By Jacob Peenikaparambil - Newspapers on 28th May published a touching incident that took place at Edathua church in Alappuzha district of Kerala. On May 25th night, the body of 86 year old Srinivas was cremated at the cemetery of Edathua St. George Church. It was the first time the body of a Hindu was cremated in the church cemetery and the incident caught the attention of all. It was a sublime expression of humanity that transcends the boundaries of religion.
Srinivasan, a migrant from Tamil Nadu, died on Tuesday 25th May morning. There is no public crematorium in Edathua and his five member family was in quarantine, as they all had tested positive. Because of heavy rain the premises of his residence were water-logged. As several deaths were happening in the hospital, the body could not be kept in the mortuary for long. The local panchayat member approached the priest in charge of the parish church. After consulting with parish office-bearers the priest readily agreed to cremate the body in the parish cemetery. The decision of the church authorities demonstrated that humanity is the greatest religion.
Fr Mathew, the parish priest, feels proud of allowing the cremation in the parish cemetery. “This is an unusual day of pandemic. We all have to support the needy at the hour of crisis. Allowing the pyre of a Hindu at the cemetery was an occasion to demonstrate Christian love, which I preach.” he said.
The chief minister of Kerala, Pinaray Vijayan, appreciated in his daily briefing on Covid, the sensitivity and compassion shown by the authorities of Edathua church. St. George Church Edathua was also in the news in the month of April for cancelling the annual feast in which large crowds from Kerala and the neighbouring Tamil Nadu used to take part. During his daily briefing on the state’s coronavirus status on April 27, the chief minister hailed the decision of St George Church to cancel the feast in view of the pandemic. “It is for the first time in the church’s 211-year history that it has cancelled the feast,” the chief minister told press persons.
The human solidarity, generosity and compassion that are unfolded during the natural calamities and pandemic like Covid 19 often evaporate when normalcy is returned and religion becomes a divisive force. We may ask a question why the religions that motivate their followers to reach out to all human beings irrespective of their faith during disasters become a divisive force in normal times.
The reasons for religion becoming a divisive force are 1) giving priority to rituals, statues and worship centres over the core values taught by religions like love, compassion, forgiveness, justice and respect for all beings; 2) commercialization of religion or making use of religion for collecting money and 3) politicization of religion-using religion to polarize people to acquire political power and remaining in power.
Pandemic like Covid 19 provides an opportunity to the people of all religions to go back to the original source of religion and reinvent religion as spirituality through a process of de-ritualization, de-commercialization and de-politicization. Along with detoxification of religion there is need for increased co-operation and collaboration among the leaders of different religions through joint ventures in launching welfare schemes and organizing inter-faith prayers for peace and healing. Then people will be able to live in harmony respecting and helping each other even during the normal time.
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