URI creates local chapters where a minimum of three persons of different religions join hands with locals to develop a community service module beyond religion, says Mriganka Bhowmick
At a time when inclusive religious harmony is a challenge to sustain, the United Religion Initiative (URI), a UN-affiliated international organisation promoting inter-faith harmony to end religiously-motivated violence, recognised community service providers, social workers and activists who work silently for this cause.
The organisation recently concluded its regional assembly without the media glare. To strike a chord of harmony, the URI promulgated from its platform the less talked about vision, “Celebrating hope and valuing grassroots voices to energise the inter-faith network.” The initiative has been appreciated by well-known dignitaries like Dr Rubina Shabnam, Dr A K Merchant (National Trustee of lotus Temple and Bahai Community), Dr Shweta Singh and Dr Soumitra Basu of South Asian University.
Dr Mahinder Singh , Biswadeb Chakraborty, Ms Jayapriya Reinhalter and Sushil Salwan, the eminent personalities of the inter-faith network, have echoed the same sentiment by emphasising on developing a harmonious society by engaging grassroots people.
A religious peace movement by empowering grassroots people is unheard of. Subhi Dhupar, the URI’s regional coordinator for the North and Afghanistan, explained that the interfaith network is bottom-up by design and practice. She elaborated that URI creates local chapters where a minimum of three persons of different religions along with other members join hands to develop a community service module beyond religion. Unless the people from grassroots are involved with each other for a noble cause, no message of religious harmony can yield a desired result.
As the people of different religions mingled with each other in the two-day assembly, it was a vibe like no other. With a sufi performance dominating the closing ceremony, the URI regional assembly left behind a point to ponder: “Be in faith, so in peace.”