Religious Confrontation

One thing that I have learnt throughout my life is that every religion,whether it is Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam or another religion, teaches humanity, peace and love. Today it’s not about peace or war, good or bad – but, most importantly the question is what happens when two different religions confront each other. To make it simpler to the general audience, we can ask the question, what happens when two different people having different faith and belief confront each other? One of the reasons that compels me to raise these questions is the deeply religious politics integrated in different societies and cultures.

I got a very common answer to the above questions around me- one kills another. But if we believe that religions are based on humanity, peace and love, why do people kill each other based on religions – just because one has a different belief and faith from the other?If it’s the confrontation between two people that have a different approach to religion and carry a different point of view which leads one to kill another person, it raises questions in my mind about why one blames religion for such acts.

Multi-cultural Xmas jumper

I grew up in a small town thousands of miles away from the West on the border with Afghanistan – which later turned into a hot bed for terrorists and extremists and would lead me to think in the same way. But thanks to Almighty Allah that provided me a chance to get out of there, study and work in different countries – and experience different cultures and religions around the world. Such experiences made me realise that in fact any religion – whether it is Islam or Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism – does not allow violence, or more specifically does not allow one person to kill another person. The only difference that today’s world is experiencing in the name of religion is in fact the follower of any religion that doesn’t have any clue about the teaching of their religions.

To shorten my view, Christmas is getting closer and closer. Many of my Christian friends and colleagues are busy in preparation for Christmas, while others are getting ready to travel from one part of the world to another to spend time with their friends and family to share joys and happiness. On the other side, hundreds and thousands of people are suffering and confronting one or other form or religious extremism in different parts of the world. Let’s make a pledge today that we will try our best to share some of our Christmas gifts with our friends to create faith and harmony with each other and say “No” to religious confrontation that creates violence and extremism in our society. Such a pledge will make the world a peaceful and better place for us and our coming generation.

Bashir Ahmad, Pakistan, SPP