Our Role as Religious communicators
Unlike the matter, human life was not put on a trajectory; we were not put on a plan to circumambulate around something, or hung in one place. We were given the freedom to create our own balance. Whether we believe in God or not, we still seek that balance.
God loves his creation just as each one of us loves what we create, be it the food we cook, the clothes we wear, the paintings we paint or sculptures we sculpt.
It is the love of the creator that gave each one of us, each community, each nation and each tribe a “formula” to live in peace within ourselves and with what surround us. He, she or it communicated that formula through the spiritual masters in the form of scriptures like Torah, Bible, Quran, Bhagvad Gita, Avesta and other scriptures including the oral traditions. Please remember, God has reached to every one of us and has offered that formula – to seek a balance for ourselves and a balance for what surrounds us; life and the environment.
God is about love, kindness and justice.
Hate is one of the few sources of disrupting peace in a society and it is our duty to track down the source of such hate and work on mitigating it. We have an obligation to maintain a balance in the society for our own individual good.
In your solitude, it is you who personally feels the anxiety, apprehension, fears or the joys of life for the actions you take in your life. Your Pastor, Pundit, Rabbi, Imam or Clergy are not responsible for it, even if they were; it is you who has to live with yourselves, so finding the truth is your own responsibility.
One of the Prophets said to his associates that if someone uploads you with words that will cause you to have ill-will, malice, hate, anger towards other beings, you have to investigate before you believe it, you should do your best to live a regret free life, you should not hate or pre-judge negatively any one without finding the truth.
We lose that balance when we let hate mongers, hate sermons and hate lectures creep in our societies, much of it is product of insecure men and it breeds arrogance. Arrogance that my way of life is superior or my religion is the only way to heaven. Arrogance is the source of most of the conflicts and much of the evil.
I am a Muslim and Islam works for me, just as Christianity works for you, Judaism works for you, Hinduism or other faiths work for you. And further I am humbled to say that my religion is not superior to others, that claim would be a sheer arrogance. Religion is an emotion, a faith and a belief to have and not to compare.
As religious communicators we need to explore and communicate that God has not signed up a deal with any religion behind our back, he just cannot do that. Let’s honor every tradition and faith whether they believe in one, multiple or no God. The essence of the creator and causer of the universe does not change with our beliefs.
Let’s learn to accept the otherness of other and respect the God given uniqueness of each one of the 7 billion of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.
Mike Ghouse is a thinker, writer speaker and an activist of pluralism, interfaith, co-existence, peace, Islam and India. He is a frequent guest at the TV, radio and print media offering pluralistic solutions to issues of the day. His websites and Blogs are listed on http://www.mikeghouse.net/