Religion and Tolerance

Oct 02, 2008 Editorial

The celebration of Eid yesterday by the Muslim community should have reminded us of the religious diversity that exists in our society. Even though our population is small, all the major religions have a presence in our land.

In these days of instantaneous global communication, we are all too aware that in many countries of the world, religion has been, and remains, a source of intense conflict.

In Guyana, by and large, we have been spared this scourge and this lack of religious strife should be a source of pride for us and an example for the rest of the world.

In some societies, religious extremists can contribute to conflict escalation. These individuals are found in every religion and conceive of “extreme” measures as necessary to fulfilling “God’s wishes”.

They are “fundamentalist” in the sense that they claim to be “returning to the fundamentals” of their religion. They all tend to adopt a dogmatic, Manichean view of the world: if the world is a struggle between light and darkness, it is hard to justify compromising with darkness.

Since every text can be open to varying interpretations, even though the majority of followers are moderates, any sign of moderation can be decried by the extremists as selling out, more importantly, of abandoning “God’s will”.

The harmonious relations among the various religious followers in Guyana can be attributed to the relative dearth of religious extremists in our midst and this must be encouraged. One of the contributing factors has been our primary education curriculum starting right from nursery school.

Our children are exposed to the major tenets of the various religions that exist in our midst and this early awareness serves as a barrier when extremist exclusivist doctrines are preached later.

In our schools also, the major religious festivals are celebrated and it is very common for children of all faiths to participate in the commemoration of other traditions.

Unlike some countries, we have been spared the interpretation of secularism as “separation of church and state” that demands that no religious teachings must be promulgated in schools.

The present posture of the state is correct in viewing secularism as being equidistant from all religions and not favouring any. This has been a great achievement of our founding fathers and ought to be celebrated with much greater fanfare.

There was a time when one particular religion occupied centre stage but this situation was rectified without too much rancour and we must be always vigilant that we do not regress.

Another positive development that has fostered religious harmony and tolerance in our society has been the expansion of interfaith dialogue.

At one time this process was very perfunctory but it has been noted that in the last few years there has been both intensification and a broadening of the subjects that have been facilitated by the interfaith organisations.

The very fact that there is a permanent organisation that has religious leaders from across the spectrum meeting regularly offers great opportunity for budding differences that may lead to conflict to be headed off.

It is proposed here that maybe dialogue ought to be deepened to include individuals from all tiers of religious organisations – especially the “lay” members.

Finally, we have the potential for conflict that can arise from the efforts of some overzealous individuals and organisations to “convert” others to their religion.

These persons sometimes resort to denunciations and misrepresentations of other religions that can lead to resentments that can fester and eventually rupture in our society.

The freedom of communication, which includes the right to communicate one’s religious beliefs to others, is protected by our constitution. But so is the freedom of belief.

We believe that the answer lies in the example being set by our children: we can be educated about other religions but this does not have to result in conversion.

It can instead facilitate understanding and respect for other faiths. And in this we can all learn from our Muslim community: they have never proselytised in Guyana, yet their numbers are increasing.

Their stress on practice and not proselytisation has obviously worked. Doing is better than telling – and leads to greater harmony.