"World's Most Enlightening Region"

[yallerdawg]

What are our best qualities? Very interesting documentary.

Source: AL.com, by Greg Garrison

*****

Dr. N.S. Xavier believes the world would have less religious strife if people of all faiths learned the lessons of a region in India where Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Jews co-existed peacefully for centuries.

*****

He points to Kerala, near the southern tip of India, as a model of religious peace.

"It's the only historical example of interfaith peace and harmony for 2,000 years," Xavier said. "Hinduism, Christianity and Judaism co-existed from the First Century, and Islam from its beginning."

*****

"There was a belief that all good people can achieve heaven," he said. "There were several influences that promoted conscience. That really helped to maintain the peace."

Mystics in all the faiths have inspired better behavior, he said.

"That area has had an amazing number of mystics, Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Jewish mystics, people who have had some kind of divine experience and promote peace, promote developing the inner spirit of compassion. They had a mystical worldview, not a materialistic worldview."

*****

Read it all at: http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2017/12/can_different_faiths_live_in_p_1.html#incart_river_home

"We were talking
About the love that's gone so cold
And the people who gain the world
And lose their soul
They don't know, they can't see
Are you one of them?

When you've seen beyond yourself
Then you may find
Peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come
When you see we're all one
And life flows on within you and without you."

[Brainstormy]

1. "Mystics in all faiths have inspired better behavior."

really? Good luck selling that. But it IS true that leprechauns of all nations have always championed generosity.

[yallerdawg]

5. "A closed mind...

is a bar to any argument."

[Brainstormy]

21. and an apple a day keeps the doctor away

which is just about as relevant. I speak from experience, observation and study, not from a closed mind. Not accepting that there is even such a thing as a "mystic," let alone that they do anybody any good is a position held by many rational people.

[Control-Z]

2. I would love to visit there.

I'm atheist.

[Igel]

3. Have you checked out the claims?

That is, looked for examples of inter-religious violence? (Muslims, for example, rioting as Muslims against a Hindu or British governor?)

Do you accept the claim that only inter-religious violence should be at issue? (Civil war on clan lines.)

Note the conditions under which inter-religious violence typically occurs. Has the Kerala region had time periods of reasonable length under which these conditions held? (Consider Jugoslavija and Iraq: All was well until groups could act on their baser instincts without fear of immediate retribution. Government-sponsored 'oppression' or favoritism wasn't considered unenlightened.)

[yallerdawg]

4. You could watch the hour long video which was posted 8 minutes before your comment...

if you're really interested.

The documentary is also being broadcast on a variety of PBS stations tonight and this weekend.

[Igel]

20. I rummaged for a while.

It's like a recurring clash in the California school system. One group insists that their ethnicity home nation is misrepresented when it discusses the treatment of minorities, discrimination of various kind, and cultural traits that opened it up to easy invasion and domination. The other group insists that the history of their discrimination and oppression be properly represented.

Both have nice documentaries that present their facts. Both leave out what doesn't suit them. I could watch one side's documentaries until I grow old and die and I'd be none the wiser.

If I watched your video, I'd be stuck doing a lot more research to understand even more of the religious violence and oppression that's occurred in the place when it could.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1218264753

[yallerdawg]

22. Again, absolutely nothing to do with the video.

Of course. you get to comment on whatever you choose to.

[Voltaire2]

6. "This is the only example in 2,000 years of interfaith harmony".

So what does that say about religion in general?

[yallerdawg]

7. It says we can all get along...

and that's a fact!

[Voltaire2]

8. Actually it would appear to indicate that religions are a source of conflict

and that interfaith violence is the norm.

[yallerdawg]

9. Hey.

You really get the point of this OP.

[Cartoonist]

10. The point of the OP

Religions can get along only in a tiny point of the Indian peninsula.

[yallerdawg]

12. For 2,000 years.

They get along just fine in most of the world today.

At least you didn't have to waste an hour of your life watching the video.

[guillaumeb]

18. And religions are composed of humans.

So are governments, another huge source of conflict.

Money is also a huge source of conflict.

The solution? Eliminate humans and there will be no human conflict.

[MineralMan]

11. Kerala is also governed through democratic socialism.

A reading of the Wikipedia article on the region is probably more useful than watching an hour-long video.

Hinduism is the most followed religion in Kerala. Now, if I had to live in a place where I had minority beliefs, as I do, actually, I would choose a place where Hinduism was the most followed religion, frankly. Not Christianity or Islam. Unfortunately, I cannot move to such a place, due to financial limitations. But I've always found Hindu culture less annoying than Christian or Islamic culture. Food's better, too.

[yallerdawg]

13. It's not a 'tourist' video.

"You can lead a horse to enlightenment, but you can't make him drink."

[MineralMan]

14. I did not say it was a "tourist" video.

I did not imply that, either. I did not use that word, nor intend it.

[yallerdawg]

15. "Read article on the region."

"More useful than watching an hour-long video."

"Hindu culture."

"Foods better."

"You'd move there if you could afford it!"

Sounds like a travelogue.

Which is NOT the hour-long video.

[guillaumeb]

16. But they are only opinions.

No guarantee of actual relevance.

Many times I have posted relatively short articles about religion, and some commenters will admit that they only looked at the title before responding. I am not certain if this is a reflection of reading comprehension, or a reluctance to waste time reading an actual article.

[yallerdawg]

17. Another OP in support and understanding of faith.

The comments continue to prove our earlier point, don't they?

[guillaumeb]

19. They always do.

And some of those who speak of religious intolerance often demonstrate their own particular brand of acceptable intolerance.