Sunday January 17th was WORLD RELIGION DAY – an observance initiated in 1950 and celebrated worldwide each year on the 3rd Sunday in January. The aim of World Religion Day is to promote inter-faith understanding and harmony by emphasizing the common denominators underlying all religions. At this time mankind, with its single origin, needs to strive towards the reconciliation of that which has been split up. Human unity and true equality do not depend on past origins but on future goals, on what we are becoming and whither we are going. The prime cause of age-old conflict between man and man has been the absence of one ethical belief, a single spiritual standard. World Religion Day observances help to foster a unified approach to the changes that confront humanity, an approach that acknowledges the similarities in each of the world’s sacred faiths and sees the whole earth as a single country with humanity its citizens.
(adapted from ‘WORLD RELIGION DAY / Aims’)
Prayer
We give thanks for every faith tradition, named and unnamed, for the variety and richness of their spiritualities, for their united quest for truth, for their common dedication to the pursuit of peace, reconciliation and healing of the spirit. Ever unite us as one community of joy, hope, love and peace. Ever inspire us to live more genuinely and authentically, celebrating diversity…affirming unity…pursuing peace, not just for better relations among philosophies, but for a new and more just world. Amen.
(source unknown)