By Acharya S.P.Dwivedi
Canadian anthem “O Canada” refrains specific religion and emphasizes on “God keeps our land glorious and free”.
The new Pew Research Center found that the religious landscape has been changing and 76% of Canadians in 2011 were affiliated only with religion. The minority faiths Islam, Sikh, Hindu, Buddhism and Judaism are substantially increasing along with no-religion. The 1971 policy of multi-culturalism and immigration have influenced this change. To assessing the impact of religion in cultivation of peace in Canada , a World Religions Conference was jointly organized by Multifaith Action Society and Ahmaddiya Muslim Jamaat on 25th November at Baitur Rahman Mosque in Delta. The conference was dedicated to 150th Anniversary of Canada.
Peace word has been defined by philosophers, intellectuals, leaders and activists slightly differently but the base remains the same-peace, compasand it may be said that peace is a stress and violence free state where everything coexisting in harmony and freedom. The goal of human being is to live and lead peaceful life and efforts are made to attain it. Some spiritual leaders focus on inner peace. Generally people are constantly under physical and mental stress. It is all because we become the slaves of endless desires and uncontrolled emotions such as hatred, anger, distrust, envy and jealousy etc. At the same time we have enormous expectations and when they are not fulfilled it causes frustration, depression and agony and finally that mounts stress. It is true that a person who has lost peace of mind cannot create peace outside. The core values of religion are love, compassion, harmony and universal brotherhood but stigma is attached also with religion because it has been responsible for mass killing, repression, discrimination, injustice and brutality inflicted upon innocent people around the world .
How peace is cultivated by faiths in community, society and nation was discussed and debated in the conference ? The panelists of six major faiths Buddh (Ven Zhihan), Hindu Dharma (Acharya S.P.Dwivedi), Sikh(Mr, Balwant Sanghera), Jewish ( Mr. Mathew Gindin),Christian (Mr. Doug Longstaffe) and Islam (Imam Tariq Azeem) were invited to reflect on the theme “Contribution of Faiths to Cultivating Peace in Canada”.
