Saint or Sinner

"Fakir 'beheads' toddler, 'drinks' his blood in Tamil Nadu" - This was a heading in the Times of India a couple of days back (to read the full story, follow the link).  To cut a long story short: a religious man gets a vision of his goddess who demands a human sacrifice from him.  He obliges by beheading an 18 month old child and drinks its blood, too, in order to really please his god.  

Religions often demand acts of piety from its believers.  I am OK with that.  I mean, as long as people believe that their religion offers them a means to salvation or shows them a path to a peaceful existence, by all means make the believers work towards it.  Then again, I would suppose that religion would show the people how to live (via guidelines) and most likely instruct them on what not to do.  It may not have to be as structured as the Ten Commandments of the Bible, but there should definitely be indicators on how to live one's life.

Basically, I would say the underlying message of all religions should be (and would most likely be) that creation should coexist peacefully.  People should respect and never exploit nature.  People should peacefully coexist with other human beings.  I believe that all religions are moving towards this ideal in their own manner with their own philosophy.

But if a god asks of a believer to kill in his name or to wage wars; if this god justifies violence to attain an end, I guess there is something wrong.  Which omnipotent and omniscient power would ask of a believer to end the life of another human being?  In this case, the victim was not even a sinner or a criminal who defied the god; it was an 18 month old child!  I look at my 9 month old child and do not think this 18 month old child could have been much different!  

How dare this animal justify his action attributing his mission to be god-given?  How can anyone justify the taking of a human life?  How can the taking of one innocent life improve the life of another?  How can one call oneself religious if one doesn't have a conscience?  How can one call oneself a human being if one cannot look upon a child with love and compassion?

I really feel something is really wrong.  If any religion or god teaches anything that is not about peace and harmony, I do not think that they should be called 'god' or 'religion'.  Why waste such sublime terminologies on something that cannot and shouldn't even be spoken off in relationship with human actions and beliefs?  There is something seriously wrong in this world...I wish more people would speak out and at least try that such trends are completely done away with.