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The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, sent greetings to Hindu religious partners across the world on the occasion of the Hindu festival of Diwali.
As the most important religious festival for a majority of Hindus, Diwali is celebrated through the symbolic lighting of a row of earthen lamps on the threshold signifying the need for light and truth to rule people’s lives.
In his letter, Tveit expressed the hope Diwali becomes a time “when the flames of hatred and hostility are extinguished and the sparks of hospitality and hope are lit in people’s hearts and minds.” Acknowledging the history of the WCC’s relationship with Hindu communities across the world, Tveit affirmed that the World Council of Churches “looks forward to building further on these relationships in the days to come through joint work on issues of crucial importance like ecological justice and religious extremism.”
“I very much hope that through the deepening of our relationships the horizons of our imagination and action are widened to enable us to be companions on a common pilgrimage of justice and peace” he said.
The WCC has a history of inter-religious engagement through its programme on interreligious dialogue and cooperation, and the WCC affirms the need for interreligious collaboration to move forward on the pilgrimage on justice and peace. On the eve of Diwali, religious leaders from different religious traditions and church leaders came together in Bangalore, India for a joint consultation on “Redeeming the Prophetic and Liberative Aspects of our Religious Traditions”. They explored how to “give an account for the hope that is within our religious traditions” in the growing context of violence in the name of religion, and violence against religions across the world. The meeting was jointly organized by the Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society in collaboration with the WCC.
