Building communities across faith boundaries

Respect for diversity. Photo: amy strycula/getty imagesMartin Adhikary

LIVING faiths teach that God takes human life seriously. According to Christianity, He took the human form to show this. Christ invested in people so that they could be agents of transformation of this world into a place where God's love, peace and justice would prevail. "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22: 40 see also 7:12)."

Our real prayer ought to be: "May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." To quote an ancient Chinese proverb: "Where the vision is for one year, cultivate flowers; where the vision is for a decade, cultivate a tree, where the vision is for eternity, cultivate people." God created man in His "image" and "likeness." This implies that He shared with man His moral attributes of love, holiness, justice and the ability to commune with Him. Although, as a consequence of sin, that divine image has been tarnished but not entirely erased. As Pascal said, "Within each of us there is a God-shaped vacuum that only God can fill."

Christ's mission was to restore God's image in the human person. Even Nietzsche could say: "Man is the reason for the world." Leonard Verdun aptly said: "The plain implication is that from the earliest beginnings the divine interest was to reach its climax in man. All that goes before is anticipatory, propaedeutic to the dominion-haver known as man. Man is pictured as the crown and capstone of the entire creative enterprise of the Almighty; man is the goal towards which the whole undertaking moved. Verily the Bible does not speak meanly of man."

Today, the lives of peace-loving people appear to be hostages in the hands of a few with narrow theocratic vision. Is religious dogma above the sanctity, dignity and glory of Man? Christ announced: "The Sabbath (i.e. religion) is for man, not man for the Sabbath." He revealed God's unfolding and outreaching love for all mankind, irrespective of religion, caste, nationality, sex or social strata.

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like (James 1:22-24)." Much of the religious practices and functions today are true to what James said in this verse. Animal sacrifices, pilgrimages and routine lip service to religion abound, but not an honest longing for right relationship with people.

Our attitude to wealth and social positions reflect our spiritual state. People of all religions must accept the truth that no ceremony or dogma will avail unless genuine soul searching and attitudinal change take place. Authentic spirituality must make us ask what God requires of us. This question was asked by Isaiah, Amos, and Micah during the 8th century B.C. "What does the Lord require of you, but justice, love and kindness and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)."

The lofty moral values of religions can surely transform life. Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated and poorest countries in the world, and has a high rate of illiteracy. Governments come and go, and developmental and pro-people schemes are designed with no lasting change. Corruption, injustice, sham democracy -- all combine to frustrate peoples' hopes for progress. The poor remain poor while the rich gets richer.

Hardly any day passes by now in Bangladesh when we do not have the sad news of murders, rapes, dowry-deaths of young wives, husbands divorcing wives for trifling reasons, bribes, inconsideration for others in diverse forms and modes, acid throwing on women and girls, violence to women and children, gross violations of basic human rights and acts of gross inconsideration for others in diverse forms and modes. Yet we claim to be religious!

Some theological tenets favouring diapraxical relations are given below:

Firstly, God is the Creator, Owner, Redeemer and the Judge of all men: This themes run through the Bible right from Genesis 1:1-2:4 to Revelation. The Bible declares: "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nations of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live (Acts 17:24-25)."

Secondly, our eternal destiny cannot be separated from our temporal life. We must have a paradigm shift in theology: from the traditional theological outlook to the one that will lead us in relating the message of transformation in our day-to-day life. We need to leave the theological dichotomy between the material and the spiritual at the cost of sacrificing the value of life. An authentic holistic view of reality and the discovery of the inherent connection between the material and the spiritual, the personal and the social, the so-called holy and the unholy will dispel many errors. All problems in our lives have a holistic nature, and they need to be dealt with holistically.

John Went, Bishop of Tewkesbury (England), said in his foreword to Body and Soul (papers presented at the Second World Vision Christian Forum): "In the history of the Christian Church a preoccupation with people's eternal destiny has led to a neglect of the injustice and suffering of this world. Too often, the church has been perceived as a strong defender of the status quo at the expense of the needs of the poor and vulnerable."

The global issues and problems, for most of which the then Christian colonial powers are responsible, must make us change our traditional theological perspective and understand the Christian message of liberation. We need to promote inter-religious dialogues for common good, socio-economic justice and equity, and create a holistic vision for a new humanity. The most important step in a diapraxical journey is to be able to identify the matters of common concerns that affect life.

Christians need to appreciate the contributions towards human progress made by believers in other faiths. Sincere dialogue creates an environment where divine values can be manifested in mundane life. We will do well if we sincerely try to join hands with our brothers and sisters from other faiths to promote an environment that will contribute to solidarity for the greater interest of identifying, facing and transforming realities of this present world for mutual enrichment and meaningful life.

The whole tenor of Christian perspective on salvation for the lost world is linked with the spiritual theme of sacrifice, sacrificial giving out of selfless love. This is revealed in God's love for Christ in dealing with the human predicament. We speak of "the offence of the Cross." This is a spiritual truth and can only be understood through guidance by the Holy Spirit.

I am sure that all of us agree that to be authentic every religious activity of whatever faith must be spiritual. We need to be led by the Holy Spirit, only who can enlighten and illuminate our minds and hearts to discern and accept what is divine, true and everlasting.

We need to create an environment where we can also celebrate diversities while pursuing the Truth. Otherwise anti-religious and communal forces will gain the upper hand and will undermine the moral and spiritual fibre of the human family at large. The best in all faith systems can create an unprecedented transformation of peoples' lives for a sustainable future for all.

I conclude with this anonymous quotation:
I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see,
I sought my God, but my God eluded me,
I sought my neighbor and I found all three.

Reverend Martin Adhikary is a Director of The Leprosy Mission, Bangladesh.