Cultivate a spirit of tolerance, unity
THE opinion report “Mosque open day aims to promote social cohesion” (the POST, October 25 – 29) warrants comment.
Religious and racial intolerance continues to dominate world affairs. Perhaps we should go back into history and study the life of the third president of the US, Thomas Jefferson, who once said: “I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.”
Governments should tackle increased religious intolerance by promoting discussion – both within religious groups and by ensuring that women and political leaders are involved in the talks.
Freedom of religion is the mother of all human rights and all human rights are universal and interconnected.
In our globalised world, certain religions or believers feel more threatened than before. Every religion is “bizarre” for those who do not accept its tenets.
Acknowledging and allowing religious diversity is a necessary component of religious freedom and religious tolerance.
Global reluctance to tolerate religious symbols is disturbing. The resurgence of this thinking poses a profound threat to liberal societies, which are based on ideas of liberty and equality.
This form of faith-bashing is of serious concern.
It is a continuation into the 1990s of the types of hatred which fuelled the witch burnings of the Renaissance, the Spanish Inquisition and the Nazi Holocaust.
Every path to God is a personal experience, a private journey. No one path is inherently superior as all paths to God are valid and useful.
Wearing any religious symbol is an ethical choice.
Ethics does not involve right versus wrong or good versus evil but entails a consistency of moral code.
While some religions may differ on ideas and philosophies of morality, ethics and righteousness prove to be a powerful path to God, as a disciplined approach to what one believes is right.
The challenge facing the political and religious of mankind is to contemplate, with hearts filled with the spirit of compassion and desire for truth, the plight of humanity, and ask themselves whether they cannot in humility before the Almighty submerge their differences in a spirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to work together for the advancement of religious understanding and political stability.
FAROUK ARAIE
Johannesburg