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Inter-Religious Communication:
A Gandhian Perspective A noted scholar, Margaret Chatterjee has made an outstanding contribution to philosophy of religion and history of ideas through her earlier celebrated works like Gandhi’s Religious Thought and Gandhi and the Challenge of Religious Diversity. Her latest book is a collection of papers which are either out of print or have been published abroad. This compilation lays a particular emphasis on the challenging fact of religious pluralism.
Given the context of the present-day world scenario, in which religious diversity instead of acting as a means of providing mutual enrichment is increasingly being used as an instrument for fanning disharmony, hostility, confrontation and conflict, Margaret Chatterjee’s work is highly contemporaneous. The author questions the pre-suppositions on inter-religious communication and goes on to define inter-religious communication as communication between an individual of one faith and that of another faith, a personal and direct communication where one man tries to understand the faith of the other in an openness of relationship and mutual respect. So, defined inter-religious communication moves beyond dialogue at the realm of theory or simple encounters between religious communities. Inter-religious communication, according to Chatterjee, amounts to saying "I know what it means to you" and from there progress to saying that "it matters to me because it matters to you". In other words, religious communication is something more than just reconciliation between the peoples of different faiths. It means understanding and sharing based on openness of relations and mutual respect. The author emphasises that inter-religious communication does not "demand abandonment of particular faiths but does demand a certain porosity, an abandonment of exclusiveness". To the author, such inter-religious communication between the peoples of diverse faiths though not easy is not a utopia beyond possibility of realisation. The ground for conditions of possibility lies in intellectual and emotional acceptance of diversity and a shift from the path of confrontation to participation and sharing among others listed by the author. The book deftly brings out the way in which diversity has been tackled within the "Indian family of religions". The response of Hindus to those outside the Hindu fold is also taken up for discussion by Chatterjee. The author devotes specific attention to the worldviews and approaches of Raja Rammohun Roy, Mahatma Gandhi and Saravpalli Radha Krishnan on particularities and diversity in the context of modern India. The book also takes note of the response of Muslims and Islam to religious pluralism. It goes to the author’s credit that diversity with in this response both at the level of the Hinduism and Islam is ably fore grounded. The author takes up the question of religious language and argues that it is a mistake to identify religious language with theological discourse or philosophy of religion. Religious language, according to the author, is the "language of addressal, prayer, praise, worship, religious celebration and religious instruction". Poetry, songs, richness of imagery, dance, gesture, cross cultural synthesis and speaking silences of prayer and devotional practice" all form part of the religious language. Chatterjee compellingly argues that inter-religious communication need not necessarily take place through the medium of language. Two chapters discuss the "Concept of Spirituality", which sometimes is identified with religion and at others distinguished from it. The author emphasises the notion of multiple spiritualities. "Do we Need Authority in Religion" is another point taken up for discussion in this scholarly volume. It is argued that any kind of authoritarian bias is not only in compatible with democracy and an open social order but also sets up resistances to change. The cultural traits are not fixed for all times, especially those rooted in religion. Plurality needs to be taken seriously. Neither aggregation nor reluctant tolerance is the answer. It is only through understanding the other as sympathetically and as seriously as possible, by conscious effort to avoid conflict and promote harmony and common involvement in the struggle for justice and peace that plurality instead of being perceived as threatening could become an instrument in enriching our humanity. Today, the need is to cross the barriers existing in the conscious. Gandhi spent lifetime crossing over these man-made frontiers. It is in this manner that Gandhi addresses us today for he believed that when "All land belongs to Gopal where than is the boundary line? Man is the maker of that line and he can therefore unmake it".
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The
central argument of the book is that religious plurality is a natural
and an undoubted fact and that this diversity needs to be matched with
understanding and communication for ensuring a more peaceful, humane,
just and an open world social order. It is for this reason Chatterjee
regards inter-religious communication as the most pressing problem, not
only for the students of comparative religions but a matter of urgency
for all.