More dialogue On law and Religion Will help to Encourage Religious Tolerance, Goodwill

It is hoped that a law and religion symposium held at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva on Friday will become an annual event. The International Law and Religion Symposium (ILRS) was held for the first time. It was hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah via Zoom.

While it is held there every October, overseas delegates could not travel there because of COVID-19 this year. So this year the church organised a virtual symposium.

The symposium brings together judges, lawyers, policy advisers, Government officials, faith-based leaders, academics and the media to share their insights and perspectives on freedom of religion and belief for everyone globally.

What came out from the Suva meeting was that freedom of religion is sacrosanct. It is consistent with the provision of the 2013 Constitution on our secular state.

The State is neutral when it comes to religion. It will not favour one over another. We are all equal and free to practise our religion within the bounds of the law - as long as we do not impose it on others not of our faith.

It was also recognised that we share many common religious values. And because of this religion can be used to build friendship across our diversity.

Every religion believes in the existence of a supreme being which we call with different names. The way we worship that supreme being or God may be different but we all seek the same things like peace, comfort, joy, good health, fortunes – all the positive things about life.

Faith or belief is a personal matter and we cannot control it because it exists in our heart and mind. Freedom to exercise it is fundamental. That’s why we are fortunate in Fiji that we live in secular state that guarantees this freedom.

After all we believe that we are all children of God and belong to one big family irrespective of our differences. When that is the case, we need to be able to sit down, identify the common grounds, and build on them to eliminate intolerance and bigotry.

So much of our religious conflicts are based on misunderstanding and deep-seated feelings that are rooted in outdated traditions and irrelevant to the enlightened view of the modern world.

Education has broadened our understanding and outlook about life.

Regular discussions like the one last Friday will allow people to respect and understand those of different faiths. The underlying message is that we should treat each other with love and dignity.