Radhika's Creative Portfolio

I was most hurt by the depiction of a scene early on in Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra, where young children, mostly boys, were stoning a stray dog to death. The dog was innocent, and had done nothing to offend the children. But, the children were getting some irrational thrill from their actions.

This scene mimics the execution by stoning a prostitute got simultaneously in the public square in the novel. The protagonist describes his horror at the thrill he himself received, in stoning the woman. He didn’t understand his emotions. Society told him that he was doing the “just” thing by punishing a woman who had wronged. Religion does not justify such acts of cruelty. Religion does not dictate rules, humans do. We interpret religion, and we create rules and regulations. In fact, we have been socialized into believing that punishing someone who has wronged gives us moral superiority, and makes us better people by following God’s path. But this is not God’s path – this is a governmental regime.

If we believe in religion, then God brought us into the world and he made us the way we are – different, but beautiful in our own way. And, he should be the only one with any right to take us from it.

~ by radhikagoyal on December 11, 2015.