On September 26, a shocking news story broke: a second standard student at a residential school in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras was killed as part of a "sacrificial ritual" aimed at the institute's prosperity. The incident occurred on September 23 at DL Public School in Rasgawan but only became public after the post-mortem report revealed that the 9-year-old boy had been strangled.

According to news reports, the police arrested five individuals, including the school's owner, Jasodhan Singh, his son Dinesh Baghel (the school's director), and three teachers who were complicit in the crime. The police reported that the director's father believed in "black magic," and during their investigation, items related to it were found near the school. The boy's murder was intended to take place near a tubewell outside the school, but when the child screamed as they attempted to remove him from the hostel, they strangled him on the spot. The police also disclosed that another child was nearly sacrificed on September 6 but managed to escape.

The school owner and his son, both educated individuals, succumbed to blind faith and superstition out of greed for wealth and fame. It is alarming that even educated people sometimes lack scientific temper. While the uneducated may fall victim to superstition out of ignorance, the educated have no such excuse. Their actions demonstrate how human greed can lead to irrational, even fatal, behaviour. An anonymous quote aptly states, "Greed makes man blind and foolish, and an easy prey for death." Eric Fromm also said, "Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts a person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction."

The greed for more resources, not their lack, often leads to poverty and hunger. Mahatma Gandhi wisely observed, "The earth has enough for every man's need, but not for every man's greed." Despite their foundational teachings of temperance and detachment, religions often promote greed. Religious leaders, particularly from the priestly class, encourage expensive rituals with promises of wealth, fame, and good health. Many people flock to religious sites and donate generously in hopes of receiving manifold returns. Without scientific temper, the line between faith and blind faith blurs.

When religion becomes commercialised and politicised, it fosters an environment ripe for blind faith and superstitions. The commercialisation of religion includes charging fees for visiting sacred sites, selling food and souvenirs, and charging for rituals and prayers. Religious leaders in many faiths promise prosperity, healing, and even eternal bliss after death in exchange for expensive rituals.

Jesus, however, strongly opposed the commercialisation of religion. One of the few times Jesus displayed anger was when he saw people selling goods in the temple. He overturned their tables, accusing them of turning the temple into a "den of thieves." According to some biblical scholars, traders were colluding with priests to charge exorbitant prices for items needed for temple sacrifices, forcing worshippers to buy from them instead of from outside the temple at reasonable prices.

Politicians also exploit religious sentiments to win votes, often promising to build religious structures or offering free pilgrimages. They remain silent on issues of blind faith and superstition, fearing the loss of votes, and in some cases, they even incite communal violence to polarise voters. Several self-styled religious leaders, now in jail for crimes committed under the guise of religion, once enjoyed political patronage.

Fostering scientific temper and promoting spirituality over religiosity is the solution to preventing the spread of blind faith and superstition. Article 51A(h) of the Indian Constitution makes it a duty for every citizen to cultivate a scientific temper, humanism, and the spirit of inquiry and reform. Scientific temper is a way of thinking and acting that relies on questioning, observing, and analysing, encouraging rational and critical approaches to societal issues. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's words on this are worth reflecting on: "It is therefore with the temper and approach of science, allied to philosophy, and with reverence for all that lies beyond, that we must face life." Scientific temper is crucial for building a progressive society free from superstitions and irrational practices, as it promotes equality, humanity, and secularism.

Another response to greed and blind faith is the promotion of spirituality over religiosity. Religiosity is rooted in rituals, prayers, and dogmas, while spirituality is focused on core values like forgiveness, compassion, justice, equality, and protecting the earth's resources. While religiosity can divide, spirituality unites. If religiosity promotes rigidity and fundamentalism, spirituality encourages scientific temper, flexibility, and creativity. Spirituality is about being prophetic, while religiosity is often priest-centred.

Spirituality fosters pluralism—the acceptance, appreciation, and celebration of diversity. Jesus exemplified this pluralism by choosing diverse apostles, recognising the faith of a Roman officer, and presenting a Samaritan as a role model of genuine spirituality. Jesus rejected religiosity, which did not lead to spiritual growth, and called for worship "in Spirit and in truth." According to the Gospels, Jesus went to the temple and the synagogue to teach people but to pray, he often went to lonely places and mountains.

Like many other religions, Christianity's history has been marked by conflicts and divisions due to ritualism, legalism, and dogmatism. Christianity is now divided into over 45,000 denominations. These divisions occurred because followers deviated from the spirituality Jesus taught, focusing instead on rituals and dogmas.

Religious rituals should be a means of spiritual growth, but when they become ends in themselves, division and conflict arise. Religions like Christianity, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism began as spiritual movements promoting values like love, compassion, and nonviolence. Over time, their followers adopted rituals and practices that their founders had rejected, leading to institutionalisation, ritualism, and dogmatism. This paved the way for the entry of greed, corruption, and superstition.

All religions require a continuous process of cleansing through the promotion of scientific temper and spirituality. As Pandit Chaturvedi, the main character in the Hindi movie Dharam, wisely stated, "Religion is not mere rituals; it is duty and responsibility; rejecting discrimination is religion; unity and harmony is religion; humanity is religion." If this understanding, based on scientific temper and spirituality, is universally accepted, there would be no room for greed, blind faith, or religious conflict.