On world religions and peace
January 24, 2002
1. Our chief concern in this day of prayer for peace is to express a collective
will that all religions become a force for peacemaking in the world. This means
at the very least that the use of religion to justify violence must be
repudiated. It can no longer be said by any religious community that acts of
violence against persons or property can be justified in the name of conversion,
reform, purification, secularization, property rights, missionary activity,
redress of historic grievances, or extirpation of error.
The Very Rev. Canon Francis V. Tiso, Ph.D.
The time has come for us to recognize that when religious reasons are given to
justify terrorism and violence, it becomes a matter of moral and political
necessity for governments to curtail the influence of religion in human
societies. Because of violence, religion is seen by many people as a source of
societal discord and injustice that must be placed under state control. At the
same time, religious people know very well from tragic historic events that
state control is probably the worst way to blunt the edge of sectarian violence.
Surely there must be a better way.
2. Two thousand three hundred years ago, the great king Ashoka united most of
the Indian subcontinent and embraced the ethics of Buddha Shakyamuni in order to
pacify his empire. Ashoka left his decrees in the form of inscriptions in
granite slabs and pillars all over the empire. In one of them he wrote: "The
Beloved of the Gods, King Piyadasi (Ashoka) honors both the ascetics and the
householders of all religions and he honors them with gifts and honors of
various kinds. But the King does not value gifts and honors as much as he values
this: that there should be growth in the essentials of all religions. Growth in
essentials can be done in different ways, but all of them have as their root
restraint in speech, that is, not praising one's own religion or condemning the
religion of others without good cause. And if there is cause for criticism, it
should be done in a mild way. But it is better to honor other religions for
this reason: By so doing, one's own religion benefits, and so do other
religions, while doing otherwise harms one's own religion and the religions of
others. Whoever praises his own religion due to excessive devotion, and condemns
others with the thought, "Let me glorify my own religion" only harms his own
religion. Therefore contact [between religions] is good. One should listen to
and respect the doctrines professed by others. The King desires that all should
be well-learned in the good doctrines of other religions."
This decree is unprecedented and, to my knowledge, was never fully emulated
by any other monarch in the entire history of the world. {Even the great
emperors of China, much as they may have honored and supported the many
religions that made their homes in the Middle Kingdom, never were so determined
to follow an egalitarian course and to encourage the mutual study of the
religions by masters of the separate traditions. Even in India, after Ashoka,
these policies were not consistently followed, although tolerance was the usual
rule. Not until the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the sixteenth century did anyone
even approach Ashoka's ideal. We must also be honest in saying that most
Christian and Muslim societies have been characteristically far from following
these principles. }
Wars inspired by religious differences have retarded human progress while
bringing into disrepute the good spiritual teachings of the great world
teachers. Even secularized states in modern times have not been free of wars of
religion. Worse yet, anti-religious wars and persecutions have broken out in
many parts of the world, motivated by materialistic and nationalistic passions.
For millions of human beings, the great religions of the world no longer provide
an ethical and cultural point of reference because of their failure to implement
teachings on moral restraint, justice, compassion, and inter-community harmony.
The warnings of King Ashoka have not been heeded.
3. The insidious reality of terrorism and injustice now lie open for all the
world to see. Religious leaders need to seek ways to restore the credibility of
our institutions so that we may, together, resume our indispensable role in the
work of forgiveness, peacemaking, ethical restraint, and cultural benefit, as
Pope John Paul II has urged in his World Day of Peace message of December 8,
2001. We must stand collectively for an end to terrorism and violence in the
name of religion and against religion. No one should be advocating terrorism and
coercion in the name of religion, nor should any educational institutions be
inculcating attitudes that will bear fruit in violence. We must also come to
learn from one another; we need to practice forgiveness and humility among
ourselves. This will require both an honest look at our respective histories and
a rigorous effort to find new fora in which dialogue can take place.
As a Catholic Christian, I do not see this as in any way diminishing my faith
convictions: on the contrary. If I wish to know and love my Lord Jesus Christ in
the fullness of his glory, I know that I must embrace him in all those who
suffer and are afflicted in any way, no matter what their religion or race. I
confess Jesus to be the Logos incarnate for the salvation of the whole
world, and in so doing, I recognize him to be the Word through whom all things
were made. If I am to love him as I confess him, I know that I will find his
signature, the signs and seeds of his presence, everywhere and in everyone. If I
learn of the grandeur of the cosmos from scientific research, I know that I am
learning of him; if I am captivated by the beauty of a cell or the wondrous
order of genes and chromosomes, I feel that I am reading his own holy book.
Nature is a revelation of the Absolute, and catches me up in wonder and love.
When I hear the teachings of my brothers and sisters of other faiths, how can I
not catch the sound of his voice in teachings on compassion, on self-restraint,
on self-sacrifice, on spiritual diligence, on ethical courage, on philosophical
rigor? I hunger to know the Word of God in all the words of God, in every person
and phenomenon of the universe sprung from his wisdom and love. How, therefore,
could I not want to respect all religions and seek to learn from them?
4. {I find the same eagerness to learn from other spiritual masters in the great
Buddhist sutra, the Gandhavyuha, a part of the visionary "Avatamsaka
Sutra" of Mahayana Buddhism. There, a youthful aspirant for enlightenment is
advised by his guru, Manjushri, to study with scores of spiritual masters of
both genders, of all castes, and of all creeds, so that he will one day be able
to teach and guide others whatever their needs and spiritual capacities may be.
How can we not be moved to admiration for such a sublime ideal? Surely there are
strands of this sturdy ambition in all of our traditions reminding us that
"nothing human is alien to me".}
5. Yet, the time is late; we stand before the prospect of an iron age. In scores
of nations, populations have been manipulated into offering hospitality to
terrorism. In both east and west, anti-religious movements make use of the mass
media to alienate young people from authentic spirituality and subject our
traditions to mockery. We can no longer pretend that this is someone else's
problem. May I suggest some approaches, through the medium of inter-religious
dialogue, that promise a favorable outcome?
- When we have differences of belief or viewpoint, can we not examine these
differences more deeply to see if they are matters of substance, or only of
diverse historical development, answers to universal questions in terms borrowed
from particular times and places?
- Could we examine those areas of disagreement based on past acts of historical
violence with a new willingness to ask forgiveness for our own errors and to
forgive those who have harmed our communities in the past?
-Could we restrain ourselves from proselytism and coercion?
- Could we pledge to advise those who come to us wishing to change their
ancestral religions to search more deeply before undertaking the process of
conversion?
- Could we commit ourselves to teaching our respective traditions in schools and
universities with objectivity and justice?
- Could we agree to make a positive contribution to the peace of the world, a
peace based on justice, so that no one need fear loss of property, life, or
security because of assertions of power?
- When it is within our power, could we work to restore property that has been
unjustly expropriated? Are we able to make restitution for harms done in the
past?
- Shouldn't we do penance together in spiritual reparation for the acts of
violence of the past?
- Couldn't we be more humble, more ready to listen than to speak, more eager to
learn than to teach, more eager to show respect than to leap into debate?
Apart from the question of whether we will regain the trust of the world by such
deeds, at least we who undertake them will be a blessing for this wounded world.
And the fruition of a blessing is always in the hands of God, who did not design
this world as a place of desolation and combat, but as a place where life is
shared, where beauty and the "tranquility of order" inspire our prayers!