'Religious leaders should look beyond rituals, places of worship'

PUNE: Bishop of Poona Thomas Dabre urged religious leaders of all faiths to remain alert, active and proactive. "With the society riddled with communal problems, religious leaders should look beyond rituals and places of worship and take the lead in educating their community to live in peace," Bishop Dabre said while speaking at an inter-religious programme on 'Religion and Faith', organized to mark Gandhi Jayanti.
"All religious leaders should come out and be promoters of justice, peace and reconciliation in the society," he said adding, "the credibility of a religion or faith depends on the conduct of its followers."
Agreeing with Bishop Dabre, Islamic scholar Anees Chisti pointed out that in the globalised world the implications of certain actions can be far reaching and thus requires greater caution.
On the riots in Muzaffarnagar and the terrorist attack on the Westgate Mall in Kenya, Chisti said the life of Prophet Mohammad exemplified establishing communal harmony. "There are some who now claim that all he ever taught was jihad. If that were true why did he try to establish friendly relations with Jewish and Christian tribes after his conquest of Medina," said Chisti.
Zoroastrian scholar Kabraji Kersee and Buddhist scholar Bhante Anuruddho also spoke. The speeches were interspersed with brief cultural performances. An interpretation of "The Last Supper" by Bharatnatyam dancer Raynelle D'Souza was particularly striking.