Call for tolerance
AS A LEADER in the Catholic Church, who has seen his attitude to other churches evolve from one of extreme defensiveness because of the minority status of Catholics in South Africa, and the hostility which was sometimes experienced from non-Catholic communities but also from strict rules about not participating in the services of those churches, has been quite an experience.
So much so, that I have been deeply committed to, and strongly engaged, not only in ecumenical relations with other Christian churches and denominations, but also in inter-religious relations with leaders from other religions as well.
Change came first when the Catholic Church held the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965, during which it committed itself to inter-church or ecumenical dialogue and cooperation.
While this began at the level of theological, spiritual and sacramental discipline, it was not long before the spirit of mutual respect and dialogue began to manifest in the areas of social and political justice, and human development.
A practical example was the intervention by the Natal Church Leaders Group, during the dreadful violence and wholesale killing which took place in the Edendale area in the 1980s and 1990s.
That was when the IFP and the UDF were engaged in the most heartless war for control of (then) Natal.
Out of that practical cooperation to bring peace through dialogue rather than conquest, came into existence a a group made up of church leaders.
Till today, this body continues to strive for real and ongoing relationships, those that teach and inform us about tolerance, based on the recognition of our common humanity and the crucial importance of mutual acceptance and respect.
These principles are based on change and on becoming a truly human and humane society.
From the experience of mutual respect and acceptance garnered from the KZN Church Leaders Group, it was relatively easy to engage with leaders of our province in an exercise initiated by political leaders, who probably hoped to “capture” the religious communities.
This then resulted in the formation of an Inter-Religious Council, which included the Brahma Kumaris, Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims.
Since its establishment, the KwaZulu Natal Inter-Religious Council (KZNIRC) has played an active role in managing relations between different religious communities.
Just as with inter-church dialogue, not everyone finds it possible to respond positively, or at least with respect and tolerance towards those who are different.
That is clearly the case in the recent incident of hate speech and religious intolerance with Pastor Pakreesamy (who also calls himself Pastor Bob Perumal), which has raised the ire of the Hindu community.
This incident acts as a reminder for us to reflect on what happened here in KwaZulu-Natal in the past, and avoid it happening again.
It is our dream and prayer that as we reflect on this unfortunate incident, every religious leader will have the courage to look deeply and searchingly into the depths of his own heart, indeed his very being, in order to discover there the person that God has created him to be, just as He created every other man, woman and child!
In the very first pages of the Book of Genesis, we are taught that God did not create us according to a master plan unrelated to Himself.
Rather, He created each and every one in his very own image and likeness.
That common truth obliges us to strive daily to get to know, to respect and to treasure every other human being, because in each of us is contained God’s very own image and likeness!