Concept of Tolerance: 

Martin Luther King Jr, leader of the US Civil Rights Movement while receiving the noble prize said that “Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys the community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.”

Half a century has passed since Martin Luther King's statement. In the last 50 years, the world has made remarkable progress in the field of knowledge and science. We proudly call it the modern world. But has our civilization really advanced in the last 50 years in the trials of emotional excellence? We in the twenty-first century have been experiencing the intensification of religious intolerance and sectarianism all over the world. The world where the individuals are such types, can we call it the modern world? So the question is whether the world is moving forward or walking backward? Religion doesn’t teach intolerance or insanity. The saints of the post-Christian classical Christianity taught a kind of religious pluralism; that is - almost all religions and philosophies have at least some truth.  Hinduism is naturally pluralistic. What Hinduism emphasizes is that, whether knowing or not, everyone worships the same Creator. The essence of Buddhism is that all the creatures of the world be blessed. Prophet Muhammad has clearly stated that do not denounce with others based on their religion, just follow your religion. Don't try to impose your religion on those who practice other religions.

A Troubled World: Increase of Religious Violence/Hostility 

The word peace and tolerance are intimately connected. Tolerance is not that someone’s belief is only right. It is a virtue that allows you to coexist with people whose way of life is different from your own without throwing a temper tantrum or a punch. Every human being has its roots in a particular tradition, culture, religion, and way of life. Natural tolerance will have emerged only when individuals, organizations, and states learn to accept this difference from their heart, can enjoy it, discover its beauty, and realize the applicability of this diversity. But it is unclear what the presence of religious tolerance would have in our daily lives. According to my view, it may be to show respect to every individual’s freedom of expression and choice. Four people in a family can adhere to four different religious beliefs and even one person can accept a deliberate combination of religious life.

 A recent study of the US research organization PEW research center shows that religious hostility in the world has been increasing at an alarming rate. The study notes that religious violence takes place in the country where the government shows favoritism into religious groups. According to PEW report, top states/territories which show high-level favoritism to religious groups are Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Greece, Iceland, Iraq, Kuwait, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine territories, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Kingdom, Western Samarian countries. It reports that governments see their policies and promote action according to particular religious beliefs and thoughts and as a result of extremism emerges. Besides this, different countries have increased religious restrictions in their policies.  Religious restrictions undermine economic prosperity and promote migration trends. Not only that, but minority communities are also becoming more vulnerable across the world, often people from minority and indigenous groups are the object of violence and exclusion on political, social, and religious issues. Furthermore, communal violence driven by political rivalries – long a problem for religious minorities – continues to take place, with perpetrators enjoying apparent impunity. As a result, minority communities are constantly being forced into different forms of migration. Moreover, different governments across the world have been showing autocratic behavior. The biggest example is the Rohingya crisis, which is an apparent act of ethnic cleansing according to

OHCHR. Also, governments are creating autocratic barriers in the freedom of expression of their citizens. It is a clear violation of human rights which is the birthright of every human being and not conferred by governments. 

Causes of the Increase of Religious Tolerance

Some experts opine is that religious intolerance is increasing due to the use of religion as a tool of politics. The tendency to use religion as a political tool is increasing rapidly in developing countries where some developed countries have indirect support. The right to freedom of belief has been restricted in different countries and influential groups trying to impose different agendas. Besides this, a group of people trying to preaches misinterpretation and false philosophy of religion to gain benefit. Moreover, politics, economy, power relations and misinterpretation of scripture are used as a key tool to eliminate tolerance in the religion.

Discrimination against religious minorities has been increasing due to the use of religion as a tool of politics. As result violence has been spreading all over the world. Equality and equity are the vital tools of protection for religious tolerance. Religious intolerance is bound to decrease if the rights of all religions will be secured based on equality and the political use of faith is discontinued.

The most important job is to change people’s attitude and mindset. First of all, people should perceive the core message of their religion with humanity. 

Responsibility to Elimination of Intolerance: 

People should develop the path of human development and for this, it is necessary to social bondage. This social bondage depends on education, which highlights the importance of coexistence. It is a crucial time for us to teach the virtue of humanity in the school level and the essence of religion in all levels of education. It is urgently required to create a broader landscape on tolerance of religion where the individual will enjoy the full of measure of liberty with their inherent humanity and dignity. Such kind of liberal and compassionate education may see the light if the state and civil society are committed to making this happen.

State: Every state should be more democratic and liberal, which does not impede a peaceful lifestyle on the part of individuals, groups or religions and freedom of expression will be ensured.

Political parties also need to be convinced of a true development model where religion is not used as a tool of power in politics.

Civil Society: Civil societies can act as a catalyst in to promote nonviolence activity. Civil society can influence the regional cooperation process by providing a vision, interpreting, and explaining that vision to different stakeholders, especially multilateral parties. They can inform, educate, and advocate the agenda of different groups to achieve consensus to promote tolerance in religion.  

Conclusion:

A concerted effort should be required to find out the element of tolerance in religion. Faith and thought play an important role in the action. Only proper education can promote good human beings with emotional excellence. Our intensive activity should take place to see a world that is a beacon of religious freedom and communal harmony where people lead their lives free from violence and discrimination.  

1 Debbrata Adhikary, Human Rights worker, Authored and presented a paper entitled “Promoting Religious Tolerance: Responsibility of State and Civil Society” on 8th November 2019 at the South Asian Fraternity Conference in Kerala, India.