| Awaken Bharata |
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| Books By David Frawley |
| SARVA DHARMA SAMABHAVA : UNITY OR CONFUSION OF RELIGIONS | |
| In
a free society religious belief should be a personal matter. There
should be no government enforced religious beliefs or dogmas. There
should be political tolerance of all religious views as long as
these do not involve violent or antinational activities. On the
political level it should not matter whether one believes in any
religion at all, much less what religion a person may believe in.
Political tolerance of religious views, however, does not mean that
individuals have to accept all religious views as right or good. In
a free society one can be an atheist or agnostic or believe in any
religion.
Does this mean that we have to respect atheism as equally valid as religion in order to truly practice Sarva Dharma Samabhava? In Western democracies there is a growing recognition of a multifaith and multicultural society. But there is no idea that all religions or all cultures are the same, that for example there is no difference between Christianity and Hinduism. Nor are religions, including Christianity, placed beyond question. In Islamic countries, on the contrary, there is still the attempt to impose Islam upon everyone and little respect for other religions.In multifaith dialogues throughout the world there is a recognition of certain commonalties in religion of moral goodness but a recognition of many differences as well, particularly in regard to metaphysical beliefs. These differences are too significant to cover over. Hindus must recognize this fact as well. |
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