‘Disease’ diagnosed

During an in-flight press conference on his way back from a recent three-country tour of Africa, when he was asked to comment on religious intolerance in light of the recent Paris attacks by ISIS, Pope Francis responded by saying, “We are all God’s children, we all have the same Father we need to live peacefully alongside one another, develop friendships.” He went on to discuss fundamentalism. “Fundamentalism is a sickness that is in all religions,” he said, adding, “We Catholics have some — not some, many — who believe they possess the absolute truth and go ahead dirtying the other with calumny, with disinformation, and doing evil. They do evil. I say this because it is my Church.” Religious fundamentalism must be combated, the pope added.

With religious intolerance an issue under discussion in India and around the world, we asked scholars and practitioners of different faiths for their views on the pope’s remarks. Read on to find out what they had to say.

Prof. Ranu Jain, Centre for Studies in Sociology of Education, TISS

When incidents of violence happen in the name of religion, I don’t think I should call it fundamentalism, I would rather call it ethnic politics in pursuit of material gain and status.

How many people really know the philosophy of their faith Jainism is extremely flexible and the doctrines of Anankantvada talks about relativity of truth. It says how we always know the partial truth and how truth can vary from person to person. More advanced are the Syadvada and Nayavada Syadvada that talk about the subjectivity of interpretation. The famous example is that of a jar. A jar can be seen from multiple perspectives — a society where it is known as a jar, they will call it a jar, but if in a society it is known as a cup, it is no longer a jar but a cup. So, there is no absolute. From the little that I understand of the religion, Jainism is very individualistic — there is hardly any scope of fundamentalism.

Dr. Madhavi Narsalay, Heads the Sanskrit Department, University of Mumbai.

The foundation of Hinduism is tolerance. There is a Sanskrit shlok that roughly translates as all water that flows meets the ocean, referring to how every religion eventually leads to one God. Our early texts reflect a rich culture of the Indian style of debate, where opposite theories coexist. The fact that there are so many gods in Hinduism shows how tolerance is inherent to Hinduism. Fundamentalism does not believe in diversity or intellectual and individual freedom. Therefore there is no space for fundamentalism in Hinduism.

Dr N.G. Meshram, Principal, Lords Universal College of Law.

In Buddhism, the doctrines teach about harmony in human relationships and nature. Fundamentalism has no space in Buddhism. But in certain countries, Japan for example, which is declared a Buddhist nation, you are not allowed to preach any other religion. That is not because of the religion — they are trying to protect their nation. In which case, the religion takes a back seat. In fact, there is a joke that even if Buddha were to go to Japan to preach, he would be beheaded. But in culturally diverse countries like India, the problem strikes when we try to attack each other’s faiths.

Dr. Zeenat Shaukat Ali, Director-General, Wisdom Foundation, Mumbai and a scholar of Islam

I think Pope Francis is a balanced and far-thinking person and he gives a lot of thought to whatever he says. When he says fundamentalism is in all religions, he means the crisis around the world, and not one region in particular.

Every religion has an elevated standard—it purifies, binds you together. So it’s not correct for any religion to use itself as a divisive force. Religion is based on a deeper understanding of humanity and spirituality. Both are missing today. Every religion’s message is to consider all humans. There’s a verse in the Quran, which says, ‘Prophet Muhammad has come as a mercy for all human beings.’ Doesn’t each religion in its own way specify the same thing

A man had issued some sort of fatwa to highlight a verse in Quran, which says, if you kill one innocent human, you kill all mankind. But why is this verse not followed Recently, I read an article about some Boko Haram chaps who didn’t even know the first verse of Fatiha, which is the first thing Muslims say in prayer. Sadly, these are the voices that are being heard. Why would the Quran teach violence It came to people who were violent and it taught them not to be violent.

The fundamentalists have been wrong, but now someone has to come out and contradict that. And yes, there are people who have categorically denounced it, but they are not heard enough.