The Paradox of Mahatma Ghandi

Mohandas K. Ghandi is widely considered a great leader. Of course, there is something to be said for this being similar to Dr. King's Paradox.

If you ask a Christian if Ghandi is going to heaven. Many will say "yes, of course." This is an incredibly wise, good man, who did great things for the state of India. It turns out, though, that (like Dr. King) Ghandi would have a tougher time reconciling himself with the Christian concept of heaven then we might like to think.

After all, Jesus makes it quite clear that the only way one can go to heaven is through him. There is no second guessing it, as much as Christians have tried to work around it, reconciling it. (Islam says similar things, but since I live in the U.S., I find Christianity a more provocative example)

Ghandi's Pardox, though, is different. Instead of being an illustration of the nonsensical nature of religious morals, it seems more appropriate to make a point about the nature of religious hypocrisy.

As great as Ghandi was, as much as he did for India, he was a religious fundamentalist. While in prison, Ghandi's wife suffered from chronic bronchitis, a disease which could have been treated with anti-biotics. However, Mohandas Ghandi was opposed to the form of medical treatment for religious reasons, and his wife, in holding firm to those beliefs, refused to be treated.

Six weeks after his wife's death, Ghandi suffered a malaria attack. Did he refuse treatment? Did he hold true to the religious convictions his wife had died for?

No. He didn't.

Religious leaders are often failures by their own ethical yardsticks. Ghandi altered his to allow himself to live. As dearly as we hold Ghandi, socially, as a leader who spoke up for change, that is a pretty serious ethical failure, allowing for the death of his wife on one day and then choosing to live on another.

Dr. King's Paradox is about acknowledging the failures of religious morality, in and of itself, which I think is more meaningful, but sometimes it is also necessary to point out the ethical failures of the religious leadership, and Ghandi is a potent example.