. What did the Roman emperor Constantine understand from the vision of the Cross with a phrase in Greek, “In this conquer” which was later rendered in Latin as “In this sign you will conquer”? Did it mean that with the sign of the cross one can conquer? Did it mean that the cross could be used to subdue and enslave other people and nations? If so, it was a blasphemy! Or did he mean it to be a sign of self-emptying love and symbol of crucifying one’s own selfishness and egoism in the process of conquering oneself? As an emperor, probably, he might have meant it to be a political symbol to rally round his forces to conquer other kingdoms and peoples ruthlessly and plunder their riches. The criminal history of some Christian nations especially in the colonial age and the brutalities committed under the banner of the cross, the bloody history of Islam during the time of Prophet Mohammed himself and the brutalities committed in the name of Allah by the ISIS and other Islamic terrorist groups, the religious persecutions of the Buddhists during the reign of the Hindu emperors like Guptas and Mauryas and the violence unleashed against the Muslim and Christian minorities by the Hindu fundamentalists like Sangh Parivar in our times are, indeed, a perversion and degeneration of religions. The Sikh religion and its central place of worship were desecrated both by the Sikh terrorists as well as the military. When religions are perverted by some people for their own selfish ends, mainly, for securing political power and financial gains it is a warning to the true believers that they should prophetically denounce the forces that manipulate religion for their selfish ends.

Religious Power Corrupts
Lord Acton’s affirmation that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” has its origin in the understanding of the type of power exercised by the Roman emperors who claimed to be incarnations of gods. When religions and religious authorities claim to have both temporal and spiritual powers to control and dominate people through various religious and socio-political agencies they can unleash the forces of tyranny and fear. Religious symbols can be believed to be invested with spiritual powers both benevolent and malevolent. When these symbols of religions are approached with reverence and cult they are believed to be means for securing divine favours and if they are desecrated they are believed to bring curses and all kinds of evils on the people who are involved in such desecrations. Perhaps, the story of Uzzah and the Ark of the Covenant found in 2 Samuel 6:1-7 and 1 Chronicles 13:9-12 is a good example of using and misusing a religious symbol. As the ark was being transported, the oxen pulling the cart stumbled, Uzzah took hold of the ark. God’s anger burned against Uzzah and He struck him down and he died. This ark was kept in the house of Uzza for sometime and he thought that he was entitled to protect it with his power forgetting that it was the symbol of God’s presence and power. No one has the power to usurp God’s power and sovereignty even though one is given certain tasks to fulfil in God’s name. Therefore, we must be aware that not only religious symbols but also religious powers invested in any person can be manipulated for selfish ends by those who have no genuine reverential fear of God and no regard for principles that govern right human relationships. It is imperative that the followers of all religions and their religious authorities need to be self-critical at all times that their religion should not degenerate into an oppressive system that enslaves rather than liberates people to have a genuine relationship with God, other humans and nature.

Religious symbols are wonderful evocative means to remind the believers who share the same faith-experience to become aware of realities that are beyond the temporal and transitory. They are means for humans to become aware of their own transcendental and spiritual dimensions of life that provide insights into the ultimate meaning of their lives. However, when these symbols are used to serve purposes other than what they are truly meant for, they become sources of division and disharmony among peoples of various religions and ideologies as well as they cause hatred and violence among people. Therefore, religious symbols are ambivalent. They are to be exhibited only in the context of the need of the believers and not as symbols of power and domination. When religions misuse sacred symbols to exhibit their power in whatever form, they themselves desecrate the religious symbols and cause the degeneration of religions. For those who are not enlightened among the believers such a misuse of religious symbols may give a false sense of superiority over others and to their religious leaders a false sense of power; but they cause an irreparable damage to the credibility of the values which the religions profess and proclaim for the betterment of humanity.

Scandal of the Cross and the Cross of Scandal
For Paul, the apostle, the cross symbolized the core of Christian faith-experience. He boldly proclaimed the meaning of the cross. He said, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:22-24). The cross, the Christians believe in, is the symbol of God’s love and suffering. The cross reveals a God who suffers because God is love. Love involves suffering. God suffers when humans suffer because of the inhumanity of other humans. The cross reveals a God whose self-emptying and powerlessness manifest his supreme power. Therefore, the cross challenges religions, systems, structures and individuals who make use of brutal power and religious symbols to dehumanize and oppress humans and unscrupulously exploit nature for selfish ends. The cross of Christ challenges and invites everyone to become truly human by self-emptying love and commitment to the welfare of all.

The cross of scandal stands for all religious symbols which are used and misused for the purpose of securing political, economic and social power to dominate and enslave other people if such symbols are erected illegally by occupying public places that belong to all. By erecting such religious structures in encroached land or in legally acquired land, if they cause disruption to the smooth flow of traffic or have become a public nuisance they do not evoke religious sentiments but are a scandal or unbecoming of those that profess, proclaim and claim to live the core values of their religion. They do a disservice to their own religion. When the cross or any religious symbol, for that matter, is used for securing power by any means they are a scandal to all believers. But when they are revealed as a means to better right relationship with God, humans and the nature they are, indeed, a symbol of communion and harmony among people of all religions.