Card Oswald Gracias
is archbishop of Mumbai and president of the Catholic Bishops’
Conference of India. Here is his reflection on the topic of religious
freedom in India, Asia and the world. His starting point in Benedict
XVI’s message for the 2011 World Peace Day, which will be celebrated on 1
January (see World Peace Day 2011 – Religious freedom, the path to Peace, AsiaNews).
In my varied experiences all over the country, I can
say that religious freedom has been taken for granted. In the past two
decades, religious freedom has come under intense scrutiny and pressure
from various factions in India. In these past twenty years, most
unfortunately, religion has been the cause of much divisiveness in our
society. This is tragic, as religion is a
powerful force for cohesiveness, tolerance and fostering peace, love,
respect, and support for others. Sadly, in so many instances in history
of modern India, religion has been the cause of divisiveness,
intolerance, hostilities and violence.
Hence, our beloved Holy Father’s message for World
Peace Day is of fundamental importance for peace in the world. Religious
freedom is the basic human right and the denial of this basic human
right is a gross injustice to the individual, society, state, country
and the larger global community as well. Denial of religious freedom
will ultimately provoke a reaction, violence and lack of peace.
As India emerges on the global stage, it is most
essential that religious freedom be guaranteed to our people, even to
the most marginalised citizen of our beloved motherland. No one can be
denied freedom of religion. If India is to claim her moral authority in
the comity of nations, religious freedom is essential.
Spiritual leaders are responsible for promoting peace,
tolerance and harmony among their followers. The responsibility of
spiritual leaders in guiding the people and fostering peace is of vital
importance. Spiritual leaders have the responsibility of fostering a
culture of tolerance, and peace, through an ardent defence of religious
freedom.
The vital importance of spiritual leaders must be underlined in
promoting understanding and working towards building bridges of peace
and harmony among followers of different religions. No one can claim to
be a spiritual leader if he whips up a frenzy in his followers in the
name of religion.
Spiritual leaders have the responsibility of imparting
the tenets of their religion, teaching the core beliefs of religion to
their followers. This will create a culture of tolerance and affirm
India‘s spiritual heritage, which has seen much bloodshed in the recent
past.
Here [in India], we must talk about another problem,
that of religious freedom laws. These acts have been introduced by
politicians, and regrettably, these so-called freedom of religion bills
are used to harass our people. This is only a politicisation of
religion.
For many (especially right-wing groups) religious
freedom is synonymous with conversion. It is most illogical, that while a
person enjoys many rights and freedoms in our country, including the
right to change the government (through elections), yet when it comes to
making an informed and free choice of belief in a religion, we meet
with stiff opposition.
Religious freedom means the freedom to search for the
truth and to facilitate this search rather than putting obstacles in
searching for the truth. How can any power or person decide what the
truth is for me? This is ridiculous, baseless allegations, as the
miniscule Christian community in India, according to the census of 2001,
is 2.18% of the total population.
As a modern and free nation, India ought to uphold the
right of its people to practice and importantly, change their faith, as
defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 18:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion;
this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and
freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or
private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice,
worship and observance.”
The state cannot be biased in favour of any particular
religion. The state should neither support nor show favouritism to any
particular religion. The state should be secular (not anti-religious)
and not discriminate on the basis of religious belief. Our beloved
motherland is a secular country and freedom to practice, preach and
propagate is enshrined in Article 25 of our constitution, but sadly, so
often in many states, there is persecution and discrimination because of
religion. Yes, I would call for a separation of church from state. In
addition, by separation I mean equality in the treatment of all
religions to build a culture of peace among religions.
After Vatican II, the biggest contribution of the
Catholic Church around the world has been interreligious dialogue. At
many levels, the Catholic Church in India has opened dialogue centres,
and initiated various programmes, meetings, seminars to promote peace ,
understanding and mutual tolerance among religions and followers of
religions.
Through this interreligious dialogue, many prejudices
have given way to respect and understanding, suspicions has given way to
acceptance and tolerance and peaceful coexistence. Interreligious
dialogues among spiritual leaders and among community leaders, as well
as at every level of society have promoted peace.
People are welcomed irrespective of their faith or
caste and treated with dignity. In fact, the Catholic Church in India
(also around the globe) has been a pioneer in promoting religious
freedom through our non-discriminatory and compassionate works of
charity, which are works of peace. In Christian educational
institutions, over 85% of the beneficiaries are non-Christian brothers
and sisters.
Through our health ministry, well established
Christians hospitals and health centres provide services in rural areas
and other remote and inaccessible places to people of every caste, faith
and creed.
As part of our ministry dedicated to socio-economic
development, the Church has opened stations in remote areas and has been
undertaking literacy campaigns, adult and child education, relief work,
social service, and health care services.
Dalits and Tribals have received the special attention
of the Church through its educational, medical and welfare ministry.
This oppressed section of the society has become self-reliant and
enjoyed emancipation irrespective of faith and caste. Tribals and Dalits
were previously condemned to remain in inhuman poverty at the bottom of
the social scale because of economic, social and religious structures.
There are hostels and orphanages for boys and girls
attached to educational institutions to help the children of poor
parents. Great care is given to the deaf and dumb, mentally retarded,
aged, destitute, lepers, and people living with HIV/AIDS. There are
thousands of such centres where committed staff provides volunteer
services in the field as an expression of our commitment to humanity.
SIC: AN/INT'L