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Interfaith Dialogue & Media Impact

The document discusses the importance of interreligious dialogue between different faiths. It notes that dialogue has increased due to events like 9/11 but still needs more progress in India where Hinduism and Islam have become suspicious of each other. Interfaith dialogue is crucial to promote religious coexistence and harmony in India. The media can play an important role in supporting this dialogue but many Indian media outlets have widened religious divides for political gain instead. Ongoing interfaith dialogue remains very important.

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59 views2 pages

Interfaith Dialogue & Media Impact

The document discusses the importance of interreligious dialogue between different faiths. It notes that dialogue has increased due to events like 9/11 but still needs more progress in India where Hinduism and Islam have become suspicious of each other. Interfaith dialogue is crucial to promote religious coexistence and harmony in India. The media can play an important role in supporting this dialogue but many Indian media outlets have widened religious divides for political gain instead. Ongoing interfaith dialogue remains very important.

Uploaded by

prince kanjirathingal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Mass media and interreligious dialogue

 The  existence of several religions creates the need for dialogue between and
among them. The dialogue received a major boost after the 9/11 attacks and 
subsequent events in various parts of the world. The Vatican has made
interreligious dialogue one of its most important tasks in dealing with other
religions.
The Government of India has signed an Interfaith Dialogue Agreement with the
Government of Indonesia. Because dialogue is one of the most important tools to
bring peace and a sense of normalcy and give hope to an increasingly divided
world. What should motivate religions to engage in dialogue is their love for
humanity and its well-being, especially when humanity faces many insurmountable
problems and issues  such as climate change, economic recession, hunger, natural
disasters, poverty and scarcity of natural resources and the ever-present threat of
nuclear war and  subsequent destruction.
In this context, humanity should take note of the two last encyclicals of Pope
Francis - Laudato Sí and Fratelli Tutti - which call on humanity to start a dialogue
to solve their problems amicably. India is the cradle of many religions - Buddhism,
Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism. India is also home to religions established from
outside - Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism - which were welcomed with open
arms ages ago. This openness has decreased recently. In fact, there is an open
confrontation between a particularly large part of Hinduism and Islam.
Hinduism and Islam are suspicious of the legal and constitutionally guaranteed
religious freedom of Indian Christians. That is why interreligious dialogue is
urgent. In India, inter-religious dialogues have been starting for a long time, but
such dialogues still need progress. With some leaders of Hinduism and Islam
realizing that matters are reaching a flashpoint, steps are being taken to calm the
frayed and frayed nerves of both religions.
The recent meeting of Muslim intellectuals with the head of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh is a welcome step in this direction. Christian leaders in India
would naturally welcome such initiatives. Globally, the media has been
progressive and has played a crucial role in promoting interfaith dialogue. Of
course, pockets of the media could remain neutral or play a negative role.
The Indian media could play an important role in promoting religious dialogue and
harmony in India. But since 2011, much of the Indian media has abandoned its
commitment to promoting religious coexistence and harmony in India. Rather, they
widened religious divides in India for partisan and selfish reasons. This was done
by deliberately distorting social issues and events to favor followers of certain
religions and their political patrons mostly for vote bank politics. It destroyed the
religious and social atmosphere of this great nation until no return. That is why
ongoing interfaith dialogue is a great need these days and objective media can play
a big role.

John Chemmazham

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