Uniting Through Diversity: The Power of Interfaith Engagement

 

Neha Dabhade

'Ekaṃ sad viprā bahudhā vadanti' (God is one but the wise people/the sages speak of it variously) is one of the important philosophies of Hinduism which has laid on universal compassion, said Prabhuji Keshav Chandra Das, from the ISKCON and the Convenor of the Inter-religious Solidarity Council, Mumbai. He was giving the opening address at a meeting organized by IRSC on the theme of ‘Religion and Spirituality: Pathways to Peace’ on 20^th June, 2025. The meeting was attended by over seventy faith leaders from different faiths including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism and Judaism, together exploring the perspectives on how different faiths explain and view religious diversity or pluralism amongst human beings. Quoting the Quranic Ayat (Quran 49:13) “Mankind! We created you from (pair) of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other)”, Irfan Engineer, said that according to Islam, diversity is God’s gift. Religions, according to Engineer, can be used as a marker of identity. In that role, Engineer said, religion defines and determines boundaries of a community. When communities are so demarcated, religion is reduced to defining insider/outsider, and determining numerical strength of the community in terms of majority and minority. However, according to Engineer, religion can also be a source of universal ethics and values like love, solidarity, compassion, dignity of all living beings, social justice and service to the most needy sections. As a source of moral values, religion can be unifying factor.

 

The meeting witnessed an overwhelming and unanimous reiteration from the different faith leaders of ethics of religion and shared values in all religions. These common shared values have historically helped societies and civilizations to be a bridge across cultural and religious barriers. The rich discussion was highlighted by the perspective from each religion on this diversity and how the respective religions deal with diversity. Most importantly, the faith leaders, explained that these values should be demonstrated in practice while our society grapples with complex religious conflicts leading to tensions and challenges to peaceful coexistence. The meeting also affirmed its commitment to explore ways to foster harmonious co-existence. The rich sharing from all religious traditions helped to work towards a vision and mission of the IRSC.

While faith leaders traced the spiritual resources and heritage of co-existence and shared values, Prof. Kavita Pai cautioned that solidarity of religious leaders must help address conflicts in a multicultural society like India. What is needed is peace making engagement and persistence to address real conflicts in the society. Prof. Pai read out a conversation with Mahatma Gandhi on the issue of cow slaughter between Hindus and Muslims. Gandhi reveres cow but makes it clear that he would not kill any human being to save the cow. He would rather persuade the Muslims to forgo cow slaughter. Gandhi would offer to sacrifice himself in order to save a cow.

Prof. Pai elaborated by citing her research in Ladakh where there was a conflict over a place of worship which the Buddhist community claimed was a gumpha and the Muslims maintained that it was mosque. This issue created tension in the society that lingered for 20 years. Prof. Pai pointed out that with the help of mediators, both communities adopted certain common principles during the dialogue such as social justice, forgiveness, sovereignty of God and atonement - acknowledge the wrong by the perpetrator. The 20 years old conflict was resolved through dialogue.

Sister Muditha Sodder reminded that pluralism is indeed the keystone of Indian culture and it has enriched our lives. Sr. Sodder said that true religion teaches that God is within all human beings. She cautioned that religion couldn’t lead to national integration/ peace and harmony but spirituality could. Sr. Sodder laid out four steps for harmonious existence – 1) Follow and have right kind of role models; 2) Study of basic and universal values in all religions; 3) Accept and appreciate differences; and 4) Accept that God was too large an entity to fit into any one religion.