I am particularly keen to see Lahore, with which I have a strong 125 year old connection from the time of my revered grandfather D KN Katju who went to study there in or around 1900.
Many Pakistanis have invited me to come to Pakistan.
However I cannot come due to these reasons :
(1) I will never get a Pakistani visa, since I have repeatedly called Pakistan a fake ( farzi ), artificial country, created by a British swindle called Partition in 1947, on the basis of the bogus two nation theory, and said it is part of India ( like Bangladesh ) to which it will be reunited one day.
I explained this in my video interview to my friend Haider Raza, a Pakistani who lives in California, and took my interview there
(2) Even assuming I get a visa, the chances are that I will be bumped off by some fanatic the moment I step down from the aircraft on Pakistani soil.
This is because I have repeatedly said that all religions ( which would include Islam ) are false and superstitions, and the truth lies in science, which is constantly developing
I have also praised Mustafa Kemal who modernised Turkey, and asked Indian and Pakistani Muslims to give up sharia, burqa, madasas and maulanas, as these are keeping them backward.
I have said that Islam came in the world as a great liberating force, as it spread the great message of equality, from Spain to Indonesia, and gave social emancipation to the suppressed sections of society ( e.g. dalits in India ), but today it has largely become an enslaving force because of sharia, burqa, madarsas and maulanas.
(3) My Pakistani friends who invited me said that they will ensure state security for me in Pakistan.
But even the then Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, was shot by his own security guard Mumtaz Qadri, just as Indira Gandhi was shot by her own guard Satwant Singh. The Praetorian Guards in ancient Rome, whose duty was to protect the Emperor, often assassinated him.
Thus the so called ‘security’ is in fact no security. There are plenty of extremist organisations in Pakistan which would be happy to bump me off e.g. Tehreeke Labaik, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Tehreeke Taliban, Jaish-e-Mohammed, etc
(4) The Pakistan army are the real rulers of Pakistan, and they have unleashed a fascist reign of terror in Pakistan after the events of 9th May, 2023 ( which many say were stage managed ).
In several articles I have described and exposed the Pakistan army, particularly its senior officers, as a bunch of corrupt, amoral, mafia type, gangsters, looters, gundas, terrorists, rogues and rascals, and as vampires who have since long been sucking the blood of the Pakistani people
Several army generals, serving or retired, and their relatives are millionaires, some even billionaires. They spend a large part of the government budget on themselves, enhancing their lifestyle and retirement benefits. They are some of the richest people in Pakistan, and after joining the army and getting promoted to senior ranks (major and above) their lifestyle drastically changes. They live in splendour, with huge houses, luxury cars and designer goods.
To my Brothers and Sisters Judges of the Supreme Court of India
I respectfully appeal to you to revisit the cases of the people in jail mentioned below whom I believe are innocent and have been wrongly incarcerated due to political vendetta by the Modi Government, quash the bogus charges against them, and free them.
Sanjiv Bhatt He was a senior IPS Police Officer who gave an affidavit in the Supreme Court alleging complicity of Modi in the 2002 massacre of 2000-3000 Muslims in Gujarat. In the affidavit, he claimed he had attended a meeting at the then chief minister’s residence in February 2002, at which Modi allegedly told officers to “allow Hindus to vent their anger” against the minority community. As a result, Modi, who is known to be a very vindictive person, got him arrested on apparently trumped up false charge of an old case of 1996, and convicted, and he has been in jail since 2018 . He has also been sacked from the police and he and his family harrssed in many ways. https://thewire.in/law/ips-officer-sanjiv-bhatt-custodial-death-narendra-modi-gujarat-riots
Umar Khalid He is a Ph.D from JNU, and was an activist. He was arrested on charges of sedition, under the UAPA and a host of other sections of the IPC, which I believe to be totally concocted and bogus, and he has been in jail since 2020. His real crime is being a Muslim. Kanhaiya Kumar, who was accused of similar charges in the same incident in JNU, being a Hindu, is free.
Ali Amin Gandapur is the Chief Minister of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ( KP ) in Pakistan, and belongs to former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party, the PTI.
Pathans are a brave people, who cannot be hectored or pushed around by anyone. Their land was invaded by Alexander the Great, the Moghul Empire, the British Empire, the Russians, and the Americans, but they never surrendered, and instead made their country a graveyard of invaders.
About Pathans there is a saying that if you give a Pathan respect, he will jump into a well if you tell him to without a second thought. But if you do not give him respect, and try to bully or cow him down, he will not listen to anything you say.
In Rambo III an Afghan tells Rambo a popular saying : ” May God deliver us from the venom of the Cobra, teeth of the tiger, and the vengeance of the Afghan. Do you know what that means ? “.
To which Rambo replies ” That you people don’t take any shit “.
So I often tell my Pathan friends ( and I have many ) ” You Pathans are a bit manphira ( crazy ) ”.
Ali Amin Gandapur also seems a bit manphira. But there is no doubt that he is a brave man who cannot be intimidated by anyone.
His leader Imran Khan, and his PTI party has the support of probably 90% Pakistanis ( as all opinion polls show ), but by a rigged election in February the Pakistan army, which really rules Pakistan, installed the corrupt PDM in power, with Shahbaz Sharif as Prime Minister. However, despite their best effort they could not prevent the PTI from coming to power in KP.
If the Pakistan Establishment thinks it can lord it over the Pathans and Ali Amin Gandapur, and subject them to their tyranny, they are forgetting their history. They are forgetting what Pathans did to Alexander the Great, the Moghuls, the British, the Russians, and the Americans.
The Allahabad High Court, by a verdict given on 22.3.2024 has declared the UP Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004 to be unconstitutional, being against the principle of secularism.
I agree with the verdict that madarsa education violates the constitutional principle of secularism. It also violates Article 21A of the Indian Constitution which declares the right to get education upto the age of 14 a fundamental right of every child.
Education, to my mind, means modern, secular education, not the largely theological education imparted in madarsas or saraswati shishu mandirs, which inculcate bigotry, and brainwash the tender and susceptible minds of children with religious extremism.
No doubt in para 100 of the judgment the Court observed :
”Since there are a large number of madarsas and madarsa students in the State of U.P., the State Government is directed to take steps forthwith for accommodating these madarsa students in regular schools recognized under the Primary Education Board and schools recognized under the High School and Intermediate Education Board of State of U.P. The State Government for the said purpose shall ensure that as per requirement sufficient number of additional seats are created and further if required, sufficient number of new schools are established. The State Government shall also ensure that children between the ages of 6 to 14 years are not left without admission in duly recognized institutions ”
However this is easier said than done. Already the existing government secular schools are overcrowded ( some have 200 students in one section of a class, as I have myself seen ), and private schools are extremely expensive.
It is estimated that there are 25,000 madarsas in UP, of which 18,500 are recognised by the UP Madarsa Education Board. There are about 25 lac ( 2.5 million ) students in these madarsas,and thousands of teachers.
So before closing down the existing madarsas, thousands of modern secular schools will have to be built, with proper classrooms, laboratories, libraries, etc and competent teachers and other staff appointed. This will require a huge outlay of funds, and careful planning, and cannot be done overnight..
I would also like to suggest a way to accomodate the thousands of teachers who will be rendered unemployed by the closure of madarsas.
I have delivered a judgment in 1993 in the Allahabad High Court, Ramesh Upadhya vs State of UP, in which I have recommended that Sanskrit and Urdu, our two great cultural language, should be made compulsory in every school in UP for 5 years upto class 8.
If this judgment is implemented a large number of posts of Urdu teachers will be created, and the teachers presently teaching in madarsas ( who would all be knowing Urdu ) can be appointed on those posts.
Also, on the same logic, saraswati shishu mandirs run by the RSS should also be closed down, and the students transferred to modern secular schools
Holi, the festival of colour, is falling on 25th March this year. I appeal to Pakistanis and Bangladeshis of all communities to celebrate it together.
Before 1857 Hindus would participate in Eid and Muharram, and Muslims in Holi and Diwali together, and there was no communal feeling among them. There were no communal riots or animosity till that time.
In 1857 the Great Mutiny broke out, in which Hindus and Muslims jointly fought against the British. After suppressing the Mutiny the British decided that the only way to control and rule over India was divide and rule, that is, create animosity between Hindus and Muslims.
I may here give a historical account of an incident which occurred before 1857
Inn the reign of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Avadh, the capital of which was Lucknow, Muharram and Holi once fell on the same day. Muharram is an occasion of ghami or sorrow (for Imam Husain, grandson of the Prophet and his 72 followers who were killed in the battle of Karbala by the forces of the tyrant Yazid) while Holi is an occasion of celebration (the festival of colours, marking the beginning of spring).
The Hindus of Lucknow decided not to celebrate Holi that year out of respect for the sentiments of their Muslim brothers and sisters, who were in grief.
The Nawab took out the tazia from the Bada Imambada in Lucknow in a procession and buried it in Karbala, a site in Lucknow with the same name as the place where Imam Husain was martyred. Having done so, he asked why people were not playing Holi. After being told the reason, the Nawab said that since our Hindu brethren have respected the sentiments of Muslims, it is also the duty of the Muslims to respect the sentiments of Hindus, and declared that Holi must be played the same day. And he was the first to start playing Holi and it was played all over Avadh by both Hindus and Muslims, although it was also Muharram.
The Moghuls and other Muslim rulers and their subjects ( including Muslims ) would celebrate and play Holi with great gusto. There are many accounts and paintings to prove this, as given below.
After 1857 the British, through their local agents, propagated the idea that Holi was only a Hindu festival, and it was unislamic to celebrate it, and so many Muslims stopped playing it.
It is high time now that this false propaganda be put an end to, and all people in the Indian subcontinent again start celebrating each others festivals, including Holi, which is a symbol of our composite ‘Ganga Jamuna tehzeeb’
In this connection, here is my interview by my Pakistani friend, Sajjad Azhar Pirzada, a journalist based in Lahore, on Holi
Here is a beautiful poem on Holi by the great Urdu poet, Nazir Akbaradi
And here are some Pakistani youth, both Hindu and Muslim, celebrating Holi
I appeal to Pakistani ( and Bangladeshi ) youth, particularly Muslims, to defy such a silly ban if it is again imposed this year, and jointly celebrate Holi this year with their Hindu brothers and sisters, with great enthusiasm, fervour and verve, and thus give a blow to religious bigotry, which is plaguing our sub continent.
A real freedom struggle is always a violent struggle. This is because no imperialist power gives up its conquered country without an armed struggle. Did George Washington fight against the British rulers of America from 1775-1781 with an army ( the Continental army ) or by presenting the British flowers and bouquets ? Did Bolivar fight the Spanish rulers of Latin America with his batallions, or with lollipops ? Did Ho Chi Minh fight the French with guns or by satyagraha and fasting ? Did the Chinese fight the Japanese with salt marches ?
The British left India not because of Gandhi, but because in the Second World War Germany attacked and weakened England, and may have possibly conquered it, but for American help. And the Americans gave that help by putting pressure on the British to give Independence to India so that the Indian market and raw materials may not remain monopolised by the British, but be opened up for American investment too.
Our real freedom fighters were Bhagat Singh, Surya Sen ( Masterda ), Chandrashekhar Azad, Ashfaqulla, Rajguru, Khudiram Bose, Ram Prasad Bismil, etc. They were taking our freedom struggle against the British in the correct revolutionary direction, and had they succeeded we would have had a prosperous India today.
But instead our forefathers stupidly deserted them and followed Gandhi who diverted the freedom struggle towards a nonsensical channel called satyagrah which was harmless and posed no danger to British economic interests.
In our history books the real patriots like Bhagat Singh, Surya Sen, Chandrashekhar Azad, Ashfaqulla etc are barely mentioned. They are generally relegated to a footnote, and treated as mavericks, deviants or outsiders, not freedom fighters. Instead, Gandhi and his coterie, are depicted as the real freedom fighters.
Gandhi described the militant Indian youth fighting against British Imperialism as ‘misguided souls’. He often said that militant nationalism was injurious to India’s struggle for freedom. In reality he knew that if those methods became widespread among the Indian masses his own popularity would decline, and his ‘ Mahatmahood ‘ would disappear.
When the British sentenced Bhagat Singh to death, Gandhi made no effort to save his life. He never wrote any letter to the British Viceroy to commute his sentence , nor did he issue any public appeal for this purpose, and he never went to meet Bhagat Singh in jail when the latter was on hunger strike.Because of our forefathers’ stupidity we are still suffering today with massive poverty, massive unemployment, massive child malnutrition, almost total lack of healthcare and good education for the masses, skyrocketing prices, atrocities on minorities, etc.
Is this real freedom ? If we had instead followed the revolutionary path of Bhagat Singh and other real freedom fighters we would have today had a prosperous India, with our people enjoying a high standard of living, and leading decent lives.
Who is behind the ongoing Indian farmers agitation ?
Indian farmers’ agitation.
There was a Farmers’ Agitation in India in 2020-2021, which died down when the farmers’ demand of repeal of 3 agricultural laws was accepted by the Government of India
Now, shortly before the forthcoming parliamentary elections, another farmers agitation, mainly led by farmers of Punjab demanding MSP ( Minimum Support Price ) for their agricultural products, has suddenly commenced.
The news about this agitation has gone viral, and is all over the Indian media. Many people have commented on it, including this humble self :
An interesting and important question is who is really behind this agitation ? There are of course the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha and some other groups which are heading the agitation,
But who is really behind these groups ? This is the question which will sought to be answered here. Since my answer may sound a bit bizarre, it needs to be explained in some detail.
Today the main conflict in the world is between USA and China ( which has replaced USSR as the main rival of USA, after disintegration of the former ). China with its massive industrial base, has emerged as a super power, and is aggressively expanding everywhere in the world, hungrily in search of markets, raw materials, and avenues for investment for its huge 3.4 trillion dollar foreign exchange reserve.
Prime Minister Modi has taken India wholeheartedly into the US camp, and the Americans have welcomed this, as they need a strong counterpoise to China in Asia. This would naturally have been strongly resented by the Chinese.
Parliamentary elections will shortly be held in India, and Modi’s BJP seems sure to win a third 5 year term, particularly after the hype around the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, and, to a lesser extent, the agitations regarding the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, and the Shahi Masjid in Mathura.
Obviously this prospect would be unpalatable to the Chinese, who perceive the BJP as strongly pro-American. Hence I have a strong hunch that it is the Chinese who are really behind the present farmers’ agitation and the groups leading it.
Now it may be immediately asked : what evidence do I have for such an outlandish assertion ?
My answer is that true there is no direct evidence, but there is also a thing called circumstantial evidence, which is reliance on rational inferences.
Would not the Chinese oppose the pro-American BJP coming to power again by winning the forthcoming elections ? Yes, they will do so tooth and nail. And what better way to do that than by arousing the Indian farmers, who comprise of 60% of India’s population ? And the best way to do that is to start an agitation for MSP.
MSP is a popular demand of Indian farmers, who do not get adequate remuneration for their produce ( over 400,000 of them have committed suicide ), and they want a law guaranteeing MSP.
The Swaminathan Commission set up by the Indian Government recommended a statutory MSP at cost price+50%. In other words, if it cost a farmer Rs 100 to produce an agricultural product, by law the government must buy it at Rs 150. Private traders can also buy it, but they too must pay Rs 150, otherwise they will be penalised. This was the law proposed by the Swaminathan Commission, and being demanded by the agitating farmers, who want to enter Delhi, but are being prevented by the police.
MSP sounds a very rosy idea, and people opposing it risk being branded as anti farmer, and as hostile to our ‘annadatas’ ( bread providers )
However, I submit that MSP is not feasible in a free enterprise economy.
Presently, though MSP is declared for 23 crops in India, it is implemented mainly for wheat and paddy, and that too for only a small percentage of Indian farmers.
70% Punjabi farmers get the benefit of MSP, while less than 10% Bihari farmers get it.
If a law for MSP is made, all farmers in India will demand that the government must buy all their produce at the MSP. This would well nigh be impossible for the government to comply with. The only option for farmers then would be to sell the produce to private traders, but these may be unwilling to buy at the high MSP. They will then covertly buy at lower prices, thus subverting the entire MSP scheme. Moreover this is bound to result in largescale police corruption, as the police will sooner or later grow wise to the underhand dealings, and then start extortion from both the seller and buyer.
Furthermore, the meaning of ‘cost of production’ is unclear
It is estimated that MSP would cost Rs 17 lakh crores, which is half the Union budget.
The Union Govt has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court that it would not be possible to determine MSP according to its promise, as such increase would distort the market
I submit that the present farmers agitation is only with an eye on the forthcoming parliamentary elections in India, and the Chinese are behind it.
What is the farmers’ demand?
The farmers’ demand is to get a legal guarantee for the minimum support price (MSP) of their crops. MSP is the lowest rate at which the government buys crops from farmers to protect them from market fluctuations and ensure income security. The farmers want MSP to be fixed at 50% above the cost of production, as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission¹². They also want MSP to cover all 23 crops under the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP)³. Currently, the government only procures wheat and rice at MSP, leaving other crops vulnerable to market forces⁴. The farmers fear that without a legal guarantee for MSP, they will lose their bargaining power and livelihoods. 🌾
What are the three agricultural laws that farmers want to repeal?
The three agricultural laws that farmers want to repeal are:
The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020: This law allows farmers to sell their produce outside the regulated markets (mandis) and across states, without paying any fees or taxes. It also permits online trading and contract farming. ¹²
The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020: This law enables farmers to enter into agreements with private buyers, such as companies, processors, exporters, or retailers, for the sale of future produce at a pre-agreed price. It also provides for dispute resolution mechanisms and quality standards. ¹²
The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020: This law removes commodities such as cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onions, and potatoes from the list of essential commodities, and deregulates their production, storage, movement, and distribution. It also removes the imposition of stock limits, except in cases of war, famine, natural calamity, or extraordinary price rise. ¹²
The government claims that these laws are aimed at increasing farmers’ income, enhancing competition, reducing intermediaries, and creating a unified national market for agricultural produce. ¹²
However, the farmers fear that these laws will expose them to the vagaries of market forces, undermine the minimum support price (MSP) system, weaken the state-regulated mandis, and favour the corporate sector.
In view of the recent political developments in India, bad days seem to be ahead for Indian Muslims.
Indian Muslim Community
Indian Muslims, who are about 213 million or 15% of India’s population of about 1400 million ( according to Pew Research Centre ) are today totally confused and perplexed about what they should do. After 2014 they have been politically totally sidelined in India, and atrocities and discrimination against some of them have increased.
Justice Katju Urges Progressive Reform for Indian Muslim Community
Some feel that their problems will end once the BJP is ousted from power, which can be done by forming an anti-BJP alliance of Opposition secular parties and defeating the BJP in the forthcoming 2024 Indian parliamentary elections. I have expressed my view on this idea in my articles, in which I have pointed out that it is superficial and will solve nothing.
The basic problems of Indian Muslims are the same as that of most Hindus viz massive poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses, skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, etc.
Indian Muslims must now also look within themselves, instead of just blaming the BJP for their plight.
A large part of the blame for their plight rests on most Muslim political leaders and most maulanas/muftis in India, who for their own vested interests have been, like leeches, sucking the blood of the innocent but gullible Muslim masses for a long time.
Consider just one example. In 1985 the Indian Supreme Court gave the Shahbano judgment that a Muslim man must give maintenance to his divorced wife. One would have expected every reasonable person to have supported this progressive, humanitarian judgment. In almost every country in the world a husband has to give maintenance to his divorced wife if she is unable to maintain herself and her children. But no, almost all maulanas and Muslim political leaders raised a hue and cry, and vehemently denounced the judgment as being in conflict with sharia law, and ultimately Rajiv Gandhi got the judgment legislatively nullified, as he was told that otherwise Congress would lose its Muslim vote bank.
Take another example, the practice of triple talaq is clearly inhuman and retrograde, because by triple talaq a Sunni Muslim husband can simply throw out his wife ( with her children, if any ) for no rhyme or reason, and without going to Court. Yet the All India Muslim Personal Board, which includes many arch reactionary Maulanas and other like minded arch reactionaries, in its affidavit before the Supreme Court, strongly opposed its abolition.
In fact the entire sharia law is outdated, and needs to be abolished. After all, a law is usually a reflection of existing social customs in a society at a particular stage of its historical development, and so when society changes, the law too must change. How can a law made in the 7th or 8th century in Arabia be relevant or applicable in India in the 21st century ? It is like applying Manusmriti to Hindus today. And to say that if sharia is abolished Islam will be abolished is nonsense. Almost the entire old ( uncodified ) Hindu law was abolished in 1955 and 1956 by the Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Succession Act, etc but Hinduism was not thereby abolished.
In fact a uniform civil code would benefit Muslims by putting an end to the feudal, outdated sharia law, but the reactionary leeches, viz. most of the Indian Muslim political leaders and maulanas will not permit this.
The practice of wearing burqa too must be banned, as it is a feudal, barbaric custom degrading to women, and it has been banned in many countries ( including some Muslim majority countries like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyztan and Chad, and partially in Turkey and Tunisia ).
The Quran only says women should be modestly dressed, but nowhere requires them to wear burqa.
It is now high time for Muslim society, particularly the Muslim youth, to get rid of these leeches, who for their own vested interests, have kept the Muslims backward and have been sucking their blood. Muslims should now demand abolition of sharia, burqa, and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, and suppression of maulanas. Failure to do so will only give a handle to the reactionaries among the majority Hindu community, and be disastrous for Indian Muslims.
I was sad to see on youtube many Pakistani’s celebrating India’s defeat in the World Cup Cricket final by Australia, as if Pakistan had won the World Cup.
Naseem Shah delivering a crucial over in the Pakistan vs. Afghanistan cricket match
Many Pakistanis distributed sweets, danced, and did other foolish things
These silly and misguided people did not realise that it was their own defeat too, since India and Pakistan are really one country, with a common culture, and were one for 500 years ( since the time of Mughal Emperor Akbar ). We were temporarily and artificially divided by that British swindle called Partition in 1947, on the basis of the bogus two nation theory, to keep Hindus and Muslims fighting each other, and thus to keep us weak and backward. But we are sure to reunite one day, like West and East Germany, or North and South Vietnam, under a secular government with modern minded leaders determined to transform our subcontinent into a highly modern, highly industrialised, and highly prosperous region, with its people enjoying a high standard of living, and leading decent lives.
When Pakistan was defeated by England in the T20 World Cup cricket final on 13th November 2022, I called Indians who celebrated it stupid, since it was really India’s defeat too ( since we are one nation )
Babar Azam addresses the Pakistan cricket team – Motivation and unity for success.
Christians believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God, that he was resurrected to life after the third day of his death by crucifixion, that he performed miracles, etc, etc.
As an atheist I obviously cannot believe all this. When there is no God, how can there be a son of God ? How can a dead person come alive after being dead for 2 days ? And since I believe in science, how can I believe in miracles ?
What I believe is this : at the time of Jesus, the Jewish priests in Palestine, and particularly in Jerusalem, had become corrupt, and the Jewish religion had become a means of deceiving the gullible Jewish people. Jesus, being a good man, was horrified seeing all this.
Most people who see wrong things going on all around them, remain silent, fearing that if they raise their voice against it, the powerful vested interests profiting from these wrongs will retaliate and do them harm.
However, there are some sensitive and good people who simply cannot tolerate this state of affairs, and become determined to expose and oppose it, whatever the risk. Jesus was one of these. His aim was certainly not to create a new religion, but to reform the Jewish religion and practices, particularly the crooked practices of the Jewish priests. This so infuriated the latter, who fearing that their vested interests would be adversely affected, got him crucified.
Now it seems that when he grew up, Jesus had become some kind of ‘sadhu’ ( like many who abound in India ). He claimed to be getting revelations and messages of God ( like Prophet Mohammad P.B.U.H 600 years later ), and had gathered numerous disciples and followers, particularly since he himself set very high personal moral standards of conduct. After his death, Jesus’ message was spread to many parts of the Roman Empire, particularly by Paul of Tarsus, who could do so because the Roman Empire provided security to travellers.
Jesus’ message was, in a nutshell, this : the Kingdom of God is at hand, i.e. it is imminent, and will come into existence very soon, within one’s lifetime, not in the remote future. So people should repent of their sins and become good, turning over a new leaf, and that will thereby send them to paradise when they die, where they will live a comfortable life, otherwise they will be sent to hell fire.
This message may not make sense to us today, but it made a lot of sense to people living 2000 years ago, when most people were superstitious and unscientific. And it made a lot of sense to the slaves, artisans, and poor people of Rome, who together constituted about 90% population of Rome, and who toiled day and night, doing hard, continuous, unending, nerve wracking work of crushing drudgery, which stultified and degraded them. while the rich senators and merchants of Rome lived in great magnificence and luxury.
To escape from their miserable existence, the former readily accepted a religion which gave them a hope and prospect of leading a happy, comfortable afterlife, devoid of their sufferings. The preachers of this new religion were men who led austere, unblemished, very high personal moral lives, which made their words readily acceptable to the populace.
Once Christianity became well established in Rome, it rapidly spread to other parts of the Roman Empire, steadily gaining more and more converts, and this process was greatly accelerated by Constantine the Great, who became Roman Emperor in 306 A.D. and supported Christianity
I respect Christianity because it gave a degree of social emancipation ( even if mostly in imagination ) to the suppressed sections of society, and I respect it for its ethical teachings. But beyond that, being a scientific person, I regard its metaphysics, etc as mostly unscientific nonsense.
