The New Nation - Internet Edition

M Anwar Hashim

History bears testimony to the fact that the absence of inter-faith harmony is a serious obstacle to peace, security and cooperation at both national and global levels. Wars and armed conflicts between and among states as well as within national frontiers in the name of religion have resulted in senseless killings, immense sufferings of innocent people and large-scale destructions. The need for promoting and maintaining inter-faith harmony in a multi-religious world, therefore, cannot be sidetracked.

The end of the four and a half decades-long cold war has gone a long way in bridging the East-West divide. The collapse of communism has facilitated open practice of religion in Russia and other countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. These positive developments have, however, been overtaken by the mindless and savage attacks on the Twin Tower and Pentagon on 9 September 2001 allegedly masterminded by Osama bin Laden-led Al-Quaida followed by US-led invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, two Islamic countries, with hardly any justification in terms of international law. Coupled with other inauspicious developments in the global arena, these events have strained the Islamic world's relations with America and adversely affected inter-faith harmony. This has the potential for creating a religious divide between Christians and Muslims unless well thought out measures are taken with a sense of urgency.

It is worth mentioning that religious doctrines, symbols and practices, however varied they may be, rarely give rise to conflicts and confrontations. At the most, these can create social distance and limit interaction between believers of different faiths. A few examples may be cited in this context. The modes of worship in all major religions - Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism and Sikhism - are different. Likewise, the places of worships for devotees of different religions -church, gurdwara, mosque, temple and synagogue - have their own distinctive designs and characters. Normally, the churches are decorated with paintings and statues representing Jesus Christ and the Saints, and the Hindu temples contain images of their gods and goddesses; but the Muslims consider it wrong to have any form of depiction of human beings or animal in mosques. Idolatry is considered a sin in Islam but Muslims do not interfere with Hindu religious festivals like Puja or Rath. The Christian concept of Original Sin is alien to Islam; and so are the doctrines of Karma, incarnation and rebirth, which have found expression in Buddhism and Hinduism. For all practical purposes, these are non-issues for sane practitioners of any faith.

At any rate, the divergence in dogmas and rituals are far outweighed by a significant convergence emanating from the same or similar spirit of virtually all religions. The message they seek to convey to humankind is universal and embodies all fundamental ideals of moral and ethical life, such as benevolence, charity, compassion, justice, kindness, love, restraint, tolerance and truthfulness. Side by side, it calls for avoidance of arrogance, cruelty, greed, jealousy, vanity and viciousness. The message, in fact, contains many time-honoured principles of right and wrong as well as virtues and vices. The noble ideals of human dignity and rights are not inimical to any religion. Every religion allows its followers a reasonable degree of material comfort and profit linked to genuine entrepreneurial efforts but repudiates obsession with making money and worship of wealth. Indiscriminate killing is not condoned by any faith. Also, no religion approves homosexuality or same sex marriage. Indeed, religions provide the guidance that the human beings need and seek. The common spirit of all great religions amidst doctrinal and ritualistic difference validates the illustrious mystic Jalaluddin Rumi's saying: "The lamps are different but the lights are the same."

In spite of this, the world today has been confronted with the inauspicious phenomenon of religious tension and conflicts. This is due to the manipulations and exploitations on the part of self-serving religionists belonging to two main categories ---- political elites and religious fanatics-both at national and global levels. As for political elites, they sometimes shed crocodile's tears to whip up sentiments of religious communities for gaining or regaining or perpetuating their dominance. In their unprincipled struggle for power, they tend to foment and sustain both rational and irrational hopes of the majority as well as founded and unfounded fears of the minority. Besides, they try to divert attention from the people's woes by igniting religious sentiments when they fail to deliver on their promises. Religious fanatics, on the other hand, not only seek to promote and propagate narrow and sectarian notion of the faiths practiced and preached by them but also overtly display intolerance towards countenance of beliefs and practices not compatible with their own. Regardless of whether they do so wittingly or unwittingly, their acts almost invariably lead to conflagration between different religious communities.

Such religionists have caused immense harm to the noble ideal of inter-faith harmony cherished by the vast majority of humankind. Regrettably, they either ignore or are ignorant of the teachings of their own religions. Often they use rhetoric to make up for their ignorance or distortion of religious ideals. This is evident from the fact that a wide range of narrow-minded, sectarian and chauvinistic slogans from different political and religious groups across the globe calling for, among others, preservation of "Western civilisation" in the face of high tide of "Islamic fundamentalism", combating "Islamic terrorism", relentless struggle against "despotic Islamic regimes", promotion of "Hinduvta" as a safeguard against "Islamic militants", "Jehad" against American imperialism" etc. have fomented animosity, bitterness and hatred between religious communities in recent years. Such inflammatory slogans have at times helped create an authoritarian mindset among practitioners of the majority faith as well as over-assertive and separatist tendencies on the part of religious minorities.

A section of the Western media, both print and electronic, and academics have also contributed to the spreading of biased and negative sentiments against other peoples' religions. They have even tried to make divisive issues out of non-issues. For instance, the architectural grandeurs of places of worship, which only fulfil the believers' non-functional aspirations, should necessarily be viewed as a non-issue. Similarly, making a religious issue out of outfits does not make sense. Yet, Oriana Fallaci, a well-known Italian journalist, based her claim of superiority of the Western civilisation over the Islamic civilisation on these counts, saying: " Our churches and cathedrals are more beautiful than their (Muslims') mosques. . . . . . . . . .. If some (Islamic) countries' women are so stupid to accept wearing the chador t. that is their problem. But to treat them with indulgence and tolerance is suicide." Such contemptuous remarks ignore the facts that the quality and content of teaching and preaching inside any places of worship is far more important than their outward simplicity or ornamentation and that a chador-clad female is likely to face lesser risk of sexual abuse than a woman wearing mini-skirt or micro-mini or bikini or topless.

Nevertheless, the dark and ominous cloud overcastting the world's horizon of religions is not without a silver lining. The individuals and groups on both sides of the divide having firm belief in inter-faith harmony heavily outnumber those who foment conflicts and confrontations in the name of religion. They disapprove of all forms and manifestations of bigotry, conservatism and fanaticism. Many try to reach out to one another and to promote non-violence. Despite their distinctive advantage in numerical terms, they have not been able to make any major contribution towards the attainment of their lofty goal so far. This is essentially because of incident-specific, area-centred, damage control-oriented and largely uncoordinated nature of their endeavours. Be that as it may, they should be encouraged to continue and intensify their positive and constructive efforts in right earnest.

Side by side, it is essential to adopt appropriate measures having in mind the ground reality. It seems that inter-faith dialogue is the most effective means of reducing communication gaps, identifying areas of mistrust, bridging misconceptions and promoting understanding among practitioners of different religions. The important prerequisites for such dialogue include, among others, mutual respect, acceptance of religious diversity and, above all, constructive and forward-looking approach. It ought to be borne in mind that any claim of superiority of one faith over another, attempt towards intimidation and coercion, indulging in blame game, castigating any religion for misdeeds or mindless acts of a few individuals or groups and focusing on doctrinal issues would, in effect, make any dialogue on inter-religious harmony a non-starter. In other words, any manifestation of "we versus they" syndrome would make it a counterproductive exercise.

The efforts aimed at promoting inter-faith dialogue has been going on in different parts of the world through the convening of conferences, seminars, symposia and workshops at the initiatives of fair-minded social and religious groups. It is necessary to strengthen and, if possible, institutionalise this process so as to transform it into a peaceful global movement for promotion of religious harmony. People from all walks of life, especially political elites, religious leaders, legislators, jurists, academics, professionals, members of law enforcement agencies, journalists, and representatives of civil societies and NGOs, need to take part in dialogues at local, national, regional and international levels. They should learn to listen to others, and to speak and respond in a dispassionate and objective manner. This would facilitate a better understanding on their part of the religions practiced by others and prompt them to forge meaningful relations on the basis of shared spiritual and moral heritage of humankind.

A lot can be achieved at the level of state. In most countries, the constitutions unambiguously provide for non-discriminatory treatment to all citizens irrespective of their religion, sect, caste and creed. In order to ensure proper implementation of this provision, it is of utmost importance to promote good governance with special focus on the rule of law, human rights, human security and social responsibilities.

The primary and predominant responsibility of combating religious intolerance, preventing enlistment of unemployed youths into the ranks of fanatics and promoting inter-faith understanding lies with the government of the day. Hence, an effective performance of this task is greatly contingent upon political will and strengthening of all state organs and institutions. As for non-state actors, they should play an important supporting role for the mobilisation of public opinion in favour of religious harmony.

It was religion, viz. Zoroastrianism, which espoused the noble ideal of a single human family as early as in the sixth century BC. Later, this concept also found abiding expression in other religions. And yet, the vision of oneness of humankind seems to have faded into oblivion as, to quote (late) UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, "on the bookshelf of life, God is a useful work of reference always at hand but seldom consulted". What is indeed, imperative in today's world is to strive for rekindling and upholding the universal ideals and values of all religions.

(The writer is a former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations Offices in Geneva and Vienna and retired Secretary to the Government).