Some religious people are over-zealous to fight for their faith – they quickly raise arms whenever they feel that their sacred icons have been slurred, irrespective of whether such slurs are actual or perceived.

Curiously, many such people assert their faith primarily when someone attacks it. Their faith is far more a social posture than a spiritual transformer. For example, terrorists ready to kill, or die, for their faith frequently know little about it – except “knowing” that it is under attack.

While terrorists are an extreme example, we all risk the danger of fighting for our faith externally more than internally. To fight internally means to counter the doubts and desires that block our realization of life’s spiritual side. The Bhagavad-gita exemplifies such focusing on the inner fight. Though spoken on a battlefield when power-hungry anti-social forces had made war inevitable, the Gita doesn’t feature war-inducing rhetoric. It centers on philosophy presented rationally to explain what our spiritual side is, and how becoming more spiritually realized can help us foster individual and social well-being.

Pertinently, the Gita (04.42) calls for taking up intellectual arms to counter the enemy of doubt. When we fight to cultivate spiritual knowledge, we gain the integrity and purity to exemplify the benevolent transformational power of our faith. Thereafter, when things we hold sacred are attacked, we will be guided from within to counter such attacks effectively. By using rational arguments, we will make the sanctity of those things intelligible. While fanatics may never accept this sanctity, most people will appreciate authentic practice and sensible explanation. Their increased appreciation will be an outer victory for our faith, a victory won without bloodshed.

If religious people the world over fought for their faith within more than without, they would find greater satisfaction internally and make better contributions socially.

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