Follow One, Respect All

religions shows clear theological differences between them. For instance, the belief system of some religious communities is based on monism, while that of some others is based on monotheism. Some religions preach the discovery of truth by oneself, while others believe that truth is revealed to human beings by God through Messengers appointed by Him. And so on. Some people think these religious differences and distinctions are the root cause of conflicts between religious communities. They believe inter-community harmony can only occur when these differences are somehow destroyed. ‘Bulldoze them all!’ some such people might demand. However, this approach is so impractical that it is not even worth discussing. Faced with the reality of religious differences, some people seek to prove somehow that all religions are the same, that they are identical to each other. However, seeking to prove that all religions are identical by extracting portions from different scriptures that resonate with each other is like someone culling portions from the Constitutions of different countries and publishing them together in a single book and then claiming that all the Constitutions of the world are the same and that they all have the same rules and clauses and provisions! This imaginary universal Constitution may greatly please the author of such a book, but it will likely not be acceptable to even a single country. The same holds for those who seek to prove that all religions are identical because there are significant differences among the various religions at the level of theology.