Religious finger-pointing must be thing of the past

THE EDITOR: I humbly respond to a letter to the editor published on July 5 by Dr Lester Philip, entitled "Let us be convicted Christians."

While I respect the constitutional right of citizens to espouse private religious views or none, I take umbrage at the method the author employed in dealing with his private religious struggles when he adopted a prescriptive tone which I think is out of order in a plural society.

I find it bumptious that he took aim at Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a Hindu, inferring that he has a "false religion." He then went on to irresponsibly rattle out scriptural quotes to justify his argument, which is inappropriate in this case. This to me is a blatant attack on Hindus and non-Christians.

I find it alarming that the author started by describing himself ubiquitously as a Christian but further qualified the statement by saying he is a "Presbyterian Christian." As a former Presbyterian minister and a former Anglican rector, I am well aware that the author does not represent the mainstream theological thinking of his institution and other main denominations that ascribe to the norms and ethics of international ecumenical conventions such as the World Council of Churches.

I studied under the venerable leadership of the late Cyril Paul and Harold Sitahal, who both encouraged me in the Inter-Religious Organisation and the Caribbean Conference of Churches. These bodies are especially relevant in facilitating religious co-operation, despite denominational "exclusive truth claims" within our unique Caribbean society.

The Presbyterian Church is a founding member since the era of Dr Roy Neehall, along with other partners like Anthony Pantin, Clive Abdulah, Satnarayan Maharaj, Noble Khan et al, who were heroic in encouraging inter-religious dialogue and solidarity.

In fact, the Presbyterian Church owns and operates a theological college that produced seminal works by Caribbean theologians and scholars like the late Dr Idris Hamid, who wrote In Search of New Perspectives in his attempt to contextualise the church’s role in a post-colonial society. Hamid stressed that the church must "decolonise the Gospel" using a new standard of interpretation (hermeneutics) that abolishes the literalist approach of reading scripture.

Hamid promoted the orthopraxy of "Jesus the Liberator" when he instituted a separate outreach programme with a new order of deaconess who went into the trenches with a focus on "gospel and bread" ethics. He wrote: "The church should see scripture through the optics of the poor and the oppressed."

Mainstream theological methods no longer parrot the dogmatic triumphalism of the pioneer missionaries who regarded the indentured labourers as "heathens" who needed salvation. Although they improved the condition of our ancestors, they employed mimic methods of conversion, thereby denying them the right to practise their dharma.

The letter writer claimed that when PM Modi used Hindi in parts of his speech, he felt "unsettled" and realised that he didn’t know the language of his ancestors and he felt a "gap in his identity." He questioned himself as a "Christian" and asked "why is it he didn’t follow the religion of his ancestors?"

Interestingly, the Canadian pioneer missionaries mastered the language of the ancestors. They devised services in the Yesu Katha, Geet Mala and Ratna Mala where bhajans and scripture verses were sung in the form of Doha and Chaupai, causing our ancestors to be drawn to a familiar sound. They used Sanskrit names for their buildings such as Dharam ka Suraj (Sun of Righteousness) and Jakat ka Prakash (Light of the World).

Now, the world has evolved in that westerners are among the biggest fans of yoga, an ancient Hindu meditational system that guides its practitioners to attain Aham Brahmasmi.

Largely speaking, within our Trinidadian/Tobagonian fabric, ordinary citizens appreciate and respect each other’s beliefs and cultural practices in a unique way that creates a new spiritual synergy that redefines our national character. In TT fundamentalist finger-pointing about "who is saved" and "which religion is false" must be a thing of the past.

FR ASHLEY MUNGAL

Religious Consultant