INTER-FAITH FRIENDSHIP OR INTER-FAITH FARCE ?

INTER-FAITH FRIENDSHIP OR INTER-FAITH FARCE ?

What is the point in Ramakrishna Mission having inter-faith dialogue with Muslim and Christian participants in it when Islam and Christianity categorically reject Hinduism as false and these participants merely pretend to profess harmony when their doctrinaire positions are clearly not so, neither their consequent intentions? Why does the Ramakrishna Mission not address this central issue in bold terms rather than pretending to harmonise religious relations with faiths fundamentally opposed on the basis of essential doctrine to such harmony? It were better if the Mission in clearest terms spelled out that the days of imposition of intolerant faith on the world are gone and Islam and Christianity must mend ways by amending essential dogmatic, divisive doctrine or, else, sidelining them in real earnest if any such inter-faith dialogue is to be successfully conducted on a sincere basis and not so, as of now, on the basis of a pretentious show of it.

I only hope that this piece reaches the right ears of those in Rajkot Ramakrishna Mission who are organising the next round of ritual cover-up of all that is wrong in the Semitic religions that hold Hinduism as false and Hindus as infidels, heathens or kaffirs. Will the Ramakrishna Mission monks at the Rajkot Inter-faith Conference have the guts to broach this issue in categorical terms? If so, they will have done a service unto the Sanatan Dharma. Else, it will be yet another eyewash in the name of awakening enlightenment across the board, yet another pretentious play in the name of piety.

God bless the Mission's monks with courage of conviction to address the contentious issues with forthrightness ! But I dare say that it is a foregone conclusion that it will be yet another wasted effort in invoking inter-faith harmony which is an impossibility given the doctrinal content of Islam and Christianity.

Written by Sugata Bose