Mumbai (AsiaNews) – An interfaith seminar titled 'Dialogue on World Religions-Together for Peace' was held in Mumbai on January 20-22 January, among those present: Card Ivan Dias, Archbishop of Mumbai, and Mgr Vincent Concessao, Archbishop of New Delhi.

The meeting was organised by the Somaiya Trust, a foundation involved in education, rural development and healthcare. Its founder, Dr S.K. Somaiya, was the 2002 recipient of the 'Luminosa Award' of the Focolare Movement.

For him, the topic of the meeting—Dialogue on World Religions-Together for Peace—is very important for a country like India where different fundamentalisms are facing and clashing with each other.

Dr Somaiya stressed that in India every religion must fight evil and believers must reach a deeper understanding of their religion as well as respect for that of others.

Mgr Thomas Dabre, Bishop of Vasai, a diocese north of Mumbai, told AsiaNews that he was "happy that this seminar [was] being held during Unity Week". He stressed that "it is an urgent need of our times."

In his address, he also spoke about the role of education in advancing peace. "Many institutions," he noted, "seem overly preoccupied with academic performance to the neglect of value education and character formation, [which leads] at times to fundamentalism, fanaticism and cultural chauvinism."

Ayaz Memon, speaking on the role of the media in inter-faith dialogue, said that the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was closely connected to the collapse of Hindu-Muslim relations.

"Unfortunately for Indian Muslims today," he said, "the international situation does not help either." The fight against global terrorism, especially by the US, is in danger of reducing terrorism to its Islamic component. This means that "the onus is on Muslims all over the world to speak out and explain that terrorists are not representative of Islam anymore than any more than sergeant Graner of Abu Ghraib is [. . .] representative of either America or Christianity."

Verbite Father S.M. Michael said that globalisation "challenges us to discover the meaning of religion and our religious moral and ethical values must be the inspiration for the emerging world". For him the dialogue between Hindus, Muslims and Christians must address the present world and its problems.

Former Chief Justice PN Bhagwati, vice-chairperson of UN Human Rights Committee, condemned fundamentalism in every religion. "They are doing a disservice not only to their own religion but also to humanity . . . They forget that all religions are of equal value and no one religion is higher than the other and it must be left to each individual to decide in his own conscience as to what religion he wishes to follow."

Conversion however remains a controversial issue in India. Many Hindu fundamentalists often accuse Christians of proselytising.

For Card. Dias, who brought the meeting to a close, religious freedom remains important. "Religion," he said, "should be proposed but not imposed."

In India, 81.5 per cent of the population is Hindu, 11 per cent is Muslim and 2.4 is Christian.