Dr M. D. Thomas Chairman and Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi
Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi, organized a Round Table Discussion on ‘Harmony among Religions – Do’s and Don’ts’ at The Indian Law Institute, New Delhi, on 19 March 2016. Dr M. D. Thomas, Chairman and Director of the Institute, chaired the session and he moderated it in a very professional manner, too. Prof. Deepali Bhanot, Former Professor of Sanskrit, Delhi University, and Prof. Hanif Khan Shastri, Professor of Rastreey Sanskriti Sansthan, Delhi, jointly presented an orientation to the discussion and they did the same in a proficient way, as well.
The Chair, who is also the founder of the institute, introduced the Institute as one that is committed to interfaith perspectives, intercommunity relations, national integration and social harmony, with an all-out motto of ‘inclusive thinking and harmonious living’. The activities of IHPS were highlighted as organizing seminars, discussions and workshops, contributing at programmes organized by other organizations, publishing books and articles, guiding field-based projects for students, addressing social concerns, engaging in extension activities, and the like.
The Chair then proceeded to present the dynamics of the discussion as perspective-setting by experts for 3 minutes each and interventions from the floor for 2 minutes each. The first part of the discussion was on the ‘Do’s for Harmony among Religions’ and the second half, on the ‘Don’ts for Harmony among Religions’. The guideline set for the interventions from the floor was that it has to be focused, to the point and practical, on the given theme. It was also proposed that ‘religion’ was to be understood in an all-inclusive sense and in a result-oriented way.
By way of introduction, the Chair shed light on three misunderstandings that prevail in the religious premises. First, the basic identity in life is that of ‘being human’, and not that of being religious. Second, religion is essentially a social phenomenon, and not merely a private affair. Third, the spirit of interfaith is to hold all religious traditions as ours, and not considering my religion is for me and your religion, for you. This clarification served a strong plinth for approaching the theme of the discussion in very realistic fashion.
The gathering was composed of prominent persons of all communities, like Prof. Reeta Bagchi, Prof. Shashi Tiwari, Dr Sudha Jain, Dr Saroj Chawala, Ku. Ranju Magar, Ku. Anu Phokrel, Ku. Sanjeena Shrestha, Ku. Nabeena, Dr Akhilesh Jain, Janab Iqbal Mulla, Janab Laeeq A. Khan, Mr Ramesh Kumar, Adv. V.K. Gupta, Mr Bhabani Dikshit, Mr Kishore Babu, Prof. M.K. Das, Dr Kuldeep Agrawal, Dr Chand Bhardwaj, Prof. D.S. Agrawal, Cnl Onkar Chopda, Dr S.S. Bhakri, Mr Amarjeet, Mr H. L. Chawala, Mr Praveen Gupta and Mr Susheel Chandra.
The discussion went on for two hours between 16.00 and 18.00 hours and approximately 40 persons participated in it. What was special about the round table discussion was this that every one present was given an opportunity to speak up in both rounds. The discussion on the theme was preceded by a round of self-introduction and it proceeded to a round of proposals for further course of action, as well. The points that emerged from the discussion are the following.
Do’s for Harmony among Religions
Accept humanity as the real religion
Consider the entire society as one family (vasudhaivakutumbakam)
Be generous and open in one’s mindset (udaaracharitanaam)
Honour the diversity of religious traditions (unity in diversity)
Encourage co-existence among religious communities
Promote inter-generational dialogue
Foster the spirit of living together
Address concerns at the grass roots
Involve local religious leaders and common folk
Propagate the spirit of equality among religions
Emphasize the global unity of religions
Appreciate the greatness of the supreme power
Honour the ancient roots of religion
Respect all religions
Study all religions
Learn, imbibe and live the universal values of all religions
Remain above the negativities of life
Share platform with people of all ideologies
Instill values of religions in politics
Make a strategy for unity among religions
Chalk out a common minimum programme for unity of faiths
Extend to others the behavior we expect from others
Evolve a common agenda for ethical values
Follow the army model for a culture of communal harmony
Accept the oneness of truth
Eliminate superstitions from religions
Take the good insights of religions to the larger society
Promote the culture of walking and working together
Imbibe the spirit of anekandvad
Be committed to full knowledge
Consider all religious paths as valid
Strengthen economy for harmonious living
Prioritize humanity, nationality and religion
Bring to the public the heritage of the regions and regional languages
Lean from all religious masters of the world
Introduce harmony education in schools
Evolve a simplified curriculum on comparative religion
Make a curriculum with values of religions for the primary school
Engage the youth of colleges in pro-active processes
Insist on value education among the youth
Take up collective action for the youth of all religions
Keep up the spirit of learning even in advanced years
Reach out to the rural areas
Appropriate scientific approach to life
See God in all
Consider human beings as what they are
Engage in dialogue for setting disputes
Summing up the discussion on the ‘Do’s for Harmony among Religions’, the chair highlighted four points that emerged with a consensus – 1. Humanity is the basic religion of all, irrespective of various traditions 2. Since India is largely a country of the younger generation, the younger generation has to be promoted and the senior generation has to learn from the junior generation 3. Since religion in India is exceedingly under the grip of superstitions, rising above them is imperative for its growth 4. All religious traditions are gift of the same God and they are the common cultural heritage of the human society and therefore are not to be monopolized by any set of particular followers.
Don’ts for Harmony among Religions
Killing or dying for the honour of the family, religion or society
Following a double standard by speaking two languages
Meddling with the right of others to live
Being rigid in thoughts and behaviour
Judging the worth of human beings by their religion or caste
Considering oneself good and others bad
Misusing religion for any purpose
Surrendering to or allying with fake religious baabaas and persons
Passing comments on other religions without really knowing it
Engaging in violence on the basis of disagreements
Making a public display of religion, like processions
Getting provoked in the wake of minor attacks
Reacting without knowing what is what and exaggerating issues
Allowing the media to inflate issues
Mixing up religion and politics
Commercializing religion on TV channels
Violating others on any pretext
Denying justice to any individual or community
Doubting the patriotic sentiments of citizens of other communities
Maintaining a superiority-inferiority syndrome
Being a hypocrite in the name of religion
Entertaining prejudice against others
Stereotyping of religious affairs and giving attention to wrong things of religions
Having hatred and propagating it towards other persons and communities
Being judgmental about others
Making an empty show of religion
Creating conflicts in the name of religion
Trying to impress others with religious tools and taking others into one’s grip
Imposing one’s identity on others
In response to the invitation of the Chair for the follow up of the discussion, the suggestions that came up were – 1. Sessions led by the young have to be organized 2. The exercise of harmony among religions has to be taken to the grass roots as well as to the rural areas 3. A curriculum on religious harmony has to be prepared for the primary schools 4. Social media has to be used for disseminating the awareness of religious harmony to larger horizons.
By way of concluding remarks, the Chair cautioned against money and power that extremely hijack and make religion what it is not supposed to be. ‘A high percentage of the political and religious custodians are illiterate, untamed and raw in their instincts and are badly scandalizing the younger generation of the country’, he commented. He drew the attention of the assembly to the scientific temper underscored in the Directive Principles of the Constitution and profusely emphasized by Pandit Jawaharlar Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India.
He proceeded to bring to light ‘vasudhaivkutumbakam’ as the most sublime ideal of the society and ‘udaaracharitanaam’ as the condition to translate the same into action. ‘Seeing God on every human face and making the family of God on earth is the common mission in life for people of all faiths and ideologies’, he added. He made a clarion call to ‘leave the society better than you found it’ as the noble maxim for contributing one’s share in life.
Making a personal reference to how the study of Kabeer gave him a momentous ‘rebirth’ in life, Dr Thomas presented two lines from Kabeer – ‘Bahtaa paanee nirmalaa, bandaa gandaa hoi; Saadhoo jan ramtaa bhalaa, daag na laage koi’. He concluded by stating that ‘to keep journeying to the other, like the ‘flowing water’, to the larger and higher horizons of life’ is the secret of a dynamic, ever-blossoming and meaningful life, which is rooted in the ground realities of the country as well as the society.
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is a retired physician who practiced holistic, non-drug, mental health care for the last decade of his forty year family practice career. He is a contributor to and an endorser of the efforts of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights and was a member of MindFreedom International, the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.
While running his independent clinic, he published over 400 issues of his Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter, which was emailed to a variety of subscribers. (They have not been archived at any website.) In the early 2000s, Dr Kohls taught a graduate level psychology course at the University of Minnesota Duluth. It was titled “The Science and Psychology of the Mind-Body Connection”.
Since his retirement, Dr Kohls has been writing a weekly column (titled “Duty to Warn”) for the Duluth Reader, an alternative newsweekly published in Duluth, Minnesota. He offers teaching seminars to the public and to healthcare professionals.
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">Gary G Kohls George Monbiot[/caption]
Studied in Oxford University, columnist with The Guardian newspaper, also the author of the bestselling books The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order and Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain, as well as the investigative travel books Poisoned Arrows, Amazon Watershed, No Man’s Land, How Did We Get into This Mess? Politics, Equality, Nature and other.
Prof Johan Galtung was born in Oslo. He earned the PhD degree in mathematics at the University of Oslo in 1956, and in 1957 a year later completed the PhD degree in sociology at the same university.
Prof Johan Galtung received nine honorary doctorates in the fields of Peace studies, Future studies, Social sciences, Buddhism, Sociology of law, Philosophy, Sociology and Law.
State Councilor of St. Petersburg, Russia. Founding President, Global Harmony Association (GHA) since 2005. Honorary President, GHA since 2016. Director: Tetrasociology Public Institute, Russia. Philosopher, Sociologist and Peacemaker from Harmony. Author of more than 400 scientific publications, including 18 books in 1-12 languages. Author of Tetrism as the unity of Tetraphilosophy and Tetrasociology – science of social harmony, global peace and harmonious civilisation. Director, GHA Web portal “Peace from Harmony”. Initiator, Manager, Coauthor and Editor in Chief of the book project “Global Peace Science” (GPS).
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First published at :
">Leo M Semashko Robert C Koehler[/caption]
writes for the Huffington Post, Common Dreams, OpEd News and TruthOut. He considers himself a “peace journalist.” He has been an editor at Tribune Media Services and a reporter, columnist and copy desk chief at Lerner Newspapers, Chicago. Koehler launched his column in 1999. Robert Koehler has received numerous writing and journalism awards over a 30-year career in USA. He writes about values and meaning with reverence for life. He is praised as “blatantly relevant” and “a hero of democracy”.
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">Robert C Koehler Robert J Burrowes PhD[/caption]
has a lifetime commitment to understanding and ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an effort to understand why human beings are violent and has been a nonviolent activist since 1981. He is the author of ‘Why Violence?‘
He has been a radio producer (Earthstar Radio, San Francisco), organized and worked with the homeless, and is an advocate/activist in the nonviolent protest movement for safe energy, human rights, and peaceful solutions.
He is USA Vice President of the World Constitution and Parliament Association whose mission is to build a parallel world body to the United Nations, an emerging Earth Federation with a Provisional World Parliament under the Earth Constitution.
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">Roger Kotila PhDProf Richard Falk[/caption]
an international relations scholar, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, author, co-author or editor of 40 books, and a speaker and activist on world affairs.
Since 2002 he has lived in Santa Barbara, California, and taught at the local campus of the University of California in Global and International Studies, and since 2005 chaired the Board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. His most recent book is Achieving Human Rights (2009).
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">Richard FalkDr Gray Corseri, PhD[/caption]
is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment. He has published and posted articles, fiction and poems at hundreds of venues, including, TMS, The New York Times, Village Voice, Redbook Magazine and Counterpunch.
He has published 2 novels and 2 collections of poetry, and his dramas have been produced on PBS-Atlanta and elsewhere. He has performed his poems at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and has taught in universities in the US and Japan, and in US public schools and prisons.
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">Gary CorseriAntonio Carlos Silva Rosa, Editor, TMS[/caption]
born 1946, is the editor of the pioneering Peace Journalism website, TRANSCEND Media Service-TMS, an assistant to Prof. Johan Galtung, and Secretary of the International Board of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.
He completed the required coursework for a Ph.D. in Political Science-Peace Studies (1994), has a Masters in Political Science-International Relations (1990), and a B.A. in Communication (1988) from the University of Hawai’i.
Originally from Brazil, he lives presently in Porto, Portugal. Antonio was educated in the USA where he lived for 20 years; in Europe/India since 1994.
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First published at :
">Antonio Carlos Silva Rosa
John Scales Avery is a theoretical chemist, Associate Professor Emeritus, at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is noted for his books and research publications in quantum chemistry, thermodynamics, evolution, and history of science. His 2003 book Information Theory and Evolution set forth the view that the phenomenon of life, including its origin, evolution, as well as human cultural evolution, has its background situated in the fields of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and information theory.
He is an Indian citizen & permanent resident of Australia and a scholar, an author, a social-policy critic, a frequent social wayfarer, a social entrepreneur and a journalist;He has been exploring, understanding and implementing the ideas of social-economy, participatory local governance, education, citizen-media, ground-journalism, rural-journalism, freedom of expression, bureaucratic accountability, tribal development, village development, reliefs & rehabilitation, village revival and other.
For Ground Report India editions, Vivek had been organising national or semi-national tours for exploring ground realities covering 5000 to 15000 kilometres in one or two months to establish Ground Report India, a constructive ground journalism platform with social accountability.
He has written a book “मानसिक, सामाजिक, आर्थिक स्वराज्य की ओर”on various social issues, development community practices, water, agriculture, his ground works & efforts and conditioning of thoughts & mind. Reviewers say it is a practical book which answers “What” “Why” “How” practically for the development and social solution in India.
worked as a mediator for the church in Belfast; as faculty at The School of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, and as Executive Director, the Right Livelihood Award Foundation. He has founded several Indian NGOs, is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.
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First published at -
">Vithal RajanRene Wadlow[/caption]
is the President of the Association of World Citizens, an international peace organization with consultative status with ECOSOC, the United Nations organ facilitating international cooperation on and problem-solving in economic and social issues.
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">Rene WadlowBaher Kamal[/caption]
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Baher Kamal
Egyptian-born, Spanish-national secular journalist. He is founder and publisher of Human Wrongs Watch. Kamal is a pro-peace, non-violence, human rights, coexistence defender, with more than 45 years of professional experience. With these issues in sight, he covered practically all professional posts, from correspondent to chief editor of dailies and international news agencies.
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">Baher KamalRosa Dalmiglio with Lama Mongolia[/caption]
She is a member of the China Council Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe (special art, culture and humanity), which touches the hearts of all people and portrays the strong willpower so encouraging to 60 million Chinese disabled persons.
Ms. Dalmiglio is Intermediary Agent of CICE, Centre International Cultural Exchange, a direct subsidiary of the Ministry of Culture, People’s Republic of China. CICE is a comprehensive institution engaged in cultural exchange programs, professional publication and presentation of cultural art works such as exhibits, receiving foreign art troupes and artists, holding international cultural research programs, and producing intercultural and interreligious documentary films.
She is a member of China Disabled Person’s Federation, CDPF. She is also a member of the International Women Federation, which is concerned with the financial ethics of women s enterprises in underdeveloped areas.
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credits:
">Rosa Dalmiglio
Director, Guru Arjan Dev Institute of Development Studies.
A recipient of Cultural Doctorate of Philosophy of Economics from USA. He is an active member of various professional bodies, namely -
He participated and presented papers in various International/national/regional seminars, conferences etc.. He remained member of the Academic Council of Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar. An unwearied researcher has about 200 research papers published in various international and national journals of repute and 15 research monographs to his kitty. Besides, he has authored/co-authored /edited 15 books which have been well received and highly acclaimed during his three decades of professional career. He was honoured by various national and international awards, namely, Guru Draunacharya Samman, Vijay Rattan Award and so on.
Dr Ron Paul served in U.S. House of Representatives three different periods: first from 1976 to 1977, after he won a special election, then from 1979 to 1985, and finally from 1997 to 2013.
During his first term as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul founded the Foundation for Rational Economics and Education (FREE), a non-profit think tank dedicated to promoting principles of limited government and free-market economics. In 1984, Paul became the first chairman of the Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), a conservative political group founded by Charles Koch and David Koch 'to fight for less government, lower taxes, and less regulation.' CSE started a Tea Party protest against high taxes in 2002. In 2004, Citizens for a Sound Economy split into two new organizations, with Citizens for a Sound Economy being renamed as FreedomWorks, and Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation becoming Americans for Prosperity. The two organizations would become key players in the Tea Party movement from 2009 onward.
Dr Paul proposed term-limit legislation multiple times, while himself serving a few terms in the House of Representatives. In 1984, he decided to retire from the House in order to run for the U.S. Senate, complaining in his House farewell address that 'Special interests have replaced the concern that the Founders had for general welfare.... It's difficult for one who loves true liberty and utterly detests the power of the state to come to Washington for a period of time and not leave a true cynic.'
He is known nationally and internationally as a pioneer figure in the study of culture and psychopathology who challenged the ethnocentrism and racial biases of many assumptions, theories, and practices in psychology and psychiatry.
In more recent years, he has been writing and lecturing on peace and social justice. He has published 15 edited books, and more than 250 articles, chapters, book reviews, and popular pieces.
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">Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D.Jason Hickel[/caption]
He is international consultant of the UN – FAO and international consultant for sustainable development and sustainable future of humankind of Universal State of the Earth - USE.
On 8th October 2016 he was appointed as The Chairman of the Humanity, Nature, Space and Environment protection Committee of the USE, the Supreme Council of Humanity - SCH from Athens, Greece and London, UK.
He is researcher working on: Nature; the Nature, Space and Environment protection; the Climate change system; System thinking; Globalization and global studies; Networking, Complexity and Swarm research: Sustainable Development and Sustainable Future of Humankind. He was among the pioneers researchers (1986 – 1994) to apply nature, space, and environment protection in a local community by activities we call today Local Agenda 21 Processes – a holistic program for survival of our civilization under new challenges of the third millennium.“Commencing from Local Community Sustainable Future and moving towards Sustainable Future of the Global Community of Humankind”.
He is independent researchers with many domestic and international publications and talks. Together with many researchers in co-operation worldwide within philosophy, operational research, global studies, case studies and complex problem solving research, system thinking, requisitely holism, networking and complexity, swarm research, integration and disintegration of matter and energy and universal upbringing, education and lifelong learning. He is contributing a systemic, requisitely holistic and a better understanding of the present. His latest research within the system theory, system thinking, networking, complexity and swarm research may provide a possible answer enabling people to better understand our world of humans.
During 2014 he completed 50 years of research work (1964 - 2014). This year he completed 50 years of been Dr. Vet. Med. Since 1986 he worked on the protection of Humanity, Nature, Space and Environment and completed 30 years of research.
For research on the climate change system and the book “System Thinking and Climate Change System (Against a big “Tragedy of Commons” of all of us), Ecimovic, Mayur, Mulej and co-authors, 2002, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize 2003. His work on “The Information Theory of Nature” was his second nomination for The Nobel Prize during 2007 in Physics. His third nomination for The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 was for “The Environment Theory of the Nature”, published in the book “Three Applications of the System Thinking”, Ecimovic, 2010. Within last 10 years he has contributed trilogies: “The Nature”, “The Sustainable Future of Mankind” and “The Life 2017” – please see at: www.institut-climatechange.si
I grew up in Chile, got my medical degree there, began an academic career in 1970, and left for the USA due to the military coup in early 1974. My first job in the USA was working as a public nutrition professor in the international programme of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee.
I started to travel to Africa in 1975, and worked a year in Cameroun in 1980 helping to prepare their five-year nutrition plan. I then moved to New Orleans, to Tulane University’s School of Public Health, and taught in the department of nutrition for ten years, before moving to Nairobi where I was an advisor in the Ministry of Health. Seven years there got me into extensive consulting in Africa, often on nutritional issues. In 1995 moved to Vietnam where I worked for two and a half years in the Ministry of Health as a senior primary health care advisor.
Many years of touching the reality on the ground, in Latin America, then the USA, then Africa and Asia, has made me understand that the real challenge is in the social and political determinants of malnutrition. I have devoted my writings and teaching to that. Over the years, I have found an important shift in my colleagues’ attitude and understanding towards acknowledging the basic causes of malnutrition. But yet I see little happening as a result. I submit that it is our guild’s lack of experience in the political arena that explains this dichotomy. I devote much of my energy to bridge this gap, and am a fervent advocate of empowering claim holders to demand needed changes from duty bearers. Nutrition is a perfect port of entry for that. Equity, social justice and people’s empowerment in a human rights sense is what really will make a difference.
There is no alternative but to deal with nutrition problems as indivisibly linked to social, political and environmental problems. We need to address them as such. The question is: are we all prepared to do that? The answer, in my view, decides whether we are part of the solution or part of the problem. Travelling and living in different parts of the world has reinforced my conviction that we need to get down from our academic ivory towers, and need to change the curricula of our young and upcoming colleagues, to give them the tools to act in such a context. To me, public health nutrition cannot be anything but that.
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">Claudio Schuftan Dr MDProf. Ram Puniyani[/caption]
