In his piece, Respect an individual's decision (TOI,5/10) Shashi Tharoor has almost justified the inducements by Christian missionaries and asked others to compete with them for the upliftment of the poor bringing the missionaries down to the level of politicians who bribe voters in many ways to get power. Does that mean both are in the game of numbers rather than in real social service ? It is sad that this comes from a person who served the United Nations which seeks peace and harmony in the world rather than conflict and aggression. He has not mentioned that providing health and education is the responsibility of the government in which it has failed in these 60 years.
In his book, The Hindu View of Life, Dr.S.Radhakrishnan, former President of India, says " We cannot have religious unity and peace so long as we assert that we are in possession of the light and all others are groping in the darkness. That very assertion is a challenge to a fight....To obliterate every other religion than one's own is a sort of bolshevism in religion which we must try to prevent. We can do so only if we accept something like the Hindu solution, which seeks unity of religion not in a common creed but in a common quest... The world would be a much poorer thing if one creed absorbed the rest. God wills a rich harmony and not a colourless uniformity..." This view of life is summed up by the poet W.B.Yeats in his immortal words, " The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity".
These are the words of old secularists ( sarva dharma samabhava) like Dr.S.Radhakrishann and Mahatma Gandhi but our new secularists like to promote denigration of other faiths and conflict.
October 17,2008
