Intolerance has more to do with political and economic factors than religion: D’Rozario

Conflicts between different faiths are driven more by social, economic, and political factors than differences in creed, the Catholic official says

Masum BillahShoumik Hassinbdnews24.com
Published : 23 April 2023, 08:31 AM
Updated : 23 April 2023, 08:31 AM

Clashes between people of different creeds are motivated largely by factors other than their religious beliefs, says Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario of the Catholic Church in Bangladesh.

Asked why religious tolerance is on the decline around the world, the senior Catholic official said, “I feel that the intolerance in religion, the reason does not belong to the religion itself. It is in the political economic situation of the country, the human rights situation, and all these are causing conflicts.”

“My basic point is that it is not so much a religious motivation. Somehow, socially, people are deprived, economically people are deprived or, say, ethnic groups, minority groups, and they're deprived in the same way. They're citizens of the society in Bangladesh, but they're not getting their rights respected. So then, since he is a Muslim or Christian or Hindu, we say this is a religious conflict, but the conflict is not really a religious conflict. It is in the social relationships, and also the human rights.”

“I kind of feel that conflicts between religions all lie somewhere else – the right to land, or to living, the right to freedom, but not a religious motivation. But it is coloured, coloured as a religious conflict.”

D’Rozario sat down with bdnews24.com’s talk show ‘Inside Out’ to discuss whether religious festivals like Eid can bring people of all beliefs together and whether there is greater potential for interfaith harmony through dialogue.

The video of the full interview is available on bdnews24.com and its Facebook and YouTube pages.

D’Rozario, who was born in Barishal in 1943 and ordained a priest in 1972, sent his Eid greetings to Muslims.

“Festivals are the celebration of life. And the celebration means that we have something inside in our life and we celebrate, bring it out joyfully, at the time of the festival. So I think that feasts like Christmas and Eid, what we have in common is the dialogue of life and relationships and our life situations with our neighbours, with the people with whom we work, people whom we relate to.”

“And then, during the time of the feasts and festivals, we feel an inside bond to celebrate together -- that communion, that union, that experience. Therefore, festivals, like Eid, and Christmas, and all other festivals, bring the people together, and promote religious harmony.”

The cardinal, who was the Archbishop of Dhaka from 2011 to 2020, said many friends called him to invite him to dinner or to other events during Eid when he was the active archbishop. He also invites them for similar dinners or events at Christmas or other Christian holidays.

“Another thing that I do every year is send greetings during the Eid or Puja holidays, I send greetings to everyone,” he said.

These aren’t just greetings or wishes, but also contain a message, he said.

“We call for the same message so we can have the same motivation to celebrate together. It is a message of – let us be members of one family. We are all brothers and sisters and we promote that human fraternity in our lives.”

D’Rozario disagreed with the notion that religious tensions have grown significantly worse in recent years.

“We can see a certain decline, but I feel that the more we achieve tolerance, and the more tolerant we are of each other, the more we demand and that is what is happening.”

The world has grown towards tolerance with many events, he said. “To objectively assess the present situation, we are progressing.”

He also challenged the idea that tolerance alone is enough.

“But it's not simply a spirit of tolerance that we should be aiming at. We must respect other persons, we must respect their dignity and their rights. You can be tolerant, you know, but then you are not promoting the human being. You are not promoting persons with their dignity.”

“So I think to be tolerant is only a negative way to see this thing. But, positively, [it would be] to promote solidarity, to promote peace, promote harmony, promote dialogue with religions. And this has to be done.”

The Catholic Church has a commission to promote inter-faith dialogue and the Bangladesh government has also reached out at times to try and develop stronger communication between different religions, the cardinal said.

After the attack on Gulshan’s Holey Artisan restaurant in 2016, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan invited all religious leaders together, D’Rozario said. “I was there too. We had different gatherings in Bangladesh in different places and people of all religions were present there. And we appealed that, in the name of religion, we should not kill anybody.”

“So that had an effect, and because of that, you know, the present home minister is a friend of mine, because he always speaks about what we have shared together in public.”

Bangladesh has a long history of different religions living together, D’Rozario said.

“Bangladesh has a richness of culture. That culture is harmony. The people of Bangladesh are religious. And a religious identity, cultural identity is there, but it’s not communal.”