The Most Religious People are the Most Dangerous People, Says John Abraham

Actor John Abraham grew up in a multi-faith family with his parents, Abraham John and Firoza Irani, holding Catholic and Zoroastrian beliefs. "There was never a religion I was forced to follow," the actor said.

At the age of 4, his father asked him to not follow any particular religion. The actor was told, "if you really want to pray or go to any temple, mosque or gurudwara, the only way to do it is actually serve humanity."

At the launch of Braille edition of book 'Karma Sutra', the actor once again recalled his father's advice.

"You don't have to go to a religious place to be a good person. You have to do good to be a good person. I'd probably be wrong and I don't want to create any controversy but I think 'the most religious people are the most dangerous people.' It's better that you stay away from religion. Just use religious guidelines in your life correctly. It's good to follow certain practices but the most important practice that you can follow is being good to all living beings," John said.

The event was organised by the National Association for the blind, which advocates for protection of rights of the visually challenged. John has been associated with this cause for a decade now.

The actor said the condition of differently-abled in India hardly seems to be improving because of their inaccessibility to proper infrastructure.

"Many European counties and the USA have a system that is not just inclusive of differently-abled people, but animals as well. It's only in this country that we push differently-abled people; we stone animals. We don't care about them. It's strange and I don't know what's on our minds. We're the kind of country where we need to be kinder. We're a democracy. We just need to be kinder to humans and animals alike, and we are not," he said.

"Infrastructure-wise, we are a disaster for differently-abled people. We're not prepared at all. So, I think we must move towards a direction where we make things easier for them. We don't have infrastructure for regular people so we are a far cry away from providing proper logistics and support for the differently-abled people in public spaces and transport. I think we must move in the proper direction. We are a progressive nation. I hope in our lifetime, we get to see a differently-abled person move comfortably in public space," the actor added.