IN an effort to promote harmony and better understanding among different religions, The Global Foundation for Civilisational Harmony (GFCH), an inter-faith initiative, would hold exhibitions next year on the services of Islam and Christianity to the nation.
Speaking to Express, GFCH director K G Suresh said the organisation was committed to changing in the perception of different faith groups about other religions. “We don’t want people to be misled by stereotypes or popular misperceptions about a particular religion,” he said.
Citing Islam as a religion that was often wrongly identified with terrorism, Suresh said the conventional models of dispelling such perceptions did not yield the desired result. So, GFCH worked with the renowned school of Islamic theology Dar-ul- Uloom Deoband to hold rallies in major Indian cities denouncing terror.
“It was an initiative from within Islam and a rally of Muslims and GFCH facilitated this. Unless a reputed Islamic theological school raised its voice [against terror], such misconceptions may continue to persist.” On the plan to foster harmony, Suresh said his organisation did not go by the popular and conventional models of seeking harmony among faiths and civilizations. “We have taken up the difficult path of persuading different faiths and civilizations to undergo an endogenous [internal change] transformation and thereby bring about changes in the longstanding misperceptions.” For instance, GFCH in association with the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha led by Swami Dayananda Saraswati (a patron of GFCH) facilitated a comprehensive dialogue among Jewish religious leaders to dispel certain important misconceptions about Hindu religion.
“GFCH has helped remove the theological misunderstanding between the two faiths on the issue of idol worship and different Gods. In the joint declaration of the two faiths, the Jewish leaders accepted that the different idols and Gods in Hinduism were merely the form, but in substance, the Hindus accept only one reality and that it is only the paths for self-realisation or God that is different.” As for the Hindu Spiritual and Service Fair, it was part of efforts to remove wrong notions that Hindu spiritual organisations are not socially conscious. “The view that Hindu institutions lack social agenda is clearly incorrect and this needs to be corrected.” At a global level, GFCH played an important role through Swami Dayananda in the dialogue among different faiths held in Amsterdam in December 2008. A historic inter-faith declaration, “The Faith Human Rights Statement,” was signed by all religious leaders on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The declaration recognizes the right of a person to retain one’s faith and decries conversion by inducement and coercion thus addressing the principal apprehension of the non-proselytizing faiths like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and Confucianism about the Abraham faiths.
Recently, GFCH (India) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the United Nations’ Alliance of Civilizations (AOC) to promote learning about different religions and beliefs.
The MoU defines the parameters and scope of cooperation between the AOC and GFCH (India) as a ‘Partner Organisation’ regarding Oak’s plan of ‘Education About Religions and Beliefs Clearinghouse’. This is part of new initiatives to foster harmony.
