The UN celebrates the first week of February as World Interfaith Harmony Week. Given the current political milieu, the need of the hour is to lay stress on such events where it calls for dissemination of general awareness in the form of active encouragement, to let people know what the Interfaith Harmony Week proudly stands for.
It is to create a safe space for dialogue communication between different religions and different religious leaders, wherein none comprise their respective religious tenets, but at the same time are able to build an environment possible for effective learning and peacebuilding solutions.
Euphrates Institute Kolkata, in association with Indian Pluralism Foundation, celebrated the Interfaith Harmony Week on February 7, 2019, when the members of the team along with their Chapter leader, Sohini Jana embarked on a walk across Kolkata, interacting with different religious leaders, while visiting different religious places.
The journey started off with the team visiting Gurudwara Sant Kutiya, where the team leader and the members engaged in a dialogue with the religious leaders on peace, what interfaith harmony means to them and what according to them is their understanding of other religions in general.
The next stop was Wesleyan Church, an Anglo-Indian church over a hundred years old, where we had a very interesting conversation with the pastor of the Church, Father Martin, on topics which ranged from interfaith religious harmony to effective dialogue communication.
Lastly, the walk was rounded off with Beth El Synagogue, which subjectively was the most interesting of all, because the place was an embodiment of all that the interfaith week stood for, which is religious harmony. The synagogue was taken care of by Muslim men whose families have been taking care of the synagogue since decades. Upon having a conversation with these men, we truly realized that the global vision of interfaith harmony and peace is right here in the heart of the city of joy, where a group of religious men sees nothing wrong in their duty to serve and cater to the belief of people practicing a religion different from theirs.
Interfaith harmony can mean different things to different people, but globally it denotes only one thing, tolerance, and acceptance of those who are different from you, who in fact are all an equal part of a coexistent system, and deserve equal rights and respect. The hard and strict lines and walls that surround our religious places of worship have begun to blur now, there needs to be support shown to the members of the minority religion, who for the longest time, because of their belief, have been reduced to second class citizens in their very own country. It is time we all extend our collective hands towards them and pray for the greater good of all.