Christians and Jains need to join hands together to preserve and promote life with dignity and freedom, said Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of Pontifical Council for inter-religious dialogue.
He was speaking at an inter-religious seminar in New Delhi on November 13 that highlighted the similarities between the two communities.
“Christians and Jains have many things in common. As Christians, we believe that life is very precious and the Jain religion too upholds the sanctity of life and urges its promotion and protection,” said the cardinal.
He said that “our vocation to promote respect for life, non-violence, peace and harmony in today’s world brings us together with the common bond of mutual affection for each other.’
The cardinal called on all the protagonists of politics, economic and social communications to do everything in their power to “promote a culture which respects human life.”
The seminar was part of the cardinal’s 10-day visit to the country during which he held deliberations with leaders of different faiths. He met with the Hindu delegation in Pune and the Sikhs in Amritsar.
Sadhvi Sadhna from the Jain community said that a person has to believe in his/her religious scriptures as no religion teaches hatred or non-violence.
“We have to shun violence, ego, hatred from within ourselves, only then we will be able to bring a change in the world,” she said.
She said that the world will not have to conduct such conferences to promote peace and harmony if “we bring a change in ourselves.’
Fr. Vincent Sekhar, associate professor of Philosophy, marked out areas where the two communities could “seek to do something jointly with their religious and other assets in mind.”
Some of the areas he specified were protection, preservation and promotion of life, work of the betterment of ecology and environment and preparing religious texts on major themes like family, social life, diversity and equality.
The seminar was organized by the pontifical council for inter-religious dialogue, Archdiocese of Delhi, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India and world fellowship of religions.
Source: By Ritu Sharma
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