Authentic religious vision is never sectarian

 

THE open letter to PAS president Tan Sri Hadi Awang by Phlip Rodrigues titled “Are you implying that my Christian faith isn’t at par with your religion” is an interesting viewpoint that characterises the fear of many non-Muslims on what would happen to the country if PAS is given the chance to lead the government in Malaysia.

It is pity that the narrative brought about by the PAS president seems to have political, comparative and domineering aspects of religion where religious energies are tied to identities and the re-enactment of the Islamic civilisation’s past glories and achievements instead of being immerse in current social realities of the world that requires social solidarity.

The past achievement of any ancient civilisation is due to its own enabling social, economic and political context, and it cannot be replicated in the current technological and economically advanced world.

In the period of ancient times, various empires whether Christian or Muslim have had their glorious days but nothing has been sustained due to human weakness, recklessness and greed for power and overreach which are anti-thesis authentic religious principles of simplicity and moderation.

In the current context, where the assent of common people is critical to govern, it requires goodwill, common ground and solidarity with all religious followers in an equal way to resolve multiple and complex social challenges like poverty, injustice and imperialism.

A simplistic ethno-religious religious dominance of any particular religion limits the divine to the presidency of a particular religion or political party, that negates the attributes of all powerful God that transcends a particularistic ideology.

The proper way of discerning religion is when all religious followers are aware of its broad unique character of religion that is not sectarian.

What needs real attention is the common threats to the sanctity of all religions such as combative and eliminative secularism that endeavours to erase religious vision from the public square, communism that denies existence of the divine, ethno-religious ideology that uses religion as a political tool to acquire power, excessive consumerism that subdue the interior spiritual dynamism of persons, and imperial overreach that uses religion to subjugate other nations.

From this perspective, sectarian religious supremacy is a limited vision and inimical to peaceful human co-existence and to credibility of religion itself.

Therefore it is hoped that religious elites in Malaysia not treat religion as sectarian and political tool but instead work with followers of all religions to prevent a common threat that tends to eliminate the unitive dimension of religion from the public square.

Dialogue and collaboration without the attitude of superiority is key to unlock the common religious wisdom in the public square.

Therefore the Malaysian society as a whole should embark on an authentic religious vision that discards sectarianism and embark on the spirituality of peace, justice, solidarity and unitive consciousness.

This vision is in fact an existential threat to divisive politicians and to the current corrupt social-political order. 

Ronald Benjamin is a human resources practitioner based in Ipoh. He is currently secretary of the Association for Community and Dialogue.

The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of  MMKtT.

- Focus Malaysia