By M L Satyan

Bengaluru, May 29, 2020: The worship places of all religions in India were closed for 67 days. This has been the case in other countries too. However, the number of days of closure may differ from one country to another.

Incident-1: On May 18 several heads of shrines, cutting across religious lines, in Kerala wrote to the state government seeking its permission to open temples, mosques and churches in a staggered manner in view of the lockdown restrictions that were imposed since end-March to contain the spread of the raging Covid-19 outbreak.

They have reached out to the state government amid a growing cash crunch, as devotees are staying away from the places of worship due to the pandemic. The Centre’s directive has barred gatherings in all places of worship in the state, like the rest of the country.

Cardinal George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, wrote to the Kerala chief minister recently seeking permission to open Christian religious centers to conduct daily ceremonies with the faithful in a restricted manner.

“Many are devoid of spiritual support these days. If the lockdown continues, it will lead to a growing psychological conflict. No one will be able to prevent such consequences. Churches must be allowed to open in a restricted manner. Religious ceremonies are essential for a believer for solace and inner peace,” said Cardinal Alencherry.

The Syro-Malabar Church, which runs thousands of educational institutions, hospitals and other charitable establishments in Kerala, the aftershocks of lockdown restrictions are deeper, as it is struggling to meet the expenses required for both institutional upkeep and payment of staff salaries. Though the Church introduced virtual offerings they failed to attract believers, say insiders.

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which runs 2,000-odd temples in south and central Kerala, including the hill shrine Sabarimala, urged the state government to at least allow devotees, who want to make significant offerings.

The All India Imam Council had also written to CM Vijayan, urging him to open mosques in a limited manner. Samastha Kerala Sunni Federation leader Basheer Faizy Deshamangalam in a social media post commented that it is unfair to keep mosques closed when liquor stores and other establishments are allowed to open.

Incident-2: On May 27 the chief minister of Karnataka said they are keen on opening worship places from June 1 including temples, churches and mosques. He also said they have written a letter to the Union Government seeking permission. Once they get the nod, they will open as per the guidelines.

Meanwhile, endowment minister Kota Srinivas Poojary said, “The temples would be reopened keeping in mind cleanliness where soap and water or sanitizers and also social distancing would be compulsory. The final guidelines will be issued soon”.

Further the minister said that the online booking service will be extended from the present 8-10 temples to 52 temples across the state where ‘pooja seva’ can be booked online and people will receive prasadam at their homes and can participate in the online pooja.

Incident-3: All Christian denominations in India have given a call to all their church members for a common prayer under the banner “One sound/One Hope – Ring-Sing-Pray” on May 31, the feast of Pentecost. At 12 noon, bells in all churches and Christian institutions would be rung while Christians will sing the song “How great thou art” from wherever they are. They would also say the Our Father prayer for the nation. The prayer program would conclude with the National Anthem.

To me, this “mega drama” on May 31 seems to be a “prelude or preparation” to re-start the “Religious Commerce.”

“When you lift your hands in prayer, I will not look at you. No matter how much you pray, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with blood. Wash yourselves clean. Stop all the evil that I see you doing. Yes, stop doing evil and learn to do right. See that justice is done – help those who are oppressed, give orphans their rights, and defend widows.” (Isaiah 1:15-17).

It is sad that all these years, people have been taught what, when and how to recite a prescribed text as ‘prayer’. This type of parroting is meaningless.

Jesus has given clear guidelines on ‘how to pray’ in Mt.6:5-8 and 7:21. In line with this teaching, has the Catholic Church or any other denomination really taught the people how to ‘pray’ especially in ‘silence’? This is a million-dollar question.

Cardinal Alencherry’s statement – “Many are devoid of spiritual support these days and if the lockdown continues, it will lead to a growing psychological conflict” – is quite superficial. I wish to ask a few questions to the Cardinal:

1) On what basis have you come to this conclusion? Any survey conducted?
2) Can you point out a single Christian of your church who has got into serious psychological problems just because the churches are closed? Take this as my open challenge.
3) You say, “Religious ceremonies are essential for a believer.” Who has invented these ceremonies? For what and for whom? Are these not the opium?
4) Your concern proves too much ‘spoon-feeding’ by clergy to make the people dependent always. Survival of clergy is the agenda, right?
5) Where are the ‘charismatic healers’ at this time of health crisis? How many Covid-19 infected persons have been healed by such healers?
6) Are you really helping the people to move from religious dependency to spiritual empowerment? How?

The two-fold bitter truth in the context of covid-19 lockdown is: (a) the clergy in every religion are almost ‘unemployed’ (b) there is literally no income to worship places. Hence the religious leaders have been eagerly looking forward to the re-start of their ‘religious business’.

My appeal to religious leaders: God has been quite peaceful, alive and active in everyone during the lockdown period. Please allow people to interact with God in their own ways! Kindly stop your ‘spoon-feeding’! Let religious commerce die! Please focus on spiritual empowerment