Religion ? man-made by the way - takes up so much of our time and energy, and has such a huge place in most people?s lives because we are all looking for something bigger than us, something that will comfort us, soothe our souls and make us feel better. I suppose it is the same trend, but on a different scale, as when we are children; we look up to our parents, and trust in them, trust that when things go wrong, somebody grander will take over and make things right again.

So we search for that special thing that will quench our thirst for knowledge, make us understand ourselves better and explain to us what we are doing on this earth. It so happens that the main religions do not provide the answer for all that. So that?s why people have started looking elsewhere. I suppose that?s also how different faiths and groups started to crop up, to respond to this demand. Some people like what they hear and become fanatics, some don?t even want to know, and some get scared.

That?s how I suppose the word ?sect? got popular. Everything that is un-known to us, that scare us, which we cannot relate to, is called a sect. With all its pejorative innuendos. Eckankar is now the new thing.

The Voice of Hindu organization has written to the Prime Minister to demand that the organization known as Eckankar be banned from the country. The VOH thinks that it is ?totally unacceptable? that people leave their religion to join ?sects? and that the government has a responsibility to protect the religions of this country.

I?m sorry? Where in heaven?s name are we going? It is now a group representing a mere minority of Mauritians that will dictate to the government, and to the people of this country, how they should go about their daily lives? It is the VOH that will tell people what organization they should or should not join? The freedom of conscience, the freedom of association, the freedom of movement, the freedom of opinion, the freedoms of creed and of religious beliefs are all guaranteed by the Constitution. If those people at the VOH think all those are vague slogans, then they have another thought coming. If they think their irrational way of thinking should have a bearing on the government of the day, then someone should set them straight.

It is precisely because there is such a thing as freedom of expression and of association that the VOH is legally allowed to carry out their most controversial and deplorable activities. One thing should be made clear though; if the government of the day and whoever may be heading it, is scared to tell those zealots, who are not serving anybody?s cause but their own obscure ones, to go to hell, the rest of us who still have some sense left, should make our stand known.

The layperson that I am is convinced that different things give solace to different people and if we don?t start respecting this, we are in danger of turning into one very intolerant society. It seems we have already started. We need to put an end to this. If the VOH thinks it has a cause to defend, then so be it. But it should refrain from thinking it is speaking on behalf of a certain section of the population. No one mandated them to do anything on their behalf. I most certainly did not. And they would be wise to respect this. Respect, that long lost word?