AND, not OR....

Dan Brown in his book Da Vinci Code mentions this Roman emperor Constantine who, he says, gave Christianity its present form. He is said to have merged the beliefs and symbols of the previously existing religions and the newly emergent faith, Christianity, and to have 'stolen' Christianity from its original followers. Now, he did and caused( in subsequent centuries) many more things that were despicable, like the persecution and repression of the supporters of Mary Magdalene, who I believe, existed just as Brown says she did. But I don't want to go into all that right now. Maybe later. What I am interested in is the way he managed to combine two totally different philosophies and make peace amongst his people. I think that's what the world needs right now- to combine all religions in such a way that there are elements of all individual religions in the one big Grand Religion. Wouldn't it be wonderful, if, for example, people in India could be Hindus AND Muslims AND Christians AND Sikhs AND Parsees AND Jains AND Buddhists?....AND instead of OR.

We have been traditionally experts at assimilating other ideologies into our native faiths, otherwise how would you explain the large number of Gods and Goddesses in our country? How would you explain people of India worshiping all Gods as their own, respecting all teachers as their own, whether they be Ram or Krishna or Kali or Nanak or Buddha or Mahavir?

We are a nation of learners. We absorb whatever is good in others. It is time we brought out that same desire to learn and assimilate. Our nation needs it. The whole world needs it. We require an osmosis of teachings from and into Islam, Christianity, and other religions. Only this can bring about a better understanding among the people. Given the escalating levels of intolerance in India, it is imperative that we fulfill this need as fast as possible. It is surprising that given the time these religions have been together in India, this has not already happened.