Imti Ozukum
New Delhi
Credit must be given where it is due not only as a matter of politeness but as a matter of genuine appreciation. No greater credit is given to anything or anyone other than the missionaries who brought Christianity to Nagaland, and God himself for choosing to shine the light of gospel on the people supposedly living in darkness. To many people such historical incident is not an accident but a destined fate designed by God for his chosen people.
The Britishers saw no economic potential and therefore even the expansionist Lord Dalhousie favored the policy of nonintervention towards the Nagas except taming them to prevent raiding the tea gardens in the plains. On the other hand the American missionaries turned their attention towards the hills only when their mission effort in Assam was not fruitful as expected. The beginning of education in Nagaland had a primary purpose of converting the people to Christians and producing more Christian cadres to convert more people. It began with no fundamental distinction between secular and religious education as we understand today and in fact it is clear that the purpose was fundamentally religious. Education was used as a means for religious conversion and propagation and it is unlikely that the white missionaries had any plan to transform the Naga society other than converting them to Christians. Our ancestors had no way of telling religion from education or medicine or anything that is associated with the white man and therefore accepting one meant accepting the others.
Education was aimed at producing people educated enough to carry out mission work. Such legacy got carried through the generation with a preconceived notion that education free of religiosity is considered not only earthly but incomplete and therefore we see parallel development of religious education along with the secular education where the curricular and extracurricular activities in educational institutions are punctuated by religious teachings and activities. Religion in fact gives meaning and purpose to the pursuit of education which would otherwise be just a hollow, materialistic and earthly pursuit. Such beliefs and practices are neither new nor rare and a child is initiated into such ways of education at a very young age. It is not unheard of that some parents would fancy that the word Jesus be the first word uttered and learned by their child while others dedicate their newborn baby for God’s mission as soon as they are born.
While such belief may seem innocent and harmless on its own, when our action is guided by a vision that is founded on the premise of “faith” and not facts, evidence and critical thinking, the possibility that such action might produce an outcome that is of no use practically except fulfilling religious desire is a question that is long overdue. It is because of such reason that scientific temper has failed to take hold in Naga society and we hardly see any intellectual discourse in scientific matters such as the theory of human evolution and the theory of relativity. Our religious upbringing has blocked any meaningful appreciation of such knowledge and often reduces it to a point of ridicule while the biblical teaching has been accepted as a foregone conclusion which must never be questioned. The topic of human evolution that we studied in school was nothing more than a Shakespeare’s poem that needed to be memorized to pass the exam. The theory of human evolution and the theory of relativity signify a glorious moment in the human history of relentless scientific endeavor in trying to understand ourselves and the universe surrounding us and these knowledge have benefited us in numerous ways, but such knowledge do not have much admirer in our society and is not taken seriously and anyone daring to question the revealed truth are usually patronized.
We operate under the assumption that we are informed by the “true” god and such conditioning of mind may have made us immune to scientific reasoning because we think “we know what needs to be known” and anything that explains otherwise is not only wrong but sin. Such attitude might have nipped many intrigued mind in its bud and not only tacitly but actively discourage any effort towards scientific enquiry that might undermine the belief. Any effort for scientific enquiry is often ridiculed, considered arrogant, ignorant, faithless, or a sinner and may be viewed in a condescending manner. American economist Thomas Sowell has noted how studious and sincere black American students are accused of “acting white” by their peers often resulting in physical assault. He observed such behavior as one of the major problem holding back black community in America from going up the social and economic ladder. Any deviation from the accepted social and religious convention risks getting alienated and may be accused of acting against the society or group. Ultimately it is the people that pay when certain behaviors and beliefs are allowed without checks and balance. What is more dangerous is its permeation into political, economic and educational discourse.
The often neglected danger of religiosity is its tendency to create ideological homogeneity which has the collective power to decisively interfere in the collective as well as individual lives, and if there is anything that we Nagas cherish it is collectivism, which puts us culturally and religiously in unison. Therefore it won’t be wrong to say that collectivism has not only made us act alike but also think alike. Christianity gave a high resolution image of meaning and purpose for the individual and this image came to be projected collectively in our society where collectivism stands paramount over individualism. In this schema our perception is conditioned by the religious tenet which is accepted as the revealed truth without subjecting it to scrutiny. Such beliefs are so deeply ingrained in us that we are subjected by it unconsciously.
Anything that hampers free inquiry based on facts and evidence should be discouraged or at least not emboldened but perhaps that will be the most difficult thing for Nagas to accomplish. Also, questions such as why are Hindus, who are definitely worshiping the wrong god, and the Jews, who undoubtedly killed Jesus, more successful than any bible-memorizing-vision-seeing Nagas are seldom asked. No doubt the root cause for lacking scientific temper has a long legacy in our society and this could be one of the examples of how seemingly harmless cultural and religious beliefs could have a deep impact even to the extent of curtailing rationality and confining our intellectual complex to dogma. The problem is that there is not only lack of exposure to alternate explanation but any deviation is stigmatized.
We apparently lack the courage and cognizance to evaluate such entrenched ideas without realizing at what cost we are propagating it. C.G. Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, said “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” Credit is rightly given to whom it is due for bringing to us modern education but then we have failed to instill scientific temperament in our education system and instead has given rise to attitudes that discourages it. On top of producing negative human capital, also called the educated unemployed, many of who are educated but does not possess any marketable skills, our education system has also produced an uncritical human capital. Nagas seems to have defined “secularism” out of existence and found complete solace in the bible which is considered not only as the word of God but is consulted like a mechanic consulting a machine manual. Perhaps another era of enlightenment is overdue.
The writer can be contacted at
Imtiozukum@gmail.com
