In an environment where an incident has the potential to spark a massive human conflict, some are focusing on bringing peace and harmony through dialogue.

This week, Suchetna Samaj Sewa Sansthan Bareilly and Social Work Society Lucknow, both under the Caritas India Samvaad programme, hosted a dialogue with the interfaith leaders for peacebuilding. The dialogue aimed to sensitise the community and the stakeholders, through the interfaith leaders, to live in peace and harmony and respect each other’s cultural values. The invited religious leaders are great influencers who have a strong hold on the communities and on every segment of people living in society.

The Samvaad Programme had joined hands with all focal persons who had an esteemed place in society. These faith groups are the major stakeholders in the programme and are frequently invited to the dialogue on peace so that a larger number of people from different beliefs and cultures can come to a consensus on peace and harmony.
This dialogue was conducted on two different days with more than fifty participants, which included religious leaders from the Hindu religion, Islam, Christianity, and Sikh faiths, as well as stakeholders like academicians and government departments.

In the words of a Caritas India representative, “Samvaad is not just a dialogue; it is an effort to bring the people from different religious and cultural backgrounds under one umbrella so that no more communal strife should be a part of this beautiful society.”

He explained that, as an agent of change, the Samvaad Programme is dispelling the misconceptions and false beliefs spread in the name of religion, which leads to disparity among everyone and ends up with communal strife.

Fr. Ronald Dsouza wonderfully enunciated a reference from the bible where God has defined man as a salt and a light of this earth. He simplified the teachings by saying that if the salt loses its saltiness, it is no longer good for anything. Explaining the metaphor of light, he said it should be kept on a stand, so it gives light to everyone in the house. Therefore, we should be like salt and light, which are meant for others, and we should love each other as God loved us.

A Hindu priest, Shri Sachidanand Bajpayee, quoted from the Gita about love and peace, saying that we all need to live without conflicts and that it is our responsibility to bring all together on one platform without radicalism towards other beliefs. Similarly, Maulana Abul Hasan Fauji quoted the love of the prophet Mohammad and said we are all equal in the eyes of God and the differences will bring rigidity among each other and our country will divide. So, it is the duty of every citizen to follow the teachings of their God, as all regions speak about communal harmony and love for each other.

Sikh religious leader, Baba Kamaljeet from Badepura Gurdwara, said that every religious book defines love and harmony, and it is a human being who follows his own conscience for his personal interest, which sometimes leads to violence and communal strife. So, we need to follow our religious teachings and respect the teachings of different religions. A Hindu priest from Lal Baba Temple and Hafiz Mohammad Suleman, representing Muslims, also shared their views on peace and harmony through their religious perspectives. Father Julian Pinto said that no religion talks about conflicts and violence, so we should live together in peace and communal accord. Block officer Shri Atul Kumar said God has created everyone equally, so we are not to create differences among each other, and we all will go to the same place after our journey on this earth, so we should love each other.

“Unity, humanity, and integrity are some of the signs of prosperity,” said Shri Ramakant, representing the academician. He added that no religion teaches the ways of violence and war, so it is our duty to follow the teachings and respect the values of their religions. This effort of promoting peace and harmony was appreciated by the participants, and they committed that they would continue to promote the value of peace and harmony through their teachings and beliefs wherever they stay and work.