ICC Note: Leaders from six of India’s major religions joined together last week to speak out against growing religious intolerance across the country. The group specifically condemned the use of religion as a means of political exploitation. Across India, attacks on religious minorities and religious intolerance has been skyrocketing. Will this warning from India’s faith leaders be heeded?  

04/10/2018 India (Vatican News) – Leaders of six major religions in India came together last week and called for an end to branding people as patriotic or unpatriotic based on religion, region or community, amid increasing attempts to exploit religious sentiments for political gains.

Leaders of Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Muslim and Sikh communities gathered on April 5 in, Margao in the western state of Goa to express their dismay at communal tension building in states such as Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Odisha, ahead of crucial elections.

“We strongly object to anyone taking control of individual decisions. No one is to be categorized as anti-national or non-patriotic based on his religion, region or community,” said a joint statement issued at the end of a meeting on “Collective Action for Dialogue and Social Harmony”.  It was sponsored by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), in collaboration with the Agnel Region of the Society of Pilar and Bharatiya Sarva Dharma Sansad and others in Goa.

In particular, the faith leaders denounced the attacks last week on three Catholic churches in Rourkela, in the eastern state of Odisha, “at a time when the peaceful Christian community was celebrating their feast of joy – Easter.”

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