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A deeper understanding of world religions necessary

It is sad that after 56 years of independence we have not mastered the simple art of living together in harmony. Malaysia’s source of strength is unity within its diversity of culture, race and creed but this has withered away over the years. We have become a nation of strangers. Today, we seem to be more divided than ever.

 

The ‘Allah’ issue is a clear example of how ignorant we are of each other’s beliefs. Instead of harnessing the opportunity for greater dialogue and understanding, we choose to remain in our comfortable cocoons and make judgments through Internet research.

 

My personal belief is that in our arrogance we have forgotten that God owns us and not we own God. God has never revealed His name to us. A man-made name can therefore be used universally in worshipping the One Supreme Almighty and Creator. Theologically, however, each religion can interpret God within its own beliefs. There is no conflict!

 

The way forward in celebrating Malaysia’s unique diversity is by opening our hearts and minds to each other. We need to seek and not be contented in being enriched solely in one’s own religion.

Truth must be sought. We need to be open to and understand other religions and practices with new eyes. Eyes of respect and appreciation. Only then can we see the beauty in other people's beliefs. As long as our minds are closed we will remain blind and a disservice to mankind, integration and unity.

 

The objective of inter religious understanding is not to convert but to understand better our fellow Malaysians. We need to reach out with love and care and not remain isolated and cloistered.

 

I recently attended a four-week seminar on ‘Understanding World Religions’. Unfortunately, the response to this was weak. Though a superficial understanding was achieved, it gave me insights on basic beliefs of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism and Taoism. This has stirred my thirst to know more on my own.

 

One basic observation I made was that there is so much good and truths in all religions. Instead of diluting my beliefs and faith it has given me the wisdom to appreciate the commonalities and insight to see my religion with greater clarity.

 

There are truths in every religion. It is arrogant to believe that only one religion holds all the truths. Just as seven blind men would have seven different perceptions of an elephant, we, too, must dig deeper into our faiths to fully comprehend and deepen our spirituality to see the light. Only then are we ready to communicate and have much needed inter faith dialogue with fresh eyes. Only then can we build bridges among religions in Malaysia instead of burning them.

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