Chapter Fourteen

Peace in a Plural Society Religious Differences Some basic issues that relate to the vital question of properly educating people about the issue of communalism need to be clarified. One of these is the issue of religious differences. A comparative study of the various religions shows that there are clear differences between the different religions. For instance, the beliefs of some religious communities are based on monism, while those of some other communities are based on monotheism. Some religions preach the discovery of truth by oneself, while others believe that the Truth is revealed by God through messengers. Some people think that these religious differences and distinctions are themselves the root cause for all communal conflicts. They believe that communal harmony can come about only when these differences are somehow destroyed. ‘Bulldoze them all!’ some extremists say, but of course this is so completely impractical that it is not even worth talking about. Faced with the reality of religious differences, some people seek to somehow or the other ‘prove’ that all religions are, actually, one and the same. A notable such person was the late Dr. Bhagwan Das (1869-1958), a very capable man. After a detailed study of all the major religions, he wrote a book, running into almost 1000 pages, titled Essential Unity of All Religions. He claimed that the teachings of all the religions are the same. But seeking to prove that all religions are one and the same by extracting portions from different scriptures is like someone culling portions from the Constitutions of different countries and publishing them together in a single volume and then claiming that all the Constitutions of the world are the same and that they have the same rules and clauses and provisions! This sort of imaginary universal Constitution may greatly please the author of such a book, but it will not be acceptable to even one single country! Every country will reject it. The same holds true for books like the one written by Dr. Bhagwan Das. Books of this