( from Glimpses of World History by
Jawaharlal Nehru)
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The Kushan
Empire in the north-west of
The story of Christ or Jesus, as his name
was, is given in the New Testament of the Bible, and you know something about
it. In these accounts given in the Gospels little is said about his youth. He
was born at
Religions , as
every schoolgirl knows, have led to conflict and bitter struggles. But it is interesting
to watch the beginnings of the world-religions and to compare them. There is so
much that is similar in their outlook and their teaching that one wonders why
people should be foolish enough to quarrel about the details and unessentials. But the early teachings are added to and distorted
till it is difficult to recognize them; and the place of the teacher is taken
by the narrow-minded and intolerant bigots. Often enough religion has served as
a handmaiden to politics and imperialism. It was the old Roman policy to
cultivate superstition for the benefit, or rather for the exploitation, of the
masses, for it was easier to keep down the people if they were superstitious.
The Roman aristocrats would consent to dabble in high philosophy, but what was
good for them was not good or safe for the masses. Machiavelli, a famous
Italian of a later day, who has written a book on politics ,
states that religion is necessary for government, and that it may be the duty
of a ruler to support a religion which he believes to be false. Even in recent
times we have had innumerable instances of imperialism advancing under the
cloak of religion. It is not surprising that Karl Marx wrote that “Religion is the opium of the masses”.
Jesus was a jew, and the jews were and
are a peculiar and strangely persevering people. After a brief period of glory
in the days of David and Solomon they fell on evil days. Even this glory was on
a small scale, but it was magnified in their imaginations till it became a kind
of Golden age of the past, which would come again at the appointed time when
the Jews would become great and powerful. They spread out all over the
The Jews expected a messiah, and perhaps
they had hopes of Jesus. But they were soon disappointed. Jesus talked a
strange language of
revolt against existing conditions and the social order. In particular he was
against the rich and the hypocrites who made of religion a matter of certain
observances and ceremonial.
Instead of promising wealth and glory, he asked people to give up even what
they had for a vague and mythical kingdom of heaven. He talked in stories and
parables, but it is clear that he was a born rebel who
could not tolerate existing conditions and was out to change them. This
was not what the Jews wanted, and so most of them turned against him and handed
him over to the Roman authorities.
The Roman people were not intolerant so far as
religions went, for the empire tolerated
all religions, and even if someone chose
to blaspheme or curse any of the gods, he was not punished. As one of the
emperors, Tiberius, said: “if the gods insulted , let
them see to it themselves.” The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, before whom
Jesus was produced, could not therefore have worried about
the religious aspect of the matter. Jesus was looked upon as a political , and by the Jews as a
social , rebel; and as such he was tried and sentenced and crucified at
Jesus was quite young, being only a little
over thirty when he died. We read in the beautiful
language of the Gospels the tragic story of his death, and are
moved. The growth of Christianity in after ages has
made millions revere the name of Jesus, although they have seldom followed his
teachings. But we must remember that when he was crucified, he was not
widely known outside
The
immediate followers and disciples of Jesus were frightened into denying him,
but soon after his death a newcomer, Paul, who had not seen Jesus himself,
started spreading what he considered to be the Christian doctrine. Many people
think that the Christianity that Paul preached was very different from the
teachings of Jesus. Paul was an able and learned person, but he was not a
social rebel such as Jesus was. Paul succeeded, however, and Christianity
gradually spread. The Roman attached little importance to it to begin with.
They thought Christians were sect of the Jews. But the Christians became
aggressive. They were hostile
to all other religions and they refused absolutely to worship the
Emperor’s image. The Roman could not understand this mentality and , as it appeared to them, narrow-mindedness. They
considered the Christians therefore as cranks who were pugnacious and uncultured and
opposed to human progress. As a religion, they might have tolerated
Christianity, but the Christian refusal to pay homage to the Emperor’s image
was looked upon as political treason and was made punishable with death. The
Christians also strangely criticized the gladiatorial shows. Then followed the persecution of the Christians, and their
property was confiscated and they were thrown to the lions. You must have read
stories of these Christian martyrs and perhaps
you have also seen cinema films of them. But when
a person is prepared to die for a cause, and indeed to glory in such a death,
it is impossible to
suppress him or the cause he represents. And the
As Christianity grew, violent disputes arose
about the divinity of Jesus. You will remember my telling you how Gautama the Buddha, who claimed no divinity
, came to be worshipped as a god and as an avatar. Similarity,
Jesus claimed no divinity. His repeated statements that he was the son of God
and the son of man do not necessarily mean any divine
or superhuman claim. But human beings like to make gods of their great men,
whom, having deified, they refrain from following! Six hundred years later the Prophet Mohammad
started another great religion, but, profiting, perhaps, by these instances ,
he started clearly and repeatedly that he was human, and not divine.
So,
instead of understanding and following the teachings of Jesus, the Christians
argued and quarreled about the nature of Jesus’s
divinity and about the Trinity. They called each other heretics and persecuted
each other and cut each other’s heads off. There was a great and violent
controversy at one time among different Christian sects over a certain
diphthong. One party said that the word Homo-ousion should be used in a prayer; the other
wanted Homoi-ousion-this difference had reference to
the divinity of Jesus. Over this diphthong fierce war was raged and large
numbers of people were slaughtered.
These internal disputes took place as the
Church grew in power. They have continued between various Christian sects till
quite recent times in the West.
You may be surprised to learn that Christianity came to
Christianity
is politically the dominant religion today, because it is the religion of the
dominant peoples of