Does professing the same religion or belonging to the same country or caste or tribe prevent divisions and mutual hatred?
The answer is a huge NO.
Even a superficial knowledge of history gives us the shocking answer.
Think of the mutual persecution of Catholics and Protestants—both professing faith in Jesus.
Or the oppression of African Americans by church-going white Americans.
Or the Iran-Iraq war—between two Moslem countries.
Or the caste-based atrocities in India.
Or the millions who died of starvation in China during the so-called “Cultural Revolution.” The enemy was not a foreign conqueror.
A Study on Multi-Culturalism
Closer home, does joining a religious order—and claiming to want to follow Jesus more closely—or becoming a priest (and hence claiming to want to preach his message of love) make a person a brother / sister to all?
Not necessarily.
A doctoral thesis done at Madras University by Brother Paul Raj SG on multi-culturalism in religious life threw up the following three main findings:
- A significant number of religious were reluctant to be in community with those differing from them in mother tongue or caste;
- But the majority have had happy memories of such heterogeneous communities;
- And the majority stated that such divisions are against the Gospel, and must be resisted.
In other words, the problem exists. So does the desire to solve it.
Years of daily prayer, thousands of Masses, and dozens of retreats do not necessarily “convert” the heart of a person and make it Christ-like. I can stay in the Salesian congregation, attend all the religious practices, do all my jobs regularly—and be a saint or a crook. I can become a true and loving brother to all, or be a linguistic or caste- or tribe- fanatic, and divide people.
……..
Fr Joe Mannath SDB
To read the entire article, click Subscribe
