2

Jan

Paradox of Surging Religious Fervour and Rising Crime Rate: The Way Out

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A person with white hair and glasses AI-generated content may be incorrect.Economic progress is generally expected to usher in modernisation—improving living standards while nurturing a more informed, rational and enlightened social outlook. Yet contemporary India presents a troubling paradox. Even as the economy posts impressive growth rates and technological advancement reshapes daily life, society appears to be sliding backwards on critical social indicators.

Instead of reinforcing the social reformist impulses that marked the early nineteenth century, the freedom struggle and the decades immediately after Independence, we are witnessing a revival of superstition, obscurantism and irrationality. In the twenty-first century—when even smaller nations have consciously cultivated scientific temper and civic rationality—Indian society seems increasingly trapped in revivalist modes of thought. Modern tools and comforts coexist uneasily with medieval mindsets.

The past decade has seen an unprecedented surge in religious fervour. The scale of spending on religious activities, particularly within the majority community, is staggering. If we consider the majority Hindu community, the astha industry—comprising everyday ritual items used in puja and havan—has expanded from an estimated ₹2,000 crore about a decade ago to over ₹15,000 crore today, with every sign of an increase in the coming time. Expenditure on pilgrimages alone is estimated at nearly ₹1.4 lakh crore annually. Moreover, the number of religious functions, as well as the number of religious gurus of various kinds, has seen an unprecedented rise. Faith, it would seem, has become one of the fastest-growing sectors of our economy.

Despite rapid economic growth and technological advancement, contemporary India faces a troubling social regression marked by rising superstition, obscurantism and irrationality. While faith has become one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy—with massive increases in spending on religious rituals, pilgrimages and gurus—this surge in religiosity has not translated into greater compassion or ethical conduct.
Friday Fuss
By Pradeep Mathur
On the contrary, crime rates, particularly against vulnerable groups such as Dalits, minorities and women, are rising sharply, indicating a deeper erosion of humanitarian values. The article argues that ritual has replaced ethics and spectacle has substituted conscience. This paradox is attributed to a breakdown in “spiritual communication,” where ill-informed religious leaders and uncritical followers perpetuate superstition and vested interests. The author contends that restoring scientific temper—without undermining faith—is essential to cleanse religion of irrationality, strengthen moral values, and reverse social decline.

By conventional moral logic, heightened religiosity should produce more God-fearing, compassionate and ethically grounded citizens. Yet the reality tells a very different story. Crime rates are rising alarmingly, cutting across regions and social categories. Even more disturbing is the sharp increase in crimes against the weakest sections of society—Dalits, minorities, women and the poor. This trend signals not just law-and-order failure, but a deeper erosion of humanitarian values and social empathy.

The coexistence of booming religious consumption and growing social brutality exposes a hollowing out of moral substance. When ritual replaces ethics and spectacle substitutes for conscience, faith ceases to civilise behaviour. The paradox before us is stark: never before has religion occupied so much public and private space, and never before has compassion seemed so scarce. If this contradiction is not confronted honestly, economic growth alone will not prevent moral and social decline.

The question is what is amiss and how can we arrest this trend. Obviously, there is a disconnect between the preacher and the follower. People listen to sermons, but neither understand nor imbibe the good, holy words. Apparently, the problem is communication.

Like communication regarding issues of governance, state and electoral system is called political communication, the communication concerning matters of faith can be termed as spiritual communication. The problems about spiritual communication in our country are many, which are at the root of the disconnect between the Guru or religious knowledge-giver and the shisha or the devotee who receives this knowledge and shapes his life and thinking.

Perhaps the first problem is that an overwhelming majority of religious leaders, especially those of the majority community, are themselves ignorant and lack an understanding of the issues they are supposed to deal with.   

The problem is also with religious knowledge seekers. They accept what is given to them

with blind faith and without examining their logic.    

It is because of this irrational approach that they accept and believe in all fanciful stories about godly figures and the miracles they are supposed to have performed. The vested interests of these religious groups encourage superstitious beliefs and outmoded social practices, which have no place in the schemes of the modern world in which we live.

The question is how we liberate large sections of our society from these vested interests. The answer is promotion and inculcation of scientific temper, which is now at a discount. Scientific temper is not against any faith. Rather, it cleans a faith of any dirt that it might have gathered because of the vested interests of those who use faith for their selfish ends.

Spiritual communication based on scientific temper will make us better and nobler human beings and improve the character and social indicators of our society.

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