A Jesuit response to the prevailing climate of division, hatred and intolerance. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay “Though we come from different lands, we share one earth, one sky, and one sun, remember friends, the world is one.” this is an excerpt from the song "The world is one" by Mohammad Rafi. yes, we all have the desire and dream to see our world at peace and united as one family. Today, however, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see this dream come true. The world is torn apart by violence, hatred and intolerance. There are people with vested interests who seek to create division among people and sow the seeds of hatred and intolerance for their own personal gain. In response to this I would like to point out: “A Jesuit response to the prevailing climate of division, hatred and intolerance.” The Jesuits have been actively engaged in the fight for reconciliation and justice. In GC 36, we took this aspect as one of the main priorities of our apostolate. Today we must commit ourselves more in this fight especially against intolerance, as decree 4 of GC 32 says: "We must put everything we are and have, our whole person, our communities, institutions, ministries and resources". The recent statement by the JCSA (Jesuit Conference of South Asia) on combating saffronization was a bold initiative. We must stop being silent spectators and take actions, actions that will create waves of change. I would like to articulate some concrete actions that we Jesuits must take as Jesuits. First we need to create awareness about this threat. We must work with people and groups who share our concern to spread this awareness. We must take initiatives to create awareness in our society, church, institutions, parishes and various other centers. we must review the values education taught in our schools. It is sad to see that some leaders of these groups that create intolerance have studied in our schools. We must be courageous in highlighting the threats of these people, as Robert Frost says: “Freedom lies in being bold.” If we want to see a world free from intolerance we must fight courageously now. Second, we must root out religious fundamentalism from our own church. We must remove within ourselves the thought that our church is the true church and superior, we must instead create an image of a tolerant church. The best way to combat intolerance is to be tolerant and respect the beliefs and cultures of others. It would be a useless effort on our part to have Christianized the entire world and yet find that people cannot love each other. What we must do is work to spread a message of love, peace and tolerance. Third, we must work to create effective dialogues between religions, races, tribes, etc. We have been actively involved in interfaith dialogues, but progress appears to be slow. We must delve deeper and bring out effective actions and solutions. We should encourage the celebration of holidays of other religions and the holding of interfaith worship services. Trainees should be actively involved in these dialogues. I found it very helpful for me to attend one of these dialogues as a junior Jesuit. It changed my perspective of looking at other religions. We must also promote enculturation and intercultural exposures. Fourth, we must give greater importance to our youth ministry. It is sad that we have often paid less attention to.”
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