There is no doubt that religion is still nowadays a very important component of people’s lives. It can help us answer deep and meaningful questions such as our identity and if there is another life after death. Sometimes it can also represent the only support while facing troubles and difficulties. There is a similar situation demonstrated in the novel “Life of Pi” (2001) by Yann Martel. In fact, it is an adventure and autobiographical novel about an Indian guy who professes different religions (Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Hindu) at the same time, and finds in his trust in God the force to survive in the Pacific Ocean with a tiger after he has lost his family in a shipwreck while they were emigrating to Canada in the 1970s.

But religion has also political, financial and social domains. Nowadays, a good many religions exist, all of them having a purpose to make people better and find a reason for belonging in their lives. However, in some extended cases all religions incline to become fanatical and thus affect people’s lives in a bad way. 

Most books that report such fundamentalistic actions comprise memoirs and here are some of the most profound examples of many of the most well-known religions. To begin with, as christianity (with all its branches) is one of the most common religions worldwide, there are many books describing inhumanity and conviction of abortion, homosexuality, etc. A memoir that narrates the fanatic face of christianity is “Escape” by Carolyn Jessop. In this book Jessop shows her life inside an ultra-fundamentalist American religious sect, where she was obliged to marry a man 32 years older than her and obey to his strict rules. Fortunately, one day she decided to choose freedom, although she only had 20 dollars and eight children. 

Furthermore, many books depict the odds people are facing in other religions as well. For example, a comic narrating the Islamic revolution in Iran is “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi. This period was signaled by the overthrow of the Shah (last king of Iran) and the beginning of a new fundamentalistic regime. Moreover, the book called “Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots” by Deborah Feldman, comprises a best selling memoir and narrates the story of the author living in a strictly religious Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism (Orthodox Jews) in Brooklyn, where she was enforced to follow all the customs that restricted her over to what she could read, sing, wear, etc. After being trapped as a teenager in a sexually and emotionally dysfunctional arranged marriage for over a year, she decides to flee her homeland and seek for freedom with her being pregnant.

Moreover, religion can represent a fertile ground for female segregation and discrimination. The Pakistani Nobel Prize activist Malala Yousafzai described her struggle in favour of the right to education for women in her best- seller I am Malala (2013), written together with the journalist Christina Lamb. Malala risked her own life during the famous assault against her by Islamic talibans on 9th October 2012, while she was coming back to school with her friends, an event that made her so famous.

 As you can understand, the people who were able to write about such repressive regimes, were only the few that had the stamina to change their lives and ignore the difficulties and fears they were facing. There are many others out there that unfortunately are forced to follow these rules and repress their personal beliefs and desires without their consents.

On the other hand, of course there are many depicting the many indeed positive parts of religion, as well as others showing both faces of the same topic. An instance of the latest category is the powerful novel called “Arranged Marriage” by the Indian-American Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, which reports the stories of eleven female protagonists and develops teams like the difficulties represented by the contact of such different cultures like the Indian and the American one, the emancipation of women from men the strength required to face life, its highs and lows, hurts, pangs and problems.

In conclusion, religion has many good parts that help us find our path in our lives and become better people, but at the same time, when toleration and comprehension are forgotten, it can also lead to extreme, brutal and unjustifiable acts. That is why we should be cautious and never let our consciousness aside, especially in a multicultural background like that we are experiencing today, which requires the highest brothership among all of us, and the stories proposed today can teach us how to succeed in it.