Friends, let us discuss one very common but important thing. I don't know if it can be classified under sociological phenomenon or not as I am not a scholar of it. But let us try to discuss this issue. Please bring in this angle if possible.
Issue is:
We all see since morning in various Hindi news channel different pundits come and discuss astrology and predictions. First of all, I am not against any subject of knowledge and secondly, this issue is not of astrology but a step beyond that. Astrology is also rational but the interpretation is very poorly and myopically done. But park this thing for now.
If we observe carefully, all these news channels invite dharam gurus, pundits, astrologer etc on various days and talks too much irrationality. Not only these people but Hindi news channels are also biased towards one particular religion, Hinduism and keep exploring various temples, 'kathas' Gods etc and try to prove existing false beliefs by consulting it with pundits and local citizens. Temples should be explored but why emphasizing on false belief like one news channel was showing, "this temple attracts lightening from sky and save complete valley from getting burned" ... Why not invite some physicists or earth science expert? WHo was consulted for this? One chai wala, one pundit ji and 2-3 old people. Same channel one day was discussing about existence of one god through footprints on some rocks and consulting with local people who said 'yes! these are footprints of God as He made it'. At end, reporter said yes these are footprints of God and people must come and see! Another channel termed formation of stalgamite as 'Karishma' of God! Seriously?
This thing is being fed to so many people day and night. Gullible and naive junta take all this very seriously, believe it and this is the reason we see so many people sitting in the durbar of fake babas, some of which are pervert and their leaked videos say a lot about them.
I am not demeaning any religion(I am myself Hindu who worship Sun) or promoting any but these channels have viewership from across the section of people like from Jainism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity etc. Why then no major program is shown on these religions? Just now one channel dedicated prime half an hour on Raavan. 99% of the content was based on 'kehte hain' stories. Even some person if remotely connected to these stories they relate whole thing as 'reasearch' of that person. Research!
Comments
Point is,
1. Why we are seeing this trend now? I dont think change in govt is reason behind it. Such programs were being telecasted even before that. If TRP is the reason, then is it right to feed so many people with illogical thinking and making them ignore true value of the good ethical lessons from various religious scriptures?
2. What is the reason behind telecast of only one particular religion? We have already lost Buddhism on the land where it originated, why not discuss so many good things about it like stupas, viharas ?
3. What can be the consequences of this from sociological pov? Is it integrating our society or promoting fission?
4. Why no NGOs or activist speak against this?
Okay, let me correct that.
Faith begins where Reason ends.
Faith here is in the context of religion, because astrology here stems from religion per se.
Copy-paste from wiki:
Reason is the capacity for consciously making sense of things, applying logic, establishing and verifying facts, and changing or justifying practices, institutions, and beliefs based on new or existing information.[1] It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, mathematics, and art and is normally considered to be a definitive characteristic of human nature.[2] Reason, or as aspect of it, is sometimes referred to as rationality.
You reason based on logic. Faith be damned.
Faith enters when you can't explain something using logic.
You are aware of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Now if i ask you, what is the cause of this condition?
How will you reason out your answer? Is it based on your faith of knowledge earned by studying modern medical science? Is modern medical science the ultimate reality?
It doesn't mean that research on its cause is not going on.
And secondly, my answer will be based on established, verifiable and re-verifiable facts, which are available for anyone in the world to prove as incorrect.
Science doesn't just attribute anything it can't explain to a supernatural being, like religion does.
Addendum:
I can see that you are using "faith" as in "an implicit trust in someone or something", whereas the "Faith" here refers to the faith in religion.
News channels generally cater according to the demands of their audience. Now these astrology, alien stealing cow stories are generally being fed to housewives and children who spend majority of their time at home.
Also programmes like crime patrol are becoming popular which cater to sexual fantasies as they deal with issues like extra marital affairs. All in all these programmes are basically a reflection of our society rather than being a function of our religious beliefs.