ChangingPictures

Following the discussion on Avinash Meetoo’s Blog about ‘‘What does it mean to be Mauritian?’, I have posted the following comment about Religion & Culture.

I think there is a major misconception in Mauritius (and other countries as well) about Culture & Religion

Religion is a system of faith/belief & worship of a controlling power, which is usually superhuman. So the religions in Mauritius are divided into Hindu, Christian, Catholic, Buddhist etc…

Culture is formed up of the knowledge we acquire as we grow up in a certain social group. Our attitude, behavior, customs, philosophy, lifestyle, & tradition all make up our culture. When we are born and raised in Mauritius, we are all the products of the Mauritian Culture. Some of us adopt a more ‘sophisticated culture’ while others prefer a ‘practical culture’ and there’s even a bunch who mix their religion and their culture to get ‘religious culture’.

However, it is indisputable that both religion and culture affect each other with different degrees of influence. How much religion affects culture, or vice versa, is actually down to the person concerned. It is subjective.
If people really want to put religion in front and say it is the way of life, then we should essentially be living within the real rules & regulations of religion, which date back to the creation of each respective religion. We should forgo modernity, science & technology to live in the same conditions that those people lived in when religions were invented.

When religion was invented, it only took into consideration the material things, the history & culture that existed then. It did not make itself adaptable to the changes that would occur with the several scientific discoveries, cultural revolutions & industrial revolutions that came later. Therefore, religion is not something that we can adapt to the way we progress. Religion is written in a book and has specific laws and regulations which we cannot change. If we could change those, then we would essentially be creating new religions.
I believe that religion is actually derived from the cultures that existed in those early days, and it came about so as to put strict rules & regulations in order to create a system for people to live ‘by’.

I personally think religion was invented for some people to have control over others, and maybe it was also invented to try and keep peace, but the result is that it created more wars and divisions. I also think that the best way to make people follow something, which is not natural, is to make them fear it. So, by using deities, demons combined with supernatural & superhuman behaviors, the various religions have managed to establish a fear in people and consequently pushed them to respect their religion, as if they did not abide by the rules & regulations, they would be punished or sent to hell, etc…

Anyway, religion affects the conscience of the one who believes in it. Culture is enough for someone to assess what is good or bad, but culture is very diverse and it is adaptable with other aspects of life (technology, science, lifestyle etc..). Therefore the degrees of goodness and badness vary across different cultures and across different eras. Religion on the other hand is written in a book, it is like the legal system of a country is contained in a book, therefore, it is easier to use religion to tell someone they are being good or bad, as there is always the book to prove it.

Marriage is mainly part of culture, and religion actually only occupies a small role during the ceremony (the prayers/odes uttered by a ‘man of god’ during the wedding ceremony). After that, marriage is about & between a wife and husband. Religion has no role then, but culture, society and the legal system are the watchdogs of the marriage.

Anyway, I personally think religion has become obsolete, it has no real use anymore. The legal system & politics are doing the same job as religion did years ago. I think religion can only bring moral support for some people; it does not in any way prevent people from doing bad things and it is not influence people to do good deeds. It is just there because some people are comfortable with it and it has been there for so long now that it has become like a routine.

If anyone has read the comments about the Mauritian Vibes boxing day party on thisismauritius.com, one can see how some Mauritians, who puts themselves on the pedestal and auto-proclaim themselves ‘professionals’, turn out to be complete total ignorant louts, amateurs & opportunists.

Following the ‘Mauritian Londoner’ documentary, some people wrote to me relating their experiences of other such opportunists who have organised ‘ghost’ Mauritian parties on different University Campuses in the UK, but finally took all the money they made from the pre-paid ticket sales and fled to Mauritius, leaving the guests with an inexistent party.

Mauritians looting fellow Mauritians in a foreign land; Sad but true.

Chairs only get acquainted with our posteriors. Apart from that, they lead a pretty lonely life.

Mauritian Londoner gives us a glimpse of the pros and cons of living in London as a student and expatriate. It illustrates some of the problems many students face because of the lack of finance, and because their colleges/universities are not really providing adequate education. In the end, many students stop going to classes and have to do petty jobs in order to support themselves. Very often, the result is that UK immigration authorities find them and they are deported back to Mauritius. Many Mauritians already living in the UK sometimes use their friends/families, who have just arrived, to their own advantages. The sense of patriotism and the desire to help fellow islanders is something not all Mauritians share when they are in the UK. During the shooting, we were told by different contributors than many Mauritian girls studying in London, were gradually falling into prostitution, as they had no other means for supporting themselves. Many Mauritians who are deported find it hard to re-integrate Mauritian society because they feel embarrassed and unaccomplished.The issue is alarming, but because we are a small country, our issues are seldom heard. Even in Mauritius, it’s only now that the press is raising some concern in the situation, while this has been happening for decades. This problem does not only affect Mauritians in London, but also those in other parts of England, Scotland, Ireland and even other European countries. This is only a pilot documentary that shows possibilities to investigate this socio-political problem in more depth.We would like to take this to the next stage and create a proper documentary film that will grab the attention of the government, media, institutions, NGOs and other watchdogs, both in the UK and in Mauritius. We think this also has the potential to be an international documentary because the situation that many Mauritians face is the same as what students from other underdeveloped and developing countries face.Please e-mail Shaan if you want to share any thoughts privately or if you would like to contribute or collaborate on this documentary project.This entry is also published at:ThisIsMauritius