Next Week Is World Interfaith Harmony Week

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By Dr. Jagessar Das

The Global Clergy Association, Multifaith Action Society, Surrey Interfaith Council and the Northwood United Church will be jointly celebrating Interfaith Harmony Week  with an event on February 6, 1pm to 4pm, at the Church – 8855 156 St, Surrey, BC V3R 4K9 (604) 581-8454. The program is open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

The very word re-ligion (from Latin re-ligare) means to unite. Ligature is used to tie things together. The surgeon uses ligature to sew tissues together. So let us become familiar with the uniting power of our religion or faith. A few scriptural quotations will enlighten us to the value of religion in enshrining Interfaith Harmony in our hearts. These few quotations from different sources will suffice to illustrate that religion is really universal, and that basically the same teachings are taught by all of them, once the external garb of each is removed:

* No man liveth unto himself…we are all parts of one another…God hath made of one blood all nations that dwell upon the face of the earth. (Bible)

* Every scripture inspired of God is profitable, for the teaching, for reproof, for correction for instruction which is in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work. (Bible)

* Human beings, all, are as head, arms, trunk and legs one unto another. (Vedas)

* Father of all! May Thy Supernal Light inspire, illuminate, and guide our minds! We open them to let thy glory in…. Vedas)

* Invocation to the one Supreme Spirit of Unity: AUM used by the Hindus: AMIN used by the Muslims: AMEN used by the Christians. (Bhagwandas: Unity of All Religions)

* Esoteric philosophy reconciles all religions, strips everyone of its outward human garments and shows the root of each to be identical with that of every other great religion. (Madame Blavatsky: The Secret Doctrine)

* We believe in what hath been revealed to us and revealed to you. Our God and your God is one and to Him are we self-surrendered. (Koran)

* Grant us long life, Great Lord! And fortitude and the right mind, and show us the straight path o’er which thou broodest and which leads to Thee. (Zend Avesta)

* O for Great Heaven! We call Thee our father and our mother. (Confucianism)

*** We are born in the same way from the mother. You and I have the same blood and the same life force pervades us. By which knowledge did we become different? (Kabir: Bijak)

The same basic inner forces drive all human behavior. A few great souls who have managed to escape the narrow intellectual and material aspects of life, and realized the Eternal Reality that is universal, have become the teachers of humanity. They have all taught us to live a noble and righteous life of love, harmony, tolerance, service, humility, forgiveness and so forth. Some will argue that these are only natural and ethical values that help people to live better, and therefore are necessary. But ethics has its roots in religion because religion existed from the beginning of manifested intelligent life, and was only given expression in certain external forms later by people. Religion depends on being aware of the connection that has always existed between man and his origin, which is God. This must take precedence over ethics. Thus whatever we may call ethical standards of behavior must, of necessity, arise out of a religious conviction and awareness. In the final analysis, no one can deny that religion is universal. Similarly, no one can deny that differences, intolerance, bigotry and in-fighting among religions exist. The deficiency is not in religion. It is with people who cause the problems. If we all lived by the eternal value systems taught by religion, and as God intended us to live, then mankind would have taken the greatest step in the unfoldment of his consciousness, and the realization of his Divine purpose in life.

Dr. Jagessar Das

Global Clergy Association of Canada

Religion, Interfaith, God, Consciousness