CHURCH AND RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE

Thomas Themotheos Metropolitan
(OUTSIDE KERALA DIOCESE).

We live in a strife-ridden society with innumerable problems that destroy peace and harmony. India was known for her tolerance of all kinds of faiths, practices and beliefs. But the India of today has become acrimonious in many regions.
In this context the questions “what is our responsibility as Christians?” and “what should be our attitude as a church?” become vexed.
Though we claim to be a secular nation, our country is a fertile ground for communal politics because of the caste system and the resultant groupings. Many politicians have no qualms about using the divisions in the society to promote their interests. And many religious leaders have no hesitation in dancing to the tunes of the politicians or influencing the powers that be to achieve their vested interests.
It is important for us to look into the Gospels and see how Jesus Christ responded to the societal problems. He too lived in a strife ridden society. The Jews hated the Samaritans and vice versa. In Luke 9:51, we read that Jesus and his disciples passed through a Samaritan village and expected that the people would welcome them. But this did not happen and so the disciples wanted to take revenge. Jesus rebuked them and said: “for the son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” The society in which Jesus lived was quite divisive but he was magnanimous in thinking beyond the narrow boundaries of the inherited divisions. He advised his disciples and listeners to strive for the good and defeat the evil. He called for a return to the kingdom of god where only the good pervades.
To be the servants of god in the midst of religious turmoil is our Christian responsibility. The crucified Christ is our model. He endured the sufferings to ensure salvation for others. The Sadducees and Pharisees were the patrons of the system, and Jesus exposed their hypocrisy and false religiosity. He offered the Kingdom of God as the alternative.
How far does our faith in God and the crucified Christ motivate us? Do we really want to make changes or do we adjust ourselves to the Sadducees and Pharisees around us? Participating in the mission of Christ means partaking to change the prevailing evil systems. It is a challenge and call.
Changes are needed in our political and religious realms to free man from his shackles. Although we achieved freedom 45years ago, millions in our country are socially and economically backward. In many states, illiteracy is over 60 per cent. There has been no systematic effort to give at least primary education to our people.
There are several other factors which created the backwardness. A tragic legacy of colonialism is that the people of India were pushed backward in their social moorings. The British ruined our economy through exploitation. The scene has not changed under the new masters. The church in India has to think seriously and encourage political parties to work hard for the upliftment of the deprived sections of our society.
For the ignorant masses, and to a large extent even for the lower middle class, issues like Mandir-Masjid are enough to forget their own real problems and run after slogans. In this respect, the people should be made aware of the dangers of communalism which push down the real problems and make imaginary problems the real issues of contention. The right kind of conscientisation is the need of the hour.
This requires grappling with socio-religious problems of the society with a deep commitment like that of Jesus Christ who according to St. Paul” …humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).
It is not by running after slogans or battling for non-issues, that one fulfils his Christian responsibility. Every Christian has a specific role to play in the midst of turmoil. He brings light where there is darkness, truth where there is falsehood and amity where there is discord. But this would be possible only through a careful study of the society, analysis of the problems and good application of well-thought out plans.
In the history of the Christian church, there were many who lived in the midst of turmoil. Augustine of hippo was one. He wrote his famous book ‘The City of God’ in the context of (the anti-Christian feeling) the sack of Rome by Alaric in 410 A. D. About the sacramental character of the church, he says: ’Christ is both the priest, offering himself, and himself the Victim. He willed that the sacramental sign of this should be the daily sacrifice of the church, who since the church is his body and He the head, learns to offer herself through Him:(10,20)
The holy Qurbana is the sacrament which gathers the faithful. But it diffuses the faithful into the society to make the sacramental character a reality. A faithful, through his presence, brings in the presence of Christ and that of the Holy Trinity, thereby becoming a participant of the Mission of God.
The India of today needs the sacramental presence of the church. This is a great task of the church and of every believer.