| Awaken Bharata |
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| Books By David Frawley |
| SARVA DHARMA SAMABHAVA : UNITY OR CONFUSION OF RELIGIONS | |
| Sarva
Dharma Samabhava and Religious Conversion
Hindus have used the principle that all religions are the same to approach other religions on the level of intellectual debate. They have tried to deal with missionary efforts to convert them by trying to convince the missionaries that since all religions are the same there is no need to convert Hindus to another religion. They have added to this idea a corollary that everyone should follow their religion of birth, whatever it may happen to be, as if this was the will of God. This idea was intended to mean that Hindus need not convert to another religion but it came to suggest that Christians and Muslims should stick to their religion of birth as well, including that Hindus should not seek to reconvert former Hindus once they have left Hinduism for another religion. Hindus have tried to prove their sincerity in this non-conversion policy by not seeking any conversions to Hinduism. Reconversion efforts by Hindu groups like the Arya Samaj were opposed by Hindu politicians to avoid causing any conflict between religious communities in India.Needless to say this strategy has been far more effective in preventing Hindu reconversion efforts than in stopping the missionaries, who would be strongly opposed to any unity of religions or they would have never taken up the missionary mantle in the first place. |
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