Welcoming Pope’s call for interfaith dialogue, Hindus urge him to take the lead

NEVADA - Hindus have welcomed Pope’s call for inter-religious dialogue.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, on his Cyprus visit on Saturday, reportedly called for dialogue between Christians and people of other faiths.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that serious and honest interfaith dialogue was the need of the hour and Pope should take the lead in organizing one.

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, argued that Pope Benedict, being the leader of the largest religious organization of the world, should invite leaders of major world religions and denominations to Vatican and initiate the dialogue.
eligion was the most powerful, complex and far-reaching force in our society, so we must take it seriously. And we all knew that religion comprised much more than our own particular tradition/experience, Rajan Zed stressed.

After intensive deliberations, this meeting of world religious leaders should come up with a concrete plan about the common religious concerns like human improvement, peace, ecological responsibility, social and economic development, etc. Maybe this gathering could become an annual feature after that, Zed added.

Rajan Zed further says that in our shared pursuit for the truth, we can learn from one another and thus can arrive nearer to the truth. This dialogue may help us vanquish the stereotypes, prejudices, caricatures, etc., passed on to us from previous generations. As dialogue brings us reciprocal enrichment, we shall be spiritually richer than before the contact.

Pope Benedict heads the Roman Catholic Church, which is the largest of the Christian denominations. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal. (ANI)