Don't justify Orlando shooting in the name of my God

It was "Latin Night" at popular nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida.

20-year-old Luis Velma who operated the Harry Potter ride at Universal was there, having a good time on a weekend like many of us. But what turned a regular Saturday night into a terrifying one was the presence of Omar Mateen, who in the deadliest mass shooting in America, gunned down 50 people and injured 53 others.

The 29-year-old was a New York born resident with parents of Afghan descent. According to reports, he had never been directly involved with the Islamic State though he did owe allegiance to it. Latest reports say that Mateen was a gay himself.

He had even proposed to one of his classmates at the Police Academy. Pulse was one of their frequent haunts. What then went wrong, or should I say, horribly horribly wrong? When asked by investigators about a possible motive, Mateen's father's reply was simple, "It had nothing to do with religion". I only wish this was true.

His father was a deeply religious man, but he was also homophobic. He had posted a series of videos declaring himself leader of Afghanistan and said God will punish those involved in homosexuality. One can imagine how Mateen repressed by his father's oppressive views went berserk. He had to somehow break free. I am not offering an apology for Mateen, only saying regressive religious, family, and state structures produce Frankenstein-like figures. But real.

Instead of asserting over and over again that no religion in the world teaches us to hate one another, we need to understand why so much hatred is being propagated in the world in the name of religion. Both Islam and Christianity do not support homosexuality and see it as a sin is the dominant refrain. Does this effectively mean that we can't be religious and yet more accepting of other identities?

I sure hope not!

For religion too is not unequivocally one thing, and is open to a multiple interpretations. And, if we are condemned to only be allowed to adhere to one dominant narrative, then we need to rethink religion altogether.

I am not being radical here, just practical. All of us live in multi-ethnic societies with people of all religious beliefs and sexual orientations; can we really co-exist together without respect for each other? Religious leaders wield a lot of influence and can do a world of good in today's high pressure lives, why are they then advocating violence against homosexuals or anyone for that matter?

Why are they not talking about inclusiveness, empowering women and other pressing issues? Imam Farrokh Sekaleshfar advocated 'death threat' to all homosexuals a week ago in Florida. The Westboro Baptist Church was no less vitriolic, a message on its twitter handle read "God sent the shooter". More than religion itself, we need to be wary of its "interpreters".

Liberal spaces are shrinking as absurd justifications about what the holy books say or doesn't say are widely debated.

We have forgotten to assert that humanity is the most important religion of all. Let's not justify killings in the name of God; we need to stand against both Islamophobia and homophobia. Replacing one evil with another is no solution.

If we truly want a saner world to live in, we need to gather in solidarity and emphasise time and again that the rights of minorities, religious or otherwise, are important. The right to dissent and to hold views that are not in accordance with the popular narrative are welcome, even necessary in democratic societies.

We might hold the morally superior view that American gun culture is the real culprit; the truth is: it is easier to criticise them. It is much more difficult to look inwards.