Today, the world is growing rapidly with technologies and advancements that have so far been achieved by humankind, like the new success of Chandrayaan-3, lunar exploration missions, and a lot more going around the world! We all live in a fast-paced, mechanical society. On the contrary, there is a lack of humanity in many parts of the world today. Despite these advancements, sometimes we believe God or religions are out of place, and on the other hand, religious extremists create violence and disharmony. It's painful to see that we are so ignorant of understanding religions or cultures on a deep level.
Throughout history, all the religions have basically taught about God, morality, and a peaceful social order. Often, religions have failed! In history, we know that all religions are also divided, even among the many sects, and created violence and hate rather than cultivating peace and harmony because of this religious misunderstanding! Religion isn't ignorance. It isn't a silly superstition. It's not based on hatred or hostility towards any other sphere of human activity. It is simply a belief in something bigger, something beyond ourselves, that we can't explain and can't control.
All Religions have certain beliefs that their followers have to accept without questions, and this can lead to a lot of rigidity and intolerance towards other beliefs. It's like, if it's God's word, how can you not accept it? But scripture and dogma can also be really vague and can be interpreted in different ways, so there can be a lot of confusion about whose interpretation is right, and that can lead to a conflict that can't be resolved because there's no one right answer.
Religious conflicts are caused by people being intolerant of someone else's religion or practices. A lot of war and death have been caused by these conflicts. Today, we have these intractable conflicts between Muslims in particular in South Asia, Jews, Hindus, Christians, and so on. Peace has been tried and failed time and time again. The hate towards religions often led us to conflicts and war. Since the start of the Cold War, religious conflicts have been on the rise. There are number of ways in which religious violence can manifest itself, both explicitly and implicitly, in the form of discrimination, humiliation, enmity, marginalization, or injury to specific groups or individuals. Moreover, religious violence is not exclusively perpetrated by religious groups. Secular groups can also engage in religious violence or inflame religious passions to further their political and ideological goals.
Why is there so much fighting? It's because both sides don't know what their true beliefs are. It's all about trying to prove which religion or faith is better and more powerful. At least from now on, we must have humility to learn and respect other religions and their ways of understanding without fear! It opens a wide door for humanity to work together with peace and joy in the world; after all, we are all children of one God. Interfaith dialogue is all about celebrating the unity of religions and the fact that they're all unique but bound together in unity. We need to accept people of all faiths and races in brotherhood, and then we have to value love, respect, acceptance, forgiveness, compassion, equality, justice, peace, and universal brotherhood.
The beautiful expression of “religare” in Latin, which means to bind together, could be understood in this unity with the metaphor of a rope: The rope is made from a fiber twisted together to form a single string, then twisting it together with other strings to become a strong rope that could be used for binding or even some rope bridges that help to cross the shores. Similarly, each religion is like a single string that collectively binds together with other religions for a higher purpose of humanity crossing the shores. Each religion has a unique way of contributing to a higher good; neither religion is stronger or weaker, higher or lower. The most important thing to remember is that humanity is not just about humans; it is also about taking care of the environment and all living things. We need to work together to demonstrate real humanity and help other people, animals, and the planet heal and thrive. India, as we all know, is known for its unity in diversity. India is plural in letter and spirit. Unity in diversity is the grand combination of cultures, religions, and languages of people belonging to various castes and communities. India has maintained its unity and cohesion despite many foreign invasions and severe economic and social inequalities. Today, it is threatened by our misunderstandings, and we are destroying the uniqueness of this culture. I hope that from now on we can establish a new way of understanding religion without fear. It's a great responsibility for every religion, particularly, for religious leaders and elders too.
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