by Isabel Smyth

Last month the festival of Diwali was celebrated, the Hindu festival of light. It remembers and celebrates the story of Rama, who rescues his wife Sita from the wicked demon Ravanna. The couple return in triumph to their kingdom of Ayodhya after an exile of fourteen years.

The lighting of lamps and firework displays emphasise that this is a festival of light, a light that casts out darkness. It celebrates the triumph of good over evil and offers hope for the future; something our world badly needs.

Each year the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue sends greetings to Hindus through the various committees for interreligious dialogue which are part of Bishops’ Conferences around the world. This year’s letter of greeting reflects on the importance of interreligious collaboration in the work of peacebuilding. It quotes Pope Francis as saying that interreligious dialogue is ‘a necessary condition for contributing to peace in the world’. It encourages Christians and Hindus to become artisans of peace.

Israel and Gaza

For those of us engaged in interreligious dialogue this is both a desire and a struggle, especially now when the war in Israel and Gaza leads to polarisation even in a country as far away from the Middle East as Scotland.

People have their own loyalties, their own versions of where the truth lies, their own suggestions on how to bring peace to that troubled land. But what seems to be lacking is a willingness to listen to the story of someone on ‘the other side’ so to speak. The horror of the destruction of Gaza, the killing of innocent people, women and children, the devastation of its towns and villages, the intense grief of those left alive that is played out daily on our television screens is enough to soften the hardest heart. It has led thousands of people to march and call for an end to the war.

Many of the demonstrators march under a pro-Palestine banner which might suggest that being pro-Palestine means being anti-Israel (and vice versa) and sometimes to be anti-Israel is to be anti-Jewish as is seen by the rise of incidents of antisemitism. For many Jews Scotland has become a frightening place and some are afraid to venture far from home. People seem to have forgotten the hostages being held by Hamas or the fear and terror of an attack that was reminiscent of the Holocaust.

Isabel Smyth is a Sister of Notre Dame who has been involved in interfaith relations for many decades. You can follow her interfaith reflections at www.interfaithjourneys.net