Faith in a pluralistic society

We live in a world that is so closely knitted together than any time in history. The homogeneous nature of many societies has fast been replaced by a multi-diverse era. The abundant flow of information, the increasing migration of people for: business, jobs, marriage, the seeking of social and political asylum have all in some untamed manner made this change in most societies possible.

It is of note to say that this change has not left things as the were some two to three decades back. With the moving of people and the easy access to communicate across boarders and cultures, ideas have also found a way to travel. These ideas have come from different cultural and religious beliefs. We could say that moving people have moved with their cultures, values and of course religions.

For most societies that have been very homogeneous in their form, this change in the social fabric poses a perplexing situation of defining itself as a people, culture and religion. This perplexity has led to some degree of frustration in some quarters while in others it is a mixed blessing. Depending on how every concerned individual sees the situation, I think both sides are legitimate in their reaction. There is nothing that can be more human than these reactions. I am of the opinion that man is made a preserving being. The desire to preserve long held values, beliefs and cultures are part of what defined us as human. On the other hand we are progressive beings. The ability to innovate is a deeply seated gift in our human culture. While we may seek to preserve, we always embrace the sense of progress in our total culture.

At this time however, the tension will be what is the dividing line between preserving heritage and progress in any society. I believe it is not the question of "either or". It is the question of every society being able to adapt and define itself in a changing time without losing its core values. This is not the contest for cultural supremacy but that of cultural accommodation and the exchanges of cultures in the arena of cultural dialogue.

To this end I think that the question of faith is crucially important. I do believe that faith is an essential part of our society. All societies have been known to have a consciousness of faith, some degree of believe in the existence of the supernatural. Well, someone may say "there are those who do not believe in the supernatural". But that is only so because of the premise that there is such. So, whether you believe or don't believe in the existence of the supernatural only underscore the argument that there is a possible consciousness of the supernatural that has made the debate possible.
However we define our individual or communal Faith it will always be a fact that it will affect the general nature of the being of any society as an entity. Faith and society are not opponents. Faith is a crucially necessary part of the society. It has to a large part been the conscience of the society in the formation of a morally conscious society. To try to organise a society without it will be like playing a soccer match without a referee. Many people assume faith or as we call it "religion": the enemy of the society. Well, like every good thing among people, they can have both positive use and negative. We can count, with our fingers all the problems that have been associated to the question of faith, but when we wait to ponder for a moment we can see myriads of benefits that faith has brought to societies.

With our societies being religiously plural, we have a duty, like with every sphere of the society to find a square of meaningful dialogue: call it a market square of ideas or city centre for religious dialogue, the important thing is that we must learn to open for faith conversation in how we organise society. Some of the religions of the world have been spread by the use of sword, we know the outcomes and the historical stigma that has left, but they have also been spread by the use of debate and dialogue. Rather than hate and kill those who do not share our faith we must use the most of other abilities we have been created with, that of reasonable debate and dialogue.