(A synopsis of the Inaugural Lecture by the first Noordin Sopiee Professor of Global Studies, Centre for Policy Research and International Studies (CenPRIS) at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang on 26 February 2008)
One of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the first decade of the twenty-first century is whether the followers of different religions can live together in peace and harmony. This is a challenge that manifests itself at both national and global levels.
At the national level, there are more multi-religious societies today, compared to even 30 years ago. Religious consciousness has been rising in these societies. Similarly, at the global level, religion has become a major factor in the inter-face between civilizations.
Is increasing religious consciousness in a world divided by religious boundaries a bane or a boon?
From the evidence available to us, it appears that as people become more committed to their own religious identity understood in terms of distinctive symbols and practices, a certain distance develops with the religious other. This is sometimes exacerbated by the belief that one’s religion is superior to other religions. It is a belief that reinforces the idea that there is an exclusive uniqueness about one’s own religion which ensures that it has nothing or very little in common with other religious traditions.
In themselves, these notions of religion which are widespread do not cause inter-religious tensions. It is when certain trends or policies or events, often linked to politics or the economy or both, begin to generate adverse consequences for individuals or groups who happen to belong to a certain religion or religions that inter-religious ties deteriorate. If deteriorating relations are not attended to, inter-religious conflagrations can occur.
This is why more than the phenomenon of rising religious consciousness, it is the impact of prevailing power structures and policies upon the people that national elites should be concerned about. The equitable distribution of power and wealth that seeks to do justice to the weakest of the weak should be their top priority. Fairness should be the cornerstone of public policies and accountability the hallmark of governance.
These principles of justice and fairness should also apply at the global level. If the chasm that separates people in the West and Muslims is getting wider it is not because of religious issues as such. As long as Washington and the centres of power in the West continue to pursue policies that subjugate Muslims in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan for reasons connected with Israel, oil and strategic routes, the relationship between the two civilizations will remain problematic. By providing enthusiastic endorsement to Washington’s hegemony over parts of the Muslim world, Christian conservatives in the United States and elsewhere have further aggravated relations with the Muslim Other. A fringe within the Muslim world has chosen to react to the violence of hegemonic power through senseless terror, and, as a result, Muslim-Western ties have plummeted to the bottom of the pit.
It follows from this that at the global level a quick end to Washington-led hegemony is the prerequisite for better relations between the US in particular and the West in general, on the one hand, and the Muslim world, on the other. At both global and national levels there should also be sincere efforts to improve and enhance the people’s understanding and knowledge of the different religions and cultures that comprise our world. At the same time, a concerted attempt should be made through educational institutions and the media to eradicate misconceptions and prejudices of each other’s religion.
However, all these endeavors will not be sufficient to bring the adherents of the different religions closer together if exclusive, parochial religious attitudes continue to express themselves. There is an imperative need to develop an inclusive, universal approach to, and understanding of, religion. The resources for cultivating such an approach can be found in every religious philosophy. Even as it is, there are a number of groups and individuals who are striving to strengthen this trend in their respective faiths. Many of them have forged links across religious boundaries in their common quest for justice and equality at the global and national levels.
The inclusive, universal approach that they subscribe to has certain essential attributes. Among them, 1) an acknowledgement that there are similarities in certain values and principles that constitute the ethical core of the different religions; 2) a recognition that there are parallels in the way in which the meaning and purpose of life is conceived in the different religious philosophies; 3) an acceptance that profound religious experiences are not confined to any particular faith; 4) an understanding that the joys and sorrows that characterize the human condition transcend religious boundaries; and 5) a readiness to recognize that beyond one’s religious identity is one’s human identity which in the ultimate analysis is a more enduring bond that links the individual to her fellow human beings and to her Creator. It should be emphasized that acknowledgement of commonalities among the various religions does not mean that the universal approach ignores or minimizes the differences that exist.
Whatever the differences, for advocates of the universal approach, God is not the possession of a particular religious community. The Absolute Truth is not the monopoly of a particular individual or community or religion. God— and God alone — is the Absolute Truth. We are all journeying towards that Truth.
This explains why in most religions, submission or surrender to God is the quintessence of faith. It is God— and God alone— that we worship— not religion. The exclusive approach worships the forms and practices associated with religion, more than God.
When a truly universal God is at the centre of our being, the religious other ceases to be. The God of the universes does not dichotomize the human family. It is a God that is like the Light that illuminates the world.
When that Light illuminates our lives, the human family becomes one.