Stop making religion a scapegoat for corruption

Stop making religion a scapegoat for corruption

January 06, 2017
Nasser Al-Saeedan
Nasser Al-Saeedan

[caption id="attachment_110479" align="alignleft" width="300"]Nasser Al-Saeedan Nasser Al-Saeedan
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I cannot fathom why religion is cited as the cause of most problems in our society today. If the main cause of a problem is not identified, religion is blamed. For example, if there is corruption, bribery or crime, then religion is blamed. It is cited as the most common cause of most of our problems.

I have conducted studies on how countries like Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia rose up to become great countries. A few decades ago, they were hardly significant on the world level. I focused in my studies on how these countries eradicated corruption and noted that none of them blamed religion for the corruption they experienced. They did not intensify the teaching of religion in schools, colleges and universities in order to end corruption.

The only reason these countries succeeded in progressing so much was by enhancing their capabilities to fight corruption. This was because they pinpointed and identified the real problem and worked on solving it. They did not deceive themselves into believing that religion was the reason behind rampant corruption. They did not waste their time fighting an imaginary foe.

There are many Asian and European countries that are free from corruption. In fact, if they find a single case of corruption, they will mobilize all their capabilities and the general public to fight it and end it. It is not religious influence that motivates them to act against corruption, as the majority of them are not religious, while many follow no religion at all.

However, these poor levels of religiosity have not prevented them from being honest. We need to study how these countries have ended corruption and learn from their experience.


January 06, 2017
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