A lot of confusion is created in the minds of young and impressionable children by the contradictory sermons and exhortations of modern-day evangelists of differing religions. The philosophy of every religious leader is often contradicted or even condemned by another. As a result people, especially the young, are confused and confounded by the conflicting messages they hear in the media and from pulpits in churches, temples, mosques, gurdwaras etc.

In multicultural, plural societies such confusion is inevitable. Therefore, society should be propagating universal religion to children instead of dogma. A few fundamental principles form the core of a true, universal religion. For instance truthfulness, honesty, sympathy, self-sacrifice, peace, love, co-existence, good neighbourliness and compassion are virtues propagated by all the world’s major religions. The burden of the scripture of every religion is to preach these virtues by way of anecdotes, parables and explanation. Unfortunately instead of highlighting the commonality of universally recognised truths and values, religious leaders waste valuable time differentiating their faith and scriptures from those of others. Little wonder there’s absolute confusion in the minds of the masses in matters of religious practices, precepts and beliefs.

For teachers it should be easy to understand that God is one and that He is the sole creator of all life on Earth. Teachers should have little difficulty in propagating that God has not created us to quarrel with each other in the name of religion, but to live peacefully and harmoniously within increasingly plural communities. Therefore they must not belittle the beliefs and practices of any faith or label its followers heretics or apostates. The existence of other religions is a fact and regarded as given as are differing climates in different parts of the world.

Religious leaders know that even an atheist is an offspring of God. Therefore there is no justification to hurt or harm anyone on religious pretexts. If a sinner is liable for punishment, it should be left to God to deal with him, or if he has broken a secular law, the law will deal with him. Why bother about another’s sins when we ourselves are sinful?

It is nothing but sheer arrogance to call others’ faith a fallacy or heresy and under this pretext, attack or wound imaginary sinners. Self-styled custodians of religions in some countries including India have even contaminated textbooks with falsehoods. Instead of exhorting young students to cultivate values, textbooks are being misused to brainwash young minds to wage religious wars on people of different faiths. Things have gone so far that there is a real danger of this happening. Our appeal to all religious leaders and their followers is to treat the whole of humanity as the creation of a universal God and not divide it on grounds of religious differentiation and dogma.

For teachers and student communities who are part and parcel of a nation’s intelligentsia, it is important to be aware that the soul is the inspiration from God himself. The guidance of the soul is through the conscience and therefore we must listen to the voice of our conscience and follow it. The power of the infinite conscience is experienced when we marvel at the limitless sky, in the daily appearance of the life-giving sun, and the emergence of countless twinkling stars. Deep within the soul is the infinite knowledge and understanding that comes from Almighty God. In this perception lies spiritual knowledge.

All kinds of inspiration comes to man because of the invisible and all-powerful presence of spiritual knowledge in the soul of every human being. Wise men attribute their success to the inspiration received from God. The avatars or prophets of various religions tell us that whatever man achieves, it is due to the timely inspiration from God. Spiritual knowledge sharpens the intellect and helps the quest for knowledge. Recitation of daily prayers with faith and reading the scriptures with devotion brings profound peace to the mind. Therefore instead of shying away from propagating or teaching universal religious practices and precepts in the name of secularism, teachers must encourage spiritualism and its zealous pursuit.

Schools have a vital role to play in the spiritual regeneration of humanity. Hence the value of morning assembly and prayers propagating universal values. A sense of reverence must be infused for all scriptures and religions in the minds of children. True it is difficult to focus young minds on universal religious values in an era of rampant materialism and politicisation of religion. Nevertheless the teaching community must persist with this admittedly difficult task, so that the prevailing darkness will be illuminated to end this era of spiritual poverty.

The public and students in particular need to learn about the lives of saints and their sterling character and virtues, so they aspire to usher in a golden age of spirituality. They must be repeatedly reminded that true saints belong to humanity and not to any one religion or sect.

Teachers in particular are not expected to play a destructive role against the commandments of God! Religious leaders and teachers preaching hatred and intolerance are deceiving the people and themselves. They need to ponder, expand the boundaries of their faith to include the best practices of all faiths. Teachers are servants of God and should uplift humanity by inspiring students to work towards the unity of all religions and humankind. 

Moreover school managements should encourage field trips to places of worship of different religions. This way students can understand, appreciate and respect the practices, customs and rituals of differing religions.

(Jagdish Gandhi is the founder director of City Montessori School, Lucknow)

Also read: Importance of cross-cultural education