DIVERSITY OF RELIGIONS AND HARMONY

 

DIVERSITY OF RELIGIONS AND HARMONY

Dr M. D. Thomas

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Religion, in its qualitative sense, is the core element of life. But, a large majority of people aren’t capable of arriving at the quality level of religion in life. They are almost condemned to remain at the elementary rungs of the ladder of religion, due to the slavish mindset they have inherited in the name of religion. No wonder, they entertain themselves with myths and stories, rites and rituals, doctrines and dogmas, pilgrimages and fasts, and the like, which form the large and complex system of the popular religion, whichever be the tradition. Only a small percent of people are fortunate to rise to the level of enlightened insights and elevating experiences, which truly motivate and energize life with a superior sense of meaning in its various magnitudes and altitudes.

To say a one word answer to the question whether ‘religion is good or bad’ wouldn’t be fair. The above note about religion points the finger towards a double-sided phenomenon that is religion. For those who derive experiential, insightful, elevating and qualitative benefits, religion is a positive reality. For those who are caught up in the whirlpool of self-defeating ritual habits and intoxicating myths and stories as well as extravagant and enslaving observances, religion is a negative reality, although they do not realize it and therefore not admit it, as well.

Besides, the world history is a proof to the heartwarming fact that there are not enough words to describe the outstanding contribution religion has made to humanity by culturing the human civilization. On the other hand, all languages seem to fail miserably when they want to articulate the heart-breaking violence, massacres and crimes against humanity and God, at one fell swoop, religion has caused and are still causing in the world. If religion is exalted as a blessing to humanity, on the positive side, it has to be accepted as a liability, on the negative side, too. As a matter of fact, religion is like a ‘double-edged sword’. It cuts for making someone well and it cuts for a wrong purpose, as well. 

Diversity of religions has been a hard nut from time immemorial. It wouldn’t be realistic to deify any group, nation, community or civilization for honouring diversity of religions, when it is a question of genuinely living it. It won’t be fair to demonize any group, nation, community or civilization for totally meddling with it either. One-sided views are both wrong and diabolic. Any fair mind would and should refrain from doing so. India has all the right to state that it is probably the most diverse country on the landscape of the world with regard to the diversity of religions. But, I don’t think India has any right to take the credit of intentionally living or celebrating ‘unity in diversity’, even at the lowest level of ethics.

History is a witness to the terrible havoc of discrimination, division and violence, which the land, called India, has witnessed and is still witnessing in the name of caste, creed, gender, ideology, language, culture, ethnicity, region, and the like. If truth be told, India has lot of potential in becoming a ‘role model’ for living harmony among diversity of religions and other social entities. But, as a matter of fact, is India on the track of balancing the diversities of religions with peaceful co-existence and harmonious living? Or is it running the risk of getting derailed from the track of harmony among religious diversities, day by day, by its several foul-minded and highhanded ways, especially in recent times? 

Unity in diversity in religions cannot be equated to merely tolerating the other. ‘Toleration’ has a negative tone. This word refers to a sense of helplessness on one’s side and a sense of insult to the other. Tolerating the other is not a value either. It could certainly be a basic requirement for any positive step towards maintaining good relations with the other. Unity in diversity is much more than ‘peaceful co-existence’, too. Existing side by side, though not fighting with each other, in such a way that the entities have hardly anything to do with each other is like the ‘peace of the cemetery’. That does not make a value, too. Unity among the diversity of religions has to go a long way beyond these traditional and goody-goody jargons that have hardly contributed to ‘interactive and democratic’ living among communities.  

Harmonizing diversities of religions would mean considering the entire treasury of religious scriptures, ideals, values, insights, and the like, of the world as the ‘gift of the same Creator’, may the same be conceived in any gender, presented in any form or addressed in any language. It is true that the religious traditions emerged from different seers, prophets or god men and women, that too in different temporal and geographical contexts of the human history. But, the colloquium of religions is the ‘common cultural heritage’ of the human society. Tastes and affiliations of the disciples or followers may differ. Even so, believers have no business to divide the ‘divine-human assets’ as mine and yours. The foundation of harmony of religions is certainly such a mindset that composes the embryo of a ‘larger and all-inclusive’ faith.

Sharing the common pedestal of faith, along with the entire life, is the genius of harmony among diverse religious traditions. All believers have a ‘common origin, a common world to have their being and a common destiny’ in life. Living one’s life on earth would mean ‘sharing with’ the other the best of what one holds on to in one’s life and ‘sharing in’ the best of what the other holds on to in his or her life. Believers of individual traditions of religions have to learn to celebrate a ‘we-feeling’ with each other, like parts together do to make the whole. They are like the ‘rainbow’, which is perhaps the most powerful symbol for the ‘beauty’ or ‘art’ of the ‘spirit of togetherness’ on earth.

Harmony would mean ‘blending one and many’, which defines the basic dynamics of human life. Spirit is one, and so is faith, though it has many aspects. There are similarities and dissimilarities in those aspects. As similarity is the ‘uniting’ factor, difference is the ‘enriching feature’. Faith is an ‘undivided’ entity and therefore its aspects do not contradict each other. They ever remain essentially a ‘complementary’ reality. The Creator is the common parent and source of life of all beings and getting back home is the destination of all humans, whose devotion in life is essentially a ‘filial experience’ that takes shape necessarily on fraternal terms. ‘Making the family of God on earth’ is the ‘shared vision of believers’ of all persuasions. Such a vision, when translated into a mission, would pave the way towards an ‘inclusive, interactive, collaborative, participatory, harmonious and peaceful’ living among diversity of religions.                     

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The author is Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi, and has been committed to cross-cultural perspectives, cross-scriptural values, constitutional values, interfaith relations, communal harmony, national integration and social wellbeing, for the past over 40 years. He contributes to the above cause through lectures, articles, video messages, conferences, social interactions, views at TV channels, and the like.

He could be viewed, listened to and contacted at the following portals – websites ‘www.mdthomas.in’ (p), ‘https://mdthomas.academia.edu’ (p), ‘https://drmdthomas.blogspot.com’(p) and ‘www.ihpsindia.org’ (o); social media ‘https://www.youtube.com/InstituteofHarmonyandPeaceStudies’ (o), ‘https://twitter.com/mdthomas53’ (p), ‘https://www.facebook.com/mdthomas53’ (p); email ‘mdthomas53@gmail.com’ (p) and telephone 9810535378 (p).

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Published in ‘The Secular Citizen’ (Weekly Magazine), Mumbai, Vol.29 Issue No.29, p. 22-23 -- on 20-26 July 2020