What future for a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious society?

Respected Mrs. Surinder Kaur, respected religious and spiritual leaders, and dear brothers and sisters,

It is indeed a special privilege and a great joy for me to be present at this World Conference on Unity of Man. I also bring you the greetings and good wishes of Ms Chiara Lubich, the Founder and President of the Focolare Movement. Though she is unable to be present here today due to frail health, she is very much united with us in spirit. The presentation I am going to make is based on an address given by Chiara Lubich at the Westminster Central hall in London in June 2004 entitled "What future for a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-religious society?"

India is a land that is the birthplace of major world religions namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. At the same time it is also home to other world religions like Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism. It is common place to see places of worship of different religions next to each other

In recent years, the migration of waves of people is having a profound impact on European societies too, bringing an ever greater diversity to their cities. Walking down the streets of many principal cities, we note the presence of mosques and temples in countries which, until a short while ago, were almost exclusively Christian.

At the same time, the communications media bring people and nations located across the globe close to one another. What takes place in one part of the world can have a decisive impact on the rest. No one is "foreign" to us any longer because we "see" people, because we know about them.

Furthermore, economic and financial globalisation has woven together all our interests. They are no longer separated from one another. Many problems are of interest to humanity as a whole; problems which no nation can face in isolation from all the others. In a word, we live in a world that has truly become, as people say, "a global village": a new and complex village.

This situation opens up opportunities for knowledge and development previously unknown, even though fears, indifference and intolerance remain especially due to the ever imminent danger of terrorism.

In the face of today's situation of social upheavals, we could consider it not as the end of our world but as the birth of a new world. This was the vision of a great saint of the Church from the fifth century, Augustine of Hippo, that came from the faith and conviction that God is not absent from history. Rather, God's love directs everything towards good.

The Focolare Movement is an international movement, which is inspired by the message of Jesus in the bible, and works for unity in all spheres of life. It is a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious Movement present in 182 nations of the world. For over sixty years it has drawn together, like a real family, people of all Christian traditions and from many of the world's religions, as well as people with no formal faith, who share the aim of building a more united world. Chiara Lubich has received a number of recognitions from international organizations, universities, and public bodies for her and the Movement's contribution towards peace and unity among peoples, religions, and cultures. To name a few, the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in 1977, the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education in 1996, the European Council's Human Rights Prize in 1998, the Defender of Peace Prize given by Hindu Movements of Gandhian inspiration at Coimbatore in 2001.

The Movement's ability to gather in unity people who are so different lies in the spirituality that animates it. It is a "spirituality of communion", which is both personal and collective, and which generates a new lifestyle. It is a spirituality that offers a way to go to God through and with our neighbour.

What does this spirituality teach with regard to relationships among people of different races, cultures and religions? What is the truly inspired attitude it suggests in order to build fraternity among all?

First of all, this spirituality is based on an understanding, for those who have faith, that God is a God of Love, a Father. How could we consider unity and fraternity in society and in the world without a vision of humanity as one family? And how can we understand this, unless there is one Father of all?

Therefore, this spirituality calls us to open our hearts to God, who is a Father, who certainly does not abandon his children to their own destiny but who desires to accompany them, to protect them and help them. God alone, who created them, is able to embrace and unite everyone.

To believe in his love is the first inspiration of this new spirituality: to believe that we are personally and immensely loved by God. He knows each one intimately and cares for each one personally. The Gospel says that he counts even the hairs of our head (Lk 12,7), and the Qur'an says: "We are closer to him than our jugular vein" (50:16). Therefore, God will not leave the renewal of society to our efforts alone, but will take an active role.

Obviously, however, it is not enough to believe in the love of God, not enough to have chosen him as one's Ideal. The Father's presence and loving care calls each person to be a true daughter or son, loving the Father in return and living, day by day, according to God's loving plan for each one. And we know that a father's first desire is for his children to treat each other as brothers and sisters, to care for and love one another.

Consequently, our spirituality urges us to love, to live in conformity with the love present in the depths of every human heart. It is a love that proceeds from the "Golden Rule" which is common to all religions. The Mahabharata says, "This is the sum of duty: Do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you" (5:1517); in the Guru Granth Sahib we read, "I am a stranger to no one and no one is a stranger to me. Indeed, I am a friend to all" (p.1299); in the Gospel Jesus teaches "Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets" (Mt 7,12); Mahavira says that "One should treat all creatures in the world as one would like to be treated", (Sutrakritanga 1.11.33); Zoroastrianism teaches, "Do not do unto others whatever is injurious to yourself" (Shayast-na-Shayast 13.29).

For people who have no formal faith, love can mean philanthropy, solidarity, non-violence.

This love for our neighbour, which is inspired and rooted in the love of God, has certain qualities that distinguish it from a simply human love.

This way of loving requires us to love everyone: people who are pleasant or unpleasant; beautiful or ugly; fellow-citizen or foreigner; those belonging to my culture or to another, to my religion or to another, friend or enemy. Also God, the heavenly Father, loves everyone by sending rain and sun on the good and the bad.

Buddha taught boundless compassion for all living beings without discrimination and he told his first disciples to "work for the wellbeing and happiness of many, moved by compassion for the world, for the wellbeing (…) of human beings." (1) A very beautiful image is used in the Hindu tradition for describing love for enemies, "While the axe chops the sandalwood, it in turn offers its virtue by scenting the axe with its fragrance." (2) This love towards everyone is very fruitful. It is the experience of many that it would be enough to live this one quality of love in order to bring about a total change in the society around us.

This way of loving also requires us to be first in loving, without expecting the other person to love us. It begins first, it always takes the initiative. It is a love that is ready to make sacrifices for the other.

It is a love that makes us consider the other person as ourselves. Gandhiji used to say, "You and I are one and the same thing. I cannot hurt you without harming myself." (3)

It is a love that is not made up only of words or feelings; it is a practical love. It requires that we "make ourselves one" with others, that "we live the others" in a certain way, that we share their sufferings, their joys, in order to understand them, to serve and help them in an effective, practical way.

It is a matter of weeping with those who weep, rejoicing with those who rejoice. This is very important in so that we can establish a sincere, friendly dialogue with everyone.

"Dialogue" is a very relevant word today. It means that people meet together and even though they have different ideas, they speak with serenity and sincere love towards the other person in an effort to find some kind of agreement that can clarify misunderstandings, calm disputes, resolve conflicts, and even eliminate hatred at times. This dialogue, especially among the faithful of different religions, is more than ever indispensable today if we want to avoid the great evils threatening our societies.

It has been written: "To know the other's religion means putting yourself in the shoes of the other, seeing the world as he or she sees it, grasping what it means for the other to be Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu …" (4) This is not something simple. It demands that we empty ourselves completely, that we put aside our own ideas, our own affections, to put aside everything we would want to do, in order to identify with the other person.

It is a matter of momentarily putting aside what we have and what is most precious to us: our own faith, our own convictions, in order to be "nothing" in front of the other person, a "nothingness of love". By doing so we put ourselves in a position of learning and there is always something to learn.

If we are motivated by this kind of love, the other person will be able to express him or herself because they feel accepted. Each person can give themselves because they find someone who listens. So then we become acquainted with the faith, culture, and terminology of the other. We enter their world and we are enriched. Our complete openness and acceptance then predisposes the other person to listen to us, and we can also share our faith and culture out of love for the other, as a gift. This attitude makes us grow in mutual knowledge, brings us closer together and enables us to contribute to making our multicultural societies become intercultural, that is, made up of cultures that are open to one another and in a profound dialogue of love with one another.

The Focolare Movement have had many experiences of this fruitful dialogue with people of the most varied cultures and also with large groups of believers of other religions. Precisely because of this practice of "making ourselves one", and the friendship born from it, we consider them as Movements which are supportive of our own, and they know that our Movement is supportive of theirs. We have built up substantial bonds of fraternity with them, like the Buddhists of the Rissho Kosei-kai which includes six million members, or the Muslims of the American Muslim Society, which numbers two million, and others.

Real, true, fraternity is, in fact, the fruit of a love that is capable of making itself dialogue, relationship, that is, a love which, far from arrogantly closing itself within its own boundaries, opens itself towards others and collaborates with all people of good will in order to build together unity and peace in the world.

But can religions, also as a whole, be partners in the journey to peace? We all know how extremely important and relevant this question is today.

Many interpret the spreading of terrorism, the wars waged in various parts of the world in response to this, the ongoing tensions in the Middle East as symptoms of a "clash of civilizations". They say that it is marked and even intensified by the different religious allegiance.

However, upon a closer examination of the facts, this viewpoint triggered by various forms of extremism and fanaticism which distort religions, proves to be very partial.

Never so much as in our present day have believers and leaders of all religions felt the duty to work together for the common good of humanity. Organizations such as the World Conference of Religions and Peace or initiatives such as the day of prayer for peace in Assisi promoted by John Paul II in January of 2002, this Unity of Man World Conference initiated by Sant Kirpal Singh, are all a confirmation of this.

We know that the causes of terrorism are many, but one of them, the deepest, is the unbearable suffering of a world divided between rich and poor. This has produced and continues to produce resentment in people's hearts, violence and revenge.

More equality is needed, more solidarity, especially a more equal sharing of goods. We know, though, that goods do not move by themselves, they cannot walk on their own. People's hearts must be moved, hearts must be shared.

This is why we need to spread among as many people as possible, the idea and practice of fraternity, and - given the enormity of the problem - a universal fraternity. Brothers and sisters know how to look after one another, they know how to help one another, how to share what they have.

To meet this unprecedented challenge, the contribution of religions is decisive.

Where else, if not in the great religious traditions could a strategy of fraternity begin, a strategy capable of marking a turning point even in international relation? The enormous spiritual and moral resources of religions, the contribution of ideals, of aspirations to justice, of commitment to the needy, along with the political leverage of millions of believers, all springing from religious sentiments and channelled into the field of human relations, could undoubtedly be translated into actions that could have a positive influence on the international order.

Much is being done in the field of international solidarity by non-governmental organizations. What's missing is for states in their own right to make political and economic choices which can build a worldwide community of peoples committed to bringing about justice.

In the face of a strategy of death and hatred, the only valid response is to build peace in justice. But there is no peace without fraternity. Only fraternity among individuals and peoples can guarantee a future where there is peaceful coexistence. Besides, universal fraternity and the peace which follows from it are not new ideas that have emerged today. They have often been present in the minds of deeply spiritual persons because God's plan for humanity is fraternity, and brotherly love is written in the heart of every human being.

"The golden rule," said Mahatma Gandhi, "is to be friends of the world and to consider the whole human family as 'one'."(5)

And Martin Luther King: "I have a dream that one day …" all people will realize that they were created to live together as brothers and sisters and that fraternity will become the order of the day for businesspersons and the password for statesmen and women. (6)

In spite of the destruction then, one great, age-old truth can emerge even from the rubble of terrorism: that all of us on earth are one great family.

Dear friends, we know from experience that whoever wants to move the mountains of hate and violence in today's world faces an enormous task. But what is beyond the strength of millions of separated, isolated individuals, becomes possible for those who make mutual love, understanding and unity the driving force of their lives.

There is a reason, a secret key, and a name for all this. When we, of the most various religions, enter into dialogue among ourselves, that is, when we are open to the other in a dialogue of human kindness, mutual esteem, respect, mercy, we are also opening ourselves to God and, in the words of Pope John Paul II, "we allow God to be present in our midst." (7)

This is the great effect of our mutual love and the hidden strength which gives vitality and success to our efforts to bring unity and universal fraternity everywhere.

And what greater guarantee can there be than the presence of God? What greater help can there be for those who want to be instruments of fraternity and peace?

What future therefore for a multicultural, multiethnic and multi-religious society? A future where all people live as one family made up of brothers and sisters who love one another beneath the gaze of one Father. Or, for those who do not know God, a family united in the name of that voice of truth which speaks out in every human conscience.

Is it an utopia? No, it is God's most heartfelt desire. If we love one another, we will necessarily stir up love around us, and many people of different races, cultures and religions will follow us. Then one day in the not-too-distant future, mutual love will be lived also among peoples.

Thank you.

1 Mahagga, 19.

2 Quoted from Ramacaritamanasa, Uttara-kanda, 36,4.

3 Quoted from WILHELM MÜHS, Parole del cuore, Milan, 1996, p. 82.

4 F. Whaling, Christian Theology and World Religions: A Global Approach, London 1986, pp. 130-131.

5 In buona compagnia, edited by Claudio Mantovano, Rome, 2001, p. 11.

6 Cfr. Martin Luther King, delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on 28 August 1963.

7 John Paul II, in Madras, Il dialogo interreligioso nel magistero pontificio, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, p.385.

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